MR. FRASER IN ITALY

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 June 1944, Page 3

MR. FRASER IN ITALY

IMPRESSTONS OF VISIT.

(Official News Service).

SOUTHERN ITALY, June !. With the first phase of his visit to Italy completed—five strenuous days oi touring the New Zealand sector and meeting officers and men of the 2nd Division —the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) is now moving southward by stages, and calling on rear units of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Apart from his journey by armoured car to the front line to see the Maoris, Mr. Fraser yesterday visited a number of other formations’ in the division which are now moving steadily forward. They included regiments of the armoured brigade, a field ambulance unit, a medical dressing station, and a field hygiene section. Before he started south this morning he also met officers and men of the Divisional Signals. Together with infantry, artillery, engineer, A.S.C., and ordnance units visited earlier, these meetings have provided Mr. Fraser with an excellent cross-section of the division. His tour has been remarkably comprehensive, considering the limited time available, and equally remarkable was the way m which he stood up to the continual and tiring journeys over rough, dusty roads, and good deal of strenuous walking in the heat of the early Italian Summer. But bouncing jeeps and choking dust failed to discourage, him. The more he saw the more he wanted to see. He would awake refreshed each morning and step down from the caravan where he slept ready for another early start. Each day his face became a little more tanned—sunshine is so plentiful in Italy now that most of the men are deeply sunbrowned. Mr. Fraser said to-day that he felt that his visit to the division had been especially valuable, in that he had been able to. see it both on the move and during actual operations. “Now that I have visited most of the forward areas I feel that, few of us in New Zealand have been able to imagine, let alone understand,'the full extent of the difficulties and hardships our troops have had to overcome.” said Mr. Fraser. “Being able to see for myself the scenes of some of their actions, and the almost incredible hazards and obstacles they faced, has leit me with fi still deeper respect and admiration for what they have achieved.” He had felt this particularly on his visit to the battlefields of Cassinp Lown and the monastery. To climb ■toward the monastery ruins and look down on the desolation of the snattered town and see the formidable natural defences which had helped to make the position an impregnable stronghold was an experience he would not soon forget. He had been greatly impressed, amazeu, py the feats of the New Zealanders and other troops in their assault on the town. Cassino has passed into New Zealand history as an epic of cotirawe and sacrifice,” said Mr. Fraser. It ranks with Crete, Minqar Qaim, Alamein, Takrouna, Mareth, and those oth°r battlefields that will be remembered always from this and the last war.”

DISCUSSIONS WITH TROOPS. In addition to his first-hand study of the scenes of the New Zealanders actions, both as recent as Cassino and as current as at Sora, where he saw the battle for Italy in progress from the front line itself, Mr. Fraser said the visit had been most valuable from the point of view or the he had had with General Freyberg and his stall, and also his talks with officers and men of nearly every divisional formation. When he last saw the division in 1941, the New Zealanders were coming out of Ciete, and although they had been weary men, some badly wounded, tney had lost nothing of the fighting spirit that made them famous. On mis second visit he had found the same con li - enee and spirit, among them—eonnclence that was all the stronger ‘ O -aay, lor it .had been so often tested and proved in battle. .‘‘They nave corm, a long way, and achieved a great dual. Their campaign m Laly has bec.n a slow and difficult one,” said Mr. Fraser “Through a severe ana unpleasant Winter they have fought narcl battles. Even now, with the campaign moving faster and the weather waim and dry, the campaign is one of the most difficult they have eve taken part in; but 1 have been gieatly impressed by tteir efficiency fitness ana high spirits, Maori and troops alike. Nobody could fad to be struck by their fine appearance as they move up the line into battle.. Mr Fraser added that he appreciated and sympathised with their earnest hope that the day ol victory and of their return to tneir homes and lamiues would not be too long delayed, it was a hope that was in every heat i, whether at home or on che battleixOiu. The demands of the present, however, were still urgent. Our principal enemies, Germany and Japan, wen not yet defeated, and they wet e still dangerous and formidable foes.

