THE “MAD MILE”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 3, 5 January 1944, Page 4

THE “MAD MILE”

TRIP TO THE FRONT LULL IN NZ. SECTOR (Official War Correspondent—N.Z.E.F.) Divisional Headquarters. Dec. 29. Though no rain has fallen for a few days, the conditions in the forward areas are still made miserable by keen winds and mud. Roads are hardening again, and supply problems are solving themselves as wheeled traffic becomes mobile again up to the limits of our advance. Since our last attack on Christmas Eve, the enemy has not attempted any serious counter-attack, but has contented himself with shelling and mortaring oUr new positions. The New Zealanders’ hold on the Or-sogna-Ortona road has not been seriously challenged, and the danger period can now be considered past, as a strong line has been established. The lack of activity about the stronghold of Orsonga might almost indicate that the town is clear of the enemy, but ever-active patrols have established that this perfect defensive position is si ill well held by heavy arms. It is even open to question whether the threat from the east will force the enemy to withdraw from Orsogna, as long as the mountain flanks are reasonably secure. At the moment the enemy’s best ally is the Italian mountain winter. Despite the impasse, the front, cannot oe described as a quiet one. With the visibility good a trip to the forward units was again something of a lottery. with the German gunners casting the dice.

A “mad mile” has never been belter named—a twisting, ascending .stretch of slippery roadway, most of which is in uninterrupted view of Orsogna at a range of a few thousand yards. As my jeep approached the fatal thoroughfare I could see vehicles speeding up the long incline, flashing and doubling in the watery sunlight. Suddenly there would be a flash and cloud of smoke and flying earth, but there was no faltering in that wellspaced line. Then <e were out in plain view of OrsoeJa, and whicking up the slope and spirming with screaming tyres around each bend. 1 had time to observe the black powder marks and shallow craters of shellholes. not deep holes such as are left in ploughed fields, but deadly little depressions in which no shell" splinters are left. There was a whistle and ■« crack behind, and then another and another, and the scream of flying fragments. Then we were round the last, corner, with the bulk of a hill between us and the enemy. But the road to the front lines runs for some miles yet «long ridges, down slopes, and up to high ground again. From this vantage point I could see the black pall of i enemy mortar bursts hanging over the ' positions and sprouting plumes of hign-explosive shells The men out 1 Uir p o’p getting “just the usual hate. It -.as just another day, unmarked by anything unusual.