WESTERN GERMANY

Evening Star, Issue 23907, 10 June 1941, Page 5

WESTERN GERMANY

RAF. FINDS TARGETS ESSEN AND DORTMUND BOMBED (Reo. 9.55 a.m.) LONDON, June 9. The Air Ministry announced that bombers last night attacked targets in western Germany. Successful results were achieved, especially at Essen and Dortmund, where large fires were started. BATTLE m THE CLOUDS ENEMY PLANES SCURRY FOR HOME (British .Official Wireless.) (Rec. 1.10 p.m.) RUGBY, June 9. Fighter Command Spitfires had a ■ running battle in and out of clouds over the Channel off Dover on Monday afternoon with a number of the latest types of Messerschmitt 109. They finished the fight by chasing their opponents, some damaged, back to the coast of France, while the ships they were escorting continued on their way. The scrap began when three Spitfires on patrol above the ships were pounced on by a number -of Messerschmitts. which apneared suddenly out of the clouds. The British pilots evaded the attack and -turned to join battle. As they did so other German fighters appeared, and so did more patrolling Spitfires. Wild dog fights followed, beneath and in and out of thick clouds. The engagement lasted over half an hour. One British pilot saw pieces coming away from the fuselage of an opponent before he lost him in the mist.

use aeroplanes. Then followed one of the hardest and most adventurous drives I’ve ever been On. We pulled out about noon and drove for the remainder of the day; all that night until about 7 p.m. the next night. Believe me, we weren’t worth a tin of fish by, the time we bedded in that night. SAME ROUTS BACK. “Our route back .was the same as the way we had come, with this big difference—what had been smiling villages and towns on the way up were now silent, deserted ruins. We first passed through Elasson, and I don’t remember seeing a building in it that had not suffered some scathe from tho Angels (if you can call them such) of the New Order. A member of a unit stationed nearby told me that the Hun had systematically bombed it to pieces the previous day. “ Larissa, which we passed through in the wee sma’ hours, appeared to bo much the same, with shell-potted streets which required very careful negotiation. Of course, we were travelling sans lights. When approaching the village of Pharsala about breakfast time, Jerry again attacked us with about 30 planes, but, apart from cutting short the careers of a few square yards of oats and further damaging (were that possible) some already devastated shops in the township, he did no damage, although he was a bit close with a couple of his eggs. Funny tho things you do in the excitement-—I remember I dashed off over the oatfields tightly clasping a tin of margarine, a tin of jam, and a packet of biscuits to ray bosom. We bad just started breakfast when he turned up—l at least had no intention of dying hungry. “The rest of that day we spent in and out of trucks, across paddocks, and up and down hillsides; we just couldn’t shake the ‘ cows ’. off.

“ Once again our luck held. We had just passed through the town of Lamia when Jerry came over and bombed it to blazes. We took up our positions that night at the foot of the Thermopylae Pass and immediately set about consolidating. We had our wire laid by 3 a.m., and were on the job again to finish things off ait 5 a.m.; believe me, a somewhat tiring day. ■

“ I don’t know if it’s to our credit or not, but Jerry didn’t catch us up for a day and a-half, hut in any case it gave us a very welcome rest, and when the fun started we were all set to give him a very warm reception, and I can assure you he got it. It must have cost him thousands of men, to say nothing of the material in the way of tanks, armoured cans, etc., he lost in ■ order to get across the plain between Lamia and the pass. “We held him for two days there and then withdrew to the outskirts of our old friend, the town of Molos, down the coast From then until we finally withdrew he gave us everything he had. There’s nothing like a few low-flying MB’s spitting explosive bullets from their machine guns to give you an urgent desire to delve deeply into the secrets of Mother Earth. “ If he had hoped to break our spirit with this display of concentrated. Jiaie he failed miserably; on the last night we pulled out with spirits as high and our order as good as when we occupied the positions nearly a week previously.This time, though, we left with a score to pay. One of our lads in,our troop stopped an explosive bullet in the head —the regiment’s only battle casualty, apart from wounded, of whom fortunately there were few. “ The rest of the story does not take much telling. We had another allnight drive to the outskirts of Athens, a drive through the city, where we were greeted’in a-most embarrassing manner by vast crowds, who cheered us all the_ way through the town, besides showering us with flowers. It made us wonder if we had really done something worth while after all. THE NAVY AGAIN. “We lay ‘ doggo ’ in a pine plantation for a day; and were then embarked without hindrance from an open beach with that cool efficiency and lack of bustle that we have come to associate with the Navy. Just au instance—after we had been shepherded on board (‘ shepherded ’ is the word* too) there were sailors every few yards along the dimly-lighted alleys of the ship to help ns on our way (we were all heavily laden with gear of all sorts). We had hardly sat down before a piping hot cup of cocoa was poured out for each or us. Who hut the Navy would think of that? ‘ Our voyage back to Egypt was not without incident, and on the first morning out we wore bombed. One bomb landed just off tho bows of the boat, and started the plates up for’axd, besides causing the ship to lurch violently sideways. It was far too close to be pleasant. That was the last we saw of Jerry on the trip, and we were landed on solid soil again- in another two days. “ To give the Army, its due, our landing and distribution to our various camps was carried out efficiently and quickly—to everyone’s heartfelt reliefs There was such a crowd that we all anticipated tiresome delays that wo weren’t in the least in the mood for.;

“ So ended oup Grecian adventure —a real baptism of fire for raw troops if there ever was one. It’s not for me to even attempt to discuss the rights or wrongs of the campaign, but from what I’ve heard it is my firm opinion that the cost to us in men and material was well worth while. ' What we lost the Hun lost tenfold, to say nothing of the delay we must have caused to his plans. Time will measure its worth. “ Coming closer to home, it finally, I think, dispelled the illusion that to be in the artillery was to be in a safe spot behind the lines. Apart from counter-battery fire, the curls are the logical target of the dive-bomber (which were surprisingly inaccuratel, and in the final stages of our withdrawal we were firing shoulder to shoulder with our infantry along ooen sights at advancing tanks. That’s not imagination, but cold fact. Go to Molgs and count the wrecks. There are enough about.”