Evening Post THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1941. THE TRUTH CONCERNING GREECE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 101, 1 May 1941, Page 8

Evening Post THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1941. THE TRUTH CONCERNING GREECE

The spectre of the .Greek defeat has now been deprived of its spectral proportions by Mr. Churchill's balanced and candid statement of the numbers landed in Greece and the numbers already evacuated. Imagination had credited the British Empire fighting force in Greece with numbers running into six figures—loo,ooo to 200,000 men—and with casualties at a rate of 30 per cent, or more. The cold facts are that Britain put 60,000 men into Greece, and has evacuated so far 45,000; and that the apparent difference of 15,000 covers all losses from all causes (attacks on transports, for instance) and may include a number of men yet to be reported as successfully evacuated. The losses of personnel, both gross and per cent., are thus reduced far below the level that had been feared. Mr. Churchill even finds that,, according to reports to date, in the actual fighting our total casualties, both killed and wounded, may be as low as 3000. Such a figure is a startling revelation of the power of a properly conducted defence, for it is known that tne enemy lost at least twenty times that number in trying to overwhelm our rearguards. Defensive power in modern war is a continuous study. It "was rated very highly until 1939, because of 1914-18 experience. But defensive power received a great shock in Poland and in France—a shock from which there is now some recovery, thanks to the defensive feats in Greece of Anzacs and British forces and of the Greek army. Mr. Churchill thus epitomises their achievement: The conduct of our troops, and especially the rearguards, in fighting their way through many miles to the sea, merits the highest praise. This is the first instance where air bombing, prolonged day after day, has failed to break the discipline and order of the marching columns that, besides the assault from the air, were pursued by no fewer than three German armoured divisions, as well as by the whole strength of the German mechanised force which could be brought to bear. The discipline and order of these marching columns compares strikingly with the general disorder following the German break-through in France nearly a year ago. France and Belgium after the break-through presented behind the front a general picture of confusion. The various commands on the Allied side found it difficult or impossible to concert plans, still less possible to. carry them out. The Allied retirement reflected these conditions. But in Greece the picture has been quite different. The Greek Government, the Greek Command, and the British Command never broke line. As they retreated shoulder to shoulder they measured the force of the enemy tide. They never lost their grip; and when they decided to break off the war on the Greek mainland, to continue it from Crete, they made their decision calmly and in unison. In fact, the co-operation of the Allies and-their troops' valour have glorified the whole operation, doing everything except turn defeat into, victory. The spirit in which the Royal Greek Government and the British Command fought together and left the field together is embalmed in a Note by the Greek Prime Minister to the British Ambassador, a Note which will be a better ornament to history than Marshal Petairi's postarmistice complaint of the numerical inadequacy of the British armies in France. The Note, after describing the exhaustion of the Greek army after six months' war against enemies vastly superior in air power and in general mechanisation, and after releasing Greece's "valiant allies" from their contract, summed up the position in a sentence: Consequently, the Royal Government is obliged to state that further sacrifice of the British force would be in vain and that its withdrawal in time seems to be rendered necessary by circumstances and by interests,, common to the struggle. This Note, expressive of comradeship and eschewing culpability, is a model of its kind, and will remain one of the valued common possessions of the British and the Greekpeoples. Why has the defence done so much better in Greece than in France? Has the difference between the Greek terrain and the wide open fields of France and Belgium enhanced the value of pass-defending rearguards? Has the superior fire power of the Anzacs —Berlin has (testified to the New Zealanders' acIcuracy!—helped to re-establish the

reputation of a determined defence? Did the enemy fail to reproduce among the Greeks the "fifth-column" ; tactics that, under cover of refugee panic, proved so destructive frr France to defensive reorganisation! and to morale? If the Anglo-Greek defence was helped hy the Greek terrain, in which the three German armoured divisions and their infantry divisions found less elbow-room than on ihe plains of France and Belgium, ttip Anglo-Greek defence was certainly not helped by the relative air strength, for the retirement meant the sacrifice of air-fields which were necessary to the air- operations of the Allies. The resistance power of marching columns to air attack, as well as to mechanised attack on land, therefore emerges from the Greek campaign on a higher level. Compelled to leave air-fields "from which alone the retreat of the troops could be covered," and on which the German bombers had concentrated, the R.A.F. found itself at a grave disadvantage, and "only a portion of it could cover the ports of embarkation." Evidently there is a story still to be told of the covering of the embarkation by the fleet and by the handicapped R.A.F. But the main outline of the Greek picture is now clear. Current ideas of losses in personnel—if not in material— | must be scaled down. Testimony from both sides and from all quarters proves that our forces defended themselves well and were well enough equipped, to inflict tremendous losses. Finally, the evacuation of Greece was neither a panic nor a scramble. The partners-in-retreat have no mutual accusations, ,and retain their partnership pending the turn of the tide. Hitler may find a Quisling, but the Greek war continues, and will continue, from the island-fortress of Crete, till such time as the Greek kingdom is wholly restored.