HE WAS TRAPPED!

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 14, 12 October 1943, Page 6

HE WAS TRAPPED!

AUSTRALIAN ON CRETE

DISGUISED AS A GUEEK

The bearded man in the Cretan street stood roote.il. to the spot. From the other end oi' the village thoroughfare came the clattering German patrol. "Keep on walking!" his soldier's mind cried out. while his. body turned to lice. The bearded man walked on. "Good day," lie said courteously in Greek to the German N.C.O. "Good day." The reply was stern, the glance was searching. The patrol passed on. The bearded, man was Private Arthur Bell, A.1.F.,, stranded in Crete, and fugitive from the Nazis. .Before, the war, Arthur Bel 1 was a woodcutter in the beautiful Dandenong Ranges in Victoria, and lived in the little town of Olinda. AVhen the war came he was one ot the first in his district to enlist, and shortly afterwards, private in a. battalion now famous throughout the A.It:F., he sailed for overseas. His introduction to war was the first push up the desert. Then to Greece. Here he endured, the hard days of the evacuation, only to find himself in the mad hell of Crete. Crete is now part of Arthur Bell's life. For he wasn't one of the lucky ones that got away. He- got caught.. But Bell Avas not the sort of man to stay in captivity. A man who has lived in the Victorian hills will not be hemmed in. A Greelc Friend His Cretan saga begins from the day he found, himself working next to a Greek in the garden round German headquarters. The Greek began to talk. He had been in America. Yes, lie had friends in the town. The talks went on, and finally it was arranged, that clothes for Arthur Bell and his mate would be found outside the great wall which surrounded the. garden. The next day Bell made his break. In a flash he was up and over the wall. In less than a second he was over the path, flat on liis belly in the long grass. His mate wasn't so fortunate. As he dropped to the ground the Nazi guards turned the corner. That was the last Private Bell saw of his friend. Then began a game with the Germans that lasted for the next seven months up and down the: length of the ancient island. This game varied; sometimes it was a matter of colossal bluff; sometimes it was hide and seek. Always it was a matter of life and death. In the towns;, for instance, Bell and other- Australians who had escaped from tlie Germans quickly discovered that while the Cretans readily recognised them in their dis. guise, the Germans were unable to penetrate it.

Often in the streets a Greek (the Australians always called the Cretans Greeks) would beckon a fugitive Australian to follow. It was always safe to follow, and always at the end was a night's bed and shelter. Sat Next to Germans Bell says that on many occasions he ate and drank in cafes with Germans at the next table. The Greeks thought it was a huge joke, although they knew their lives were forfeit if they were, caught. The towns got too hot, though, and they were advised to go. With another Australian/ Bell took to the hills. All Australians know the awful story of Lidice, Czech village, wiped out as reprisal for timely assassination of Heydrich, the Nazi Butcher. How many know of Kolinis, one of Crete's many Lidices? Private Bell knows, and will never forget. He was there. He came one Jay with his friends into the little wllage. for food, and hard on his »ieels came one of the brutal Nazi patrols. Bell got out and hid in the ills no more than a quarter a mile iway. The Germans went through the )easant homes and in one. they found wo Australians prostrated with maaria. Up on the hills, Arthur Bell, rom the peaceful village of Olinda aw another peaceful village wiper ut. The Germans did it with thor:ugh f rightfulness and appalling 'erocity. Inhuman Nazis Before hi> eyes Bell, helpless in lie buili saw the men, women and :hi'dren of Ko onis coldly butchered "They laughed a lot," he says of he Nazis. Then they fired the village. To-

day Kolonis is a heap of ashes be- 4 cause, two Australians got malaria. This was not Bell's iirst introduce tion to the total disregard of the Nazi for human life. .The first time he saw it was when the Germans took a large number of captured Australians, for a route march. The Australians had been warned not to break from the ranks when the Cretans offered them food by the way. This order was disobeyed by two men about the centre of the column. The German - N.C.O. didn't even hesitate.. Up came his tommy-gun and. he (ired into the marching Australians. Five Australians fell dead in the dust. The Germans didn't even bother to stop. Bell escaped with 80 others in a 30-ton boat. He can't tell how it was done. Their first morning out they sighted an Italian Caproni. The skipper acted, quickly. He turned his ship about and headed back to Crete. The Australians lined the rails of the ship and waved like mad as the Caproni circled about. The Italian was satisfied. He Hew away. Three, days later Private Belt was walking the pavements of Alexandria. f And now he is in New Guinea fighting the Japs.