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After suffering reverses in both N Africa, Italy and Southern France, the German army was withdrawing from the Mediterranean region, and in Greece there was emerging a threat of civil war between two opposing factions, E.A.M. who could be described loyalists and supporters of the monarchy, and E.L.A.S. who had a desire to overthrow the monarchy who had fled the country and were at present in England. In order to avoid this situation, and to maintain food supplies, it was decided a British presence would be desirable to enable the Monarchy to return. This was to be achieved by sending the 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade to help accomplish this, consequently, Brigade Head Quarters and C Company of the 4th Battalion took off from Brindisi for Greece on the 12th Oct 1944 and landed on Megara airfield near Athens, which was known to be a safe area, the German Army being in retreat northwards, but landing in very high wind conditions over forty casualties were sustained. My Battalion, the 5th, and the 6th, followed the next day, with the objective of marching to Athens, by this time the weather had calmed down, so landing was not so hectic, but upon landing we were immediately bombarded by the R,A.F. doing a free drop of supplies, bales of blankets etc; bouncing about all over the place, talk about friendly fire. I鈥檓 not quite sure how it happened, but the next thing I remember was at least my platoon if not the whole of 鈥淒鈥� Company were aboard a Greek vessel which eventually delivered us into Piraeus harbour from where we were despatched to the northernmost suburbs of Athens in pursuit of Enemy troops but soon found out that they had long gone. One amusing episode has just come to mind, it happened one evening when my platoon, during a lull in proceedings ,were occupying a house in north Athens, our section visited a local estaminet, and were drinking the local 鈥減oison鈥� Oyzo, which the natives always consume with water, but being British we decided to take it neat, after a while Jackie decided he could drink Arthur under the table, (he never stood a chance), the crux of the story, is that after a while most of us decided we鈥檇 had enough, wandered off to our billet and got into our sleeping bags, after a time there was a commotion as Arthur and Jackie returned, with Jackie in fighting mood, Arthur was holding him at arms length, Fred and I tried to part them and keep our bare feet away from the ammo boots, having quietened things down, we saw Pete McPhee on his hands and knees, crawling out of the room muttering 鈥� I wanna die鈥�, that completely diffused the situation.
In the meantime our Brigade was joined by the 23rd Armoured Brigade, together to be known as Arkforce, we were soon recalled, to be despatched on the 4th Nov in company with No 9 Commando to Salonika where the forces of E.L.A.S. in opposition to E.A.M. were trying to take control, we were greeted by rifle fire, which was soon quelled, it seemed the rebels realised that they didn鈥檛 stand a chance, we also had had a formidable weapon in the shape of the Battalion pipe band, who would put on a show, in any square where people would congregate, quickly lowering the tension between the two factions. The band also played reveille daily, much to the annoyance of an R.A.F. Air-Sea rescue unit that were based in the harbour,( I learned of the 鈥� annoyance鈥� after the war from a fellow villager ). Situation in the area was soon resolved, civilian authorities taking on law and order, we ventured further, and on one occasion came upon a barracks full of Italian soldiers, who had been imprisoned by the Germans when Italy capitulated, and deserted when their captors retreated, early one morning whilst supervising transference of these troops to a de-lousing point for showers and fresh clothes, prior to being shipped to Italy and home as they expected, something happened that has remained with me, there seemed a lull in proceedings, and one of their number started singing 鈥淎ve Maria鈥� in a very strong voice, everybody stood silent until he had finished, then after applause work continued ( we later learned they had been in fact shipped to Palestine). We moved on toward Macedonia and Thrace passing through many villages en-route , and uncovering evidence of mass killings of civilians, we were led to believe killed by civilians, some were buried in rough graves others having been thrown into deep wells,(I still have photographs) ending up in a place named Drama, which was well named with all the opposing forces assembled there, one amusing episode helped to ease the tension, on entering a small caf茅 and attempting to order egg and chips for six of us, being eventually presented with a plate on which were six eggs with chips, the situation rapidly deteriorated , and I guess headquarters decided that we were too few in number to prevent Greek killing Greek, so we were on the move again back to Athens where E.L.A.S. were flexing their muscles, it had been decided that the Paras would take over the Acropolis, and other high and important points, it fell to D Coy with 14 Platoon leading, to advance from Constitution Square to the Acropolis, with sections staggered on opposite sides of the Phaleron Rd, platoon headquarters and 1 & 3 sections on the right of the road close to the buildings, 2 section 鈥渦s鈥� on the left near to the Park, we hadn鈥檛 gone far before all hell broke loose, fire from the buildings being directed towards us on the park side, resulting in Fred and myself diving for one lamp post for cover, (we often laughed afterwards as to how much cover it afforded), no injuries sustained, the order was quickly given to regroup on the right side of the road, it turned out that this fire was from the police, who, unlike our own police at home, were armed, mistaking our dome shaped helmets for German ones.(Equivalent friendly fire )