VISIT TO WOUNDED

(Official News Service)

SOUTHERN ITALY, June 3. I One ol the primary reasons why] the lives of so many of our wounued| men are being saved in this war I the promptness with which they are evacuated from the front line, fust to dressing stations, then to casualty clearing stations, and finally to general hospitals in peaceful surroundings well away from the scenes oil baHlo. The Prime Minister (Mr| Fraser), who has just completed his visit to Italy with a tour of. the rear areas, was given striking evidence ot this when he went through hospital wards far behind the battle line. To his suipise he met wounded Maoris whom he had seen moving to the front less than two days before. In that time they had gone into action, near Sora, become casualties, mid] had been brought through the whole, process of evacuation to rear hos- ( pitals. i Throughout his tour Mr Fraser hasj taken great interest in the care of: New Zealand sick and wounded men, and since he left the battle zone he has spent a great deal of time in- . sweating hospital installations of the expeditionary force. First he visited a casualty clearing station,, which had tended hundreds of wounded —our| own and those of Allied formations—| from the attacks on Cassino. Then he inspected three of our general hospitals, a convalescent depot, and a camp hospital at a New Zealand advance base. He talked with the staffs,! and went from bed to bed speaking for a few minutes each to as many patients as he could. Mr Fraser was told that the success of the New Zealand Medical Corps in saving a high proportion of our wounded was being maintained, and was due largely to the fact that surgeons were operating on urgent cases within a few thousand yards of the front line, to the speed with which the wounded "were removed to the rear, and to the use of plasma and such effective drugs as the sulfa grouo and penicillin. Striking testimony to the way men’s lives are being saved by these developments was given. Mr Fraser at a casualty clearing station, where he was told that the mortality rate from abdominal wounds had dropped from as high as 90 per cent, in the last war to as low as 20 per cent, in this war. Mr Fraser congratulated surgeons, doctors, nurses, and their aides and orderlies on the success of their work. He commented that he had long felt sure that New Zealand wounded received the best possible

/i ci-illed attention, and what d q pJn in Italy had’fully conhe nad sc 1 in j on . He realised brmec L!;L over the debt of gratitude m°hc ffiai £ ]an(l ov , ed itg me djcal that N^^ vome n, from stretcherEers ; in the battleline to the staffs ol 'rr,j he 0 Minister visited other nSt in Southern Italy, and also ui-iu -- Zealand Forces Hut at an advance base. SOLDIERS’ MARRIAGES (N.Z.E.F. Official_News Service.) SOUTHERN ITALY, June 2. Mr Fraser and a young New Zeai i 4 ..-,1/ officer raised a laugh beon Thursday when Mr Fraser was talking with members of 1 ias s* nnrr-d regiment. Mr Fraser hSd bSn meeting officers and men of nonriv every divisional unit and tffiki i informally with them—as many as eight times daily-then answering their questions about rehabilitation, home conditions, and so on This tank officer asked, amid laughter ‘‘ls New Zealand losing many of its young women through American servicemen marrying them and intending to take them back tp ihp United States?’ Mr Fraser’s ready answer swelled , the laughter: “Yes but they are being replaced by the English and Canadian girls, our own boys are marrying while they are away It looks as if the whole thing is going to balance out pretty evenly.”

MR FRASER AT CAIRO

(Official News Service.) CAIRO, June 5. Mr Fraser to-day made formal calls on King Farouk and the Prime Minister of Egypt. He had an hour s discussion with the British Minister of State Lord Moyne, and also talked with’General Paget, Commander-in-Chief in the Middle East. Tomorrow Mr Fraser, begins a busy programme, with visits to base units and installations of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He will, meet and talk with representative officers and men, and wiTR watch a number of demonstrations that have been arranged for him in training camps. Mr Fraser will also inspect the New Zealand Forces Club, the Kiwi Club and the general hospital. He found time te-d'av to visit the New Zealand Officers' Rest Home on the banks of the Nile in Cairo, and commented that he was most pleased with the amenities provided there . for the convalescent officers.