GRIM ORDEAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 May 1941, Page 5

GRIM ORDEAL

ENDURED BY OUR TROOPS IN GREECE LACK OF AIR SUPPORT. EVENTS OF THE FIGHTING RETREAT. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) CAIRO, May 5. Predominant among the impressions retained of Greece by a member of a New Zealand rifle battalion is that of lack of air co-operation, which placed the troops at a considerable disadvantage when dealing with the enemy. He was wounded while holding the most advanced section of a post overlooking the village of Servia after two days of fighting. His unit had been shfl'ted there by a 100-mile journey in trucks from Mt. Olympus, along with the remainder of his brigade. Nazi dive-bombers kept the men down in their trenches while the German infantry advanced. These infantry should have been easy kills if the air force could only have kept the bombers engaged or molested them enough to allow the New Zealanders some freedom of action. As it was the New Zealanders had to forgo rest during the day because of bombing and had to patrol and dig at night so that they became very weary. PARACHUTISTS WIPED OUT. The enemy advanced like a mob of sheep into the village and then threeinch mortars were called up to deal with them. They produced a very good effect. One morning at 9.30 o’clock the Germans put over about 300 parachute troops in areas held by two of our senior battalions but they were all shot before they could do any damage. This soldier showed a machine-gun bullet he had in his pocket. A doctor in (he New Zealand General Hospital had taken it from under his shoulder blade, where it became lodged after hitting the right side of his neck. The round was just as if it had never been fired, and was not in the least out of shape.

The move of the oldest brigade was in reality only across the mountain range, though it involved a very long journey by road, ond was made to allow the Australians to retire after the collapse of the Yugoslav army. The Australians made a great job of the withdrawal, and brought out practically all their material, but when there was an air raid the Greeks would stop their buses and hold up the convoys, so the Australians were compelled to run them over the side of the mountain roads to keep the convoys moving. . When the enemy put in an appearance the British artillery played havoc with them, but this did not stop them advancing into the village of Servia, cyclists being noted among their ranks. While all this was in progress the Nazis would dive-bomb the section posts, then loop the loop over them and lean out and grin at lhe discomfited soldiers, who prayed for aircraft of the Royal Air Force to come over and teach the Nazis a lesson. Lights could not be used for anti-aircraft fire, as the men handling them would have fallen to the fire of the advancing infantry. FIFTH COLUMN WORK, As evidence of the work of the Fifth Column, it was slated that early in the piece the Greeks all went back from the front, apparently under the impression that resistance was to cease. Some even got as far as Athens before the Greek authorities realised what was happening and sent them back again. During the time that the Australians and Greeks were retiring, Germans, dressed in suitable uniforms, filtered in with them and were not at first detected or suspected. This meant that they had good chances of carrying out Fifth Column work. One of the highlights of the campaign was a charge with fixed bayonets by the Maori Battalion, which carried all before it. The Germans could not get out of the road fast enough. Leaving the advanced casualty clearing station this soldier found that the No. 1 New Zealand General Hospital had been bombed, but he heard that everyone there had got away safely because they had previously been told to leave just as they were. The casualty clearing station at Larissa was machine-gunned by the Germans when the men were in the open on stretch"Give us the aircraft and we could beat them all the way," was his final assertion.

In a debate in the House of Lords on the campaign in Greece, Lord Mayne said that Britain's total losses were about 11.500 men, of whom a great part were cut off and captured by the enemy. A greater quantity of armaments and equipment than had been lost in Greece had since arrived in Red Sea ports.