WITHDRAWAL IN GREECE

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23360, 20 June 1941, Page 11

WITHDRAWAL IN GREECE

NIGHT MARCHES: AIR

ATTACKS BY DAY

SOLDIER DESCRIBES HIS EXPERIENCES ’

In a letter written from Crete after the evacuation from Greece but before the German attack on Crete. Private W. A. Glue, formerly a member of the reporting staff of “The Press,” describes some of his experiences in the Greek campaign. Crete, at the time of writing, was “a quiet place" with “only an odd bomb or two.” Of Greece, Private Glue writes: “Our part started on Easter Saturday when we were introduced to divetombing. Just before dusk two waves

of dive-bombers, about 18 in each, circled above the village in the valley below us. followed each other down in a dive, and let their Easter eggs go. From the hill above we got a marvellous view.

“Next day it was our turn. Four of his crack yellow-nos ;d squadron came over and gave us a spot of hurry-up with sorpe machine-gunning. Their idea was to draw our fire so that they could tape our„, posts; no doubt they succeeded. Fortunately, before the bombers arrived next night we had shifted out. VFor the next couple of weeks tne sky during daylight seemed to be full of Hun aeroplanes. Most of all we disliked the spotter, with his stuttering motor-bike diesel o ' e, Most of the day he would circle round above us on the look out for artillery positions and troops. When he saw anything he would wireless back to the aerodrome for the rest of the gang—sometimes there were more than 50 dive-bombers in the air at once, attacking in waves. So, like Brer Rabbit, we ‘lay low and didn’t say nuffin.’ Most of our shifting was jione at night. We had some pretty tough marches, carrying all our gear, blankets, reserve rations, and ammunition, and umpteen other things. We used to say that the difference between the Greek Army and ourselves was that the Greeks had pack-horses—which wasn’t far out. A Short-Cut “One night's effort of about 15 miles across the hills took us just on 12 hours—the toughest I’ve ever done. One short-cut to dodge a corner of the road which was being shelled took us three hours of wading through creeks and scrambling up slippery clay banks. We would move only a few yards and then stop; no sooner would yipu sit down than they would start again for another few yards. It rained most of (h p wav, too. “When we arrived at our bivvy m an old straw barn I just flopped over in my wet clothes and died—for an hour. And I didn’t catch cold either. We spent all that day in caves up in the hills, watching our village and the road below us being plastered by artillery. That night we pushed off. The Hun hardly waited till we. had shifted out and chased us along the way with mortar-bombs. A bit of fifth-column stuff in that place, I’ll bet. “Next day. in a truck convoy, Hun kites bombed the road and whooped things up with a spot of machinegunning. Spent most of my time in a variety of ditches and under culverts; don't think I’ve ever known a day take so long to pass. . . . Anyway we arrived and had remarkably few casualr ties. Most of the next week we spent in hiding during the day and shifting out at night. We thought we were going to be busy once or twice, but our artillery did its stuff and kept Jerry out of range until we had shifted our digs; and so we got off without a scrap —that is, we didn’t wait for any Hun infantry. Some of our other battalions met him, though, and from reports, thqy gave him all he wanted. The boys argue still whether we’ve been m action or not —near enough, anyway. . .