Nazis Enlarge Penetration Of Our Defences

Northern Advocate, 28 May 1941, Page 5

Nazis Enlarge Penetration Of Our Defences

(Rec. 2.30 p.m. LONDON. May 27. The most recent details of the fighting in Crete are given in the British headquarters’ Cairo communique. Supported by further intensive bombing, German troops in the area west enlarged their penetration of oir defences. necessitating withdrawal of our troops to rear positions. German reinforcements continue to reach the island by air. Heavy fighting is continuing. In a House of Commons statement on the war situation, Mr. Churchill, speaking of the battle for Crete, said it had now lasted for a week, during the whole of which British Imperial troops had been subject to an intense and continuous scale of air attacks, against which the R.A.F. had only been able to make very limited counter-attacks, because of the geographical conditions.

Germans’ Losses Heavier The fighting had been most severe, although the enemy's losses up to the present had been much the heavier. Air-borne reinforcements to the enemy could not be prevented and his attack had grown from day to day. Mr Churchill said the battle had swayed backwards and forwards with indescribable fury at Canea and also on a smaller scale at Retimo and Candin. More Germans Landed The situation in Crete is much the same, with very severe fighting in the Malemi area, where the Germans have landed more men in the last 24 hours. According to military circles in Cairo, it is most difficult to see how the situation is developing, and also to estimate how the German landings have compared with those of the pre-

vicus two days, but undoubtedly the invaders have suffered very severe losses of aircraft. The tide of battle still sways to and fro between Canea and Malemi and also around the Malemi aerodrome.

New Heights of Fury

The “Daily Mail" Cairo correspondent says the Germans hold a 10-mile front between Malemi and Canea. Reinforcements poured in all day yesterday by troop-carriers and parachutes, and the fighting is reaching new heights of fury. Developments indicate that the Germans are cutting their losses in other parts of the island in order to concentrate at Malemi. A communique issued in Cairo yesterday stated that in the Malemi area, following the arrival of additional air-borne reinforcements, the Germans, under cover of an intensive air bombardment, delivered a strong attack against Empire troops west of Canea. Although the enemy again sustained heavy casualties, they penetrated the defensive positions.

Battleline Formed New Zealadn forces delivered a counter-attack and severe fighting is continuing. A front line has developed around Canea says the Cairo correspondent of “The Times.” Reports from the Island are very scanty, but they reveal that the batle of Crete has passed out of the initial parachuting stage, and the Germans have now formed up in battle formation. Their objective is Canea itself and Suda Bay, where the Imperial troops are entrenched in force. Uneven country sown with patches of grain and fruit and vegetable gardens, reaching up to rocky foothills, lies between the two forces. Towns Ruthlessly Attacked

The first phase of the German attack was launched on Saturday, when enemy bombers started to blow Canea out of existence. Less serious, but similarly ruthless attacks, fell on Candia and Retimo, but here most ol the population had already gone to the hills.

The German news agency says: “Fresh German units were landed today at various points and are attacking the British points of resistance. Shock parachutists at points of strategic importance cleared the way so that the German troops in the western section of the island can advance to fresh zones.”

General Ali Sabis, a Turkish military authority, estimates that three German divisions have landed in Crete up to Friday night, and he calculates that they have lost one-fifth of their total. His estimate is that between 25,000 and 28,000 Germans are now fighting in Crete. Mass Raids on Civilians Bombers of the Royal Air Force, roaring past still smoking houses on their way to attack Malemi, saw the havoc the Luftwaffe had inflicted on the fishing townships of Crete. No fighting units except a few town guards were caught by the German attacks, in which _ several hundred tons of bombs were flung on shops, houses and farms. Even before this mass raid, the civilian casualties in Crete were higher than the military. Parachutitss during the first days resorted to the practice adopted in Greece of herding civilians and driving them ahead as cover. Later they dropped this method after getting a very clear warning from the Greek commander in Crete. “The Times" Cairo correspondent says the Gernrians are now operating from all seven air bases in the Peloponnesus and in the vicinity of Athens. They have also an eighth base at Melos. Short of Gas? The correspondent adds that a significant report on the Luftwaffe comes from Libya, where few enemy aeroplanes are taking the air, although several hundred are massed. Scarcity of petrol is a possible explanation. Similar scarcity may become a problem for German planes operating from Greece at the end of the long and bad routes from Rumania. “A riflemen’s war” is the description of the fighting in Crete by wounded men arriving in Cairo from the island where the batle is utterly different from the struggle against the German mechanised forces in Greece. “The element of surprise has gone and it is much closer to the sort ol fighting for which we New Zealanders were trained,” said one soldier.