THE WITHDRAWAL FROM GREECE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24604, 12 May 1941, Page 4

THE WITHDRAWAL FROM GREECE

FINAL STAGES A FIGHTING RETREAT RACE AGAINST TIME NAVY'S FRIENDLY ARMS (From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, May 9. (Dated April 30) In a dramatic night dash between a large formation of parachute troops and the advance guard of the main enemy drive a veteran New Zealand infantry brigade, forming the bulk of a composite Anzac group, evacuated the last British stronghold on the road to Athens after filling brilliantly another difficult rearguard role. It successfully covered the withdrawal of the remaining Anzac formations and the New Zealand Force as a whole, and to-day it stands remarkably intact, despite all the wiles and violence used by the enemy on the land and in the air in an attempt to make the retirement a shambles. With the southern exit menaced by parachute troops who landed in numbers probably exceeding 1000 on the bottleneck near the Corinth canal and with armoured mechanised forces closing upon Athens, this New Zealand formation turned to the sea for escape. Clash with Parachutists

While Wellington and South Island troops engaged the parachutists in fierce guerrilla clashes along the Athens-Corinth road, we sped down from mountain positions south of Thebes and through Athens to the coast a few hours ahead of the German tank columns. There, after the artillery had flung disturbing parting shots at the enemy the Royal Navy took us into its magical care and whisked us without mishap to a safer haven, still on Greek soil. . The rest of the New Zealand and other British forces were meanwhile well clear of the rapidly-forming cordon around Athens, for we who had squeezed through the sole remaining loophole were the last to face and delay the German drive. The most recent of my despatches likely to have reached New Zealand have told of the withdrawal from the Olympus passes behind the magnificent delaying actions fought by the Anzacs under ceaseless air attacks That unforgettable move took us through Larissa and Lamia to the historic Thermopylae Pass, which is a narrow coastal strip between the cliffs and waters of Maliakos Gulf.

There, the Amacs turned again to hold the enemy while the withdrawal continued in the rear, and on the eve of the 27th Anzac Day, the New Zealanders once more struck hack hard at the Germans in highly-successful delaying tactics. The encounter was particularly noteworthy for brilliant artillery work, since 24 tanks were blasted out of action by our Runners. Violent Attacks Repulsed Using dive-bombers as artillery weapons, the Germans made a violent attempt early in the afternoon to break the defensive line established by a comparatively small composite force. The air attack was followed almost immediately by a tank advance which was quickly driven back. Towards dusk the enemy repeated the formula exactly, except that it pushed tanks forward more strongly and in" determined fashion. They ran into a terrific artillery fire, and the accurate ranging of our guns wrought havoc among them.

The final phase of the battle advance of motorised troops who were filtering into our infantry positions. They were repulsed with considerable casualties. The end of the engagement almost coincided with the previously fixed time for the evacuation of these positions, and as I watched the troops go by after the battle one yelled cheerily: "Sorry if late, but had a little business to clean up first." Cat and Mouse T-actics

Meantime, this New Zealand Brigade, supported by Australian gunners, fell back under cover of night to the Thebes area, straddling the road through a mountain pass only 30 miles from Athens ready to prevent the Germans from overtaking the tail of the withdrawing British forces. The delicate nature of this task cannot be overstated, for not only was the force required to hold fast for 36 hours after the last troops had passed through it, but also had then to retire itself, providing its own cover for this movement.

Many of those 36 hours were spent in the most extraordinary cat and mouse game ever plaved. Our force was the mouse, but figuratively speaking it had the cat on the end of a string. So skilfully were its positions concealed and so carefully were movements shielded that the size and location of the force remained a complete puzzle, to the Germans. We spent Anzac Day lying low. while reconnaissance planes, bombers and fighters skimmed 50 feet above the roadside hedges and hopped over the hills in vain efforts to nose out our positions or draw a betraying fire. However sorely tempted our men were, they answered the inquisitiveness and erratic machine-gun-ning of the enemy only with stolid, mystifying silence. Sent Scuttling Back

Next morning reports of enemy land movement ahead of our line tumbled in one after another. A motor patrol nosing cautiously forward was followed by the appearance of 40 mixed vehicles and the crack of field guns broke our silence as the Australians blew seven from the road and sent the remainder scutting back out of range. The setback surprised the enemy into fresh but still unsuccessful air activity, and the gunners added a tank to the score and the machine-gunners drove off two infantry patrols before the day was out.