The order was then issued to discard helmets and wear Berets which strangely gave us confidence, we would only be subjected to opposition from E.L.A.S., leaving the area of the park behind, the leading section were soon in contact with the guerrillas again, resulting in the Platoon鈥檚 first casualty in Greece, Lt. Peter Conway took the full impact of a grenade and died instantly. We again took over the left of the road, making our presence known in the local Police Station on the way, next door was a school, on sweeping through and looking out of a rear window, saw a face peering out of a window in a block of flats ahead of us, not wishing to be observed, I fired a round into the lintel over the window as a warning, the face turned out to be that of a young lady, who on seeing dust and bits of masonry floating down, looked up, but never the less closed the window and drew the curtains., I think it took us all-day before B Coy established themselves on the Acropolis and the Parthenon and the rest of us occupied the top floors of blocks of flats in the vicinity. The block of flats that our section occupied was 4 or 5 storeys high with a pent house on the flat roof, after we had settled ourselves in and posted a lookout on the roof, we were approached by a middle-aged Greek man who spoke fairly good English who informed us that the family had prepared a meal for us, ( It turned out that he had been an interpreter for British forces in W.W.1.), he was a son of the family, we never saw the head of the family, who we found out was a Professor at a nearby university, or his wife, but the two daughters, Ellie the eldest, and Helene, who turned out to be the girl who was looking out of the window, were around our ages, we saw quite a lot of them, in the flat below was a cousin, Kiki, who was a bit younger who completed a trio of very presentable young ladies, staying with Kiki was a young girl called Georgia, we had really landed in the lap of luxury, a household that lacked for nothing, and amenable female company. After the meal we had to rescue Ellie from the amorous attentions of Fred, knowing him it was not difficult, just reminding him of the girl back home that he was always rabbitting on about, afterwards I became involved with Ellie myself, this attachment carried on for the rest of the time we were in Greece, in fact things were getting too involved, Ellie was talking of coming to England, panic set in, I really couldn鈥檛 see this working out, the daughter of a Wealthy University Professor and simple farmhand, no way. We had not been in residence many days, I was on observation duty when one of the team yelled round the corner of the penthouse 鈥淭here鈥檚 a mate of yours here鈥� the mate turned out to be Ted Cossey who was from Cantley, my home village, Ted was in the Royal Corps of Signals stationed at Expedition Headquarters, and on seeing a despatch rider wearing a Red beret with a Parachute badge entering, asked him if he knew Geoff Read, talk about a chance in a million, the Don R in question was Stevie Ponton, one of the Scots I met in the truck at Chesterfield station, Ted and I managed to spend a bit of time and have a few drinks together, I seem to remember it was about Xmas 1944. The rest of our days were spent, leaving our base and ferreting out the opposition, handing them over to the military or civilian police, and at the end of each day, because we were unable protect what we had cleared, returning to our base hoping there would not be any E,L.A.S. filtering back, on one such foray whilst clearing side streets, our section had entered the last one ,believing our backs to be covered by the other platoons were probably a bit lax in observation, anyway, Arthur (Cpl Butler) and I reached the flat roof to find a locked Pent-house, having to conduct our searches without causing damage, I was sent down to get a key, having obtained same, I returned to find Arthur lying on the floor, his position indicating that he had been shot from behind, and had died instantly. First reaction was that our mates behind us were not doing their job thoroughly, but later when talking with them, it seemed they had observed what looked at first to be Greek policemen, police helmets & greatcoats, not realising their mistake until it was too late, later we caught up with these characters, with dire results for one of them, (feelings were running high)..Carrying