Cretian "Blltz"

Hutt News, Volume 15, Issue 13, 27 August 1941, Page 2

Cretian "Blltz"

■ f, T itm I will's ACftbbirifr '|l &a to atfrienfl! i«. % 0/MoMiMiv W .the W«Ula|ton Battalion; 1 , llVes a vivid description of the in-' vasion of Cr«te. , . Extracts from his letter are pubUshedbelow. ■ during the days preceding the 20th May we were subjected to a i great deal of bombing and machine- | gunning from the air, whicjj by the wa|r is very ineffective and> the casualties very light considering the amount that was thrown at us. It is, though, liable to be verKdemoralising and Certainly makes■ yo» keep your head dowh, but if you are dug in.you have little to fear except a direct hit, and they are very rare. The port of Suda Bay received particular attention until it was \>n- | safe to bring' any shipping in, al- | though, let it: be said to everlasting glory of the men of the mer : chant service, they did tfieir very best to the very end, b&t at terrific coßt. The aerodromes also received more than their share, until it was deemed advisable to remove what planes there were there to a safer place. Many hard words have been used against the R.A.F., but if people would only pause to consider they would Boon realise how impossible it was for the R.A.F. to support us in that campaign. ,We really ' expected the "Blitz" to take place ; on the 19tli of May bttt it did not ■ materialise until the 20th.Wp were 1 Just about to start breakfast when over came a number of Messerschmidt fighters. There was only' one place for us and very smartly we headed for our holes in the ground, hurling a few cusa words at these "Heinies" for* disturbing our breakfast. Close on the heels of these fighters came the Stukaa (divebombers) who also joined in the game. These blighters were just skimming the treetops and in clear places they would come even lower than that. Following these came Heinkels and Dorniers, but these were flying a little higher. Gazing up at these from my hole in the ground I could feel my stomach sinking. I would not to estimate how many planes were in the sky, it seeded like thousands, but it was certainly'more thdir'lhad evJr seen before. If I evtrOfelt like praying I did then, who wouldn't? If all these planes let loose their fury, nothing on earth could survive, at least that's how' it seemed at the time. But this was not all. The next to appear were.tremendous glitters, the likes of which I had never seen before. They had been towed across by power planes and released, when over the island. They were circling around and around overhead, making no noise, but a gentle swishing sound as they passed. They were uncanny and gave one the impression that they were of another world. Ghost planes I called them and that is the only way I could describe them. I was watching all this from the bottom of the trench. this was the "Blitz" that we expected. But what form was It goitjg* to take? We had no idea, this was something new. All this time we -were being machine-gunned from the. air, but no shot had been returned from the ground, for we had learned from experience how futile it was to waste small arms ammunition on aircraft, no matter how low flying it was. Every now and then we would take a quick peep over the top just to see what was happening about us. Then came the troop carriers. We had

never seen a troop carrier, but we guessed that this was them. Great lumbering things they were, flying at a height of two or three hundred feet, and in comparison to the speed of the other planes, were moving very slowly indeed. At this point the safety catches on the rifles went forward very smartly indeed, but still no shots were fired, everybody was ready, for what? Round and round they went and then they began to spew out their loads. The( parachutes blossomed out like flowers, of different hues* dragging the men from the planes. This idea of different coloured chutes has its purpose, I believe. One colour for officers, another for men, and yet another for the containers in which they drop their arms (Mortars, machine guns and ammunition, etc.) Looking back now one can reajise what a grand sight it was to see these chutes blossoming out and drifting gently, so gently, to the ground. But at the time there was no time to admire anything. For weeks we had been pestered and nearly driven crazy by a foe whom we could not fight back. Here was something we could fight. Each carrier dropped about 40 chutes, but I not like to say how many they dropped altogether the first day, there must have been thousands. They were dropped over a wide area. They were dropped within our lines and all around us. This is where the guns went into action. The boys gave them everything they had. Thee fear which-kept us be? neath the,ground was gone now, All we thought of was kill, kill, kill. As long as I live I will never forget that first hour. A great many never reached the ground alive and lots of those that did never stood up again. Those thai did and were able to free themselves of the parachute were" soon mopped up and then began the game of hide and seek among the trees. They suffered terrible losses both in men and equipment that day. Certainly we had losses too,

but comparatively light. Well into the day the fight lasted until he withdrew out of range and ; into comparative safety for the time being. Anyway they managed to gather up some of their equipment and to take up positions. The fighting fr6m then on became intermittent, with attacks patrol work, sniping, long range machine gun work, artillery, and all the frills that go with it. The following day he dropped more troops and equipment but this time they had their own areaß clearly marked and they were able to drop them in perfect safety. The Aerodrome, which up to this time we had held, had to be left for him, for the troops who held it could not do so against the increased number of "Jerries" that was thrown against them. This was a pity, for he was now enabled to land his planes and land a|r-borne infantry jtroQps. They were able to maintain and even in-, crease their numbers, while ours were being 'slowly depleted. Also i they were able to operate their j planes from there and they did. On one occasion they broke through our defences, but a brilliant counter-at-tack by one of the Battalions, in which they were ably assisted by the Maoris who went in with the bayonet, saved the day and regained the position. By this time the "powers that be" realised that j the position was becoming desperate and so the order to withdraw was given. We moved at night and took up a fresh position at dawn. About lunch time he caught up with us and from theft; dusk ;some very fierce fighting took places After dark we withdrew again for about ten miles, where we again tQQk up a position. He must have followed very close upon our heels this time, for quite early id'- the morning, somewhere about 9 to 10 a.m. he was at us. This was too much for the Maori. In he went with bayonet again and chased "Heinle" for a mile and a half before he let up on him. It was a marvellous effort and nothing stopped them. They just charged straight at machine gun posts as though they were kids catapults. I don't wonder at the Hun taking to his heels, for the blood-curdling yells of the Maoris are enough to scare anybody, without anything else. The result of that charge was unbelievable. I will not attempt to give any figures but it was amazing. We saw little of him that day, and except for a bit of sniping and machine gun fire things were Tery quiet. But naturally we had to be on the alert for all that. Night came [and we faced another 12 mile march, but this one was worse than the two we had already done. The road wound over the hills this time and we were tired. We had been fighting for a week now and for two nights previous we had had no sleep antL just a few odd minutes snatched during the day. Meals had been very irregular and not too much either, and so, taking all of these things into consideration, it was very heavy going that night. We reached our objective about 5 a.m. At 6.30 a.m. we awakened with the rat-tat-tat of machine gun fire. The , Hun had come across the hills and very nfearly beaten us to our position. Apparently it was a rotten position we were in and was never intended as a fighting position, for a rear-guard had been left further back to check the Hun and to enable us to have a spell. He 'fooled everyone by coming across the hills and once more we were for it. About 9 a.m. the word came through to withdraw'. The memory of our last daylight withdrawal in Greece was still "fresh in my memory. Was thiß to be a repetition of that? Were we going to be harrassed all day by the , Luftwaffe again? It was with a heavy heart that I lightened my kit and the road. It was the only thing we could do for we could hiStor hold the position that toe were In. It was the lesser of two evils, (To be continued)