BALKAN CAMPAIGN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 130, 3 May 1941, Page 8

BALKAN CAMPAIGN

OPERATIONS SET OUT. (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 12.47 p.m.) RUGBY, May 2. Summarising the campaign in the Balkans, authorities say tile Germans were able to advance rapidly up the ■Struniitza Valley past both sides of Lake Doiran and down the Vardar Valley. They reached Salonika on the evening of April 8. The three Greekdivisions in the east were cut off from the main, body of the Allied Forces. But the rapidity of the German advance in Yugoslavia held a yet more serious threat. .Skoplje and Voles were reached on April 8 and it was evident that the Monastir Gay was threatened. Consideration of the disposition of the Greek forces and the forces of tho British Empire which had come to their aid reveals how serious this was. By far the greater part of the Greek Army was in Albania, some JSO to 40 miles away from the Greek frontier, with its left, flank on the s-ea and its right flank on the Yugoslav frontier. Two Greek divisions and Imperial troops, all under the command of General Wilson, who was under that of the Greek Commander | (General Papagos), had taken up a i strong .natural line of defence running I from the se,a near Katerini through Veria and Enessa to the Yugoslav | frontier. A British armoured force was out to the east of this line, engaged in demolition work and similar activities. The force under Genera] Wilson, therefore, was opposing the Germans along a front of GO to 70 miles on the east, while the main bulk of the Greek army was opposing the Italians along a front of similar length. Between the two the mountains of Southern Yugoslavia formed a barrier pierced by the Monastir Gap. This frontier was manned only by Greek mountain guards. By the evening of April 7 the disaster to the Y'ugoslav forces was apparent and the threat to the. Monastir Gap had become a reality. A small reserve under <T brigadier, consisting tit a machine-gun battalion and some medium artillery, was formed near Animtaion, south of Fiorina. The next morning General Mackay was sent with his divisional headquarters, one artillery and one anti-tank regiment, and an Australian brigade less one battalion to augment this force which remained in the Animtaion neighbourhood to await the Germans. Meanwhile the armoured force was ordered to blow the demolition charges and withdraw to Edessa behind the Australian division, under whose orders it was placed. Preparations to meet the threat through the Monastir Gap were made only just in time. On April 9 the Germans appeared south oi Fiorina and hotly engaged General Mackay's | force during tins and the next day. The Imperial Force inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, but it became apparent that a stand could not be made indefinitely against greatly superior German numbers. It the enemy could not be held at Animtaion it was clear that the whole line on this front would have to be withdrawn, otherwise it would be outflanked. On April 11, therefore, the Imperial and Greek forces began to withdraw to a new line which ran from the sea south-east of Mount Olympus and north-west to Servia. thence south-west along the Aliakmon Kiver, and finally north-west again along the high ground to the west of the Plain of Kozani. At the same time General Mackay's mixed British and Anzac forces, which had suffered considerable losses, withdrew down the Kozani Valley and behind the new line, and the armoured force moved to Grevena. HEAVY FIGHTING. The line from the sea to Servia and along the Aliakmon Kiver was held by Imperial troops, while the high ground along the Kozani Plain was held by two Greek divisions. These two divisions were heavily engaged by the enemy

Meanwhile, the enemy forces advancing clown the Kozani- Valley were engaged by our forces at Servia and suffered heavy losses. The Greek divisions, having fought valiantly under overwhelming conditions and suffered very severe casualties, had almost ceased to exist as a fighting force. The flank and rear of the Imperial Forces were, accordingly, threatened and a further withdrawal was necessary. Accordingly, a withdrawal to the • Thermopylae line south of Lamia was ordered. The Imperial Fort-chad now to withdraw without further aid from the Greek army. ' The Greek corps which had been fighting with the Imperial troops'could do no more and the rest of the Greek army was away beyond the Pindus Mountains. On April 14 an Australian brigade was ordered to Kalabaka, at the head of the railway from the south, in order to cover the left flank of the withdrawal. On April 15 a New Zealand brigade took up a covering position north of Tirnavos. The same day a small New Zealand force which held the eastern entrance to the Pancica (Jorge, south of Mount Olympus, was heavily engaged by a greatly superior enemy force and driven back. ! The next day two battalions of an] Australian brigade went to its support.

This small Anzac force of about a brigade group fought two German divisions in the Pcnios Gorge. Its losses were heavy, but the withdrawal was secured on the right flank. During the following clays the Imperial Forces withdrew to the Thermopylae position under very heavy enemy bombing, and by April 20 wcrv in their new positions. The New Zealand division held the right to the sea, while the Australian division held a pass on the left. The artillery of both the British Army and the Anzac Forces played an important part in the campaign. Undoubtedly it indicted very heavy casualties, and the Germans themselves testified to the accuracy of the shoot-; ing. By this time it was obvious ' the Greek army could light jio longer. The Greek Government, recognising this, requested on April 21 that the British and Empire contingent which had been sent to its help should be withdrawn from Greece. The German forces, which had been held up for some time by the gallant rearguard action at Peneios Gorge, had passed through Larissa and Lamia, and were in contact with the forces o.u the Thermopylae position.' .Meanwhile the other German forces, treed from any threat to their rear by the capitulation of the Greek Epirus army, wove rapidly coming south from Jaaiina through Agririion, and [ constituted a threat to the rear of the Thermopylae position. On April 22 a New Zealand brigade had accordingly been withdrawn to a position on a pass south of Erythrai to cover the withdrawal of the remainder of the Imperial Forces to the embarkation areas, and on April 25 the last of the forces on the Thermopylae position withdrew behind Erythrai and began the embarkation from various beaches in Attica, Argolis, and Peloponnesus, the success of which, in relation to the difficulties o fthe situa-1 tion. has already been disclosed. i