It was from 11am on 26 April that the 100 vehicle German column was seen traveling from Thebes. When Australian artillery had the entire column in range, well-aimed artillery fire caused the column to scatter. The German infantry quickly dispersed before the climbed onto their vehicles and drove back to Thebes. Something like eight vehicles were knocked out and left on the road.
Somewhat later, they were attacked by German aicraft, an attack that the veterans expected to see. That was followed by German artillery firing after about 1pm. The afternoon was spent with German and Australian artillery trading shots. They ocasionally noticed German tanks darting forward.
Later in the afternoon, artillery hit a tank. About the same time, German infantry moving forward drew machine gun fire, which caused the infantry to disperse. The range was some 3,000 yards. Through the afternoon, they could see German vehicles driviv to the east on the road to Skhimatarion. It was at abot 2pm that the got word of German paratroopers at Corinth. The men got orders to travel to Porto Rafti to board ships at 7pm. By 9pm, the men boarded vehicles and started to drive down the road at some 30mph. Enineers left cratrs behind them as they traveled. It was Puttick led his men along the road through Eleusis and Athens while moving towards Porto Rafti. Thisis based in the account in "Greece, Crete, and Syria" by Gavin Long.
No comments:
Post a Comment