BITTER EXPERIENCES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 192, 16 July 1941, Page 8

BITTER EXPERIENCES

SOLDIERS IN GREECE. NAZI CUNNING IN CRETE. I "If ivg could only hnvo had help from the air, we would still be in Greece. ]\lako no mistake about that. Man for man we are superior to the Germans, but unaided wo could not hold oh against their air attacks." This opinion, given by a returned soldier in an interview with a "Manawatu Stan-

dai-d" representative yesterday ex- , presses the opinion licld by many New Zealand soldiers of the campaign ill . Greece. Sergeant L. 0. .Morgan and Private \V. J. Jarvis have returned-to •. Palmerstou North alter spending 13

; months overseas, and they state that '• their chief desire is to recuperate I quickly from their wounds and return overseas to help the comrades they left I behind. | Of their actual experiences in war- : fare the men would say little, except I that warfare to-day is a totally dif- [ ferent thing from what it was in the I days of 1914-18. Both wer6 with the i New Zealanders in Britain last year before being transferred to Egypt. After a short period there they received orders to go to Greece. Sergeant Morgan, however, had by this time been sent to hospital quarters suffering from the effect* of being in bombing attacks in England. Taking np the story from this point. Private- Jams stated that bis unit had, been only 48 hours in Greece when the "show" started Hi ; onl.T saw two British aeroplanes during the fighting in Greece. The German soldiers had

! superior equipment, and every German had a Tommy gun and a Mauser pistol. Tlio majority of thorn wore young men, some being only 16 years ot age, and they were mostly of medium heighi. Each soldier had a photograph of Hitler in his breast poeket; on the reverse- side was a photograph of the soldier's sweetheart or a parent. They were well trained and confident in their manner, but did not relish the hand-to-hand fighting. "When the German troops wanted a rest, the planes came into aetion and kept on dive-bombing the Allied forces until the Nazi troops had recovered, when the latter took up the fight again. Thus the Dominion troops, in addition to trying to keep the enemy soldiers at bay, had also to fight the aeroplanes. "One thing the Germans admit," stated Private Jarvis, "was the remarkable accuracy of our artillery fire.

It was simply marvellous. Captured Germans said we had the laugh on them for the time, being, but in two or three months they would have the laugh -on us. It was hard fighting the Germans, but an awful lot harder to leave Greece and our wounded pals behind us. All the way to the embarkation points men and women wero kneeling in prayer and saying 'Come back soon New Zoa-I land, come back soon." J The Salvation Army and the

Y.M.C.A. were magnificent, the narrator added. They never hesitated to approach as to the lines as possible and their cigarettes and coffee were especially welcome. Here Sergeant Morgan took up the story. "Jt was funny, but just as the soldiers in the last war bought a lot of rubbishy things in Egypt to send home, so did we. Actually they were not worth buying, but wo bought them. Basketware was plentiful but it was all Japanese stuff. j

Neither of the men had been in Crete, Privato Jarvis having sustained wounds in Greece winch put him out of action and Sergeant Morgan still lx?ing in hospital. Men who had returned from Crete, however, had told them something ol their experiences. Sergeant Morgan said that nearly every gun emplacement had been known to tiic enemy; solders had been captured with maps in their possession showing the positions in. exact detail. The shepherds tending the flocks of goats wore white smocks, and Fifth Columnists got to work among them; on certain ridges at certain times "shepherds" would go along tht ridges and soon afterwards a flare would be noticed. Almost immediately planes would come over and drop bombs. From that time on, anyone caught wearing a smock was shot on sight. Referring to the reports of doping of German soldiers, the two men said tbev bad been told that after being dead for a day Germans turned a dirt.v bluish-black colour, and the face was also contorted. There was no doubting the men had received some kind o! dope before being sent into action. Pills had been taken from German soldiers; one white and one brown The white one was very sustaining, but the brown one, aitci a sLori time, made the recipient "»ant to light almost anything in sight. Captured parachutists were well equipped. They had in their possession, ir. addition to the pills, small flasks of coffee and sandwiches and compressed food wrapped in cellophane. These men had said Crete would be occupied in three hours —but it took longer than that. The German fear of Indians and Maoris was well-known.; very few indeed wore the Germans who would face them at close quarters. The Jndians were line strapping men who towered over the Germans and knew no fear. "As for the Maoris, no words can do them justice." The two men, although not complaining, said that the only people who had come near them since tneir arrival in Palmerston North were two members ol tht lteu Cios.-. Society, who visited them yesterday. "We are not asking for anything, but we would like to meet people who may be interested in things over there,*' they said. "Apparently hardly anybody knows we are here." Sergeant Morgan, who has been a resident of this city for nine years, leaves at the end of this month to undergo treatment in the Auckland Hospital.