AUSTRALIA IN THE WAR OF 1939-194 5

SERIES ON E

ARM Y

VOLUME I I

GREECE, CRETE AND SYRIA

AUSTRALIA IN THE WAR OF 1939-1945

SERIES 1 (ARMY )

I. To Benghazi. By Gavin Long . *

II. Greece, Crete and Syria. By Gavin Long . *

III. Tobruk and El Alamein . By Chester Wilmot .

IV. The Japanese Thrust . By Lionel Wigmore.

V. South-West Pacific Area—First Year. By Dudley McCarthy .VI. The New Guinea Offensives . By David Dexter .

VII. The Final Campaigns. By Gavin Long.

SERIES 2 (NAVY )

I . Royal Australian Navy, 1939-42 . By G. Hermon Gill.

H. Royal Australian Navy, 1942-45 . By G. Hermon Gill .

SERIES 3 (AIR )

I. Royal Australian Air Force, 1939-42. By Douglas Gillison .II . Air War Against Japan, 1943-45 . By George J . Odgers.

III . Air War Against Germany and Italy, 1939-43 . By John Herington.IV . Air Power Over Europe, 1944-45 . By John Herington .

SERIES 4 (CIVIL )

I. The Government and the People, 1939-41 . By Paul Hasluck . *

II. The Government and the People, 1942-45 . By Paul Hasluck .

III. War Economy, 1939-42. By S. J. Butlin.

IV. War Economy, 1942-45 . By S . J . Butlin .

V. The Role of Science and Technology . By D. P. Mellor .

SERIES 5 (MEDICAL )

I. Clinical Problems of War. By Allan S. Walker . *

II. Middle East and Far East. By Allan S . Walker. *

III. The Island Campaigns. By Allan S. Walker.

IV. Medical Services of R .A .N. and R .A .A.F. By Allan S. Walker.

* Published.

The writers of these volumes have been given full access to official documents ,but they and the general editor are alone responsible for the statements and opinion swhich the volumes contain .

GREECE, CRET EAND

SYRIAby

GAVIN LONG

CANBERRAAUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL

1236 3AL;S T- RALL4 .N .f \,.Av

First published in 195 3

WHOLLY SET UP, PRINTED AND BOUND IN AUSTRALIA B Y

THE ADVERTISER PRINTING OFFICE, ADELAIDE .

REGISTERED AT THE G .P .O. ADELAIDE

FOR TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE POST AS A BOOK .

CONTENTS

Preface .

Chronology

Chapter

1 BRITAIN AND GREECE 1

2 THE GERMAN ATTACK OPENS . 29

3 THE REARGUARD ACTIONS IN THE FLORINA VALLEY 53

4 THE OLYMPUS-ALIAKMON LINE 72

5 THE CRITICAL DAYS . 95

6 THE THERMOPYLAE LINE . 13 1

7 THE EMBARKATION FROM GREECE 160

8 ESCAPES TO CRETE AND TURKEY 185

9 RETROSPECT 19 1

10 THE PROBLEM OF CRETE . 197

11 THE LOSS OF MALEME AIRFIELD 22 1

12 DEFENCE OF RETIMO 256

13 HERAKLION—DEFENCE AND EMBARKATION 279

14 RETREAT AND EMBARKATION 295

15 POLITICAL DECISIONS 320

16 THE SYRIAN PLAN 333

17 THE FIRST DAY 345

18 ACROSS THE LITANI 360

19 PRESSING ON : To SIDON, MERDJAYOUN AND JEZZINE 375

20 THE FRENCH COUNTER-ATTACK 393

21 DAMASCUS FALLS 41 5

22 MORE ATTACKS ROUND MERDJAYOUN 443

23 HARD FIGHTING AT JEZZINE 452

24 PREPARING A FINAL BLOW 467

25 THE BATTLE OF DAMOUR . 482

26 ADMINISTERING THE ARMISTICE 51 5

27 DEBITS AND CREDITS 523

28 ON THE NORTHERN FLANK 530

29 THE END OF A PERIOD 551

APPENDIX : Abbreviations 563

INDEX 565

Page

Xi

Xiv

V

ILLUSTRATIONSPage

The Anglo-Greek War Council

. 1 8Mr Anthony Eden and a group of Middle East army and air force leaders 1 8Transporting troops to Greece 19Leave in Athens

. 5 0The headquarters of the 6th Division, south of Olympus 5 0Drawing water from a mountain stream east of Servia

. 5 0Piraeus, 6th-7th April

. 5 1Greek and Australian commanding officers at Vevi 5 1Greek troops on a mountain road

. 5 1The Aliakmon bridge

. 8 2The crossing of the Aliakmon River 8 3At the Aliakmon River . 114

Generals Wilson, Blarney and Freyberg 11 5An observation post in the Servia Pass 11 5Platamon 146Larisa during an air raid 147A halt in a train journey during the withdrawal to Thermopylae 147The crater in the approach to Pharsala bridge 16 2Burning trucks south of Lamia

