KISSES FOR A.I.F. MEN

Evening Star, Issue 23818, 24 February 1941, Page 8

KISSES FOR A.I.F. MEN

ITALIAN COLONISTS' GREETING

As tho Australian troops move west through Cyrcnaica they arc being greeted by Italian colonists with excessive enthusiasm, sometimes affection, and white flaps (wrote the correspondent of the Melbourne 1 Argus ’ from Derna). The reason is that these people, with whom we are at war, have been left to their own resources by tho Fascist soldiery, anil fear for their safety at the hands of Libyan natives. The Libyans have a heady invaded their homes, looted their belongings, and stolen their live stock. Following closely behind our advanced mechanised cavalry moving toward Cyreno I saw men. women, and children grasping and kissing the hands of Australian troops. They ran along the roads to meet us. A kindly middle-aged Italian priest in the little colony of Giovanni Berta said that many of his countrymen were unsympathetically disposed toward the Fascist regime. lie showed mo what the Libyans had done to his new Catholic church. The altar rail had been torn away and several altar appointments damaged. The priest looked on at this sacrilege, powerless to resist. “ I hoipe some Australians will stay hero to protect us,” he said. CHURCH DESPOILED.

Only a handful of Australian troops remained; tho main body continued their march to the west.

The priest pointed to a ridge behind tho church where Libyan Bedouins were disappearing, their donkeys loaded with loot from the town. _ All houses in the town had been stripped hare, and furniture too heavy to remove had been smashed beyond repair. Driving westward, wo passed more Italian settlers waving white (lags. Every house had a white flag nailed to the verandah post. Near Luigi di Savon. named after the founder of the colony, our leader signalled us to stop. Running along the roadway to moot ns were about 40 Italian men. women, and children. At their head was a greyhaired woman, who grasped tho hand of tho first Australian she reached. Tears streamed down her face. The cavalryman was embarrassed as the woman kissed his hand, and then throw her arms round his neck and kissed him on both cheeks. He struggled free from tho Italians and jumped into a Bren gun carrier “ for protection.” For half an hour there was pandemonium. A man who spoke little English assured me that they were not scared of the Australians, but the Bedouins. On the side of the road a few Libyans stood silently watching. There was fear in tho eyes of the Italian women as they looked at the Libyans. "MAY KILL US.” My interpreter told me that Libyan Arabs had raided the village several times since the Italian troops- had withdrawn. They had robbed a small shop, and when the owner finally locked it, they burnt it down. Farmers were having their sheep and cattle stolen, and their store sheds pillaged. “ Soon, perhaps, they kill ns and onr bambinoK,” said my interpreter. “ Fascist! soldiers run away. Perhaps Australians save ns.” Suddenly a young woman came running from a building which contained a dispensary. Several of ns ran hack with her into the building, and there saw seven Bedouins stuffing bags with hospital linen and equipment. They dropped their bundles and ran ns an officer drew his revolver.

Several Italians gave onr troops bread and home-grown wine. It was the first bread they _ had seen for six weeks, and the wine was good. We persuaded the Italians to return to their homes, and wc went on. At cross roads, one leading to Benghazi and others to Gyrene, we waited until advised that tho road to, Cyreno was clear.

As the sun was setting we drove into Cvrone between an avenue of pines. ‘The light was failing fast, and as we were the only Australians in the town we decided' to return to Derna and prepare to move our camp forward to-morrow. Behind ns the Australian troops had bivouacked for the night.