WEATHER & WAR

Grey River Argus, 21 March 1945, Page 2

WEATHER & WAR

(Official War Correspondent N.Z.E.F.) FAENZA, Februray 2. Boredom, the weather, and the Germans in approximately that order are what the New Zealand Division is fighting these 'days on the frozen, snow-strewn plains of Lombardy. For nearly two months now the line has been static, and troops have, come to regard themselves as old identities of the district around Faenza and Forli, with which they have become familiar through repeated journeys back and forth along Route 9 when going in and out of the line. Usually a unit is 10 days or a fortnight in the line and then a little less out of it, giving the troops the opportunity to have a rest and a thorough clean-up before returning lo the patrolling and the nightly vigils around their farmhouse homes which are pra'ctically the only infantry activity these days. There were signs to-day—the first so far —that winter is relaxing its grip on the countryside. There was no frost this morning, and although the sun didn’t manage to break through the foggy murk the temperature was considerably milder than it lias been lately, and the ground was correspondingly slushier underfoot. If this is really the beginning of a general thaw it will help to solve one problem that Las been giving the forward troops a good deal of trouble. That is the lifting of enemy mines, which are liberally sown along the approaches to the eastern bank of the Se.n.io river. •; These iare .ticklish enough to deal with at any time, but when they are lying under anything up lo six inches of snow, frozen over tnem almost as hard a_s concrete, the liting of them becomes hazardous in the extreme. Although the mud is anything but pleasant, it will, from this point of view at least, be preferable to the snow.

A trip around the fronts just now would convince a visitor that the Eighth Army must surely be one of the most cosmopolitan in the world. New Zealanders, both pakeha and Maori, are liable to rub shoulders in the lines with men from the British isles, or with Canadians, Indians, or Foies, while an Italian force, tangible proof of co-belligerency, has also been pitted against the Hun on the Army front. Of their Italian uniform, these men retain only the greenish caps; for the rest they are attired in battledress, and with the exception of their regimental insignia, rather more spectacular than in most British units, it is difficult at times to distinguish them from any other soldiers of the Eighth Army. In their general demeanour around the garrison towns that lie behind the front line there is little that marks them as aliens. They wander along the streets in twos and threes, look in the few shop windows that have anything on display, cast a critical eye over the more attractive girls, and, in short, behave in exactly the same way as any other soldiers in a strange town. In labour gangs that are busy at the moment clearing the roads of the frozen snow that has accumulated in recent weeks, Italian civilians are working alongside Indians and African blacks. These Indians are not in the same class of the fighting men who have made a great napie for themselves in this war, but they do a good job in their own way, and, frequently under the control of South African engineers, theiy are helping to keep the transport of th e Eighth I Army rolling. They would hardly be recognised as countrymen of the lighter-skinned, mongoloid Ghurkas, than whom there are no smarter soldiers in this or probably any other army. Small, shaven-headed men with faces of mask-like inscrutability, they always draw another glance. Their reputation as fighters is second to none, and one look at them is sufficient to cause most New Zealanders to express fervent thanks that they are on our side and not on the other. One current story concerning the variety of races in the Eighth Army indicates that the representation of he men of Eire is by no means poor. Churchill and De Valera, it is said, were discussing some matter in wmeh negotiation was required betwcen the United Kingdom and Eire. A long discussion on one point on which agreement was difficult, was terminated bv De Valera saying, “We i, if vou won’t meet Eire’s demands there, I’ll recall the Eighth Army.’