GERMAN TROOPS FORM FRONT

Southland Times, Issue 24446, 28 May 1941, Page 5

GERMAN TROOPS FORM FRONT

“RIFLEMEN’S WAR” IN PROGRESS (Rec. 7.0 p.m.) LONDON, May 27. The situation in Crete is much the same, with very severe fighting in the Malemi area, where the Germans 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 compared with the previous two days, but undoubtedly the invaders suffered very severe losses of aircraft. The tide of battle still sways to and fro between Canea and Malemi, also around the Malemi aerodrome.

The Cairo correspondent of The Daily Mail says the Germans hold a 10-mile front between Malemi and Canea. Reinforcements were poured in all day by troop-carrying planes and parachutes. The fighting is reaching new heights of fury. The developments indicate that the Germans are cutting their losses in other parts of the island in order to concentrate on Malemi.

A “riflemen’s war” is the description of the fighting by wounded men arriving in Cairo from the island, where the battle is utterly different from the struggle against German mechanized forces in Greece. The element of surprise has gone. It. is much closer to the sort of fighting for which the New Zealanders were trained. The Greek King today decorated some of these men.

Royal Air Force bombers roaring past still smoking houses en route 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 attack, 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 casualties. CIVILIANS USED AS COVER Parachutists during the first days resorted to' their practice in Greece of herding civilians and driving them ahead as cover, but later dropped the method after getting a very clear warning from the Greek commander in Crete. The German News Agency says that fresh German units landed today . at various points and are now attacking British points of resistance. Shock parachutists at points of strategic importance cleared the way so that German troops in the western section of the island can advance to fresh zones. The Cairo correspondent of The Times says that Germans are now operating from all seven air bases in the Peloponnesus and neai - Athens, also an eighth base on Melos. He adds that a significant report on the Luftwaffe comes from Libya, where, few enemy planes are taking the air, although several hundred planes are massed. A scarcity of petrol is the possible explanation. A similar scarcity may become a problem for German planes operating from Greece at the end of long and bad routes from Rumania.

BATTLE FORMATION The correspondent says the front line in Crete has developed round Canea. Reports from the island are very scanty, but they reveal that the Battle of Crete has passed out of the initial parachuting stage and the Germans have formed up in battle formation. The objective is Canea itself and Suda Bay, where the Imperial forces are entrenched in force. Uneven country, sown with patches of grain, fruit, vegetables and gardens and reaching up the rocky foothills, lies between the two forces. 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 Rethymo, but here most of the population had already gone to the hills.