LEADER'S TRIBUTE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1941, Page 7

LEADER'S TRIBUTE

NEW ZEALAND TROOPS

EXPERIENCES IN CRETE

I Hataitai's pride in the career of j Major-General E. Puttick, D.5.0., was j demonstrated last night when a district "welcome home,!' sponsored by the Hataitai Municipal Electors' Assojciation, was given to the new Chief of [the General Staff at the Realm Hall. Speeches of welcome were made by the president of the association, Mr. H. R. Searle, who presided, and by Colonel A. Cowles. Mr. Searle expressed the district's confidence in Major-General Puttick's appointment and said that they also felt he would give a decided and practical boost to Mr. Churchill's clarion call, "Let us go forward together." After expressing his gratitude for the welcome and the honour done to his wife and family, Major-General Puttick went on to deal with the exploits of the New Zealand Division, "that very gallant body of men who are over in Egypt." He traversed the operations in which New Zealand troops had participated in' the Middle East, with particular reference to the Battle of Crete, and paid warm tribute to the work of the Royal Navy and the Mercantile Marine. ' Speaking of the dropping of German parachute troops on Crete, MajorGeneral Puttick said that it did not look like war at all. So far as dropping parachutists on troops in prepared positions was concerned, the enemy did not have a dog's chance. The average rifleman could pick them ' off in the air, and the New Zealanders claimed that they killed 80 per cent. jof the German parachutists before they I reached the ground. "One felt sorry for them in a way," he said, "but there it was—they had the nerve to try it and they had to take what was coming to them. We were told that the Germans were amazed. They had been told that they would drop on demoralised troops, and instead they met a deadly and devastating fire." Other parachutists- who landed were bayoneted, the Maoris playing a great part in these operations. CAN BE IMAGINED. Major-General Puttick mentioned that one batch of parachutists landed behind a New Zealand battalion which had earlier lost a complete company near the Corinth Canal in Greece, through a surprise landing of parachute troops. It could be imagined, he said, what happened on the second occasion. It was true that men ; had been left behind in Crete, but the capacity of the evacuating ships, having regard to the casualties they had suffered, was not sufficient to take off everybody. The Navy made a most gallant effort, and actually took off more • men than the forces had a right to expect. Risks were taken with ships beyond what could reasonably have been expected. It was all a matter of measuring the tactical value of the warships against the tactical value of the men, said Major-Genera] Puttick, and in his view the right course was taken. "It sounds a cold-blooded thing to say," he added, "but I am sure that you will understand." He emphasised the importance of having adequate naval strength in the Mediterranean, and the vital bearing of that factor on the development of the war. However, every effort had been made to take men off Crete, and there was good reason for believing that a good number of men were still on, Crete and living with the inhabitants.

i "There were many gallant acts performed on Crete, and our troops showed the same toughness as their predecessors of the last war," he continued "They are very worthy successors indeed of that gallant body of men who placed New Zealand on the map in 1914-18."

Major-General Puttick expressed his warm appreciation and admiration of all that had been done during the "doldrum years" of the Territorial movement and subsequently to create a foundation for the establishment of the 2nd N.Z.E.F., "a first-class division comparable, to any in the world."