FRIENDLY VILLAGERS

Evening Star, Issue 25068, 8 January 1944, Page 6

FRIENDLY VILLAGERS

NEW ZEALANDERS IN ITALY BEHAVIOUR OF TROOPS APPRECIATED (N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent.) DJVISIONAiThEA DQUARTEItS IN ITALY, January 4. There is a small, compact village a few miles from the front line inhabited largely iby New Zealanders, and it could almost be called their own village, for the town major is a New Zealander and the troops outnumber by many the Italian people one sees in the streets. ■ There are narrow llagstoned streets which wind over and round a hilltop, on which sits the main part of the village. As with nearly all Italian villages, the church is the most impressive ibuilding, but it has several others which, for the size of the place, are remarkably good.

The houses, are of concrete or stone, built righi; on the street. Most of them are odd two-storied places with harrow balconies, where on fine days women sit placidly knitting while buildings tremble with the blast of nearby guns and the thunder of heavy military traffic. • ;

.Many people left the village when it was under bombardment, and evacuated houses have become a welcome refuge from rain and snow for units stationed there and, for troops enjoying a well-earned rest from the line. The villagers are friendly to our men. This morning I visited an officer who had been out of the line for a few days and was returning this afternoon. He had been living in a large, clean backroom, where the Italian to whom the house belonged had provided a comfortable bed with snow-white sheets. They had ■ brought him hot water in the mornings, he told me. and swept and tidied the room, asking nothing in return. In this village is a school with the smallest of theatres, complete with stage, balcony, and pit. The theatre is being used now by the Y.M.C.A. cinema unit, which screens as many as four shows a day'of new releases which it has been able to acquire. The same

ally in the front line by setting up its plant in neariby houses. The Y.M.C.A-. has plaved as big a part here as elsewhere in making life more bearable tor units in and near the village by providing tea, biscuits, and other comforts.

The soldiers have their greatest popularity with the children, particularly about 40 who are in an orphanage among the buicllings occupied by the troops*. They had w.hat was for them a royal Christmas when the New Zealanders were provided with more than they could eat. The balance was given to the children, and was the greatest Christmas treat of their lives. The behaviour of the New Zealand troops has been much appreciated by the people of the village, who for many weeks had the Germans in their midst.