With our guns booming across the pass till a late hour we left the enemy halted and guessing while our vehicles streamed back ever the hills and through the heart of the darkened and silent Athens whose streets were to sec the field-grey German uniforms a few hours later.

With their backs to the sea the New Zealanders once more faced the enemy when daylight brought intense strafing and bombing attacks and 100 armoured vehicles were sighted massing in a village a few miles inland. Their readiness to meet this double menace was expressed by the shocting down of one plane and the scattering of the tanks with artillery fire. Enemy Finally Outwitted The day wore on as one of the tensest we had known. Every man. stripped of his personal equipment to the barest essentials, was tearing up blankets and surplus clothing, while demolition parties smashed vehicles and heavy stores beyend recovery. Darkness fell with victory for us in this thrilling race against time. Scows and launches ferried us alongside the swift warships. The tension snapped as we clamoured on board in the firm grip ot hands that helped us over the rail, and as friendly English voices directed us below to hot tea and places to sleep we knew the enemy had been cheated of his last real chance to block our way of escape.

ELUSIVE FORCE COVERING THE RETREAT ENEMY ADVANCE IMPEDED HEAVY BLOWS STRUCK (From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, May 9. (April 22, delayed.) A brave little force of mechanised cavalry, anti-tank and field gunners and engineers may justly claim a large share of the credit for the success of the British withdrawal so far as the New Zealand troops are concerned. Isolated from the main force and constantly on the move, it struck elusively at the Germans in the mountain passes and open ground, delaying the enemy advance probably a week in all and inflicting some 400 casualties. While the New Zealanders consolidated the Mount Olympus positions the cavalry force delved far northward of the Aliakmon.River in extensive reconnaissance patrols and was then given the difficult task of hindering the German drive without becoming seriously engaged. Spreading along the Aliakmon bank, the force shot up the Germans as they massed on the other side and attempted to push out pontoon' bridges. Suicidal German Tactics It. was here that the New Zealanders first witnesses the suicidal tactics of the German infantry. A trooper told me: " They walked over crests and open ground carelessly as if going to a football match. They cared nothing for fieldcraft or concealment, and we shot them down like rats, but still they kept coming as though driven from behind. The German soldiers are such easy meat that I do not wonder they put their faith in tanks and aeroplanes. I am sure that with air and artillery support our fellows can lick them." About the same time two New Zealand armoured car crews recaptured the spirit of the old horse cavalry in a glorious charge against a large body of German troops at a roadside halt. They sped unharmed into a rain of fire and out again, leaving several enemy casualties. According to plan the cavalry fell back by stages ■to Mount Olympus, pausing again seriously to check the enemy, who suffered further considerable losses. These will-o'-the-wisp tactics were so successful that the Germans probably believed the force to be a whole division and poured shells into vacant positions. Heavy Toll Exacted With no time for rest, the force was now assigned a still more difficult task. As the rearguard of the main withdrawal it lingered on the Mount Olympus foothills and drove a wedge across the path of the advanced German elements making for Larissa. Its mobility and elusiveness again caused the enemy costly delay. Light armoured vehicles shot up troop carriers and even engaged tanks from the sides. The anti-tank guns accounted for four tanks, while -an armoured car crew brought a dive bomber crashing to earth. Its mission once more successfully accomplished, this force last night rejoined us, weary after hundreds of miles of criss-crossing movement, but still intact and with a well-merited feeling of confidence. Hitler Regiment Thinned

Sent out like cavalry on a special assignment, part of the main force detachment 'of machine-gunners also left a notable mark on the northern battle-fields. Supporting the British forces in a delaying action down from the Jugoslav border, they engaged the enemy during a week of rain and snow when scores of "young giants" fell before the New Zealand gun posts. These proved to be members of the famous hand-picked Adolf Hitler Regiment, whose ranks must have been considerably thinned as our gunners caught them debussinjt and uncovered. Using a gun arrangement which they perfected In the Western Desert, men of the same battalion shot a plane into the sea this week, repeating the success claimed during the voyage to Greece, when bombers attacked their transport.

