Evening star., 1943-10-03
Fidelity Of Italians
To New Allies Saves
Trapped British Patrol
BY JOHN LARDNER.
War Correspondent of The Star and No
American Newspaper Alliance

American Newspaper Alliance.
WITH THE BRITISH 9TH ARMY
ADVANCED FORCES IN ITALY
Sept. 80 DelayedD This is a stor,
of British luck and coolness and o
Italian fidelity to their new allies
1t also explains how IS German
soldiers came to be wiped out at one
stroke in manner so mySteriou.
that the other Germans themselve,
90 not know to this day how it hap
pened.
The tide of enemy occupation ha.
now been rolled back we'll north ot
the italian coastal town of Trani
Tranls citizens are no longer ir
danger of retaliation. The fact O,
the matter is, however. that ever
when that danger was real and the
Germans went so far before with.
drawing as to seize $50 hostages from
the town to eXtort an explanation OF
the strange liquidation of Is of Their
troops the people of Trani were
stanch and took pleasure in sustain
ing the foes befuddlement.
Trani lies on the Adriatic Sea
Capt. Denys Hart was leading a
small reconnaissance patrol in the
nelghborhood. His job was routine
the somewhat ticklish routine of
living in the enemy's shadow. These
reconnaissance men rise to their
scouting art from odd sources. Capt
Hart, who lives in a little place in
Surrey boldly called Greak Book
nam, was petroleum engineer be-
fore the war.
Get BoisterouS Welcome.
He and the seven men of his party
we're received with wild and bois-
ferrous enthusiasm in the towns of
this part of No Mans Land. Even
cold reception in south italy is
apt to knock YOU off your feet and
these people. seeing their first Brit
ish patrols, We're by no means cold.
IT was possible for an Allied soldier
and German to stand at opposite
sides of little public square and
not see each other in the milling
and shouting crowd.
Nearing Trani. Capt. Hart de-
ployed his men, his two ieeps and
two motorcycles and his sparse
armament Of two Bren guns and
few Tommy guns along a road be-
side a cemetery. 1t was a logical
time to pause because a truckload
OF 80 Germans. all we'll heeled. was
visible 400 yards farther up the road
on the edge of the village.
IF thpC' n coon 11c frct co,c
Hart. tall, dark and extremely quiet
Young man, 1T might have been a
most sticky show for my party"
Italian Silence Helped.
Capt Hart began moving his men
vehicles and guns off the road into
the cover OF the cemetery and its
walls, The Germans on the truck
were communicating wine in the
village and drinking it from bottles
and mugs and still did not observe
Capt. Hart and his maneuvers.
lhere We're many Italians who saw
nm. however. and these did not be-
tray his position by so much as a
gesture. When silence counted they
played their loyalty close to the vest.
Inc British patrol had moved
everything but its MOTORCYCLES off
the road when fatal trouble devel-
oped. Up the highway. from the
opposite direction and heading
toward the town, came another Ger
man truck loaded with sinister i'm
pllcationS and Is men. There was
nothing for Capt. Hart's squad to do
but duck behind the graveyard walls,
The British were cleanly sandwiched,
They waited hreathlesslv in the hope
that the motorcycles by the road
side would escape the attention of
the Germans.
But they didn't. Drawing along
side, the Germans slowed down to 2
stop and pointed at the bikes. Two
German soldiers had swung their
legs over the sides of the truck to
descend and investigate when Capt.
Hart decided that this was the zero
hour. He tossed a grenade in front
OF the truck. His men answered the
signal by throwing everything they
had IN the way of grenadeS and
Tommy-gun fire from their reluc-
tant ambush
All in Trucklcad Killed.
1T wasn't much" says Capt. Hart.
but it sounded like a damned artil-
lerv barrage"
Wlthln a minute there was not
German left alive of the whole
truckload.
The wine e-drinking Germans in
the town did not know what hap
pened but they scattered and pre-
pared for action. The way was
blocked in that direction and Capt.
Hart could not risk the open road in
any direction with his little party.
So he and his men boarded their
Jeeps and drove straight on into the
cemetery
Even small Italian graveyard is
An ornate and complicated affair
Nothing on wheels but a ieep could
master it. A broad flight of stone
stairs led down into a mausoleum.
The jeeps descended the stairs and
eircumnavigated the crypt on two
wheels each. Then they mounted a
corresponding flight of stairs behind
the mausoleum. An Italian priest
stood by the cemeterys back gate,
holding it open, and he pointed
elong dirt road that fanked the
village. Capt. Hart and his men
asked no questions. They gathered
speed and kept going.
The Germans never did solve the
riddle Of their Is sudden dead. Be-
fore pulling out of Trani they hauled
$50 hostages off to the town of Bar
letta and grilled Tranis whole popu-
httf i