Evening star., 1941-04-19

Nazi divisions and knocked back two,
all in IL days.
Actually it started eight days ago
when the Germans sent one divi-
sion forward from Monastir into
Greece. 1t was the Adolf Hitler Di-
vision. First they were met by a
British armored force. Outnum-
bered 20 to l, the British armored
force took the brunt of the first
German tank and artillery attack.
then withdrew to a position In a
pass south of Phlorina. Here the
advance British defense units took
over. At this pass a British terri
torial battalion gave its blood in
Spartan defense.
Then two more German divisions
were sent up to support the Hitler
division. The three together re-at-
tackled the British line. Using a
new weapon, los nm. gun on tank
tracks and moving under its own
power, the Germans poured thou
sands of pounds of shells onto the
roads and defenses.
After terrific bombardment from
these guns and from the air, tanks
and infantry attacked. There were
not many tanks. but the infantry
came on in wave after wavve for u
hours.
German losses were fantastic in
the first battle. BY the time they
had gotten to Kozani large pieces
had been knocked from their three
blitz divisions. At Kozani the Aus
tralians got into them. From pre-
pared positions they poured hell into
the Germans, now supported by
three more divisions and spreading
out over the mountains.
From mountains covering Kozani
Pass, the Australian big guns pound
ed day and night at the Nazi troops
and the transport positions below.
Machine guns bsttled across the
one fiat strip of land in World War
style And all the time German
infantry kept coming on, in wave
after wave, and getting moved down
wave after wave.
For four hours the battle went on
at the entrance to Kozane Pass.
All the way back through the pass,
hundreds of oncoming Nazis fell
before the now combined British
and Australian fire. One Australian
unit hung on in these heights for
so long, firing on the Germans be-
low, that they found they were sew
eral miles behind the German lines.
They escaped along a creek to
KoZane.
Finally. out of Kozane, the Ger
mans were blocked again when
Australian sappers blew up bridge
over the Aliakmon River. The ap-
proach to this bridge was fiat.
Again the Germans came over in
masses.
"I would not have believed it,"
young Australian machine-gunner
said to me. They came up the side
of the road like flies, shooting some
thing. We were giving 1t to them
from all sides and they went down
like you see in the movies. 1t was
just like movie"
British Guns Withdrawn.
Every time the Germans tried to
repair the bridge they got smashed
about by the big guns, sitting on the
mountains, popping off at them.
The Germans sent up infantry to
try to get the guns. They were
beaten back every time. Finally,
the big loss came up, but the British
guns had already done their Job and
were withdrawn.
And that is the story up to the
point where I am now, somewhere
north of Larisa.
There are at least six German
divisions spread out along the roads
and mountains before me. I spoke
to a dispatch rider from the coastal
front. He said the Germans started
fighting in the Katerini area Thurs
day morning. I have spoken with
men coming back from the front
and all have individual stories that
are unbelievable, unless you are here
listening to the artillery roar.
Right now there is lot of cheer
ing going on around here. We can
see bombs bursting about 2 miles
away behind the German lines
"Oh, Great God! They are getting
some of their own medicine now
the -" that's what hear now
There is some good healthy cursine
as we'll as laughter going on al
around.
These same men had two German
prisoners Thursday to look after
They were pilots from bomber that
had bombed them. Yet the Aussies
were feeding the Germans on bully
beef and trying to make them smile