Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Lest we forget... (ANZAC Day Tomorrow)

I wish I had written this...

On 25 April 1941, Adolf Hitler signed Directive 28, ordering the Luftwaffe to seize the island of Crete, a hundred kilometres south of Greece, doubtless unaware of the coincidence of sending his forces against the Australian and New Zealand defenders on Anzac Day.
On a small, sun-blasted scrap of rock in the Mediterranean, the battle of Crete would end in a terrible defeat for those Anzacs, and for the Greeks and British who fought with them. But it would also batter the myth of the Nazi superman, and in particular the reputation of the Reich's famous airborne regiments, so heavy was the toll exacted from them in exchange for their victory.
It's not a part of the Anzac legend which enjoys much popular acclaim or even awareness, however. A disastrous loss in a long war, with any number of mistakes on our own side contributing to the failure. But it is worth attending to, especially this week, because the lives spent on Crete still bought the life we enjoy decades later.
It is also worth dwelling on both sides of the ledger, not just on what was earned, but on what was done to secure it. While Gallipoli resonates with the creation myths of Anzac, of the landing itself, the charge at the Nek, Lone Pine, Simpson and his donkey, no similar moments has Crete bequeathed us. But they are there, if you care to look. The desperate defence of Rethymno airfield. The haka of the Maoris before the battle of Galatas. The friendship and near suicidal bravery of the Cretan islanders themselves as their whole world fell apart.
The fighting on Crete was both ultra-modern and very old fashioned. An airborne assault on a defended island had never before been accomplished, and all the world watched on with the same sense of awe as accompanied the destruction of the Iraqi Army on CNN in the first Gulf War. But for all of the - at that time - amazing technology applied by the Luftwaffe and its parachute regiments to the invasion, much of the actual combat was ferociously medieval. Men killed each other in their thousands, often up close, with bayonets and empty rifles swung as crude clubs. The Cretans, men and women, young and old, defended themselves with axes, kitchen knives and garden hoes.
Towards the end, when the Germans thought themselves unbeatable, they stumbled into a rear guard of Australians and New Zealanders at '42nd Street', a defensive line strung along a sunken road through an olive grove, protecting the harbour at Suda Bay.
The Anzacs fixed bayonets and charged, slamming into 141st Mountain Regiment and destroying it in hand-to-hand fighting, which lasted for just a few minutes. So savage was the encounter that when the Germans later returned to the field to collect their dead, they could not believe that such awful damage could have be done to the bodies of their troops in honourable combat. The mutilations must have been war crimes, they argued.
But they were not. Horror is the inevitable consequence of war and having chosen to visit insensate horror upon the world, the Nazis at last had it visited upon them in that olive grove above the azure waters of the Mediterranean.
They were stunned by the cost of their 'terrible victory'. Unaccustomed to resistance, they had seen themselves as a warrior race, and their enemies as weak, effete, and decadent. The paratroopers who dropped onto Crete were professional soldiers. The Anzacs who opposed them were not. Reading the official Australian history of the war, one of the things that immediately strikes you is the authors' practice of including the civilian history of the officers and men who fought. In their real lives they were bakers, lawyers, labourers, school teachers, book keepers, farmers and so on. As with all of the armies of the free world, the ranks were filled with men and women who were simply citizens first, and warriors only for the duration.
And tomorrow, as always, we owe them our thoughts. The defenders of Crete, the ghosts of Gallipoli and Pozieres, of Kokoda and Kapyong, of Long Tan and Shah I Khot. Every man and woman, now and then, who ever made that simple promise, of their life for ours.

Great post

Wow, I like to think I know about history but that was truly informative. Off to wiki for the day.

Great post and education. All you folks down under, I have always and will continue to salute you. Your ships were with mine in Viet Nam.

Dave

Thanks for the enlightenment. Much thanks.

Thankyou Duck. My Grandfather was an A.N.Z.A.C.

About to head off in my number ones for the local service.

We will rember them.

Thanks for that post.....so many battles waged in that war and so many that I am not nor would a lifetime of study ever allow me to know.

but as of now I know a little more.

+2

My Uncle was amonge the first to storm the beaches in the south pacific. So I thought I knew quite a bit about that war. But I never heard of that. Just goes to show what you learn in one country compared to another. Very interesting.

Please add my salute. High points in my memories of a gallant and proud people: The 1965 Coral Sea Celebration where everyone I met tried to be nicer than the one before. And after Tet 1968, happily singing "Waltzing Matilda" with Aussies until dawn arrived and the Foster's Lager ran out.
ANZAC day, I won't forget.
SteveB

After fifteen minutes the tanks returned and Farran made his report in true 'Boy's Own paper' style: "The place is stiff with Jerries." Kippenberger asked if he would return in support of the infantry. Farran agreed, but asked if replacements could be found for his two injured men. Two New Zealanders, Private Lewis (a machine gunner) and Private Ferry (a driver) volunteered, and were taken off and given ten minutes of instruction. Said Ferry: "This one pipper bloke was a man of action, he gave us many words of instruction and few of encouragement, finishing up in a truly English manner 'of course you seldom come out of one of these things alive'"

In the meantime the two companies of the 23rd were given their orders, which were brief, to the point and very non-regulation: the following was Captain Harvey's order to 'D' Company. "D Company will be attacking on the left of the road and we have two tanks in support, but the whole show is stiff with Huns. It's going to be a bloody show but we've just got to succeed. Sandy you will be on the right, Tex on the left. Now for Christ's sake get cracking."

