Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1941. THE WITHDRAWAL FROM GREECE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 May 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1941. THE WITHDRAWAL FROM GREECE.

P'AK ns il still is from having been told completely, the story of the British withdrawal from Greece has now been outlined broadl.v and some at least of its leading details have been made manifest. Of the total British force of about sixty thousand men, including the Xew Zealand division and an Australian division, which landed in Greece, at least 48,000 men have been withdrawn and have'returned to their base safe and in good heart. Home 3,000 casualties, killed and wounded, are reported to have been suffered by the British and Imperial troops, chiefly in the battles in Northern Greece, at Mount Olympus, Thermopylae and Grevena. Other casualties must have been suffered during the long fighting retreat and there have been losses, too, in the sacrifice of rearguards, some of them covering the open beaches from which our men had to embark, At time of writing, there is no news of the proportion of losses suffered by the New Zealand Division, bid in view of the part the Division is known to have played on many days of battle, its losses cannot well have been light. Whatever the precise figure of enemy losses may have been, all available evidence goes to show that these were enormously greater than those inflicted on the British forces. With the pride that must, be felt in what our soldiers have accomplished there must mingle not only sorrow for our dead and sympathy with those who have been wounded, but bitter regret- that after eighteen months of war and preparation it should have been necessary for our troops, with their Australian and British comrades, to fight against terrible odds and to embark at last from beaches and other points exposed to the fury of enemy attack. At bottom, however, it is clear that, the necessity of fighting si ill in these conditions is part of the price that has to he paid for the failure of the democracies to arm and lake action in good time against aggression. We shall best prove ourselves worthy of the deeds and sacrifices of our soldiers in Greece and in other theatres of war by loyally putting .our whole weight into an unstinted war effort, by resolving that, victory, when it is won, shall open the way to a genuinely safeguarded peace and by acting upon that resolve to the ultimate limits of our power. Even on the facts meantime made known, it is plain that a great feat of arms stands to the credit of the British Imperial force, including the Xew Zealand Division, which has now completed its campaign in Greece. As to the valiant and indomitable spirit of al] sections of this little British army, Mr Churchill’s words may stand:— The conduct of our troops, especially the rearguard, fighting their way over many miles to the sea, merits the highest praise. This is the first instance where air bombing, prolonged day after day, has failed to break the discipline and order of marching columns. Though there is little enough cause for rejoicing’ over the outcome of a campaign which has ended in an enforced withdrawal under overwhelming enemy pressure, the enemy who lias gained this measure of advantage has little enough cause, taking everything into account, even for moderate satisfaction. Ilad the fighting spirit of the German forces and the skill with which, they were directed been equal to the magnitude of their opportunity, they might well have hoped to annihilate the British Imperial force, instead of seeing some four-fifths of its strength escape from their clutch. It is now established beyond all question that once the war of movement had opened in Macedonia, the Greek Army, through no fault of its own, but solely on account of the tremendous strain it had undergone during six months of heroic, effort, and its lack of equipment ami transport, was incapable of co-operating effectively with .the British forces. The Germans were finis Iree to throw the full weight of their overwhelming numerical and material superiority in mechanised and other land forces and in air force against the British columns. Nothing but superior spirit and fighting power, coupled with good leadership, will account for the British force being able to emerge, after weeks of desperate rearguard actions, with so large a proportion of its strength unscathed.

Though the Germans for the time being are established in undisputed control of. mainland Greece and of a number of Greek islands, the outlook opened is very far from being one of unmixed disaster from the standpoint, of Britain and her allies. For his local and limited triumph in overrunning yet another small nation, the enemy has paid a heavy price in lives, material and time, and remains definitely short of having gained tiny vita] and decisive result. In the Mediterranean and indeed to a very considerable extent in the war as a whole, the essential demand meantime made upon the democracies is that they should hold the enemy effectively in check until the stage is reached at which Britain, mobilising her own resources and with increasing help from the United States, will be. able to pass from defence to full-powered attack. Tn the achievements alike of the Greeks in their victorious campaign against Italy and of the British Imperial forces which went to the assistance of Greece in a forlorn-hope effort that will live in history, there are firm grounds for faith that in the hour of decisive conflict ihe fighting forces of the free nations will not be found wanting.