PRESENCE OF ALLIED TROOPS IN ITALY

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5293, 4 January 1947, Page 5

PRESENCE OF ALLIED TROOPS IN ITALY

(Press Assn-

MUTUAL DETESTATION motor acc1dents take heavy toll

-Rec. 9.30 p.m.)

LONDON, Jan. 3. British and Italian relations will be discussed at length this month, when the Italian Foreign Minister, Signor Pietro Nenni, at the invitation of Mr. Bevin, will come to London and spend four days examining the various problems still outstanlding between the two countries. At the same time, the Italian Prime Minister, Signor Alcide de Gasperi, will go to Washington to discuss similar problems with the United States Government. One of the chief subjects at both conferences will be the revival of the Italian export trade. Already British and Italian experts have worked out a plan to increase the flow of goc-ds between Britain and Italy. These proposals enwsage the interchange of British raw materials for supplies of Italian textiles, furniture and food, chiefly fruit and vegetables. It is also expected that Signor Nenni will raise the question of the future of Italian colonies with Mr. Bevin/ It was agreed by the Paris Peace Cc-nference that a decision about the future administration of Italian colonial territories must be talcen within a year of the signing of the Italian peace treaty. The special eorrespondent in Rome oi' the Yorlcshire Post says the Italian Foreign Minister will face a particularly difficult domestic situa-tic-n during the week before his visit to London. Growing Communist Power During that week the Italian Socialist party, of which Signor Nenni is president, will hold its second post-war congress in Rome. At this congress it is expected that a strong sectio-n of the party headed by Signor Guiseppe Saragat, president of the Italian- Constituent Assembly, will lead a revolt against Signor Nenni's policy of co-operation with the Italian Communist party. Signor Saragat and his supporters i'ear that the growing pc-wer of the Communists in Italy, which is being nurtured by current shortages and discontent. will tend to swamp the more moderate Socialists, whereas Signor Nenni contends that the Italian Republic is not yet sufficiently well established to risk the inevitable conflict which would be ereated by an open break between the So-cialists and Communists. Actording to recent reports from Italy, one of the major causes of discontent in many parts of the country is the c.ontinuing presence of British and other occupation troops. The troops themselves are bored and want to go home, and Italians find their presence a convenient pret.ext for expressing their irritation against present conditions. The latest of a number of unpleasant incidents c-ccurred in Bari, where armoured cars-and light tanks had to be used to check food riots and a general strilce paralysed the seaport. This was primarily a demonstration against the Italian Government, but a number of other lesser incidents have involved Allied troops and Italian civilians. Motor Accidents One of the chief causes of these is the number of motor accidents in which Italians have been killed or injured by military vehicles. Incomplete Italian statistical reports allege that since Octoher, 1943, over 3500 Italians were killed and 20,000 injured in this manner. It was one of these accidents which precipitated the reeent antiBritish demonstrations in Padua and anc-ther demonsti-ation in Naples when a British driver erashed into the pavement and injured a number of pedestrians. Italian resentment is reflected in cartoons in the popular Press. One of these shows a British officer driving a jeep and leaving behind him a trail of' dead and injured. It carries the caption, "Now We've Dismembered Italy, Let Us Dismember the Italians."

Resentment is also expressed at the almost unrestricted liberty permitted many thousands of German prisoners of war mostly in the Rimini and Riccione areas, in which are established camps in the country over which the New Zealand Division fought during the closing stages of the offensive which broke the Gothis Line. "Little Germany" Italians call this area "Little Germany," and complain about the amount of transport allowed Germans in travelling backwards and forwards to the various reconstruction jobs on which they are engaged. Another cause fc-r complaint is the number o'f Italian hotels and other' buildings still requisitioned by the occupation forces, despite the wholesale removal of troops. Although the Allied Ccmmand in Rome .is now reduced to a mere skeleton ' sfaff, several of the best hotels are 'still held for use of Allied personnel. It is pointed out "by correspondents and troops recently returned, from Italy that the increasing Italian tendeney to complain about the continued presence of the occupation troops and various incidents caused hy the behaviour of irresponsible ' individuals is undermining and destroying much of the good impression ereated ear]jg£_j2y: