ANZACS’ EPIC JOURNEY

Southland Times, Issue 24439, 20 May 1941, Page 5

ANZACS’ EPIC JOURNEY

TRIP TO CYPRUS FROM GREECE FISHING-BOATS AND STEAM YACHT (Rec. 8.45 p.m.) LONDON, May 18. A party of Anzacs posted as missing in Greece landed in Cyprus today with a story more hair-raising than any thriller, says a despatch from Nicosia to The Daily Express. For three weeks, dodging across, the Aegean from island to island, they kept one jump ahead of the Germans. The narrator, who was lying in a Cyprus rest camp, said:— “Our story really started beyond Mount Olympus when we got the order to retire. The dive-bombers kept driving us further into the hills, where there was no food and it was each man for himself. Some of us, however, stuck together, including half a dozen men wounded by fehrapnel. We lay doggo for six days watching German troop carriers fly southwards. Once we passed within 30 yards of a German patrol. “The food position was terrible. Seven of us had one roasted potato between us one night. We then began to boil two tortoises, but half-way through the cooking the Germans began to show up. We grabbed the half-cooked tortoises and bolted. Once we stumbled on three men and prepared for action, but they were New Zealanders. GREEK VILLAGERS’ HELP

“Our party grew as other refugees joined in. The Greek villagers everywhere helped, us, concealed us and gave us whatever they could. Near a Greek port a peasant led us to the coast. We arrived on the shore at a spot with enemy positions northward and southward. We waited nearly a week, hiding near the shore, for boats. We then decided to pool and divide our remaining money so that we could split up into small groups. “Some reached a nearby island and began collecting small boats to take them on the long sea trip to friendly waters. One party of officers and men found a Greek fishing smack and, using a prismatic compass, set out alone. After four days they hit another island, where they secured a steam yacht, with which they set out to find their mates. On one island they found the main party, famished. Calling at islands all the way across, these had got enough food and water from fishermen to keep going.

“The men cut down their heavy battledress to shorts and singlets because of the intense heat. Many were suffering from stomach complaints through eating green fruit, but there was no time to lose because the Italians and Germans were already occupying the islands. One of our parties actually saw an Italian destroyer and two troop ships steaming in the harbour of one island just as they left. Our leaders decided to take the yacht clean through the Dodecanese, resting in the bays and inlets at night-time and hugging the coasts in daytime. We saw Italians ashore and they saw us, but they were puzzled and did nothing. Now we are here, waiting to rejoin our units. Someone is going to pay for that trip.”