LAST UNITS LEAVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26640, 10 December 1947, Page 5

LAST UNITS LEAVE

BRITISH EVACUATION FROM ITALY REGRET WIDELY EXPRESSED N.Z.P. A.—Reuter—Copyright. Rec. 9.30 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 9. Italian shore batteries fired a 10gun salute yesterday as transports sailed for Southampton with the last British military units from Italy, says the Venice correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. The last Americans are expected to sail from Le Horn in a few days, thus completing the Allied evaluation by December 15, the date set by the Peace Treaty. A small number of troops of both nations will remain to make final adjustments. The British contingent numbers about 100 officers and men. On December 14 they will exchange their uniforms for civilian clothes.

Although a parade which was to. have been held in St. Mark’s Square. Venice, to signal the embarkation of the last British occupation forces to leave Italy was cancelled owing to heavy raii\, speeches of friendship were changed by the British officer commanding the Central Mediterraean, Major-general Airey, and the Italian commander in the Udine zone, General Cappa, at a ceremony in the Hotel Danieli yesterday, says the New Zealand Press Association special correspondent in London. General Airey said the last British troops to leave Italy would carry home feelings of enduring friendship, born of the many kindnesses they had been shown throughout the length and breadth of Italy. They would not forget those gallant Italians who had fought with them or the countless Italian people who had sheltered British prisoners and fought in the common cause behind the enemy lines.

General Cappa thanked the British Army for all it had done for the reorganisation and reconstitution of Italy, which, without such help, would have been “ prostrated by defeat and sacrificed in the clash of conflicting interests.”

The Venice correspondent of The Times says: “ While there is a minority in Italy, as elsewhere, glad to see the British go, regret is a sentiment most widely expressed. There is pessimistic wagging of heads among many Italians as they- speak of the moral influence and psychological effect of the presence of even a small number of British troops. The prestige of the British is high, and the presence of British troops undoubtedly acted as a check to potential trouble-makers.”