How Anzacs Stemmed Blitz Army

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 97, 24 April 1941, Page 7

How Anzacs Stemmed Blitz Army

N.Z. Troops Win First Battle Against Germans DEFIANCE OF DIVE-BOMBERS (From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F. in Greece.) NORTHERN GREECE, April 15. Dawn to-day brought New Zealand infantrymen tiieir first taste of battle in an engagement crowned with complete success. Stemming an attack launched by Germans who had crossed the Aliakinon River near Servia, a company of Wellington troops disposed ot ific whole assaulting force witnout loss to themselves, forty Germans were Killed and. 15U captured. Tlie news of the encounter sent spirits soaring as it spread liko wildfire among the otner New Zealanders waiting at their mountain battle stations. Dominion detachments, operating separately, had made earlier contacts with the enemy, but without such an opportunity to engage him, and to-day's clash was what one soldier called * * the answer to many long months of prayer. ’ ’

The engagement was the supreme moment or tne noisiest ana most exciting two days we had ever experienced. Hast night, Now Zealand gunners joined in tne artillery duel \.nich is still raging between tho German and British positions through a gap iu tho mountains. The British guns have ueen registering so effectively that the Ger mans have used air fleet after fleet, each up to 30 in number, in a desperate attempt to silence them. With ail the ceremony and striving after effect of which the Luftwaffe is capable, dive-bombers screamed at us and fignters raked the ground with machine-gun lire. But the blitz’s bark is far worse than its bite to soldiers who know how to protect themselves, and each attack, however furious, proved in the long run little more than a thrilling show. No sooner had the smoko from the last bombs drifted away than I hoard firing orders ring out and our guns crack into action again. It was a heart-warming sound. The New Zealand infantrymen, who had taken new positions in rain and snowstorms, were “ready and willing” when German foot troops made tnis morning’s cocksure attempt. The enemy force was blasted from cover by trench moftars and slashed with machine-gun fire. In trying to retreat, the Germans ran into a second line of fire from another New Zealand company and surrendered alter suffering heavy casualties. Under cover of a bombing attack, the Germans made a fresh advance this evening but were thrown back by hot New Zealand lire.

To-day’s events have convinced tho New Zealanders that, man for man, they are more than a match for the Germans. Their morale was never so high. During the week-end, other New Zealand forces contacted the enemy. A detachment of machine-gunners gave valuable support to British Imperial troops while these were withdrawing to their new positions under difficult conditions, and one report tells how some gunners took parting shots at the Germans from their speeding trucks. The New Zealand mechanised cavalry earned praise on another sector for its hide-and-seek game, whose object was to delay an enemy movement. Avoiding an engagement on any serious scale, they worried the Germans at river crossings, chased patrols away, and generally carried out their assignment to the letter.