WORTH FIGHTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24632, 13 June 1941, Page 4

WORTH FIGHTING

THE BATTLE OF CRETE COMMENT IN LONDON (Rec. 8 p.m.) RUGBY, June 11. Commenting on the House of Commons debate, the newspapers stress the point that the battle of Crete must be viewed in its proper perspective as part of a vast campaign, and not as an isolated incident. , The Times says: “If we had not fought, the result might well have affected the final outcome of the war more seriously than the loss of the battle there.” and it suggests that the losses suffered by the Nazis may affect the weight and speed of the enemy’s offensive in the Middle East. An Advisory Mission

It is believed that Brigadier Ingles is the New Zealand officer Mr Churchill referred to in a speech on June 10 as going to England to advise how the lessons of Crete may be applied in the defence of Britain. Brigadier Ingles arrived on June 11. Fuller details are now available of the incident In Crete, outlined by Mr Churchill in the House of Commons, when German parachutists, after landing at one point, drove a number of New Zealand walking wounded before them, and consequently the cry arose that the parachutists were themselves dressed in New Zealand uniforms. The particular hospital in which the New Zealanders were being cared for was systematically bombed and ma-chine-gunned by German aircraft. The Germans could not have failed to see the markings as they flew so low that the wing of one plane struck the top of a tent. Patients Used as Screen

After this had been riddled by machine-gun fire, the parachutists landed about 300yds away. The hospital, in which every person was unarmed. was captured, and all the patients who could walk—some wearing pyjamas—were sent ahead by the parachutists to act as a screen against snipers. Many, wounded as they were, had to walk a long distance with their hands up and being continually threatened with shooting. Actually 12 were shot, some being killed. Other prisoners who were too ill to walk were kept five hours lying face down .in an olive grove until eventually they were rescued by New Zealand forces, who killed or captured all the Nazi parachutists who had landed in that area.