MEMORIES OF A VETERAN
The story of his experiences as told by Lindsey Nicholls.. 90 year old Lindsey kept a diary of his time spent in Greece. These tales were told to the Hawera Star and ran for three consecutive weeks.
On march the 19th 1941 we shook the sands of Egypt off our feet and left for Greece. We had just spent the worst possible week imaginable in the desert.Nearly everyday there was a howling sandstorm which smothered our food. It was good to leave it all behind,though it wasnt much fun our belongings from the camp to the railway station,2 miles away.My gear weighed 180lbs and this was the hardest work I,d done in all my soldiering career.. On arriving at Egypt biggest shipping centre we were surprised to be placed on the distroyer HMS Orion, a 6000 ton ship with a complement of 6 to 700 men We were accompanied by two other war ships The HMS Ajax and Perth At about 10 or 11 am the main land of Greece came in sight. We sailed up the beautiful harbour of Port Pires and docked at one of the wharves. We couldnt help noticing the cleanliness of Athens after stinking Cairo... We pitched our tents in amongst trees at a public park. We were well covered from possible enemy aircraft . The park was crowded with mostly refugees and they hung around our kitchens and tents for any food we could give them.They were mainly old women who could not fend for themselves,so were happy with any tins of bully we sent there way.
On March the 21st we left by train to head up country towards the border of yugoslavia and Bulgaria.. Our next camp was a 24 hour train journey and a somewhat painful one as we were crammed into what appeared to be horse boxes.On our journey to Katarini our next camp, we went through several passes in the mountains. The largest was Lamea Pass where we to fight a battle a few weeks later.Our next move was a march which took 2 to 3 days to a place called Ellison. It was here we were to dig in and take our first defensive position, although as yet the Germans hadnt made an assult on greece..It came through on the radio that Germany had attacked Yugoslavia. Soon war was heading our way. We dug into the slopes of steep hills which were impossible for Tanks to climb.We knew we were expected to bare the brunt of the attack, but even so morale was high. we could hear the guns and bombs in the distance as jerry smashed their way into Greece.While waiting for the attack we medicals (the section I belonged to )planned a route to take the wounded out over the rugged country to where the RAP was.On april the 5th news came through that the enemy was approaching .There were rather tense moments knowing they were so close and that we would be the last to leave the danger area. At 1am on April 6thand without any warning , we were got out of bed and told to pack up and retreat as fast as possible..We moved all morning at a brisk pace ,and stopped on the outskirts of Katarini. We learned later we had just got out in time as the enemy was right behind us .

Practically all of Greece is surrounded by mountains , making natural defences. there were only a few passes and it was the NZ divisions job to guard the Olympic Pass The Aussies were to watch another Pass and the Greeks had another one to guard.--which was the mistake of the whole campaign. Most of our division were already in the pass and had to be fortified with artillery, Infantry,and AK_AK guns. The whole pass was armed to the teeth. All the bridges were mined too. We all had a feeling of security when we got in among our own defences. We felt it was impossible for the Germans to crack the defence of this pass. On April 14th and towards the evening several enemy aircraft flew low over our camp area. AK_AK guns set to work and it was here that I and many others fired our first shots of the war. We were astounded when our Sergeant Major woke us at 1 am and told us to pack up and move off. We were to evacuate the Pass as the enemy had broken through the Greek defences and we were in danger of being cut off. We laid low at an old campsite and when transport arrivedat about 5pm we took up defensive positions on high ground
about ten miles as the crow flies from the pass.In this position we were overlooking low and very flat ground that the enemy would have to cross to reach us..It was here that we would see our first bit of real war..At whatever the cost ,we were to hold our position until April the 21st The enemy by this time was well on his way through the evacuated passes..We would be the last troops to leave the area.

Part Two----On the morning of April 21st the fun started.First of all we heard a lot of machine-gun fire not very far away.Our boys were apparently getting out of the passes with Jerry on their tails.Enemy aircraft were overhead and at about 10am our artillery put up a barrage and started shelling the roads that lead up into the passes. At first jerrys shells screamed overhead and landed a fair distance away.but later on things got a bit hotter and he landed some of them almost on our trench line.All day a terrific bombardment was kept by both sides and at times the screaming shells were nerve-racking especially when we could hear one coming and we knew it would land near the shallow trench in which we were lying .Just on dark the real excitement started ,because the germans had broken through the passes.We could see them running along the road across the flat We knew it would only be a matter of time before he would be attacking our positions with tanks and infantry..How thankful we were when it became dark and we were given our orders to leave.We travelled all night to our new position at Molas about 10 miles south of Lamea- it looked so good we felt sure we could hold our own. It was April the 22nd we were all in our positions ready for what might come, when we received the greatest blow and disappointment . Our commander Captain Hastie.said orders had come through that the whole of Her Majesty,s forces were to evacuate Greece.We were to hold the enemy till the 25th. Our spirits dropped as we knew that a running fight was the hardest of all.By the time we had taken up our positions Jerry was already in possession of Lamas . His planes kept flying over our trenches, raking them with machine gun fire and trying to bomb our camouflaged artillery out of existence The days of the 22nd and 23 are the most nerve raking Ive ever experienced All night our artillery hurled shells at Jerry And the enemy returned the fire as we lay shivering in our trenches.At 4 pm on the afternoon april 24th our days of non action were over. Jerry started the attack as he usually did--an assault with heavytanks They were thundering down the road towards us with infantry ,motorbikesand troop carriers behind them.He threw about 18 big tanks into the onslaught but none got very far When they got within range our artillery blew them up one after another. Perhaps one will never again see such a sight. As each tank was hit ,it burst into flames and its ammunition exploded. The Germans made for the rugged hills and out flanked our boys and cut them off. C company fared the worst .They couldnt see the enemy until they were surrounded.Out of C company s 125 men only about 20 got away.The rest were either killed.wounded.or taken prisoner. A company were in a bad way as well and were cut off. They gallently fought their way back with hand grenades and Bayonets. When every man has a job to do the horrors are not noticed. As soon as darkness fell we calmly evacuated .We sneaked down to the road past one of the burning tanks.and marched a mile up the road to where transport was waiting .