Greece and Crete

Greece - March to May 1941

In October, 1940, the Italians attacked Greece. British troops were landed in Greece and Crete. Early in 1941 a German invasion of Greece from Bulgaria became imminent and the British Governnment decided to send further assistance. A force was dispatched from Egypt, with Lieutenant-General H. Maitland Wilson 4 (Rifle Brigade) in command, in March.

The 9th Battalion (1st Bn. The Rangers), under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel G. C. Ashburner, had left England in November, 1940, and had been training in the Delta for desert warfare for two months, when it was suddenly ordered to move to Greece.

The Battalion landed at Pirxus on 15th March and immediately moved north to Edessa, in the Vardar Valley — a distance of 300 miles over difficult mountain roads, very different from the desert to which they were just becoming accustomed. It says much for the high standard of driving attained that all the vehicles arrived without a major accident or breakdown. On arrival the Battalion was posted to the Armoured Brigade.

The original plan for stemming the German advance through Macedonia was cancelled owing to the rapid move of the enemy through Yugoslavia and the subsequent threat to Monastir. This necessitated a hurried move of the Battalion from its prepared positions westward to the Florina Gap covering the road to Monastir.

The Florina Gap — 9th to 12th April 1941

Dispositions for defence were hurriedly made under continual threat of attack. The Battalion was allotted a long frontage linking up with a Greek cavalry division on a fifty-mile front on their left and an Australian brigade and more Greek troops on their right.

The Germans, part of a Hitler S.S. division, attacked on 10th April, and for four days the Battalion withstood determined assaults with heavy shelling and mortaring and very severe weather, sleet, snow and mud indescribable. Owing to the long frontage of about 4,000 yards, no reserves were possible, and it was only by the super-human efforts of all officers and other ranks that the position was held as ordered and the planned withdrawal could start on Easter Sunday. The final German attack started at 0700 hrs. on that morning and the Battalion held on for three hours as ordered before starting the move back at 1000 hrs. The Germans lost heavily in this attack, leaving several hundred dead in front of one company.