. 162

Brallos Pass

. 162A Henschel 126 reconnaissance plane brought down by Bren gun fire 163Air attack on the way to Monemvasia

. 163On a ship evacuating troops from Greece 163

The sinking of the Costa Rica 178A group of escapers of the 2/2nd Battalion 17 8Suda Bay

. 17 9Brigadier G. A. Vasey 210Heraklion 21 0Air attacks on Suda Bay 21 1The bombing of Heraklion 226German transport planes and mountain troops 226Parachute landings at Suda Bay 227Above Sfakia . 227Troops from Crete disembarking at Alexandria 322A group of Australian escapers 322Ras Naqoura 322Army and air force leaders in Syria 322

The Iskandaroun crater 323

Bridge construction near Merdjayoun 323

Lieutenant G . B. Connor's party outside Fort Khiam 323

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Page

Major-General A. S . Allen and Brigadiers F. H . Berryman and A. R. Baxter-Cox 32 3

An artillery post near Merdjayoun . 37 0Fort Merdjayoun

. 37 0

Merdjayoun

. 37 1A captured French sketch

. 37 1The ceremony at Damascus

. 402Barada Gorge 402The Wadi Jezzine .

. 403Jezzine

.

. 46 6The "Mad Mile" near Jezzine

. 46 7French mule teams caught by shell fire near Bater .

. 46 7The Wadi Damour

. 49 8Stretcher bearers at Damour

. 498Khalde

.

. 49 9

Signing of the armistice, Acre, 12th July 1941

. 51 4General Allen and Brigadier J . E. S. Stevens

. 51 4

The entry into Beirut

. 51 4Australian ski troops

. 51 5

Embarking at Suez

. 51 5

On a transport between Suez and Bombay

. 515

MAPSPage

Greece

. 3 4Allied dispositions Greece, 6th April 3 8Allied dispositions Vevi, 10th April 6 6Dispositions at Pinios, 17th April

. 106Dispositions, Suda-Maleme area, 19th May 21 8Dispositions, Retimo, 20th May

. 25 8Dispositions, Heraklion, 20th May 28 2The Syrian frontiers 33 9Merdjayoun

. 38 6Dispositions, Jezzine, 17th June 41 0Dispositions, Damour, midnight 6th July 48 2

SKETCH MAPS

The Greek line in Albania, January 1941 2The Balkan States and the proposed Allied defence lines 4The Greek frontiers 1 0Allied and Axis dispositions, 6th April 39Dispositions, morning 9th April 4 5The Yugoslav northern frontiers 5 1"W" Group dispositions, 11th April 5 5Dispositions, Vevi, 12th April 5 9The rearguard at Sotir 6 7The rearguard at Proasteion . 6 8The 16th Brigade withdrawal from Veria Pass 7 3Dispositions, Servia Pass, 15th April 7 5The Allied line in Greece and Albania, and General Papagos' proposed shorte r

line

. 7 8The Olympus-Aliakmon and Thermopylae lines 82Dispositions in the Olympus passes, 15th April 84The German advance to 14th April 93The withdrawal of the 21st New Zealand Battalion from Platamon 9 6Sketch made by Brigadier S. F. Rowell before writing orders for withdrawa l

to Thermopylae 9 8Dispositions, dusk 16th April

. 10 1Dispositions, late afternoon 18th April

. 12 4The withdrawal from Pinios

.

. 12 7Dispositions, night 20th-21st April

. 13 6The embarkation beaches

. 14 5Dispositions at Thermopylae, 24th April

. 14 7Brallos Pass, 24th April

. 15 6Withdrawal from Thermopylae, dusk 24th April

. 15 9Athens area

.

. 17 5German dispositions in southern Greece

. 184

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Pag e

The Aegean Sea

. 18 7The Iraqi frontiers 198Baghdad-Habbaniya area 199Crete

. 20 3The German plan 229Dispositions, Galatas area, morning 25th May 245Dispositions at 42nd Street

. 25 2The 2/1st Battalion counter-attack at Retimo, 21st May 262The 2/11th Battalion attack at Perivolia, 28th May 27 0Heraklion area 28 8Suda Bay-Sfakia area 29 6Eastern Mediterranean area 29 8The rearguard at Sfakia 30 3Palestine-Syria 33 4The Palestine-Syria frontier 34 3The 21st Brigade's advance, 8th June 34 8The 25th Brigade's advance, 8th June 35 3The 5th Indian Brigade's advance, 8th-9th June 35 7Allied dispositions, dusk 8th June 35 8The crossing of the Litani River 36 1Litani River-Sidon area 36 7The Free French advance to Kiswe, 9th-11th June 37 4The 2/27th Battalion at Adloun, 11th June 37 6Adloun-Wadi Zaharani area

