MR FRASER IN ITALY

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24270, 30 May 1944, Page 4

MR FRASER IN ITALY

VISIT TO GASSING BATTLEFIELD SCENES OF DEVASTATION (Official War Correspondent 2nd N.Z.£.F.) CASSINO, May 27. Less than 24 hours alter his arrival in Italy, the Prime Minister' (.the Kt. Hon. P. Fraser) stood on the ruins of the Monte Cassino monastery, and surveyed the scene of one of the greatest battles in the history of the New Zealand Division. As he inspected the blasted hilltops, the bodies of German and Polish troops killed in the recent victorious advance to the monastery still lay unburied on the rocky slopes, which bore fresh evidence of the bitterness of the conflict. , The party, which included General Freyberg, and members of his staff, General Puttick, Mr A. D. Mclntosh (secretary of the War Cabinet), and Major G. Crossley, proceeded by ]eep down the incredible cliff-lined track into the broad green valley under the dominating peak of Monte Cairo. Thence the jeeps sped through clouds of screening smoke towards that amazing feat of New Zealand engineering known as the Cavendish track. Carved into the almost sheer slope of the mountain, this road climbs at a dizzy angle into the heights to the rear of the monastery. It was constructed by our engineers, often under heavy nre. before our attacks of March IS, and subsequently our tanks took part m an armoured thrust by means of this perilous ascent. Mr Fraser saw the debris of what must have been one of the highest tank battles in history, fought at more than 2000 feet in mountain mists, mingled with the smoke of conflict. View of Highway 6 Many tanks still lay where mines, shells, or the treacherous terrain had stopped them, some only lightly damaged, others blasted by fire from explosives. The party halted on the Albaneta massif, a small plateau overlooking the massive, tumbled wreckage of the monastery. A foot track led on through a maze of shell dnd bomb craters, over every inch of which opposing infantry had struggled. Below to the right, Highway 6 showed through the haze, half hidden by long columns of Allied transport rolling towards where the German lines were being driven even further backwards. The last few hundred yards lay through the stripped trunks of a grove of trees standing forlornly in ground pulverised by months of shelling and bombing. Then there was a steep climb towards the overhanging walls of the monastery itself, which at one point retained its original height of four, storeys. In spite of the' arduous nature of the climb, and although he had commenced the tour at first light that morning, Mr Fraser kept close behind the fleet-footed Polish guide, and scarcely paused until he reached the summit of the rubbled southern wall. There he could look down on the scene of our attack on Cassino. General Freyberg pointed out to him the various points of importance m the battle. Below, and only 200 yards away, was the rocky outcrop known as Hangman’s Hill, still crowned with its overturned funicular pylon, where the Gurkhas held out for eight days. A semi-circle of scorched grass marked point 212, where a New Zealand company, completely cut off, proved to be a thorn in the enemy’s side, • m spite of a hurricane of fire. Castle Hill and point 165 seemed absurdly close. And then there was the town itself, its battered chaos even more apparent. The Railway Station Highway 6, and the railway road each gave off plumes of dust as they bore their load of traffic through the cratered marshes and the morass that once was a botanical garden. It was across this, and through the ruins of the cathedral, that a southern battalion advanced to take the railway station — visible as a blackened shell amid the debris. Mr Fraser made his way back over the huge piles of rubble, through ivhich occasionally showed' the fragments of irreplacable ‘works of art; the mellow sound *of a piano came from the less damaged part of the building. In the courtyard, the Poles who occupy the fortress, had cleared a shrine for worship. Another courtyard, entirely desecrated, contained fresh excavations where the Germans had hastily dug mortar emplacements to meet the threat from the rear. Beyond, on the slopes, Polish troops were gathering their dead. Later Mr Fraser descended to Cassino, and inspected at closer range the maze of fortifications occupied for so long by the Germans. Before he climbed Monastery Hill, Mr Fraser met General Anders, com-mander-in-chief of the Polish Corps, who explained to the Minister the part Polish troops had played in the battle for Cassino. General Anders, who has just been created a commander of the Order of the Bath for his part in these decisive operations, expressed admiration for the fighting qualities of New Zealanders, and the satisfaction it gave the Poles to be associated with them as comrades in arms.