PINNED ON CRETE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25718, 14 December 1944, Page 5

PINNED ON CRETE

STRONG ENEMY FORCES/

ISLAND IN ALLIED CONTROL

(N.ZIE.F. Official War Correspondent) WESTERN CRETE, (Rec. 11 p.m.) Dec. 5. Comfortably ensconced in the blackened wreckage of German defence works, I am looking into what must be the most hopeless piece of enemy lerritory on the world’s battle fronts. Penned in this inhospitable corner of Crete are about 10,000 Germans and possibly half that number of Italians, all superbly armed and equipped. They have withdrawn into the heavily-for-tified area covering Malemo, Galatos, Canea, . and Suda Bay. The rest of Crete is ours without cost, though there is always the danger of running into German patrols in this western area. , > •

From where I am, near Draraia, I can see running out in the middle •distance Cape Drapano, the southern arm enclosing Suda Bay. From it heavy coastal guns occasionally shell the harbour of Retimo, some 12 miles behind me across the Almiros Gulf. At the base of the cape among olive trees is Georgeopolis and above it Exopolis. They are both strongly held by the enemy. From Exopolis one should be able to get a splendid view of Canea ana the bay. This is as close as I can get to the New Zealand /

battlefields of 1941. There is no point In moving closer as down below, about 3000 yards away, a gun is firing, which means that Jerry’s forward patrols must be about the village which is immediately below our hill. An hour ago three Spitfires came in

on a dive-bombing attack on the cape. We saw one < stagger and spin slowly; then he ; straightened out and flew vertically into the sea. Everything is quiet now. The other Spitfires'have gone and there is nothing but a calm patch among the ripples to mark the grave of pilot and plane. Once there were upwards of 90,000 enemy troops in Crete, which was one of the stepping-stones for the invasion of North Africa. As the tide turned the Crete garrison, harassed from sea and air, gradually went back on the defensive. Many troops were evacu-ated-to Greece, and a few months ago the enemy realised they could not hope to hold the whole island against this determined invasion. They withdrew, taking all the necessary heavy weapons and blowing up the rest, including a coastal battery of long-range French guns from the Maginot Line. In the area they now hold they have concentrated huge quantities of munitions and a formidable number of guns. The Germans probably imagined that they could control the island from this area, but nothing is farther from the truth. Andartes kept up a continuous attack on outlying positions. The Germans retaliated, sallying out and burning numerous villages. Their most recent attempt ended in disaster, when 1000 Andartes ambushed a column and inflicted 200 casualties. In the meantime the Italians are deserting at the rate of 30 a day, and are promptly sent to work on tne roads. There is no doubt who controls the island now.