. 37 7The 2/16th Battalion's attack on Sidon, 13th June 38 1Sidon-Damour area 38 5Damascus area 39 3Dispositions, inland sectors, 15th June 39 5Dispositions, Merdjayoun area, dawn 16th June 39 6Allied dispositions, Syria, 18th June 41 3The attack on Damascus, 20th June 41 6Mezze area

. 42 1The advance of Habforce at Palmyra 440The 2/25th Battalion's advance towards Hasrout, 26th-27th June 462Palmyra area 46 6The advance towards Rharife, 3rd-4th July 475The 10th Indian Division's advance from Iraq 47 8The El Atiqa defences 48 5Damour, nightfall 8th July 500Forward Australian battalions, 11th July 504Mazraat ech Chouf-Badarane area 506The attack on Jebel Mazar, 10th-11th July 509Allied dispositions, Syria, 31st July 51 6The Northern flank 53 3Tripoli fortress area 53 5Location of A .I .F ., December 1941 545

x

PREFACE

THE historian of a force which forms only a part of a larger Alliedarmy is constantly faced by the question on what scale he should

attempt to write of the operations of the other contingents in that army .His resources do not enable him to write comprehensively of the experi-ences of other forces and, in any event, it is not his task . On the otherhand he has a responsibility for ensuring that the operations of his ownforce are seen in proportion, and not larger than life . In this volume thisproblem presented itself in an interesting variety of forms . In the firs tengagement which is described, an Australian general commands a forc eincluding British and Australian units and some New Zealanders . After-wards, in Greece, the I Australian Corps, temporarily renamed the Anza cCorps, includes a New Zealand as well as an Australian division, and aBritish brigade . From time to time New Zealand units are included inAustralian brigade groups and vice versa . In Crete an Australian battalionbecomes part of a British brigade ; in Syria one Australian battalion joinsan Indian brigade and then a British one, another serves in a FreeFrench force ; a British battalion joins an Australian brigade group ; Aus-tralian cavalry and artillery serve in a British division; an Australian corp scommander controls British, Indian and Free French formations .

As a general rule I have attempted to narrate in some detail theexperiences of individual Allied units which were incorporated withinAustralian brigades . On the other hand, the operations of Allied forma-tions included in the Australian Corps—the New Zealand Division i nGreece, for example, or the 6th British Division in Syria—are describedin more general terms ; the operations of Allied formations in an are aremote from the Australian one—for example, the 21st Indian Brigad ein Syria—are told in little more detail than usually appears in a Com-mander-in-Chief's dispatch . Nevertheless the aim has been to enable thereader to see each phase of the operations in true perspective .

In these campaigns the cooperation of navy, army and air force wa soften of crucial importance . I have briefly recorded those naval and ai roperations which directly affected the troops on the ground, but the stor yof the naval and air forces in the Middle East in 1941 will be narratedin detail (from an Australian point of view) in the first volume of th enaval series and the third volume of the air series of this history . Themedical story is told in the first and second volumes of Dr Allan S .Walker's history .

Books and periodicals quoted are mentioned in footnotes . It is significantof the eventfulness of this brief period that the books thus referred tonumber more than forty ; they include memoirs by or biographies of anumber of the senior leaders, political and military, including Mr WinstonChurchill, Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham, Field Marsha lEarl Wavell, Field Marshal Lord Wilson, Field Marshal Papagos, General

xi

Catroux, and Marshal of the R.A.F. Lord Tedder . Unfortunately no seniorAustralian soldier of this period has produced a memoir .

At the tactical level these chapters are based largely on formation report sand formation and unit war diaries with their appended documents an dmaps; but such records, particularly of operations in Greece and Crete,were sometimes so scanty that this volume depends more than any othe rin the series on interviews and correspondence with participants . Manyof these took great trouble to establish the facts. It may reassure thos ewho are inclined to mistrust such evidence to know that much of it hasbeen perused and checked by other participants, and to reflect that thos ewho provided these post-mortem accounts knew that what they were sayingor writing would be open sooner or later to critical examination by otherswho also were on the spot . Also, as a general rule, the relevant parts o fthis volume were read in draft form and commented on by the com-mander or some other knowledgeable member or members of everyformation or infantry unit concerned . It is inevitable, however, that someof the emphasis, some of the conclusions and some of the facts andfigures will not be completely acceptable to all of these helpers . Amongthose who have given generous assistance either during the war or since ,are :

