BATTLE FOR CRETE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 May 1941, Page 6

BATTLE FOR CRETE

ONE OF THE GREATEST IN COURSE OF WAR DECLARATION BY FIRST LORD. MORE SHIPS & WEAPONS WANTED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.40 a.m.) RUGBY, May 21. “One of the greatest battles in the course of the w?.r” is how the First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr A. V. Alexander) today described the battle for Crete. Speaking in support of War Weapons Week. Mr Alexander said: “We are demonstrating that where Englishmen meet Germans in battle on equal terms, there is no doubt about which is the right man on whom to put one's money. “I want more ships, and I want them quickly,’’ said Mr Alexander, in a tribute to the Navy. “I want more guns and more planes, and faster ones, for the Fleet Air Arm. I want more short-range anti-aircraft guns.” GERMAN CLAIMS NUMBER OF POINTS HELD. (Received This Day, 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, May 21. It is now announced from Berlin that German parachutists and airborne troops landed in Crete early on May 20, after intensive preparation by divebomber attacks. It is claimed that German troops by bold thrusts have taken a number of points in Crete and that the operations are continuing according to plan. It was added that retaliatory measures would be taken tenfold against British prisoners if Mr Churchill’s statement about Germans wearing New Zealand uniforms were made' an excuse for the treatment of German parachutists contrary to international law.

SOME AUSTRALIANS INCLUDED IN GARRISON. NUMBERS NOT KNOWN. (Received This Day. 12.20 p.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. The Minister for the Army, Mr Spender, stated that a substantial number of Australian troops landed in Crete after the evacuation of Greece. They are under the command of MajorGeneral Freyberg. Recent despatches did not fully reveal the extent to which these troops had been relieved by British units. Mr Spender said he had not received any report to indicate that Australians had arrived in Cyprus, as reported from London.