Evening star., 1943-10-11

would thrive only there. Efforts to
make roquefort in America always
have been failures. But Corsicans
have found that the mould thrives
| just as we'll in its own caves and
samples OF the product are delight
full
During dinner the colonel came
in, with distressing news. Two
American boys OF the lieutenants
platoon. reported missing a week
ago, had been found dead by pa
triot" scouts They were the first
American dead in the Corsican cam
paign. They still were unburied.
Mr.. Beretti insisted on buying
caskets and stone crosses for their
graves and contracting Catholic
priest to say requiem mass for
them. All this at his own expense.
He had done the same few weeks
ago for the first British soldier
killed in Corsica.
Front Shifts Again.
The colonel brought the latest
news from the front, by now shifted
to Casta on the east coast But
American headquarters, he believed
were only about IS miles away. We
started out in the rain and the
dark-but now into new aspect OF
Corsica. Mile after mile we passed
through the painted desert" an
utterly barren, almost uninhabited
1on1 nf Uallaur ~ u
brown spots like the skin Of snake
In this yellow stone Nature had
carved fantastic, ghostly patterns.
The night was pitch black. 1t
was lit only by intermittent flashes
of lightning. We would have
thought it shellfire had there been
any explosions. Over the yellow
wastes through the mist 1t seemed
as if the weird desert was covered
with drifting snow in the brief
glimpses one caught of them in the
lightning flashes All along the road
were parked yellow tanks and half
tracks of the Italian desert army,
camout1aged with green boughs.
We reached the place where. &C
vi OAil6 w Vic IOlOllCl > ulI SCUlOIlS.
the Americans ought to be.
Entering dark old house by the
road which looked haunted in the
lightning flashes, we burst into a
candle-llt room where the officers
OF an Italian regiment were dining
IN state on bread and water. They
directed us next door, where we
! hIrSf ont 1T tho o,.L ;,,t
Italian dressing station where a
soldiers arm was being amputated
without anesthetics. The doctor
knew nothing about the Americans
and naturally didn't want to be
bothered.
1t was half hour before we got
directions to go eight miles down
the road until we came to a bridge
just blown up by the Germans and
then to turn sharply over a field
path for couple of miles to the
town where the Americans were bill
leted. We reached the bridge and
Mr.. Beretti made the wrong turn.
The road was bad but too good for
a neld path. Night was blacker than
ever We passed about 20 Italian
trucks loaded with soldiers and pre-
sumed we were on the right road.
1t took us 40 miles out of the way.
Finally, we encountered some Cor
slcans riding mules and asked direc-
tions. They told us we were either
just on or just over the German
lines and were likely to be taken
prisoners at any moment. They
were patriots Old hunting rifles
were slung over their shoulders.
They told us We had better get out
OF there quick and if anybody tried
to stop us to run him down.
Cross Broken Bridge.
We got out without encounterinp
any German patrols. A little later
l wished for few minutes l was
prisoner. Back to the blown-ou
bridge, some French soldiers were
on guard. They said it would be
impossible to follow the detour in
the dark. The only part of the
bridge intact was one steel girder
about foot wide The best way
to get over, they said, was to walk
across the girder.
We started, in the dark. Twenty
feet below was the river. 1t was
necessary to look down to watch
your feet. Half way across the
girder was broken. There was a
2-foot gap to be crossed. Mr.. Beretti
was in the lead. I brought up the
rear. I don't know yet how I got
over that gap. An Italian soldier
had Joined us. He helped me across
somehow. On the other side it was
necessary to make about a lO-foot
jump. The others succeeded. I
landed waist deep in swift, cold
water. I though my knee was bro
ken, as it crashed against the con-
crete wall.
There was mile to walk. The
Italian soldier asked for a cigarette.
Nobody had any. He went aWay
grumbling. I was sorry 1 had no
cigarettes for him. Without him I
think I still would be clinging to
girder over the middle of the
river. The only reason he had
crossed was the hope of getting a
cigarette.
All Of us limped painfully into
town. The darkness was stygean.
Out of it emerged ghostly figures
with pointed hoods, with black and
brown "bathrobes" wrapped around
them, in the rain. They were the
"goums." We faced leveled rifles.
They could speak neither English
nor French-only Berber. They
were deaf to our arguments.
At last we persuaded them some
how to take us to the American COM
mander. 1t was 2 am. He was fast
asleep and didn't enjoy being
wakened. I couldn't have gone on
any further and finally fell asleep
on the floor Of garage where some
American soldiers were quartered.
They were rather rude about it
when disturbed. In the morning
they said they thought 1 was a
"goum" trying to steal their coffee.
Our bags still were In the car
parked the other side OF the blown
bridge. Doubtless they would have