PAPER BOMBED OUT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20571, 3 June 1941, Page 2

PAPER BOMBED OUT

‘CRETE NEWS’ UNDER BLITZ N.Z. PRESSMEN’S EFFORT (Eloc. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. June 3, 11.40 a.m.) LONDON. June 2. The Cairo correspondent of.- the Daily Mail writes: "This is one of the world’s greatest newspaper stories and it conies from Crete. The paper was a one-page news sheet called the Crete News. It had only four numbers, but the final edition made history. New Zealanders started the paper two days before the invasion began. “Five Anzac soldier journalists in a little back room in Canea wrestled with a primitive press and a collection of type lacking certain letters. If it was desperately needed they turned it upside down. They could not use nitches in the headlines because they had none. “The first two numbers came out with a circulation of about 3000. Then the German blitz started, but the paper produced its third ' number, although the circulation had fallen to 2000. “The Germans started to wipe out Canea as the fourth number was being set up. The work went on with the bombs rocking the building. The blitz continued all afternoon. The officer responsible for the paper tried to reach the office but could,not because a blazing house had spilled across the street. It seemed that the Crete News had gone out of circulation, but at 1 a.m. next day three blackened, dust-caked men staggered, to headquarters with 600 copies of the paper. One said: ‘We could not print any more. The plant has been burnt down.’

“Their two companions were detached for urgent duties, but the three men paused only twice in their work to rescue civilians from beneath wrecked buildings.”