FRIENDLY CONTACT WITH PEOPLE IN TOWN & COUNTRY
Billets and Defence Lines On Mount Olympus (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) (From the Official War Correspondent with Hie New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Middle East.) CAIRO, April *lB. “It’s such a wonderful country and so much like home that it’s a great privilege to be able to fight for it’’—in these words a New Zealand soldier who has returned from Greece sums up how our Division, feels about being sent to take part in the war in the Balkans. He is one of' a small party that, has just arrived back at the Base Camp. There was tremendous speculation as to where the Division was going when it moved out from camp, repeating the experiences of an older generation who went out into the unknown to find that they had been selected to make a landing on Gallipoli. They were old soldiers as far as rumours were concerned, and believed nothing until they sailed into a Greek port, to find Major-General Freyberg on the wharf to meet them. The reception by the Greek populace - was overwhelming and this, combined with the green hills and
neat, fresh-looking buildings, after months of the dost and dry, rocky outcrops that spell the Desert, made them feel as if they had arrived at home.
The first “flight’’ went in cruisers and made a very fast passage, but later parties travelled in small Greek boats, about the size of the Rangatira and Tamahine. Men in. these parties struck a heavy gale in the Mediterranean, had a very rough passage and were glad to see land.
Greece was not then at war with Germany and the German Consulate was still functioning when the first troops arrived. The Consul used to take a constitutional stroll through their camp overlooking the Acropolis each evening, and, as he could speak excellent English, the men had to be on their guard. According to one version, the troops planned to haul down the Swastika from the Consulate, but they were forestalled. Where the Greeks learned the “thumbs up” sign nobody knew, but they had thoroughly adopted this now famous sign of happy and spirited defiance in the face of Nazi threats, and the New Zealanderr were met with it at every turn. The two languages and currency presented some difficulty at first, reminding the men of their early days in Egypt, but, as one expressed it, they are now pretty good at deaf and dumb language. Snow was falling as advance parties set out for Thrace by rail and travelled through Larissa to Katerini, whence they could see Salonika. In front and behind lay the famous Mount Olympus. Here our troops had their first experience of billets and soon made friends in the villages, where they were given eggs, wine, apples and lollies shaped to represent the Ezvone soldiers of the Greek army.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 April 1941, Page 6
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481FRIENDLY CONTACT WITH PEOPLE IN TOWN & COUNTRY Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 April 1941, Page 6
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