LIKE NEW ZEALAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 May 1941, Page 5

LIKE NEW ZEALAND

CRETE AS BATTLE AREA ADAPTED TO GUERILLA TACTICS. ACCOUNTS BY SOLDIERS. (Received This Day, 10.35 a.m.) (N.Z.E.'F. Official News Service.) CAIRO, May 26. Crete is a country in which a war must be fought according to guerilla tactics, where the rifle and machine-gun will be used more than the heavy guns of the Greek campaign, and where riflemen come into their own in a type of warfare that will be entirely different from the rearguard action fought against the mechanised German advance in Greece. These are the impressions gained by New Zealand soldiers, seasoned under fire in Greece, who have been in Crete and who are now in base camps and hospitals in Egypt.

Very like New Zealand in many respects, is the description these men give of the island where German parachute tactics are receiving a thorough testing against British, Australian, New Zealand and Greek troops, who meet them in every move they make. Crete is a very hilly country, wooded in parts, but devoted mainly to vineyards and fruit orchards. There is quite a large peasant 'population and several substantial villages. The New Zealanders found the people of Crete very much like those of Greece. Without exception they voice appreciation of the kindness of the peasants and the welcome they have given' to all Imperial soldiers. Although many of the peasants are very poor, there is little they will not do to show their friendship towards, and trust in the men who are defending their island. i

A soldier who is convalescing in a New Zealand hospital in Egypt spent a week in hospital in Crete after being slightly wounded in Greece. He was first in hospital at Athens and later was taken to one of the embarkation beaches, where about 2.000 walking wounded sheltered under trees near the beach for three days before they were taken off. Nazi reconnaissance planes were overhead frequently and the soldiers considered it a miracle that they were not spotted and ma-chine-gunned. They embarked on a British merchantman, which was subjected to enemy bombing all the . way to Crete. The trip was described as the hottest few hours the soldiers ever spent. There were six separate raids during four hours. No direct hits were scored, although many bombs landed very close to the ship and several soldiers were hit. with shrapnel. The ship was mach-ine-gunned, but the soldier said he did not think anyone was hit. "They oven had another pop at us as we were entering a harbour in Crete," he added. While he was in hospital in Crete he was close to Malerni Aerodrome, which the Germans later gained as their first base in their parachute troop operations. During the week he spent there, he saw Nazi bombers come over every day. In one day he saw five enemy planes brought down by ground fire and on other occasions he saw R.A.F. fighters despatch several'enemy machines, sending them down into the sea. The R.A.F. planes were very active during this period. The highest praise was expressed lor the men who manned the anti-aircraft guns. They stuck to their posts and kept hammering at the enemy planes despite heavy bombing and machine-gunning, lhe hospital was close to the beach and troops inured to air raids enjoyed swimming in the waters of the Mediterranean.

"The people were very kind io our soldfirs,” the New Zealander said, "giving them fruit and doing their washing for them.’’ OVER YUGOSLAV BORDER. There is another young New Zealand soldier in the same hospital in Egypt who has been over the Yugoslav border and was shot in one ol the first armoured cars to make contact with lhe Germans. He talked but little ol being one of the first New Zealanders to meet the Hun on land. In a divisional cavalry unit, he was with a party who were covering engineers during operations. Without warning, German tanks, armoured cars and infantry appeared round a bend in the road. "Things were pretty solid for a while," the soldier said, "but wc drove him back on that occasion. This soldier, after being in the fight all the way through Greece, spent some time in Crete,, which he described as reminding him of parts of New Zealand. While he was there, the Germans had not made any attempt to land parachute troops, although their planes were over with their loads of bombs every day.

ENEMY LOSSES

MANY PLANES DESTROYED ON GROUND & IN THE AIR. SUCCESSFUL R.A.F. ATTACKS, i Beit ish Official Wireless.! (Received This Day. 10.45 a.m.) RUGBY. May 26. One of the outstanding air successes in Crete in operations resulting in (he destruction of at least. 24 enemy aircraft. for no British losses, is described in an R.A.F. Middle East communique: "In Crete at least 24 enemy aircraft of al! types were destroyed, while a number of others were badly damaged. The aerodrome at Malerni and adjacent airfields used as landing grounds for gliders and troop-carriers were the principal targets. Bombs were observed lo fall among large concentrations of Junkers 52 troopcarriers, causing great destruction and damage. One Junkers 52 was hit when landing. Another was set on fire while taxiing. Fighters set tire to several other enemy aircraft. "Io addition to aircraft, including several lighters, destroyed on the ground, one Junkers 52 was shot down by one of our bombers, while a lighter shot down a Junkers 89 transport carrier into Suda Bay and damaged another. which was last seen witli smoke pouring from it. "Photographs taken during the raids confirm that severe damage lias been done to many enemy aircraft "

NAZI THREATS

ADDRESSED TO UNITED STATES CONVOYING TO BE CONSIDERED ACT OF WAR. GRAND-ADMIRAL RAEDER INTERVIEWED. i By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, May 25. Cleriiiaiiy would consider the convoying ol: war materials lo Britain by United . States ships as an act ol' war, said the commander-in-chief of the German Navy, GrandAdmiral Raeder. today, in an interview with the Berlin correspondent of the Doine.i (Japanese) news agency. He said that German naval forces would bo justified in dealing with these contraband convoys in accordance with the rules of naval warfare, and would, if need be. resort to arms if prevented by United States men-ol’-war from exercising their rights. "The aggressive character of American naval patrol activities has already been established." said Admiral Raeder. "The German navy regards very seriously the possible result, ol American efforts to get war materials to England. Regarding convoys, wc can only confirm President Roosevelt's view that convoys mean shooting. Since, according to American admission. the nature of the cargoes in the convoyed ships has been established from the beginning as contraband, the resort to this typo of convoy system would be an open act of war and a bare unprovoked attack. Therefore the German navy would be justified in taking measures according to the law of sea warfare and would have to repulse with arms if necessary any hindrance, even against. American warships.” The patrolling of the Atlantic by United States naval units had not served any defensive purpose, but constituted a new service in favour of Britain, said Admiral Raeder. Nobody could expect, a German warship commander to look on idly while an American naval vessel communicated the position of his ship to the British Admiralty. Such'a procedure must be regarded as an act of war. The German commander would be justified in forcing the ship to cease its hostile activity. He recalled the German viewpoint against neutral shipping sailing dimmed or blacked-out. and said that this would hold, too, in the case of neutral warships. i NOT IMPRESSED AN AMERICAN REJOINDER. MR WENDELL WILLKIE URGES DECISIVE ACTION. LONDON. May 26. Mr S. Bloom, chairman of the United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said today that ho had not been impressed by Grand Admiral Raeder's threats Past experience had shown that Germany did not wait for anything special to occur as a pretext, for waging war. Mr Wendell Willkie today expressed the hope that President Roosevelt’s broadcast would tell the people definitely that the United States intended to stop aggressor Powers from making aggression everywhere.