LAST ACT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 November 1943, Page 4

LAST ACT

IN DRAMA OF LEROS

AN EYEWITNESS STORY. DESPERATE EFFORT FAILS. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.25 a.m.) RUGBY, November 18. The. sole Press eyewitness on Leros, who left the island in the destroyer Nameless four night ago, gives a graphic account of “the last act of the drama—the last desperate attempt to save Leros.” He said there was plenty of food, but reinforcements and certain types of ammunition were urgently required/ _ The commanding officer, whose headquarters were in a tunnel on the highest point of the southern part of the island, appealed for reinforcements and supplies. It seemed that upon the response the issue might rest. The correspondent describes how he, with others, made their way from an overcrowded tunnel, full of dust and 'smoke, to the battered quayside of Porto Lago, where the commanding officer had been informed a destroyer would try to enter. At 10 p.m. a motor mine-sweeper came alongside and discharged fifty troops, there was still no news of the destroyer. Overhead, at intervals, came Dakotas dropping welcome supplies, now that the air was clear of Messerschmitts and German bombers. It seemed crazy to expect a destroyer to enter an enclosed harbour like Porto Lago Bay, only 25 miles from the German airfields on Kos and barely two miles from the Germanoccupied island of Kalinos, to say nothing of the fact that one-third of Leros itself was in German hands. The hours dragged by. “Awakening abruptly at 4 a.m.,” says the correspondent, “I incredulously saw the silhouette of a destroyer creeping towards the quay. She manoeuvred along and we saw the last act of the drama—the last desperate attempt to save Leros. Chutes and rope.. ladders were let down on the quayside, and soldiers, with heavy packs, slid or climbed off, while ammunition and supplies were dumped ashore. The men filed off in the shadows. Supplies were whisked away. It was all finished in 20 minutes. We boarded the destroyer. It was nearly dawn—could we get away before the stukas found us? Soon we were racing for the narrow harbour entrance. Our captain rang for full speed ahead for the final sweep round the island. We we rounded a headland, we sighted a large enemy landing craft, packed with guns and vehicles. Our guns flamed and thundered. The shore batteries joined in and the enemy, caught between two murderous fires, took heavy punishment. We swerved wildly to avoid ‘overs’ from the shore. A hit aft and another on the stern were scored on the enemy craft, which was left stationary and burning. Five minutes later we raced past three ships in time to see a naval battle in minature. One was a smaller German landing craft, the other two were British motor torpedo-boats. One motor torpedo-boat engaged the enemy with machine-gun fire, and the second swerved across his bows and dropped depth charges. The landing craft vanished in a great waterspout. “In the morning the destroyer’s crew read on the notice board' a signal from the Commander-in-Chief of the Levant: ‘Well done. The arrival of these troops should make all the difference.’ Then when the news of the convoy action reached him, he signalled again: ‘Splendid work.’ Later in the morning, however, we received a signal that ten German landing craft had been sighted near the island and it seems probable that they succeeded in discharging their troops, for later came another signal: .‘Collect all landing craft and prepare to evacuate Leros.’ The last gallant effort in a brave struggle had been made in vain.” It is stated in Cairo that between 650 and 1,000 Germans were drowned during the last 36 hours of the battle, when British naval units sank three enemy lighters and a ferry crammed 'with men.