FIRST INTO ROME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25563, 16 June 1944, Page 2

FIRST INTO ROME

AN AUCKLAND CAPTAIN ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME (N.Z.E.F. Official War Correspondent) (Rec. 7 p.m.) ROME, June 12. The first New Zealander to enter Rome was a captain from Auckland. As a small party entered the city limits shortly after the first light on Monday, after the city’s fall, they passed through a huge demonstrative crowd which still lines the streets and pours out 'into the roadway. Even now it is difficult to prevent enthusiastic citizens from swarming into slow-moving vehicles. The captain and those with him -were almost inundated by a stream of wellwishers, and some members were soundly kissed, in spite of resistance. It was then still dangerous to move about the streets after dark. Sporadic bursts of firing could be heard as snipers and militant Fascists were dealt with, and there was an occasional distant roar of demolition. Members of the party saw dead in the streets, and even now German deserters (who may be more than just that) are being rounded up in the vicinity of their old camping area. The first sight that confronted the new arrivals was the smoking ruins of two buildings nearby which had been blown up by delayed charges a few hours before. On entering the building, the captain noticed a heap of straw on the floor. On investigation, he found that it concealed a dummy booby trap in the shape of an exploded anti-personnel bomb. On a shelf in the office was a solitary onion. It was connected by string to a bomb which obviously was not a dummy. The technique of ' the Germans was apparenly to set a number of dummies, the discovery of which would make the new occupants careless. In front of nearby dug-outs was a large new saw. It was also heavily boobytrapped. No accident resulted, however, and the engineers quickly dealt with the emergency.