A PROUD RECORD

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 93, 19 August 1942, Page 5

A PROUD RECORD

i B' (HAURAKI) COMPANY • C history During present wax! (f) Lieut. Col. D»We\- Area Comr« mandter (Faerota) kindly forwarded us a brief etfficial account of the activities of R (Hauraki) Company in {H& present war. The record made by Major R. G. Webb up id the openiing of the Libyan and is carried on from; there? by Ciapt. jack Conoilly (since posted as" wounded). The history will fee! published in column form froriSJ issue to issue. Just prior to leaving for Greece,, we sustained ollr first loss, when" , Lieut. Gonolly was sent to M.E.W.T.S. as Cln'cf Instructor, his place and Platoon being taken by 2/Lieut. G. Turnbull of Whakatane, who.had beeitf one of the Battalion original N.G.O.'s, and had been commission- ( ed in New Zealand ftfter the Battalion proceeded overseas. On Gtft March, 1941, we left Helwan, and on 17t'fr March embarked , at Alexandria for Greece, where we toalk up oul v position on' !lie Me'tax as Line as the left" forward Company of the Battalion,. As additional troops arrived, we came into the position of centre forward Company wi'th C (North Auckland) on oiiv right D ; (Waikato) on our left, arid' A (Auckland) in reserve. Here Ave 1 remained 3Tntil the Battalion was withdrawn to a posi--tion in the Olympus Gorge, where we arrived on EaSiter Thursday, and spent G,ood Friday" in the cold and rain. - On Easter Saturday we moved up to Levadion on the 1 west &£ ffie Olympus Pass. We had had some experience of dive bombing at Levadiorr, but at Elasson we came under artillery fire for' tlie' first' itime wliale dive bombers were active: However, despite intense and 'accurate fire, we suffered no casualties; and ware with drawn to fresh defensive- positions before Moles'' at the foot of the Thermopylae Piss. •On tlie way back, we were constantly Bombed, and ground suffered no casualties. On 24th; we'-.were 1 heavily attacked by t'anks a!fc Molos —18 iai'iks appearing: on our front at one time ■. Fighting slits had been prepared, and despite accurate Jire. -from tank guns, machine guns and mortars, as well as.- heavy and continued bombing- alttaeks, we were able to withdraw that night without loss, although we had to abandon paaks and gear to, make room for men and weapons in the transport available. Capt. Collins, as usual, set a: splendid! and; inspiring example by his coolness and imperturable manner. Anzac Day. was spent at Elefsis, north of the Corinth Canalr—a day of rest indeed, as we were not seen by enemy planes, and ware able to secure a few hours of much needed sleep. We■ were Avorried by the absence of 2/Lieu'i: Carroll, and a party of No.. 12 Platoon, who failed to put in an appearance. We:_crossed the Corinth Canal on the night, 25th/ 26th April, and took cover at daybreak in Bomb Gulley.. We were ordered south to take up a, position: cohering, from infiltration from the north. I't was during this., move that we suffered our major disaster of tbe campaign. ' Several Australian 'trucks moved up and became interspersed with our . convoys, which were moving at 20Qx interval between vehicles. Three ; truck loads of the: Company passed through Tripolis with these Australians, and moved south to There they found that the Battal- , ion was still behind them, and tried, to rejoin i't, but were not permitted to do so. Most of these men wers lost when Iva.lijmata Avas captured by the Germans three days later. The majority Ave re reported prisoners of Avar-* but four or five I have never been reported since. ) Sgt. Grimmond did excellent work i in bringing a party safely out from f here, and Avas. awarded the B.E.M. - for it —the first award to the Comi pany, and incidentally to the Bat- !: talion.