BRIG SET ON FIRE

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23323, 8 May 1941, Page 8

BRIG SET ON FIRE

Attacks by Nazi Aircraft NEW ZEALANDERS IN BLAZING HOLD (From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East.) CAIRO. May 6. When the British, Australian, and New Zealand troops were withdrawing from Greece, often embarking on whatever vessels that were available, small Greek fishing ships which came to their assistance did riot escape the attention of the Luftwaffe. Two Nazi aeroplanes bombed and machine-gun-ned a small brig, setting it afire from stem to stern, and must have been corivinced that they had accounted for the men trying to escape in it. But they had not allowed for the fact that these were New Zealanders. This is their side of the Story. A small party of New Zealand infantrymen abandoned their last motortruck, packed some food and clothing, and set, out on foot down the Peloponnesus. They were directed by Greeks to a small Greek brig, lying at anchor in an inlet. With German aircraft about, difficulty was experienced in eipbarking; but with a feeling of intense relief they stepped aboard, after being constantly harassed by the enemy for two weeks. They were leaving Greece at last. • “Aircraft,” the cry went up—two Messerschmitts dropped from the blue and began a furious attack with bombs and incendiary bullets. The New Zealanders scuttled below and crouched among the cargo of baled hay. There they found 30 other occupants in a rather frightened state. The Nazis meant business, and bombs fell all round the frail little craft. Some of the rigging ropes and • chains crashed through the hatch. They heard the cracking of machine-guns and bullets beat on the deck above their heads. Hay on Fire Panic overcame them when an incendiary ignited the hay, and fire swept through the hatch, straw and dry timber making the hold in a minute a roaring inferno. Like trapped rats they had one desire—to leave the burning hell. “Here they come again. Duck,” yelled one of the party. The Messerschmitts, still with machine-guns blazing, banked and dived at the doomed ship. An infantryman noticed a loose board in the ship’s hull. This he smashed free, and dived through the opening to strike the water. He glanced skywards, and saw thick clouds of smoke above him, which would temporarily protect him from the Nazi bullets. Taking full advantage of this accidental smokescreen, he struck out for the shore. Wheri he reached the beach he wondered whether his companions had been as fortunate. The sun was strong, so he stripped off his clothes to dry, and stood naked beneath a rock. In this condition he was found by another member of the party, who reported that one man had been drowned and three Others were

Casualties. They agreed it i narrowest escape they had They slept on the bare^^j^ wet clothes, and hid in day, where the Greeks gave «w and water. The possibility or * in the night seemed vet* r However, they were . waK^ u S**7# shouting and the tramping ol *** iu ■SenrfjJJ ■m the rock. They stumbled down,' f bay, where they were takenby the Navy. - r