FAENZA CLEARED OF ENEMY

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24445, 20 December 1944, Page 6

FAENZA CLEARED OF ENEMY

TOWN SEVERELY DAMAGED LAMONE RIVER BRIDGED . (Official War Correspondent N.Z.E.F.) > FORLI, December 17. s Faenza, the former German strongpoint on the road to Bologna, has now, ' been cleared of the enemy by the New * Zealand infantry, the bitterly-contested : Lamone river has been bridged in the ’ town, and our troops, after consolidating approximately along the line of the . Bologna road, are now poised to wipe ' out a pocket of strong.German resistance between our sector and that of the Canadians nearer the Adriatic coast. - The occupation of Faenza was achieved without fighlfing, although dur- ■ ing the night some trouble came from ■ one or two parties of snipers, most of . whom escaped under cover of darkness / to the vicinity of the railway line north * ‘ of the town and parallel to the main f road, where the enemy has/formed a line of machine-gun posts, supported / in depth by tanks. * Valuable assistance was given our i infantry by an Italian liaison officer, if who went in with the first troops and, i being familiar with the town and the ; anti-Fascist elements there, was soon j able to track down the few Germans who.had remained. - > • Two of thtese were in civilian clothes, 1 having possibly been left behind as t-■ spies, and altogether eight or nine were t collected from the town, which had tbeen ' systematically cleared by 8) o’clock this morning, less than 24 hours I after our troops had made their , original entry. /' ; Bailey Bridge -Constructed , ; Two hours later the first of our trans- „■ port and; anti-tank guns to support the * infantry occupying Faenza were rolling I'" across the Bailey bridge on which the ; engineers had been working all' night, \ and soon afterwards the main road i. almost as far back as Forli was thick * with many hundreds of the vehicles in | which the modern army moves. K Faenza itself has been as badly battered as any other town in the Adriatic * war theatre. * Our bombing and shelling caused a , great deal of the damage, but the Ger- \ mans levelled many buildings near the f river bank, and where the main road • passes through the town they had ’ blown up shops and houses to provide t a vast rubble barrier almost as high'aa ‘ the surrounding buildings. ; , V Bulldozers operated by a mechanical ’ engineering company were busy to-day i scooping and moving these of bricks and mortar which will be' used later to provide foundations and • approaches to bridges and to build and ** repair roads. Sporadically the town was shelled and mortared during the day from enemy territory 1000 yards to the north and occasionally the crackle of his machine-gun fire was heard from the ... railway embankment where Spandaus are, now dug-in—temporarily. t . Fence on Scarborough Cliff.— ln • . discussion on the question of providing a protective fence on the Scarborough cliff, Sumner borough councillors at this week’s meeting 'agreed . that the provision of a fence would be impracticable as a means of preventing tragedies. Summer School.—An invitation to attend a Summer School to be held by the W.E.A. at the School for the Deaf over the new year period'was , received by the Sumner BoroughCouncil at its meeting last Evening. Lectures on international affairs 'and v on the “Rural Community of New Zealand” /will be features of the gathering. , , OIL FUEL Sir,—According to a circular issued ’ to commercial petrol users some two c , months ago, instructions had leen, 1 given by the Minister of Supply and Munitions (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) 5 for the review of all “H” class vehicle" petrol licences because the supply/ position made economies a matter, raj/;-. urgency. Some users: have already';, been duly dealt with dnder this edict, / •■it ’-•is;s-h(w«ev!(sr. Mrlj&ftpparent that; the review, rema ins - mco mplete. •• *l,: would submit, that/if-tpe war situ Si-; tion is respohSibl<e*/:for<;;tlie necessityof this action’the authorities are act-, ing with extreme indifference, while, if, as is fairly fredly/gpggested/ the/; > real trouble is embarrassment over/ ' finding real cash with’/which to foot*, the/hill,' a thorough /investigation/ of , this] aspect isi past dq®;i ( and the ■ public., ■ should demand proper information, ■ . with all due regard to pretty pictures sometimes painted—Yours, etc.. . H. L. HECC. November 24. 1944. . ; • • [Commenting on this letter thd Act- , ing-Minister of Supply and MumuonS ;// (the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer) .says: ;' "Owing to the extension of hostilities" . during the last year and the consequent / vast; increase in petrol consumptipp for. ;■ war purposes, with t added thlls mm*/ shipping space, it is necessary to, ke&fc; / our petrol'consumption down as'far to* / practicable. Request , is frequieprafr j made by the supply authorities ovm seas that we take steps to keep a\car®» 4 - ful watch on our consumption, ahd the review of H class, vehicle ,petrpL licences referred to by the corfespohr?! ■ dent is designed for this - Vehicles of this nature/ comprise' largely road transport vehicles yfl&mj . are essential to the .transport the country, and any review is ai'mat-, ter which has to be carried but care*, ' fully. dTull/arid careful - consideration must be giveirbefore any made. -In addition to the local oil fuel controllers, the review is being/Cgff . fied out. with the assistance; dr.Gowte Transport Control Committees,;wnlw were set up as a war , emergeni* / measure to co-ordinate;-road transpba with a view to effecting a - paving in, petrol and rubber. The’review ■ under way, and it is anticipated tWat< it /, will be completed by the end of January. The review is being cabled out solely to conserve our petrol' and the question of overseas funds has no bearing on the matter whatsoever I .”] ’ ’