Author(s): various

New Zealand Miltary

Derived from a book originally published in Italian this English version by ten authors nine Italian and one New Zealand contains ten chapters mainly about Italy during the 1939-45 period of World War Two. The 2nd New Zealand Division took part in the attack across the Lamone River near Faenza late in 1944 and never crossed the Senio River north of Faenza line until it took part in the spring offensive in April 1945. The defensive line established by the German Wehmacht ran from Bologna in the west to Lake Comacchio to the east. They named it the Ghengis Khan line while New Zealanders often referred to their own front as being on the Winter Line. Six chapters make reference to the situations in which Italian civilians found themselves as they sought during a very severe winter to survive in their homes between the two rivers as German New Zealand Polish Ghurka and other military occupied the zone and often their homes. These particular chapters are Those days at Celle and at Faenza by Virginio Anesa Days of War at Pergola by Don Scolastico Berardi Between the Senio and the Lamone by Cardinal Pio Laghi The Boy’s Orphanage and the Passing of the Front by Antonio Rossini Memories of War -1944 Between San Biagio and Montefortino by Dominica Timoncini Paddy My Best friend by Arthur Gladstone On the plain between the two rivers the rural houses were used by Germans often as strong points next to which a tank might be hidden. Such houses and others were subject to attack by Allied artillery and dive bombing aircraft making life very difficult for those civilians still sheltering in their homes. There was fighting around the German strongpoint of Celle to the west of Faenza and there elements of the 28th NZ Maori Battalion were involved at first. However it was the 23rd Battalion that initiated the main attack. Over a period both the 5th and 6th NZ brigades were committed north of the Lamone River. The writers have vividly described the dangers they experienced the loss of their loved ones giving an acute insight into a face of war quite different from the heroics of military action. Their accounts in English blend together to provide a picture of war in Italy where New Zealand was involved but giving the other side of the coin. As such these accounts supplement the limited information available from official histories and are intended for a much wider readership. The other four chapters while not referring in any way to New Zealanders activities give te insights into the lives of ordinary civilians caught up in Mediterranean Theatre of Operations Recollections by Alberto Carboni a resident of Faenza who was a few months short of his 17th birthday when he joined a Partisan band at the hamlet of Strabatenza high up in the Forli-Cesena Province. These recollections reveal his feelings while being hunted by the German Forces. Fortune and Knowledge by Adelmo Mercatali who was injured as a result of being torpedoed off the African coast while serving in a light cruiser. After returning to Italy and demobilized he was denounced for hiding an American aviator and sent to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria. He describes the terrors experienced there and his eventual survival against the odds. From the French Border to the Retreat from Russia “ by Antonio Taroni who came from near to Faenza City. He went to Russia with the ‘ Ravenna’ Division and there experienced the vicissitudes that were the lot of many Italian formations. A Little Girl’s Eyes on the War from Faenza to Rivalta. The reconstruction by Valeria Ziron who lived in Faenza. Together with the many photographs of troops equipment damaged homes and the like the ten essays provide an understanding of the impact of war on a city and its adjoining rural area. The value of the book is not considered to have been diminished by the translation of accounts into English as an accurate portrayal of events has been the Publisher’s intention