Story of Greece and Crete

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 141, 13 August 1941, Page 6

Story of Greece and Crete

THE WITHDRAWAL

FURTHER EXPERIENCES OF LIELT A. G. HULTQUIST

STORY OF CKETK NOiUNO AN END On Sunday, May 25 tiling's Avere tougher than they had been at any time. Hell in all its Jury seemed lobe let loose. Dive, bombing of our troops, bombing ol' every village we occupied, Machine gunning ot the "non-stop" kind from a height of 20 or 30 l'eet, delayed action bombs dropped from a similar height—it all camc our ay ay. What a miracle that so many can escape from the consequences of that kind of warfare. Was Poland worse than this? The telephone lines were cut time after time. It was nothing for a 100 yard length, to be blown out of existence.

Terrific Attack

My chaps Avere out on all lines and would come back Avith the sweat pouring from them. It was a terriQc ordeal and yet communications had to be restored. Finally, about "> p.m. all lines went out again. Wc had no cable left and no black tape. We were stumped. By this time the Germans on the ground had launched a terrific attack on'our tired out troops and some were rapidly advancing into Galatos. Trench mortars which had been bursting near the office increased in number and bullets which had Avhistled about our heads during the whole Week came closer and increased in number. Eight of my chaps Avere out looking for breaks in the lines and I Avas very Avorried concerning their welfare.

All Lines Out

I hated like Hell having to send chaps out on lines under such ditions. But only a signal officer can fully appreciate what a strain it is—when a Commander is trying to '"get through" to -his units and the exchange operator has to reply "Sorry Sir, but the line is out." Es-. pecially is the worry a great one when it is obvious that the Coin-

mander is desirous of asking for ur-

gent support from units in reserve

positions

It's Hell until the lines are rested c.d, and one just has to send his men out. And that was the position o'>n the Sunday evening. All lines weve gone. I was sitting at the exchange trying to contact my linesman, some of whom had telephones with them (we didn't have enough phones to send out with every line party). At the door of the Signal Office dug-out one of my men stood with a rifle ready to defend it against invasion . Could not Hold Then I got a ring from a linesman working on a wire to one of the Bns in the front line. He was about half way out to the Bn HQ and lie told me that the Bn was on its way in as it Avas impossible to hold the position. X told the linesman to come in too.

Then reports coming in by runner from other sources indicated that it Avas not possible the hold the Hun back, and soon an officer from Div.

confirmed adA-ice to retire to a ridge about three-quarters of a mile further back at Daratsos in fact. About eight of my chaps Avere back in the office by noAV and I loaded them all up Avith signal office equipment—exchange, phones, signalling lamp, fullerphone and etc. and Ave "got out" while the going Avas possible.

Queer Feeling

By iioav the Huns Ave re in occupation of the buildings in the nori.li end of Galatos, and Avere sniping at us all the way out. I never saw anyone hit in spite of the advantage of position the Hun had. But one did not feel reasonabh r safe until

the Daralsos ridge Avas crossed

Tt's a queer feeling walking out under fire from snipers. One doesn't knoAV whether to run or walk. Certain it is that one avails himself nf cwery bit of coA'er on the way.*, I was on my Avav to INF BDE HQ where I expected to find my OC and t up a neaa' signal centre AA'ith lincj oni to the units on the Daralsos

ndge Avhieh I understand AA - as to be the new FDL. In the meantime another unit had come up from the rear and had gone inlo Galatos \vi lit bayonets fixed, nnd there was' HIW !.o play for the Ilun. Counter Attacks There were a number of Maoris in the attacking party and they all cleaned up a lot of "Jerries." The

screams of the Jerry were terrible

When I readied Bdc HQ I found that my OG had. taken a number of i lie Bdc Signal section personnel and were on their way up to Galatos to assist in the counter-attack. I learned that they got bayonets from dead and injured fellows (signals do not carry bayonets) and that while they did not actually con*act the Hun, the}' helped to swell the number who charged into the fray, and that the Hun was cleared out of the village.

Apparently it was decided thai neither Galatos or Daratsos be held permanently under the circumstances, and late that night we at Bdc HQ marched out to a position nearer to Canca. We lay low all next day, hiding in vineyards and under Olive trees and in ditches, covering ourselves over with green branches and leaves. It was obvious to us all by now that Ave were going to retire a long way, and that Canca and Suda Bay were going to be conceded to

the enemy.

Harassed by Planes

I suppose the Avhole trouble now was that the Hun Avas able to bring as many reinforcements in on the Malcme aerodrome as he required. We were by iioav a long AA r ay from Malcme, and Ave could not get any reinforcements at all, apart from a fcAv hundred "commandos" avlio had arrived by sea a night or two ago. And all day the Hun planes swoop Up and doAvn the Island, backwards and fonvards, spilling thousands and thousands of explosive bullets into the Olive trees and into any place where it Avas thought possible for the retiring troops to conceal them?eh T es. That, was the day Jack av;is killed. It Avas a wonder more Avere not killed but as a matter of fact the mortality from this kind of attack is remarkably loav and as I haA'c already stated, the Ilun has to fire a lot of lead or steel to "get" one man.

Scenes of Destruction

To-day is Monday 9th 1911, and T ■"im in a camp typing this story; I haA'c just been Avondering how my brother is, and liaAe been oA'cr to the phone and rung his unit. They haA'c fonfinned the report that he Avas wounded and the story 1 haA'c told Associated Avith his being hit. but his whereabouts is still unknown, and ao is still posted as: missing. Bad fuck, but perhaps he is in hospital at some place distant from here. 1 hope so anyway. I will get in touch with Base Records to-morrow.

Resuming my story: When it got (lark that Monday evening (it Avas a fortnight ago to-day) avc moved on to a place called Stylos. The march did not end till daAvn, and took us past the outskirts of Ganea and through to Suda Bay. What scenes' of destruction avc saw. Canea was a mass of burning ruins, the reflection from Avhich we could see for miles. T there AA r as not a building Standing in that once beautiful city.

Hundreds of Bombs

What on earth the Hun thought was a military obejetive in that city goodness only knoAVS, unless it Avas the NAAFI, and one bomb could have cleaned that up. As it Avas he musft have dropped many hundreds of bombs on the place. Suda Bay was badly knocked about and many places were burning asi we passed them. Funny thing that in spite of the bombing of Suda Bay, a jetty was still undamaged Avhen Ave passed it.

On and on we marched, having by now discarded most of our belongings, and certain!}' the signalling equipment, which was heavy. Wc had no cable anj'Avay, so what was Ihe use of an exchange or phones? We had one motor cycle, and so we were able to maintain a DR service throughout the march. Wc readier; Stylos at dawn, and, as per usual hid ourselves for the day again. Talk übont. rabbits in holes! I will never shoot a rabbit again while it is sitting still. I'll give it a chance to get away. One had plenty of time to contemplate about things while in those trenches Avhich Ave hurriedly dug during the dawn and before he first "Recce" planes came o\'er. Our main fob Avas to get below the surface or: the ground at least, and deeper still if time permitted, deep enough to be nut of the line of fire of the planes machine gun Avhicli fires at tin angle of about -15 degrees. (Am Hot sure of that angle; have just nsked one of my felloAV officers if it Is so, but he tells me he's not sure fis he ahvays looked the other Avay),

(To be continued)