AJAX AGAIN

Auckland Star, 12 May 1941, Page 9

AJAX AGAIN

FRIENDSHIP BOND

TRANSPORT OF AUCKLANDERS (N.Z.E.P. Official News Service.) CAIRO , , May 10. At the battle of the River Plate H.M.S. Ajax and H.M.S. Achilles established a bond of friendship, and Ajax had an opportunity to renew acquaintance with New Zealanders when she found she had the pleasant task of taking the officers and men of the Auckland Battalion to Greece. The navy soon made the New Zealanders, embarked on a great adventure, comfortable by drinking toasts and telling stories. The battalion lived up to the reputation for making friends quickly, and willingly the navy, down to the ship's cat, Horsey, responded readily and after a short but memorable trip the cargo of wonderful fighting material was delivered. Ajax reported back for new instructions, and.about a month later was waiting off a lonely beach in Southern Greece on a dark, calm night which was by no means quiet, for the thunder and lightning in the hills beyond the horizon were the noises and flashes of battle.

Our army, outnumbered by more than ten to one on the land, was subjected to unchecked and constant attack from the air, and was falling back preparatory to embarking after carrying out the biggest and most successful raid on the Germans we had yet attempted. Ajax already had heard it was to take off its old friends of the Auckland Battalion. Officers and men were anxiously peering into the gloom, trying to see if anyone was on the beach. Arrangements were complete for the embarking of men who were to become heroes. At last they appeared, the battalion, forming the last organised rearguard, having given the Germans Such a hiding that they left the New Zealanders alone. The Auckland Battalion went aboard hungry and tired. They had only the clothes they stood in, because they had discarded personal equipment in order to save weapons. This principle was followed rigidly. The battalion clerk came aboard with a duplicating machine donated to the battalion by patriotic funds strapped to his back. Food, clothing and warm drinks soon made them comfortable. Old friends gathered to talk over new stories, with Horsey the cat comfortably purring on a captured Nazi flag.

Thus was enacted another among several episodes bearing out the complete, harmony and understanding of all branches of the British Imperial Forces in the Middle East.