大象传媒

The railway that runs from Athens up to the north of Greece ran near the airfield at Lamia. We drove to the railway siding where a train stood. We wanted news of the situation. The train was a hospital train and had stopped for news and instructions. We were told that the war was moving south and we would be overrun in a day or so. We knew that we must press on that night without stopping. We had tins of beans and corned beef which we ate as we required. Food suddenly became very important.
That night ride was most uncomfortable to say the least. Having seen the nature of the roads in the day I was amazed that we made it in the dark. Afraid to use headlights 鈥� it wasn鈥檛 allowed anyway 鈥� the drivers picked out the narrow road from what was often fresh air! Very often a thousand foot drop existed by the roadside.
Very glad were we to see the dawn. We passed through Athens which was a town just waking from unhappy sleep. Athens had been declared an 鈥渙pen city鈥� and neither Italian nor German aircraft bombed Athens. Refugees from Pireaus crowded in and slept on the railway station platforms or any other shelter they could find. As we passed up over Constitution Hill towards the Palace the courtyard was packed full of Greek police. They wore a very operatic sort of uniform. The day was going to be one of agony for the people of Greece. The Ring had gone.
The people had also witnessed all the British going. Somebody shouted that we were going the wrong way. We should be running towards Argos or Corinth or anywhere south 鈥� we were amongst the last.
We arrived at Hassani to find that everybody; except just a rear
party had left. The whole place has been cleared since we had left to go to Lamia. All equipment and aircraft likely to be of use to the Germans had been destroyed. The aircraft we had gone to so much trouble to recover was also destroyed! The few airmen that were still at Hassani said that everybody had gone to Kalamata a small port in the western Peleponese, south of the Corinth canal bridge.
Having made sure that all of the detachment from 54 R.S.U. had gone I then realised that I was on my own, Sgt. Wallis who had gone to see that the Hurricane we had rescued had then been properly destroyed told me I could ride with them. Being now my own C/O I decided to take his offer. What else could I do?
The truck I boarded was already loaded with the rear party of 53 RS.U. L.A.C. Pay was about the only new friend I had made, Sgt. Wallis was on another truck. However, we set off well after midday and drove through Athens to take the road to Corinth and Kalamata, where it has been said the evacuation was being operated.
We were no longer the welcomed allies. The Ring had gone, the defence had collapsed, the German Air Force was everywhere. The crowds that had gathered in 鈥淥monia鈥� Square and along Constitution Hill just looked at us with dismay. I had only arrived a few weeks ago and now I didn鈥檛 really know why or where I was going.
Perhaps it is a good thing to be young, naive, or not too learned when involved in such a situation. In later years I now understand the anxiety of the older N.C.O.s and Officers. There weren鈥檛 many officers about as I recall. All pilots who had an aircraft were off to Argos or Crete, or somewhere else. I knew not and I cared not.
The road from Athens to Corinth went past the Acropolis and into open country. I鈥檝e often wondered what happened when the German occupation took place. I had noticed some anti British gestures in the north. The people of the south in the Peleponese were more friendly, although they were aware of the collapse that was occurring. It is a very sad experience to look at the faces of a proud people who are facing, without hope, a future that can only be full of sorrow and misery.
The going was hard and progress was slow; darkness came and I often wonder what happened to the British soldiers with a mule train that we passed very late in the night. The only stop was for an hour or two for rest; even then it was about four o鈥檆lock in the morning when we crossed over the bridge over the Corinth Canal. I remember looking down in the dawn light at a small ship in the canal below. I was told that we would be about the last because it was to be blown up that day. I have not heard if it was destroyed.
By this time we had caught up with transport of other units. The lorry I was riding on broke a big end and had to be destroyed. We offloaded and pushed the lorry over the side of the road down a drop of perhaps a thousand feet. It bounced, turned over and seemed to take ages to hit the bottom.
The occupants of our broken down lorry were then shared out amongst other following vehicles and I was picked up by a truck with about six airment in the back. To this day I do not know the unit to which they belonged.
News had been spread somehow that the German advance from the north was getting into full swing. Greece was rife with 'fifth columnists' and we suspected that our movements were duly reported to the German intelligence. How otherwise did the bombers and 'Shufti' kites know where to look? They seemed to have good knowledge of what we were doing.It had been whilst crawling up the long hill around Mount Argos that our truck engine had failed and the people who had given me a lift were bound for the airfield at Argos.
At Argos airfield I learned that my unit had gone to Kalamata and I would have to tag on to whoever would give me a lift,if and where there was movement. However, a rest or sleep was the first priority, but the night was restless. I slept in the olive grove in which all the vehicles were parked. Throughout that night there was sound of high explosive not too far away. This was the bombing raids, unopposed by ACK ACK, over towards the sea. That way lay the port called Navplion.
A ship had been attacked in Argos bay at Navplion. I was later told it was the 鈥淯lster Prince鈥�.
There was on Argos airfield one or two Hurricanes. One had a damaged radiator and it stood in the open near a wide drain. W/O Casey of 80 Sqdn. was calling out for engine tradesmen to work on it. With only myself to please I went with one or two other airmen whom I did not know, except that they were 鈥淓ngines鈥�.
As we arrived to look at the job with a view to 鈥減atching it up鈥� the real trouble started. There was no air raid warning system as there had been in England. Enemy aircraft would arrive without any warning, and open fire straight away. The Hurricane we hoped to get airborne had a shell splinter in the radiator and was beyond repair in those conditions.
Our decision to run for it was made by the sudden arrival of three or four 鈥�1 lOs mitt der yeller nose鈥� I was told that the 11 Os
- with yellow spinners were from the 鈥淗erman Georing鈥� Sqdn. of the Luftwaffe.
That might three Hudson aircraft landed and I remember hearing them take off very early in the morning. I didn鈥檛 know then, but I later learnt that those pilots and senior officers for whom it was necessary to get over to Crete, had left in those Hudsons. It didn鈥檛 affect me; with no aircraft available, pilots were to go where they could be of use. I did learn one lesson. I realized that without technical airmen, of whom I was one, the greatest Air Ace on earth is stymied, especially when the enemy is operating from just over the hill.
The next day I was caught in the open during a strafing raid. For sonic reason, now forgotten, Pay and myself, with one or two other engine/airframe fitters were walking over the open ground between the olive groves and the long drain ditch at Argos airfield.
Messerschmitt 1 lOs, there must have been six or more 鈥� suddenly appeared from over the hills to the north. The first thing I realized was that they were here to put an end to Argos as an airfield. The very first 110 came in, smoke trailing behind as his cannons fired. They were using incendiary/explosive ammunition to start fires wherever possible. We took cover in the ditch until we realized that down the end of the ditch was a store of
petrol barrels, 40-gallon steel drums visible from the air without doubt.
Strafing does not ruin a landing strip but it will ruin everything else. The stack of petrol barrels would be a target 鈥� and it was. We got out of the ditch and ran as fast as possible. One of my most clear memories is of airmen鈥檚 legs and how fast they can move. Looking towards the other side of the 鈥渟trip鈥� I saw a few more airmen running for shelter. In the distance their little legs were moving so fast that it was a funny sight. Amid all that excitement I remember being amused! Thank god for comic sights.
Argos was not a good place to be in. There was no point in staying. Anything that would fly had gone. I failed to find anyone of my unit so I was virtually alone. L.A.C. Pay and I were separated.
I missed him in the final panicky exodus from Argos. I had to 'bum' a ride with some people who I didn't know; there were several lorries leaving and I boarded one of the last. We were all in the same boat, so a friendly attitude developed amongst us, the stragglers of different units and squadrons.

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