AUSTRALIAN CASUALTIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 121, 24 May 1941, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN CASUALTIES

Total of 3983 in Greece

LONDON. May 23

The Australian casualties in the Greek campaign were officially reported today by Major-General Sir Thomas Blarney as totalling 3983 men, including killed, missing, prisoners, and wounded left behind in Greece. Of the wounded, 423 are in hospital in Egypt.

Major-General Blarney's report added that men are still escaping from Greece in small craft.

part of the known danger to us here is now lying wrecked in Crete. We are prepared for air-borne forces, so do not let us make too much of a bogy of them.

"I expect you know why the Germans use gliders. Troop-carrying aeroplanes must have an aerodrome or country like an aerodrome to land on. If they do not, they crash or are stranded and are unable to get away again. The gliders, being low-flyers, can get down in a smaller space, and if they escape attack they can land compact forces with their equipment ready for action.

"The paratroops are almost sure to get scattered if they are used in large numbers, and they are greatly hampered by their kit. It is their job to secure, temporarily at any rate, the place where the gliders are to come in, and this they do either by surprise or else immediately after making a heavy blitz on the place."

Air Commodore Goddard concluded by saying that the British air effort against Germany had been doubled in recent weeks, and would go on increasing.—B.o. W.