After the nightmare of Cassino

Press, 21 November 1987, Page 20

After the nightmare of Cassino

The final in the documentary series, “Freyberg V.C.” screens on One at 8.30 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday).

After the nightmare of Cassino, the New Zealand soldiers were in poor shape. The long months of danger and misery had taken their toll, and morale was low. Also, for the first time the men were fighting in a densely-popu-lated region — and to make matters worse it was a wine-growing area. General Freyberg became so concerned about slipping standards that he told the New Zealand Government it might have to bring the whole division back home unless all the long-service men could be replaced with fresh troops immediately.

The Government agreed. Men who had been serving in the Pacific were sent to Italy to replace the old hands. By now the main focus of the war was in France, where the Allies had invaded Normandy, and on the Russian front, where vast armies were locked in a desperate struggle. Italy was just a sideshow.

But the Kiwis still had a year of bitter fighting ahead of them, against some of the best troops in the world. Finally Germany was defeated and the war ended in Europe. But now Freyberg and the New Zealanders found themselves in the middle of a new crisis — the first battle of the Cold War. Communist partisans had taken over the Italian port of Trieste. The New Zealanders were sent to clear them out In theory, the partisans were our allies — they had been fighting the Germans and the Italian Fascists for years. But in this new confrontation between East and West, the old friendships counted for little.

Finally the dispute was settled, and Freyberg set about planning the final stage of the great conflict — the defeat of Japan. Fortunately for the New Zealanders that came earlier than expected when the Americans dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At last the Kiwis could go home.