RUSSIAN OFFICERS
VISIT TO NEW ZEALANDERS
IN ITALY
HEARTLY WELCOME EXTENDED.
SURVEY OF FIGHTING FRONT.
(NZ Official War Correspondent.) EIGHTH ARMY FRONT. December 10. The New Zealanders fighting in Italy received their first spoken tribute from the Russian Army today when five senior Russian officers visited our sector on the Eighth Army's front. Among olive groves on hill slopes, the Russian officers met Lieutenant-General Freyberg and a group of senior New Zealand officers. General Freyberg greeted them warmly. 'I am proud to shake the hand of a Russian general,” he said. ' „ , • Major-General Vasihev, a Russian infantry commander and the senior officer of the group, replied: “We are glad to be with the New Zealanders. Your deeds are widely known in our country.” . The party also included Major-Gen-eral Solodovink, who was with the Eighth Army in Libya and Tunisia as correspondent of the Tass (Russian) news agency. General Freyberg explained to them the New Zealanders’ part, in the offensive across the Sangro River, and one New Zealand intelligence. officer, who was formerly an Auckland Rhodes scholar, speaking in Russian, outlined the present position. The Russians were obviously amazed to find a New Zealander who could speak and joke with them in their own language. Everywhere they went through our gun lines and in jeeps along the roads, the Russians in their distinctive blue uniforms and black polished knee-boots attracted attention. Groups of New Zealanders who recognised them cheered and waved as they drove by. The Russians climbed a high vantage point to watch heavy concentrations of shells crashing down on German gun positions in the hills above the front line.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 December 1943, Page 3
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269RUSSIAN OFFICERS Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 December 1943, Page 3
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