Lieut-Generals F. H. Berryman, Lord Freyberg, Sir John Lavarack, Sir Ive nMackay, S. F. Rowell, Sir Stanley Savige ; Major-Generals A . S. Allen, I . N.Dougherty, S . H. W. C. Porter, C. S. Steele, J . E. S . Stevens ; Brigadiers A . W.Buttrose, I. R. Campbell, F. O. Chilton, W. E. Cremor, C. R. V. Edgar, D.Macarthur-Onslow, M. J . Moten, A. W. Potts, W . L. Rau, R . L. Sandover, J . R.Stevenson, H . W. Strutt ; Lieut-Colonels A. P. Bennett, A . E. Caro, T. Cotton,A. G. Fenton, A. P . Fleming, R. R. Gordon, R . Honner, J . T. Lang, J . McCarty ,R. H. Marson, A. C. Murchison, T. Mills, P. K. Parbury, W. T. Robertson, E. M .Robson, F . A. Stanton, P . D. Starr, F. H. Sublet, R. R. Vial; Majors J. R.Anderson, G. W. Austin, H . McP. Austin, S. B. Cann, H . S. Conkey, C. J . A.Coombes, E. A. Daly, H . M. Hamilton, J. S. Jones, R . R. Macartney, C. W. Mac-farlane, G . O'Day, A . C. Robertson, W. B. Russell, C. A. W. Sims, D . E. Williams ;Captains C. B. Britten, L . M. Long, D. H. Millar ; Lieutenants J . Copeman, A. R.Cutler, VC, B . H. MacDougal, W . N. Macpherson, B . W. Moloney, R . Sheppard .

Other valuable sources were the several regimental histories which areacknowledged in the following pages . While this volume was being revisedthe trustees of the late Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blarney lent his wartim epapers to me and my colleagues ; these enabled me to strengthen the con-cluding chapters of this volume .

I am greatly indebted also to Major-General Sir Howard Kippenberger ,Editor-in-Chief of the New Zealand Official War History, and his staff,particularly Messrs W. E. Murphy and I . McL. Wards. They providedmuch of the documentary material on which the first half of this volum eis based, and read and re-read the typescript ; correcting many defects andmaking many valuable suggestions . Brigadier H . B. Latham of the His-torical Section of the United Kingdom Cabinet Office, and his colleagues ,particularly Major-General I . S . O. Playfair, also gave invaluable support ,pointing out errors of fact and emphasis, and making documents availablewhich greatly helped me to write accounts of the higher planning, of the

operations of British formations, and of the enemy's story . Much helpwas obtained from narratives of the campaigns in Greece and Crete writtenwithin the British Historical Section by Mr E . E. Rich .

My colleagues Mr G . Hermon Gill, who is writing the naval volume sof this history, Squadron Leader John Herington, who is writing thevolumes dealing with the Australian part in air operations in Europe an dthe Middle East, and Mr Chester Wilmot, who is writing the volumewhich follows this one in the army series, contributed much valuablecorrection and criticism . I am indebted to my wife, to whom this volumewas read in order that verbal infelicities and obscure terminology migh tbe detected . My principal assistant was again Mr A . J. Sweeting, whoassembled the material, did much checking, compiled the biographicalfootnotes and index and, with the help of my secretary, Miss MaryGilchrist, prepared the manuscript for the printer . Mr. Hugh Groser drewall the maps .

Some of the description in this volume is based on personal observa-tions . I was with the British force in Greece as a correspondent of Aus-tralian morning newspapers, and spent a few days in Crete . I was recalledto Australia, however, before the operations in Syria began .

G. L .Canberra,

1st March, 1953 .

LIST OF EVENTS

FROM 22 FEBRUARY TO 8 DECEMBER 194 1

Events described in this volume are printed in italic s

1941 22-23 Feb Athens conference on British aid to Greec e11 Mar

President Roosevelt signs Lend-Lease Bill26-27 Mar Revolution in Yugoslavia28 Mar

Battle of Cape Matapan31 Mar

Enemy counter-attack in North Africa6 Apr

German army invades Greece and Yugoslavia11 Apr

Siege of Tobruk begin s22 Apr

Embarkation of troops from Greece begins2 May

Iraqi forces attack Habbaniy a20 May

German troops descend on Crete27 May

Bismarck sunk 400 miles west of Brest31 May

Iraqi revolt collapses.1 June

Embarkation from Crete complete d8 June

Allied invasion of Syria opens15 June

British offensive opens in Western Deser t21 June

Allied troops enter Damascu s22 June

Germany invades Russia3 July

Palmyra surrendered to British forces9 July

Damour falls12 July

Armistice in Syria25 Aug

British and Russian troops enter Ira n29 Aug

Mr Fadden becomes Prime Minister of Australia19 Sept

Germans occupy Kiev7 Oct

Mr Curtin becomes Prime Minister of Australia18 Oct

General Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japa n18 Nov

British offensive in Western Desert open s28 Nov

Russians retake Rostov7-8 Dec

Japanese attack Malaya and Pearl Harbour

xiv