Evening star., 1941-05-02
By ROBERT ST. JOHN,
,,socizted Press War Correspondent.


Greece.
Military and naval experts said
It couldn't be done. Veteran officers
who had lived through the Dun
keroue retreat said the fight from
Greece was infinitely more difficult
that the Royal Navy could be
proud of getting single shlpload
of men safely away through the
rain of sudden death the Nazis were
pouring on the ships. But the In
possible was done.
I know, for I walked the deck
with soldiers who got away and
saw columns of sturdy craft, packed
to the rails with imperial troops,
steaming safely away to new bat
tlegrounds.
I had reached a teeming port
town in the Peloponnesus after flee
ing frcr the ruins of YugoslaVia'S S
capital and down through bomb
wrecked Greece.
Last Chapter of Great Feat.
Here in Cairo I am witnessing
the final chapter in what may go
down in the records as one OF the
greatest feats of the British Navy.
Ships were lost. Men were lost
but the total dead are inf1nitesimal
in comparison with the predictions
of experts who sized up the tre-
mendous obstacles at first hand.
The Germans had numerous air
bases close by-on the Greek main
land. in defeated Yugoslavia, in the
heel of Italy. on the Italian Island
of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese Is
lands and in Bulgaria.
Then there was the threat OF the
italian feet. One Greek Army had
capitulated. German motorized col
umns were sweeping down from the
north, held back only by flercely-
resisting rearguard units which
were vastly Outnumbered.
From what I saw as I came down
through Greece and joined the
waiting troops on jettleS and
watched the astonishing mechanics
of the embarkation, I know the
navy didn't stop to ask the odds
against tit just went ahead and
cleaned up the job.
talked with many soldiers dur
ing the zigzag crossing and their
morale was amazingly high. They're
on their way to fight once more.
Australians, Canadians, New Zea-
landers and Englishmen all said
they were eager to get at it again.
Ready to Fight Again.
There was great hilarity aboard
my ship one night when a Berlin
radio broadcast announcer boasted
that not a single British soldier
who had fought in Greece would get
away to fight again.
"I guess the old navy has an
swered that one" said one tousle-
headed Aussie as he swept his hand
toward the sea lane dotted with
ships packed with tens Of thousands
of imperial troops.
The men who strode ashore in
Egypt said they are ready to fight
again. When they boarded ship in
Greece they loaded tons of rifles,
food, optical instruments, machine
guns, anti-aircraft guns, ammuni-
ton and any other stores they could
carry.
Much heavy equipment was de-
stroyed to prevent its falling into
German hands.
I heard engines roaring at top
speed without lubricat ting oil and
smelled the odor of their burning
and watched the steel glow red hot
before the pistons seized, damaging
motors beyond repair.
There were hundreds of Greek
airmen, infantrymen and gunners
aboard the ships that crept out of
the fog -shrouded harbor the night
our vessel left. There was easy
cameraderie between the Greeks
and their British allies. and they
talked of revenge for the loss of
Greece.
The Greeks made a point Of the
fact that now their people could
boast that Greeks we're still in the
fight. Many of them brought their
own weapons with them.
"They say the swastika now flies
over Mount Olympus" one Greek
soldier told me with tears in his
ewes. "Over Mount Olympus-the
home of our ancient gods-and over
the Parthenon, too. How can we
60 home?"
Share Soldiers Spirit.
TIE spirit of the Greek soldiers,
who chose to leave their families
and homeland to go on fighting. is
shared by the people who stayed in
their ruined towns and cities. Be-
fore I left Greece I saw owners OF
little shops buSily scraping away
the words, English spoken here"
But one merchant said he was
voicing the general sentiment in say
ing Some day-and we hope it Will
be soon-we are going to put those
words back on our windows again,
along with the crossed Union Jack
and the blue and white flag OF
Greece"
In almost every town where 1
halted for a few minutes to arrange
transportation for the next Jump
In nv scramble to keep ahead of the
invading force, some Greek who
had lived in America took me aside.
One said:
ct tell my people that I know
America, because I have been there.
"I tell them America and Great
Britain together will save us from
this shame which we must bear for
q little while.
ct tell them about how big Amer
lea is, how big her factories are, and
how no power can stop America
and Britain together.
That is why you see them still
hopeful"
pY-I,o uyop hoe mt rI1rfai the