Greek Veterans

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Incident in Kaminia Bay (Delphinia) 29th April 1941

On 29th April 1941 a Greek caïque with retreating soldiers on board was bombed in the bay of Kaminia (Delphinia) near Kardamyli.  Seven soldiers were killed. The diarist, Panayiotis Kompiliris, was a teenager at the time.  He became an infantry lieutenant in the Civil War 1948-1950 and later a teacher and author. In 1963 he wrote the poem below about the event.

To an imaginary monument*

 You will stand here for eternity

sacred, white plaque

to tell the truth

about an immortal glory!

IN ETERNAL HONOUR

AND ETERNAL MEMORY

OF THE BRITSH, AUSTRALIANS

NEW ZEALANDERS AND CYPRIOTS

WHO FELL HERE ON APRIL 29, 1941.

GREECE IN GRATITUDE.

And every April

when Spring comes

you will wake up

from your deep sleep

and you will see and smell the flowers

and hear the nightingales.

 

British, Australians,

New Zealanders and Cypriots

with your strength and sacrifice

you helped bring freedom to us.

This lonely beach

every April will make

a wreath of myrtle and ivy

in eternal memory of you.

Rustling cypresses, ivy, myrtles

and the small chapel**

will always guard your memory

eternal and sacred!

 

You will always be guarded

by calm or stormy blue Greek waters

and by the waves of your motherland

which will come from all corners of the earth

to greet you with love and sadness.

 

*’imaginary’ because there is no monument or plaque

** the chapel of Virgin Mary on the Chlavorto peninsula

His daughter Yota is an honorary member of the Brotherhood and there is more information on Panayiotis Kompiliris in the archive section of our website.

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Commemoration of Anzacs in the 1941 Greek Campaign

As previously mentioned, it was hoped that in 2025 there would be screenings of the documentary “Anzac – The Greek Chapter” and that at least one more plaque would be unveiled on the Commemorative Anzac Memorial Plaque Trail.  We are pleased to report that both these initiatives of Jim Claven, OAM, came to fruition.  The Mayor of West Mani hosted the unveiling, which took place on Monday 12th May.  The plaque was unveiled in a lovely spot near the sea in the picturesque village of Trahila (Trachila). The wording is as follows:

This memorial is dedicated to the people of the Mani who assisted hundreds of Allied soldiers evade capture in this region in April-May 1941 enabling their escape from the advancing German forces and to over 200 Allied soldiers who were successfully evacuated from Trahila and other villages along the Mani coast in the early hours of lst May by the brave men of the British Royal Navy destroyers HMS Hero, Kimberley and Isis.  Lest we Forget.

As an aside, Janet Parkin’s father and founder of The Brotherhood, Edwin Horlington, was rescued by HMS Hero at Trahila.

Later that evening the West Mani Municipality organised a private screening of “Anzac -The Greek Chapter” in the garden of Patrick and Joan Leigh-Fermor’s House (now owned by the Benaki Foundation), just outside Kardamyli – a perfect setting. The 90-minute long documentary was introduced by Jim Claven.  This is an excellent film featuring the voices and images of many of the actual veterans who served in the Greek Campaign.

 

 

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Brotherhood of Veterans newsletter

The January newsletter has now been sent out to our members. All members should have received a copy, either by email or post. Where possible, we plan to send all newsletters by email in the future, rather than by post. If for some reason  you have not received a copy of the newsletter (either by email or post) please send us your contact details including your email address to greekveterans@gmail.com.

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Evacuations from the Mani to be commemorated

The fall of Kalamata in April 1941 saw Allied soldiers make desperate attempts to evade capture. Many of these evaders made their way down the Mani coastline, mostly on foot, through its rough tracks and paths and on to its small seaside villages in the hope of evacuation by Allied warships. All the while they were subjected to enemy air attack during the day and to the ever-advancing enemy troops.

Assisted by the local people, eventually over 200 would be evacuated by three Royal Navy warships in the early hours of 1st May 1941, successfully transporting the men to Crete and Egypt.  This mini-Dunkirk – the final Allied evacuation from the Greek mainland – will soon be commemorated with the installation of a new commemorative plaque.

This is the initiative of historian Jim Claven OAM working with Australian Pammessinian Brotherhood Papaflessas and Municipality of the Mani. It is hoped that the plaque will be installed and unveiled in May 2025.

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Anzac The Greek Chapter: new documentary on 1941 Greek Campaign through Anzac Eyes

A new 90 minute broadcast quality documentary has been produced in Australia telling the story of the Anzacs in the 1941 Greek campaign. It does so through the use of excerpts from over 130 hours of veterans’ video interviews from the personal archive of historian and director Dr Peter Ewer. These were completed over 20 years ago as part of Peter’s university studies. To these vivid interviews have been added newsreel footage and still photographs from the campaign.

