CAMPAIGN IN ITALY

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 November 1944, Page 5

CAMPAIGN IN ITALY

POLES CAPTURE HEIGHT LONDON, November 7. Polish troops of the Bth Army in Italy have captured important heights south-west of Forli, and have cleared the enemy from two villages, in spite of intense enemy resistance. Elsewhere, on both the Bth and sth Armies’ sectors, activity during the last 24 nours has been confined to patrolling. The Bth Army’s latest attacks are probably designed to reduce the Germans’ 15-miles deep salient between our positions south of Bologna and Ravenna, says the British United Press correspondent at Allied Headquarters in Italy. The salient in the past few days has been pushed back along its entire length. Yesterday 2700 operational flights were made by Italian-based aircraft against objectives In Austria, Jugoslavia, and Northern Italy, including the Brenner Pass railway. Four enemy aeroplanes were shot down and 14 of ours are missing. NEW ZEALANDERS RESTING. [N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent] NORTHERN ITALY, November 5. Now in the divisional rest area, after campaigning on the Adriatic front, some New Zealanders are living in a camp specially built for Allied troops before the invasion of Italy. Naturally, it was not intended for a victorious army, but lor war prisoners, and although the circumstances are very much different from those for which the place was intended, men of one infantry brigade who are now occupying the camp have been able to gain some idea of the conditions under which New Zealand prisoners of war have lived in Italy. According to local Italians, the camp was built in 1942, but was never actually completed, and the New Zealanders who moved in recently have had to spend a good deal of time making the buildings habitable and improving the surroundings—a task that has not been helped by the heavy rain which has fallen lately with great regularity. Prisoner labour was used in the construction of the camp, and it seems probable that some New Zealanders were among the Allied soldiers working there, as New Zealand Red Cross parcel cards have been found among the buildings. Situated more than 1000 feet above sea level, with mountains rising close behind it, this camp is not particularly cheery with Winter not far away, but it is preferable to being under canvas in this weather, and has the advantage of being adjacent to a large open space eminently suitable for football grounds. Besides the regular training schedule, which occupies a good deal of time, Rugby matches are played almost every day, with the result that although troops have not had the opportunity for steady practice, some teams have achieved a very high standard of football.

Men of other brigades are billeted or camped around half a dozen villages in the divisional area—some in houses or other buildings, some in tents, and many others in their trucks. Building's taken over for this purpose are inspected by a field hygiene unit, which sprays any possible source of infection in the neighbourhood to prevent disease among the troops. On this subject a story is told of a New Zealander who met an Italian woman standing outside a stable holding a horse, and gesticulating violently as she loudly ventilated what was obviously a complaint. He listened for a time, but could not understand her, and as it seemed that something really- was wrong, he called someone who knew more, of the language. The cause of the trouble was soon found. A field hygiene squad had sprayed the stable, which was close to a building occupied by troops, and so contrary was this to anything in its experience that the horse positively refused to enter its home.