WELL WORTH WHILE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 September 1941, Page 5

WELL WORTH WHILE

RESISTANCE IN GREECE & CRETE VIEWS OF MAJOR-GENERAL PUTTICK. TIME GAINED AT CRITICAL STAGE. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 9.20 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The British strategy in resisting the Germans in Greece and Crete was paid a warm tribute by Major-General E. Puttick (New Zealand’s new Chief of Staff), who arrived here by air last night. lie leaves for New Zealand til tin 1 earliest opportunity. lie went to Melbourne last night for talks with the Chief of the Australian Staff, MajorGeneral V. A. H. Sturdee. “I do not agree with those who imagine those campaigns were a mistake and a waste of men and material,” Major-General Puttick said. “The defence of Crdte in particular had far-reaching consequences and was, in my opinion, a necessary operation. In that campaign the Germans lost practically all their best parachute troops and hundreds of aircraft, also ten critical days, giving us time to consolidate our hold on Iraq and also to prepare for our advance in Syria. If we had failed to resist the Germans in Crete, they would have got into Syria and Iraq, reinforced their army in Libya, captured Tobruk and endangered the Suez Canal. The operations in Greece and Crete constituted one of the things that soldiers describe as a tactical defeat and a strategical victory. Their cumulative effect had extremely important consequences in the whole Middle East. Our forces there are now very much stronger than they were in May. They are better equipped than ever and the troops are in excellent fettle, itching to have another crack at the Germans, under conditions which offer them more equality as regards aircraft.”