ON February 6 1944, the news was dominated by the fight between the Allies and the Nazis for Rome.

That and a goat with a nicotine craving.

Although there was a strong sense in Britain that the Allies would win the war, we were under no illusions that the fighting would be anything other than hard and terrible.

It would be another four months before the D-Day landings began to push Hitler’s forces back across Western Europe, matching the Soviet Union’s push in the East.

February 6 was a Sunday, so there was no Adver, but the previous day’s edition was full of stories of Allied heroism.

Some of those stories had a strong local connection thanks to the recent release of information about a crucial battle two years earlier.

An Adver correspondent known as ‘Onlooker’ wrote: “I don’t know how many of my readers are in the Wiltshire Yeomanry – a good many, I expect – and I extend to them my heartiest congratulations on the glorious exploits of the regiment in the Western desert.

“The story of their part in the Tel el Aqqaqir battle has been told this week, and it makes very thrilling reading.

“I wish I could give it in full for the benefit of servicemen in other regiments, but I can tell you this, that it was a very gallant action in which the yeomen of Wilts defeated the 15th German Panzer Division.”

Onlooker praised the yeomanry for distinguishing themselves just as well in mechanised warfare as it had on horseback in years gone by.

There was also a mention for the regimental mascot: “Billy the goat lives on a diet of damp cigarettes, orange peel and a few lentils.

“He enjoys cigarettes (paper and all) so much that no-one dares to produce a cigarette packet anywhere near him.

“Billy would make a rush at him, stand on his hind legs and seize the cigarette from his mouth before it was lit.

“Billy’s history is a strange one. The Wiltshire were building some important defensive lines and they wanted to know whether their pill boxes were blast-proof.

“There was nothing for it but to use an animal for experiment, so they bought Billy from some local Arabs and locked him in one of the pill boxes.

“Then they fired 20 rounds of armour piercing shells at it – and Billy walked out uninjured.”

It’s no wonder he ended up with his cigarette habit.