SOME N.Z. WOUNDED LEFT IN GREECE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 103, 3 May 1941, Page 9

SOME N.Z. WOUNDED LEFT IN GREECE.

ABOUT 120 MEN. Several Doctors Remain With The Injured. United I'ross Association.—Copyright. Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, May 2. A New Zealand hospital unit was forced to leave behind about 120 wounded in Greece, says the correspondent of the British United Press in Cairo. Several doctors remained with them. The unit lost all its equipment. Every effort was made to save the men. Six doctors in relays drove ambulances to the front to bring in the wounded. The Exchange Telegraph's Cairo correspondent tells how an Australian cruiser arrived to take troops from a beach and found it occupied by Germans. The cruiser swept the beach with guns until the enemy retreated. According to another report from Cairo, 12 dive-bombers attacked a Dutch merchantman conveying 2000 Australian troops. Escorting destroyers shot down three of the German bombers, but the remainder later resumed the attack. A "near miss" smashed the engine room and the ship had to be abandoned. Although the ship was listing heavily the Australians calmly iired on the bombers with rifles and machine-guns until a destroyer came alongside and took off over a thousand men. The remainder clambered to the port side and continued firing until they were taken off by a second destroyer. All the Australians and also all the members of the Dutch crew were saved. The merchantman later sank.