Without Incident

A full six hours before the American Export Lines' Exilona made port, Italian divers were busy beneath the waters of Naples harbor looking for mines. Just over their heads navy patrol boats bumbled to & fro; above them, planes of the Italian air force watchfully circled the sky. On the shore, soldiers in tanks and jeeps patrolled the approaches to the waterfront, and Neapolitan police guarded a dock entirely surrounded by barbed wire.

As the first shipload of U.S. arms to reach Italy under the U.S. Military Assistance Program approached its wharf last week, Naples was prepared for anything. But when the Exilona finally tied up at the pier, nothing happened. Communist organizers called on all Italian workers to strike forthwith. Six trolleycar motormen, five bus drivers, some armament workers and a spaghetti factory obeyed. Two of the bus drivers later changed their minds.

In Cherbourg, where the American Importer was unloading the first shipment of arms to France, things were even quieter. A drab little female Communist turned up in the rain at the stevedores' hiring hall to hand out some leaflets urging the dockers not to unload imperialist weapons. A man in a raincoat tried to make a speech. The dockers paid no attention. They had already discussed the issue; only 21 of Cherbourg's 415 dockers had voted against working the ships with U.S. aid. "Cherbourg's example," said Defense Minister Rene Pleven as the last of the Importer's cargo of artillery, rifles and howitzers was swung ashore, "proves once again that the French people want to be free. They are showing the world that France can count on her people when safety calls for it."

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