Hampered by Lack of Air Support

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 107, 7 May 1941, Page 4

Hampered by Lack of Air Support

New Zealander Tells Story §f Fighting MAORI BATTALION SCATTERS HUNS WITH BAYONET (From N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) Received Tuesday, 30.45 p.m. CATRO, May 5. Predominant among the impressions retained of Greece by a member of the New Zealand Rifle Battalion is that of the lack of air co-operation which places troops at a considerable disadvantage when dealing with the enemy. He was wounded while holding a most advanced section post overlooking the village of Servia. After two days of fighting his unit had been shifted there by a hundredmile journey in trucks from Mt. Olympus along with the remainder of his brigade. Nazi divebombers kept the men down in their trenches while the infantry advanced. These infantry should have been easy kills if the Air Force could only have kept the bombers engaged or molested them enough to allow the New Zealanders some freedom of action. As it was the New Zealanders had to forego their rest during the day because of the bombing and had to patrol and dig at night so that they became very weary. The enemy advanced like a mob of sheep into the village and then the three-inch mortars were called up to deal with them and they produced a very good effect. One morning at 9.30 the Germans put over about 300 parachute troops in the areas held by two of our senior battalions, but they were all shot before they could do any damage. This soldier showed a machine-gun bullet which he had in his pocket that a doctor in the New Zealand General Hospital had taken from under his shoulder blade where it became lodged after hitting the right side of his nock. The bullet was just as if it had never been and not in the least out of shi pc. The move of the oldest brigade was in reality only across a mountain rang* although it involved a very long journey by road and was made to allow the Australians to retire after the collapse of the Yugoslav army. The Australians made a great job of the withdrawal and brought out practically all their material, but when there was an air raid th'e Greeks would stop their buses and hold up the convoys so the Australians were compelled to run them over the side of the mountain roads to keep the convoys moving. • When the enemy put in an appearanee the British artillery played havoc with them, but this did not stop them advancing into the village of Servia, cyclists being noted among their ranks. While all this was in progress the Nazis would divebomb the section posts and then looped the loop over them and lean out and grin at the discomfited soldiers w r ho prayed for some of the R.A.F. to come over and teach the ’ Nazis a lesson. Lights could not be used for antiaircraft firo as the men handling them would have fallen to the lire of the advancing infantry. How Fifth Column Worked. “We had evidence of the work of .the Fifth Column,” the soldier said. I “It was stated that early in the piece the Greeks all went back from the front apparently under the impression that resistance was to cease. Some even got as far as Athens before the Greek authorities realised what was happening and sent them back again. “During the time that the Australians and Greeks were retiring the Germans dressed in suitable uniforms filtered in with them and were not at first detected or suspected. This meant that they had good chances of carrying out Fifth Column work. “One of the highlights of the campaign was a charge with fixed bayonets by the Maori Battalion which carried all before it and the Germans could not get out of the road fast enough.” Leaving an advanced casualty clearing station this soldier found that No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital had been bombed, but heard that everyone tfcc-re had got away safely because they had previously been told to leave just as they were. The casualty clearing station at Larissa was machine-gunned by the Germans when the men were in the open on stretchers. “Give us aircraft and we could beat them all the wa.',' was his final assertion.