STILL FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 April 1943, Page 3

STILL FIGHTING

THOUSANDS OF GUERILLAS IN GREECE & CRETE MANY NEW ZEALANDERS INCLUDED. MEN WHO REFUSED TO GIVE UP. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, April 19. Hundreds of New Zealand, Australian and British troops are still fighting in Greece and Crete, and 42,000 guerillas are located in Crete. The Greek Ministry of Information gives these figures in “Victors in Chains,” a booklet dealing with the heroic resistance of the Greeks in 1942-43.

Many British and Anzacs have been actively assisting the Greek guerillas since the evacuation ih which they were separated from their own units. Some immediately joined the thousands of Greek soldiers going to the hills, with weapons and ammunition secured under cover of the general confusion. Others hid with Greek families, moving on from house to house till they were able to escape to Africa in boats .

The British and Anzacs concerned seem to be mostly members of Allied units fighting in the north when the panzer’s rapid advance cut them off. The booklet also mentions that numbers of stragglers and wounded were unable to keep up with the main Allied forces during the retreat, but states that the majority were stubborn rebellious fighters who refused to give up and went to the mountains with their Greek comrades.

The booklet, referring to British and Anzacs hidden in towns and villages states: “Their speech and appearance caused great difficulties for those trying to hide them from Axis soldiers. The dark-haired ones could walk the streets fairly safely as soon as they had acquired a good sun tan. Axis soldiers did not know Greek, so that the British and Anzacs, knowing only a few phrases, were quite safe so long as they did not betray themselves by lapsing into English.” One guerilla highlight last year was the release of a number of British and Anzac war prisoners proceeding to Germany on the Athens-Salonika route. Villages near a war-ruined railway bridge offered the Germans hospitality and produced wine and dancing girls. The party was in full swing when guerillas burst in, killed some of the guards, and released 300 war prisoners, who went to the mountains with their rescuers.