END OF LEROS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 275, 20 November 1943, Page 5

END OF LEROS

FINAL ACT IN DRAMA VAIN ATTEMPT TO SECURE REINFORCEMENTS Recd. 6 p.m. Rugby, Nov. 18. It is stated in Cairo that between 650 and 1000 Germans were drowned during the last 36 hours of the battle, when British naval units sank three enemy lighters and a ferry crammed with men. The sole press eye-witness on Leros, who left the island in the destroyer Namless four nights ago, has given a giaphic account. ‘The final act oi the drama was the last desperate attempt to save Leros,” he said. “There was plenty of food, but reinforcements and certain types of ammunition were urgently required. The commanding officer, whose headquarters were in a tunnel on the highest point ot the southern part of the island, appealed for reinforcemnets and supplies. It seemed that upon the response the issue might rest.” The correspondent describes how he, with others, made his way trom the overcrowded tunnel full of dust and smoke, to the battered quayside of Portolago, where the commanding officer informed them that the destroyer would try to enter. At 10 p.m. a motor minesweeper came alongside and discharged 50 troops. There was still no news of the destroyer. Overhead at intervals came Dakotas, dropping welcome supplies now that tne air was clear oi Messerschmitts and German bombers.

It seemed crazy to expect a destroyer to enter an enclosed harbour like Portolago. The bay was only 2o miles from German airfields on Kos and barely two miles from the Ger-man-occupied island of Kalinos, to say nothing of the fact that one-third of Leros itself was in German hands. Hours dragged by. “Awaking abruptly at 4 a.m. I incredulously saw the silhouette of a destroyer creeping toward the quay,” he said. “She manoeuvred along and we saw the final act of the drama, the last desperate attempt to save Leros. Chutes and rope ladders were let down on the quayside and soldiers with heavy packs slid or climbed off, while ammunition and supplies ' were dumped ashore. Men filed off into the shadows. Supplies were wisked away. It was all finished in 20 minutes. We boarded the destroyer when it was nearly dawn. Could we get away before the stukas found us?

“Soon we were racing for the narrow harbour entrance. Our captain rang for full speed ahead of the final sweep round the islands. As we rounded a headland we sighted a large enemy landing craft packed with guns and vehicles. Our guns flamed and thundered. Shore 'batteries joined in and the enemy, caught between two murderous fires, took heavy punishment. We swerved wildly to avoid ‘overs’ from the shore. A hit aft and another in the stern were scored on the enemy craft, which was left stationary, burning. “Five minutes later we raced past little ships in time to see a naval battle in miniature. One was a smaller German landing craft and the other two British motor torpedo boats. One motor torpedo boat engaged the enemy with machine-gun fire and the second swerved across its bows and dropped depth charges. The landing craft vanished in a great water spout.

“In the morning tne destroyer’s crew read on the notice board a signal from the Commander-in-Chief of the Levant: ‘Well done! The arrival of these troops.should make all the difference.’ Then when news of the convoy action reached him he signalled again, ‘Splendid work!’ Later in the morning, however, we received a signal that 10 German landing craft had been sighted the island and it seems prooablc Wat they succeeded in discharging their troops, for later came another signal, ‘Collect all landing craft and prepare to evacuate Leros.’ The last gallant effort in the brave struggle had been in vain.”