SHOOTING GERMANS DOWN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 123, 28 May 1941, Page 5

SHOOTING GERMANS DOWN

jUSTRALIAN BREN CARRIERS CUTTING ENEMY IN HALF (Recd. 11.45 p.m.) London, May 27. Giving the British United Press Alexandria correspondent an eye-wit-ness account of the early Crete fighting a British soldier told how the sky was lit up by German parachutists, who became balls of flame as they leapt from planes set on fire by antiaircraft fire. Many were burned to death as they fell. “Early on May 21 we saw divebombers coming over in waves and then troop-carriers, nine at a time, but our anti-aircraft.fire was hitting them hard. Some parachutists tried to jump from the burning planes in mad confusion but their parachutes caught lire. Other parachutes failed to open. Australian troops on the aerodrome were getting them in the air and those who landed safely. We j told the boys on the Brens to cease putting bursts into the Germans after they had already been hit. They were dead enough and nothing could be gained by cutting them in half. It was a great sight. We had forgotten what pity is.”