"On April 11, therefore, the Impetia] and Greek forces began to withdraw to a new line."
The official account comments on p wunpréparednéss of the Yugoslav es to resist the unforewarned German offensive. 1 "Yugoslavia, though partly mobilize ed, was-nòt ready fór war," and the War Office adds:- "Disposal of the Yugoslav forces appears to have been governed not alone by military but also by political considera! and insufficient forces had been allotted to the south of the country, where the real threat lay.
"This disposal had been planned by ihe; Thvétkovitch: Government, and General Simovitch had no time to revise the plan,"
A further withdrawal to a position in Thermopylae was effected under very heavy enemy bombing. The War Office remarks: "The artillery of both the British army and Anzac forces played an important part in ihe campaign. Undoubtedly it inflicted very heavy casualties, and the Germans themselves testified to the accuracy of our shoot The story concludes with the withdrawal to points of embarkation covered by one New Zealand brigade. Finally, the embarkation was effected "from various beaches in Attica, Argolis and Peloponnese."
Sang "Tipperary"
One correspondent from the front describes how wounded British soldiers together with nurses from Britain, Australia and New Zealand cheerfully sang "Tipperary" as they waited to be taken off at a port.
Another correspondent sent a story of the heroism shown by British, Australian and New Zealand nurses who defied attácks from Nazi dive-bombers to attend to their wounded.
On their way to the coast, these nurses were machine-gunned from the air, and had to take refuge behind tombstones in a graveyard. After a delay os nine hours they continued their journey, but before long the machine-gunning started all over again. When at last they arrived at the coast they set to work attending wounded soldiers and—helping them to board the waiting rescue ship.
The nurses stayed until the last moment, said the correspondent, end some of them wanted to be left behind to take care of the badly wounded who could not be moved.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.