DOUG LAURENSON. NEW ZEALANDERS IN CRETE

Rights Information
Year
1941
Reference
12475
Media type
Audio
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Rights Information
Year
1941
Reference
12475
Media type
Audio
Series
U series
Categories
Radio programs
Sound recordings
War radio programs
Duration
00:10:41
Credits
RNZ Collection
Laurenson, Doug, Speaker/Kaikōrero

A talk by the New Zealand Broadcasting Unit commentator Doug Laurenson about the New Zealand troops in Greece and Crete.

Part 1:
To quote Winston Churchill, our men "are taking part in a battle which will go down in history as being unique in this, the greatest of all wars".

The enemy are trying to gain possession of Crete using paratroopers and airborne forces. Our Navy is keeping a constant watch around the shores of Crete to prevent the landing of enemy troops and supplies. The German high command is utterly callous as regards losses of personnel. If ten troop-carrying aircraft are lost, twenty more are sent to fill the gap.

Part 2 of 4
The skill of the New Zealand soldier in Crete has been developed firstly by military training in the science and the art of war. This was done in the daytime heat and intense cold at night of the Western desert. The next and most important factor was the campaign in Greece when the New Zealand soldier came face-to-face with the German troops, who were desperate but not "super" fighters.

Part 3:
The German soldier didn't impress the New Zealand troops. The fighting in Crete was what the New Zealand soldier wanted - a fair chance with the odds less than the ten to one against them in Greece.

One important factor that added ferocity and dash to the skill and daring they already possessed, was the way the German airmen treated Greek civilians - running riot in a wanton and deliberate orgy of senseless brutal destruction. The deliberate murder of harmless Greek civilians gave our men a deep and abiding hatred of all things German.

Part 4:
Prior to the start of the war in Greece, a New Zealand doctor serving in a small Greek village for a week formed a choir from the youngsters of the village. Some of the New Zealand troops managed to teach the children a form of the Māori haka, and then the war started.

The village was far behind the lines and had no strategic importance. One evening, forty German bombers methodically and systematically bombed the village. In twenty minutes not one house was left standing, and it is doubtful if more than a hundred Greeks survived, including children.

Hitler made a statement about the New Zealanders who were leaving home - it was "New Zealand's Poor Country Lads".