In the meantime Kippenberger sent a runner to Lt Col Gray of the 18th Battalion, warning him of the counterattack and telling him to join in. Captain Dawson, who accompanied the runner, recorded that Gray "no sooner grasped Kip's message than he fixed his own bayonet, and jumping out of the ditch, cried 'come on 18th boys, into the village.'"

As the light started to fail the attack moved off, slowly at first but gathering pace as it gained momentum. As the force advanced it increased, as stragglers from a variety of formations tuned round and joined in. The tanks surged ahead up the hill into the town, and behind them a group of Maori soldiers from the 28th New Zealand Battalion began a harka war chant, which was taken up by almost everyone. Gray reported that "I shall never forget the deep-throated wild beast noise of the yelling charging men as the 23rd swept up the road."

As the tanks entered Galatas once again there was uproar of gunfire. Farran's tank careered twice around the square firing wildly at the houses before it was hit and disabled by an anti-tank grenade. Farran, badly wounded, managed to escape. According to one account the amateur crew of the second tank panicked at this point and turned round, heading out of the village. The Official History more charitably records that the amateur driver, Private Lewis, simply lost control of his vehicle. Whatever the cause of its withdrawal, the tank encountered the advancing infantry, who encouraged the tank crew to turn round and head back towards the enemy.

The infantry advanced into the village, clearing the houses with grenades and bayonets. As they reached the square they found it was swept by fire from German troops in the houses on the other side. Rather than lose momentum. Lieutenant Thomas's platoon charged across the square, catching the German defenders in the act of forming up for a counter-attack. Thomas reported that "had our charge been delayed even minutes the position could easily have been reversed." Panicked, the Germans turned and fled. Thomas himself led from the front: by the end of the action his torso had been shredded by shrapnel from a hand grenade and he had a bullet wound in his thigh.

The fighting became more confused as Gray and the 18th Battalion survivors reached the square. Gradually, the New Zealanders cleared each building until only one strong point in the south west corner still held out.

By midnight the New Zealanders had retaken Galatas. The line was stabilised, and the New Zealanders had gained a vital breathing space although at a terrible cost - only four subalterns were left standing by the end of the action. Although a follow up was discussed, the idea was rejected. According to the Official History, "10 Brigade no longer existed as a formation" and Creforce HQ was unwilling to release further reserves.

Glad you all liked it, I have just got back home form the doing the local dawn service and then the march in melbourne with my old ship...

Thanks Duck. Sometimes it's too easy to forget where the freedoms we have to ride and live our lives the way we want to come from.

Rano

But not everyone feels the same about ANZAC day here a some of the things when people do not have a clue about what ANZAC Day means to the returned servicemen/women..
====================================================
ANZAC Day commemorations were marred by isolated incidents of vandalism yesterday.
The dawn service in Bathurst was thrown into doubt when a group of teenage girls allegedly splashed "Anzacs are murderers" across the town's war memorial with white paint. Volunteer firefighters, police, army personnel and residents scrubbed off the words before dawn.
One girl, 16, was charged with maliciously damaging a shrine, and four 15-year-olds would be counselled, police said.
The NSW RSL president, Don Rowe, said the vandalism was "absolutely bloody terrible". The Premier, Morris Iemma, said the alleged vandals should be "kicked up the backside".
In Sydney, floral wreaths laid for Anzac Day at Malabar were torn up and strewn around Arthur Clarke Memorial Reserve.
In the New Zealand North Island town of Patea, vandals knocked down and smashed crosses arranged around a cenotaph for the dawn service.
And in Roseville yesterday, 73-year-old Ronald Coppel returned to his car after attending a "very dignified" dawn service to find a $179 parking fine.
An officer from the highway patrol had fined Mr Coppel and two other drivers who parked in a no-stopping zone on the Pacific Highway just after 5am.
Mr Coppel said the fine was a "mean-spirited act" and the officer who issued it showed poor judgement. "I just thought: 'Why would anyone want to do that?"' he said yesterday. "I'm not arguing [that] I didn't break the law, but the law has to be enforced with a sense of reason."
Mr Coppel said his car was parked for about 30 minutes.
The RSL's national secretary, Derek Robson, said: "Yes, he's broken the law, but given the circumstances … I would like to think there is a sympathetic ear."

Hey Duck,
It is good that we send this stuff around.
I traveled to Newcastle this year to march with my dad in the small town where he lives. He may not do another. My very young nephew came with us, He wore his great grandfathers ww 1 medals, that was good.
I was the only one there in uniform. It felt a bit weird but a few of the old diggers came up, said that was great, asked about my medals and compared stories. Though nothing I did compares to them.
Cheers