MID WAR RUINS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 127, 30 May 1944, Page 5

MID WAR RUINS

MR. FRASER IN ITALY VISIT TO CASSINO AND ITS MOUNTAIN MONASTERY (Official War Correspondent.) Recd. 8 p.m. Cassino. May 27. The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr. Fraser, less than 24 hours after his arrival in Italy, stood on the ' mins of the Monte Cassino Monas- 1 tery. and surveyed the scene of one of the greatest battles in the history of the New Zealand Division. As he inspected blasted hilltops, bodies oi Geiman and Polish troops slain in th-, recent victorious advance to the monastery, still lay unburied on the rocky s'opcs, which bore fresh evidence o. the bitterness of the conflict. The party, which included the New Zealand Commander, LieutenantGeneral Freyberg, the Chief of the New Zealand General Staff, Lieuten-ant-General, E. Puttick, proceeded by jeep down an incredible cliff-line inferno track, into the broad, greo. valley under the dominating peak c Monte Cairo. Thence the jeeps spec through clouds of screening smoke towards that amazing feat of Nc x ! Zealand engineering, known a. Cavendish Track. Carved into an a.most sheer slope ot the mountain, thi road climbs at a dizzv angle into tip. heights to the rear of the monastery. It was constructed by our engineer., who were often under heavy fire prior to our attack on March 15, anti subsequently our tanks took part in an armoured thrust by means of this perilous ascent. Mr. Fraser was shown the debris of what must have been one of the highest tank battles in history, fought at more than 2000 feet, in mountain mists mingled with the smoke of the conflict. Many tanks still lay where mines, shells, or the treacherous terrain had stopped them. Some were only lightly damaged, others were blasted by fire from explosives. The party halted near the ruins of Masseris Albaneta, a gaunt, stone pile, which occupies a small plateau overlooking the massive, tumbled wreckage of the monastery. A foot track led on through a maze of shell and bomb craters, over every ; inch of which the opposing infantry - had struggled. Below, to the right, ] Highway Six showed through a haze, ( half hidden by long columns of Allied transport rolling towards where the J German lines were being driven even ( further backwards. The last few hundred yards lay through stripped trunks of a grove or , trees, standing forlornly in ground | pulverised by months of shelling and , bombing. Then there was a steep r climb towards the overhanging walls j of the monastery itself, which, at one 5 noint. retained its original height of j four storeys. 2 Despite the arduous nature of the climb and the fact that h P had com- 2 menced the tour at the first light that t morning. Mr. Fraser kent clos-e behind T his fleet-footed Polish guide and < scarcely paused until he reached the j summit of the rubbled southern wall. f There he could look down on the j scene, of our attack on Cassino, Gen- j eral Freyterg pointed out to him vari- ( ous points of importance in the battle. f Below, and only 200 yards away, was the rocky outcrop known as Hang- f man’s Hill, still crowned with lits overturned funicular pylon where the t

Gurkhas held out for eight days. A semi-circle of scorched grass marked Point 212, where a New Zealand company completely cut off proved to be a thorn in the enemy’s side despite a hurricane of fire. Castle Hiill and Point 165 seemed absurdly close. And then there was the town iiself, its battered chaos even more apparent. Highway Six and the railway road each gave off plumes of dust as they bore their load of traffic • through the cratered marshes and morass that once was a botanical garden. It was across this and through the ruins of Ihe cathedral that the southern battalion advanced to take the railway station — visible as a blackened shell amid the debris. As Mr. Fraser made his way back over the huge piles of rubbte, through which occasionally showed fragments of irreplaceable works of art, the mellow sound of a piano came from the less damaged part of the building. In the courtyard the Poles who occupy the fortress had cleared the shrine for worship. Another courtyard, entirely desecrated, contained fresh excavations, where the Germans had hastily dv.g a mortar emplacement to meet the threat from the rear. Beyond, on the slopes, Polish troops were gathering their dead. Later, Mr. Fraser descended to Cassinu and inspected at closer range the maze of fortifications occupied for so ’ong bv the Germans. Before he climbed Monastery Hill Mr. Fraser General Anders. Commander-in-Chiel of the Polish Corps, who explained to the Minister the part the Polish troops had played in the Baltic for Cassino. General Anders, who had just been created a Commander of the Order of the Bath for his part in these decisive operations, expressed admiration for thn fighting qualities of the New Zealanders and th P satisfaction it gave the Poles to be associated with them as comrades in arms.