Military History Tours Australia On Tour - Greece and Crete - 13 October 2009
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This is the day we go beyond where the tourists go. We are not tourists, even though we come from afar. We are here to look at the ground where our Australian forces were in action during the Greek campaign of 1941. While doing this we meet with local dignitaries and people from the areas we pass through which makes us richer for that interaction. The response in the north to our visit is quite spectacular and the local people are very happy indeed that we are here. Now for our day.
We were heading direct to Florina up north, one of the closest towns to the border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. This also was the area, at Vevi, where our 19th Brigade first made contact with the German invaders. On our way north from Kalabaka we went over the mountains to Grevina where we picked up the new highway and sped off to Kozani. This was itself an important position in the withdrawal of our forces, but we will visit it on another day. We proceeded into Ptolemaida where we visited a café for a very welcome refreshing stop.
Following our break, we returned to an area about 5 km south of Ptolemaida where John Howells took us through the action on 13th April 1941 when the force under Brigadier Charrington conducted a very successful delaying defence that bought precious time and allowed the retreating forces to break away cleanly and put some distance between them and the pursuing Germans.
This was in fact an armoured battle, the only one of the campaign and it was a victory to the Allies. The initial German thrust by their motorcycle company was stopped with heavy casualties, and our artillery exacted further damage. The German armour swung around to the west hoping to bypass and isolate the position. However, the Northumberland Hussars and the tanks of the Royal Tank Regiment reacted quickly, moved to intercept and destroyed many tanks. The action was so fierce that German records stated that they believed they had run into a British Armoured Division, let alone a scratch force, albeit well positioned.
It was an excellent presentation on the ground where it had happened. We then proceeded north and called into Xinon Neron where there is a memorial dedicated to all from the Sixth Division that fought in Greece. We conducted a small ceremony with Bill Fisher reading a prayer, Michael Alexander laying a wreath and Matt Walsh reciting the Ode. Following one minute’s silence for respect we drank a toast, with port, to all those brave souls who had fought in the campaign. The local press met us here and as well as conducting a few interviews, participated in our ceremony. It was a very memorable moment for all.
We gathered ourselves and headed into Florina where we had lunch at a small café within the small streets of the town. Anthony, our driver excelled in the handling of the large coach through that very small area. I would say that no coaches venture into this area, and it was really local cuisine for our lunch.
In the early afternoon we climbed up to Vevy and parked our coach in a very advantageous location where we could take in most of the area that held the allied position at Vevy. The 2nd/8th, the 2nd/4th, the British Rangers, 21st Greek Regiment and the Dodecanese Regiment were holding this position and with the help of a few local interested people we were able to place the units in their locations and then discuss that battle. It was a particularly moving moment for Tom Daniel as his cousin was in the 2nd/8th Battalion.
We will return here tomorrow but as the day wore on and the cold wind picked-up we headed for our hotel in Florina. Tonight we dined with the Commander of the Greek forces in the Florina area, Brigadier-General George Papakonsdandino, it was an excellent evening.
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Unless otherwise noted battle and battlefield descriptions are prepared jointly by the Military History Tours Historians, as are the photographs.
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