"NO YOU DON'T!"
GENERALS COMPROMISE
Rec. 10 a.m. LONDON, Dec. 16. An -officer who has just returned from the Eighth Armf front in Italy told how General Montgomery ordered General Freyberg not to swim the Sangro River, reports the Cairo corj respondent of the Exchange Telegraph agency. General Freyberg, whose swimming feat at Gallipoli is one of the famous incidents of his career, telephoned to General Montgomery every night from the left flank of the Eighth Army to discuss the day's events. He said on one occasion, "I am swimming the Sangro tomorrow." General Montgomery replied, "No, you don't, and that's a military order. Then General Montgomery announced that he intended to visit the New Zealand sector of the front on the following day. "Oh, no, you're not, and that's a military order. It's too damn dangerous over here," declared General Freyberg. So the two generals compromised. General Freyberg promised not to swim the Sangro and General Montgomery promised to visit only a specified "safe" part of the New Zealand divisional area. The generals met early next morning m a sector which General Freyberg believed to be safe; then "all hell broke loose." They were bombed, shelled, and machine-gunned. General Freyberg has not swum the Sangro, and the Eighth Army is still laughing over the story.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19431217.2.56.23
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 146, 17 December 1943, Page 5
Word Count
216"NO YOU DON'T!" Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 146, 17 December 1943, Page 5
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Evening Post. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in