KIWIS IN ITALY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 43, 26 January 1945, Page 6

KIWIS IN ITALY

A VIVID PEN-PICTURE "FRONT LINE DESCRIPTIONS Yesterday I covered more ground in a Jew hours than 1113- feet have ever carried me before. 111 the morning we went on a three-hour route march and alter lunch lj was told that I had drawn a marble to go to on a tour of Cassino—or what remains of it. We covered the dozen odd mile.s by truck and saw lots of our own and Jerries equipment that hud been knocked out in the break through. The countryside for miles had been blown to blazes and decent sized towns razed to heaps ol' rubble. Cassino is just the most complete wipe off you could ever imagine—■ its -destruction is a terrible, sight and can't be imagined. It was a town as big as Gore but not one building now stands and a shell hole or bomb crater pocks the ground cverj' few feet over an area of dozens of square miles. The whole town is sealed off with barbed wire as it is not safe to leave the main road on account of mines booby traps and possible infection from dead bodies that arc still buried in their hundreds be'neath the rubble. Such landmarks so well known to any.body connected with the battle for Cassino—Hotel, ties- 1 Roses, Continental Hotel etc. are marked with sign posts erected after the fall of the town once famous buildings A 0 now just so much mortar and dust.. We ventured off the beaten track but were soon more than ready to get away from scenes that would turn the turn of the strongest coiirstitution. At one window the body of a Hun sniper lay limp across the window sill where lie had been counter sniped by an Allied soldier, he had been there for more than a couple of weeks and was no pretty sight. This was only one of the many and I am thankful ,1 haven't the j,ob of cleaning up the place. We saw Hun guns in cunning emplacements. that left 110 wonder at tlie difficulty we had in knocking them out. Tiger tanks and Shermans are there .some quite probably knocked out by each other in close range battles. Cassino may rise again but it will have to be cleared of the rubble right to ground level and the new town, if built will be new in every respect. Unfortunately a thunder storm came down on us just as we arrived and few of the lads had any desire to climb Monastery Hill to see the remains of the once famous St. Benedictine Monastery. I was one of the few and managed to recruit four other chaps to make the live miles climb with me. The. officer said he couldn't hold the truck for us but gave us permission to make our own way back to camp per medium of hitch hiking or on. foot. Off we set keeping within the white tapes that marked the lane through, the mine liekls. We had been, walking for about an hour when down came another thunder storm that quickly .saved us the trouble next washing day of soak- ; ing tlie garments we were wearing we all received a thorough drenching but didn't, mind once the lirst , trickle, found its Avay down the

spine. The climb up Monastery Hill brought home to vis the cruel existence the Ghurkas and Poles must have experienced during the weeks they put in on that death trap. Cover from fire was practically nil only a few odd culverts and bomb craters, and eyery inch of the place, was under enemy lire from a dozen angels. The mountain was once covered with olive trees but I can't remember seeing one still standing- In peace time a good road wound its way up to the Monastery and it was over the remains of same, that Ave made our way up. The Indians you may remember were cut oft from .supplies on Monastery Hill tor some ■weeks and thousands of smoke shells were tired by the New Zealand Div. Arty in an attempt to cover the Ghurkas, from view while they withdrew, or in an attempt to get food and ammo up to them. These smoke shells are still on the hill as thick as shells on a beael\ they are everywhere and in six paces aiong.thc track I counted thirty—imagine how many there would be over the whole area-and each one of these was a danger to our own troops a.s a direct hit would be sufficient to knock any man out. It took us 'IY-i miles to get to the Monastery and what a view of the battle field we got. We could see where our own guns had been our particular gun position was I hankfuliy obscured from Hernvs eyes b\ r a hill otherwise we may have heard more from him that we did. Tiie Monastery must have been a huge place as it. covers several acres and was several t-ioreys high. Despite all the bombing one wall at ■

least 150 feet high sill stands but the interior is a cruel mass of ruin. We ventured down through debris and found the remains of what must have, once been beautiful chapels great stair cases at least twelve l'eet wide and fifty yards long, priceless statues and marble columns broken amongst the dust and mortar—l could go on for pages describing the Avealth of old things that now lie there beyond repair but your own imaginations will give you a picture of what would be in such a seat of culture that, had its origin somewhere, around the year 500. We. came across what was once the courtyard and tlie Poles must have found a marble statue of the Virgin Mary for it was obviously set up and the layout looked as though Mass had recently been held in the. courtyard amongst all the desolation. We hunted around for some little souvenir of the visit but nothing of interest, had been left. Had we had time, we would have certainly found something worth while amongst the debris had we dug down, the light was failing and we had to move to get down in daylight. Pat Cooper, another member of the gun team I am in ; was with me, Pat spotted a fine piece of brocade in the sleeve of a jacket and decided to have it. He son dropped it when the bones of a few fingers etc. clanged under his nose as he lifted the material. It was part of the bones of a monk who had been unearthed with the bombing— his skull was resting a few feet away—not so good for Pat but the Monk was well past caring who shook him by the bones. We hit the main road again at 7 p.m. and started our tramp back towards the camp. Dozens of Tommy trucks, llew past and not one wcnld stop in answer to our 'thumbing.' We had walked a couple of miles when a Canadian vehicle pulled up and Ave covered four miles before he left the road we were, travelling along. 'For the next hour Ave .were right out of luck again and more rain didn't help to improve our opinion of the drivers Avho flew past us. We finally came to a traffic control post where avc put our plight to the M.P. and asked him to stop a vehicle for us. This was not necessary though for along came the only kiwi truck avc. had seen all night and he Avas only too pleased to run us to within a couple of miles of 'home.' That lad was as popular as Santa Claus :> and believe me avc had had enough of walking by the time we reached camp. Alter a brew of coffee and milk, tomato soup and cold lamb tongue Ave hit, the Inland thanked our lucky stars that the morrow was Sunday Avith no earlj' check parade as avcll as no training parades. I wa& surprised that I wasn't the least bit stiff next, day Avhich shows the human mechanism must be fairly Avell tuned up. And that just about covers iny movements up till the present timeThere is a possibility I may be going on a course, and that if I do my sums to the satisfaction of the instructors I may get my commission back. Time alone will decide, that issue and I can assure you my slumbers avi 11 not be disturbed wondering about the outcome in the meantime. A course Aviil be a good change and I must say I quite euioy them.