on clearing up, we were wondering were all the inhabitants had disappeared to, when someone heard noise coming from doors on the ground close to a house covering an entrance to a cellar, throwing them open revealed a cellar crammed full of people, we started lifting the women and children out and ushering them to safety, any males were unceremoniously shoved back, until all women and kids were out, whilst lifting the males, one came forward, raising his hands to be pulled out revealing civilian clothes under the Greek Police greatcoat he had on, Big John O.B. as he was known, let out a bellow, grabbed the blokes hand and dragged him so forcibly out, that I swear he went six feet into the air before landing on his feet, to be rushed away with a Tommy-gun held by Jackie F, in the small of his back, to where the men were being held, he never made it, 鈥淭he gun accidentally went off Sir鈥�, said Jackie, consequently an inquiry was convened and he was remanded for Court Martial, I think I voice the feelings of most of us present, (There but for the grace of God). We later heard that he escaped custody and was on the run. This was the same soldier that I had once put in the Guard room, for showing a elderly Greek with a corned beef tin without a key, how to open it with a Browning 45 .Continuing this purging operation, our platoon was given a street to clear to the crossroads, late in the day having achieved our mission, a member of the leading section, (Jimmy Rae) seemingly forgetting that there were three more roads convening, leapt into the middle of the road waving his arms and shouting 鈥� We made it鈥� they were his last words (what a waste). That was the third death in the platoon in a few days.
I must mention here that because of the nature of our operations, weapons came in for some rough treatment, so every morning before we set off Fred would want to check the sights on the Bren, 鈥� give me something to line-up on would be the cry鈥�, I would pick out something like a street light, usually it took no more than 2 or 3 rounds before he was satisfied. Some members of the battalion had received news in letters from home, that the Paras were getting bad publicity in the Press back in U.K. to the effect that we were being used for the benefit of rich Greeks against the poorer elements, this was particularly galling, as among other things we had all been donating blood for transfusion to friend and foe alike, and when ever lulls in operations allowed, would set up soup kitchens to feed all and sundry. Subsequently about 500 or 600 of us were assembled in a cinema, where a man called Sir Walter Citrine was introduced to us as head of a delegation sent out from England to investigate the situation, all above the rank of Corporal were dismissed from the auditorium, the rest of us being urged to speak freely about what we felt we were doing. We were questioned thoroughly, apparently satisfying the delegation, for on their return home Sir Walter made a Press announcement upholding all the brigade had done and was doing in Greece. We continued as we had been doing until we were replaced by other troops, and early in Feb rumours abounded that we were to return Italy, to reorganise ready to be used as support troops if there should an offensive, it鈥檚 surprising what one hears from someone who happens to know someone, mostly between Batmen. Anyway, one morning we were paraded before the 2nd In Command a Major Mike Sheppard who was well known for his dramatics, marching back and forth, he announced 鈥淚n Pireas harbour there is a ship鈥� everybody鈥檚 heart sank to their boots, nobody wanted to leave, 鈥淚t is a filthy ship, and you are going to clean it up (pause), for the Forth Battalion鈥�. Cheers all round, but eventually it was our turn. On the day in question Ellie had somehow found out where we were leaving from, managed to get to the harbour, made herself known, and among cheers all round and most embarrassingly I was dragged out and told I鈥檇 got half-an-hour out to say my good-byes.
Back in Italy we spent some time on an American air bases, loading supplies into Bomber aircraft, stowing them up in the bomb bays manually, damned hard graft, one day apparently setting a record of loading 7 tons per man. Several Ops were planned, but the German troops were retreating so fast that our ground forces were over-running the D.Zs, some of us were actually em-planed, only for the Op to be called off at the last minute. V.E. Day came and much Vino was consumed, during the following days several of the longer serving troops were being sent home for a spot of leave, including Nobby, a few days later I was summoned to Company Office to be told 鈥� Pack your kit, you鈥檙e going home to attend a senior N.C.O鈥檚 Cadre鈥�, next day I was taken to a transit camp, there to see Nobby, who along with other long-serving troops was waiting for a ship to transport them home, much leg-pulling ensued, then I was rushed off to the airfield where I was taken to a small aircraft, on board were about half-a-dozen bods including some senior brass, we landed at what was then Blackbushe Airport.

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