POPULAR TROOPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25428, 8 January 1944, Page 5

POPULAR TROOPS

NEW ZEALANDERS IN ITALY BEHAVIOUR APPRECIATED (N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent) DIVISIONAL HEADQUARTERS IN ITALY, (Rec. 9.30 p.m.) Jan. 4. There is a small, compact village a few miles from the front line inhabited largely by 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 flagstoned 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 building, but it has several others which, for the size of the place, are remarkably good. The houses are of concrete or stone, built right on the street. Most of them are odd two-storeyed places with narrow 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 back room, where the Italian to whom the house belonged had provided a comfortable bed with snowwhite sheets. They had brought him hot water in the mornings, he told me, and swept and tidied the room, asking v 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.CA. kinema unit, which screens as many as four shows a day of new releases which it has been able to acquire. The same unit has shown pictures to troops actually in the front line by setting up its plant in nearby houses. The Y.M.C.A. has played as big a part here as elsewhere in making life more bearable for 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 buildings occupied by the troops. They had what 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 troop' has been much appreciated by tr < people of the village, who for me weeks had the Germans in their mir’