THE ARTILLERY VALUABLE PART PLAYED HEAVY LOSSES INFLICTED NORMAL RULES IGNORED (From Official War Correspondent with N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, May 9. On May 3. New Zealand gunners, fighting defensive actions along the withdrawal routes through Greece, stood up unflinchingly to all the destructive power the Germans could muster. It wes in the courage, accuracy and versatility of our artillery that the enemy met his most costly delays suffered his heaviest casualties and lost his best opportunities to overrun the retiring forces. He expressed his reject for them in his efforts from air and land to wipe them out with a violence beyond conception. But our guns kept firing.

The stories which were written in the countless thousands of shells pumpcj into the German troop concentrations, tank forces and motor columns at' ranges from several miles to a few hundred yards are such classics of coolness and endurance that I would find them hard to appreciate if I had not seen some of our gunners hi action with my own eyes.

The manner in which I first sew the gun crews in the pass to Serbia left unshaken and undeterred by the furious air blitzes became a commonplace "spectacle. In other and hotter battles our gunners ignored the air action completely in their deadly concentration on enemy movements ettempted under the cover of this bombing and strafing. Withering Fire

Methodical, highly accurate shelling across the Olympus Passes cost the enemy dearly in the few days between the time the first contact was made and the start of the hectic week of withdraws 1. Advanced columns were scattered and shattered whenever tney aDpeared within range. One field regiment, laying a defensive fire through a blanket of mist, learned afterwards that it had been the ceiise of great discomfort to two German battalions. Such a comparatively orthodox operation reached an abrupt end for many gun crews on the dav of withdrawal. A line roughly from Elisson to the mlway pass, near the sea. became a scene of what must have been the most extraordinary artillery stand maHe m any war. Here all the rules for normal conditions went by the board as field guns, fought at point-blank ranges, were rushed from piece to place and switched from target to target with a

mobility and speed expected only of far lighter weapons. One, batterv was in action almost a whole afternoon with nothing between its guns and the enemy. - A , , ... _. „ A troop- commander told me, Our targets were anything on feet, wheels or tracks, and we opened on everything that moved. The boys had the time of their lives and they were absolutely grand. Jerry plastered them with bombs and bullets, but they always bobbed up again asking. 'What do 'we shoot .next? ' " Many were the times when the targets were so close that the guns were fired over open sights, and one destroyed a tank at only 150 "yards. Sometimes the observation posts were merely trees within hail of the guns. Guerrilla Warfare

When the Germans began to push troops across the river in rubber boats, a New Zealand officer went forward in a wireless truck watching the operation and relaying information so quickly and exactly that boatload after boatload was blown out of the water. Most of this action was a sort of guerrilla warfare in which the New Zealanders excelled. That it greatly perturbed the enemy was shown by the fact that not only did the Luftwaffe constantly hunt the gun positions, but German artillery, mortar and machinegun fire swept along the hillcrests in a systematic search for observation posts. A few days later, Thermopylae Pass became the hottest corner in Greece when over 100 guns, mostly manned by New Zealanders, blazed for 15 hours at the enemy forces trying to push beyond Lamia. About 3000 rounds at a conservative estimate were falling into every known centre of German activity., and our shells drove off the working parties which were trying to rebuild a demolished bridge, silenced the enemy guns, and caught troops and armoured columns in a terrific barrage. The German casualties and equipment losses must have been huge and the enemy suffered a considerable delay at a vital period in the withdrawal.

Before the guns ceased firing. 1000 more British troops were well on the road to safety. Twelve Tanks Destroyed

An indication of the extent of the damage done is given by the fact that three field guns playing an anti-tank role, alone accounted for 12 tanks in only 90 minutes. A sergeant-major at one gun said: — "We got our chance at dusk after being shelled, bombed and machinegunned. Our three guns were covering a stretch of winding road when 12 tanks attempted to pass along it. Not one got through, despite their speed of 30 miles an hour. One gun alone stopped seven tanks, and the others cleaned up the remaining five. We got each broadside on at point-blank range by waiting until its nose appeared in the gunsights. My crew ba£ the pleasure of gaining a direct hTt'and the tank seemed to disappear in the air."