The whole effect is to tell the story of the campaign as it has never been told before. We see the veterans speak for themselves. Dr Ewer worked with director and filmmaker John Irwin and historian and associate producer Jim Claven  to complete the documentary. The film is narrated by journalist, author and Greek campaign veteran’s son Barrie Cassidy.

The documentary is being premiered in Australian cinemas in October 2024, with plans for an Australia-wide TV broadcast on Anzac Day 2025. Plans are underway for screenings in community settings, in Greece and hopefully in the UK under the auspices of the Brotherhood.

The documentary trailer can be viewed at the following weblog link: https://lemnosgallipolicc.blogspot.com/2024/08/anzac-greek-chapter-documentary-trailer.html.

For more information on the documentary go to the following weblog link: https://lemnosgallipolicc.blogspot.com/2024/07/anzac-greek-chapter-documentary.html

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New veterans added to website

We have added a few more veterans to our website this month: Tom Davies, Alan George McGuffey, James C Lutener, John Tsirindanis, Thomas Harold de Forges Garland, Norman Barton and Howard Greville. Please take a look and read about their amazing stories including Howard Greville’s book ‘Espionage behind the Wire’, James Lutener’s War Diary and John Tsirindanis time in Greece as an SOE agent.

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Veteran Story: Jane Pugh

This week we are pleased to feature Jane Pugh. Jane was a Nursing Sister with the 26th British Military Hospital in Athens. Jane arrived in Greece in November 1940 and was there until April 1941, when she was evacuated from Megara to Crete and then on to Egypt. Jane joined the Territorial Army Nursing Service (TANS) in 1938 and went on to serve with Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) throughout the war as a Lieutenant. Here is an extract from her story: 

“Within days of the German invasion 26 General Hospital was the only functioning military hospital in Greece. Soon bed space was scarce, tents were erected in the grounds as extra wards, and these had neither water supply nor sluices. The nurses worked like machines, admitting patients, preparing them for surgery, washing, feeding them then evacuating them. German air attacks on the Thessalonica to Athens road increased, and the sound of guns could be heard at Kiffisia. In addition to wounded allied soldiers, wounded German soldiers were being nursed. Doctors operated day and night and wore revolvers all the time. There were air raids, but the hospital itself was never bombed, although being close to Menidi Airfield, bombs fell close by.”

We are very grateful to her son, David Grant, for Jane’s story from his family history website. 

Please click on the link below and scroll down to STORY to read about Jane’s experiences. 

Read Jane Pugh’s Story

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Veteran Story: Len Abbs

This week we are pleased to feature Len Abbs.  Len was one of the early members of The Brotherhood of Greek Veterans. He joined the RAF in 1938 where he trained in RAF photographic work before being posted to 9 Squadron then to 211 Squadron. He arrived in Greece in November 1940 and was there when the Germans invaded in April 1941. He was fortunate in being evacuated to Egypt.

Len was later posted to Sumatra where he was captured by the Japanese and became a PoW. He was one of the lucky ones to survive. He married Betty in 1947, had five daughters and lived to be 93 years of age before he passed away in 2014.

Please click on the link below and scroll down to STORY to read about Len’s experiences as well as information on 211 Squadron. 

Read Len Abbs’ Story  

Len is also featured on the website ‘Heroes of our Time’  https://heroesofourtime.co.uk/len-abbs.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks to Noah Scott for the Brotherhood Archive

After many years as our Archivist, Noah Scott has passed on the baton.

We wish to thank Noah for all his hard work and dedication in building and curating our Archive. It is based on accounts from individuals who were involved in some way in the Greek Campaign, the majority of whom are (or were) members of the Brotherhood, supplemented by information from research and other sources. 

As well as spending many hours over the last few years putting the Archive together, including thousands of pages of documents, Noah has also committed a lot of time to conducting his own research. In addition, for many veterans, Noah has personally developed their stories and acted as their author. While some veterans may only have a small record (as per the registration forms we currently show for our veterans on the website), there are also those whose ‘stories’ literally run to hundreds of pages.

Noah very carefully constructed the Archive by setting up a Folder for every single veteran (over 540 of them)  and within each folder separate files : Foreword, Pre-Greece, Greek Campaign, Post-Greece and Post Script and sometimes Last Post. This means that in whatever form content has arrived into Noah’s inbox over the years (be this photos, news cuttings, POW questionnaires, verbatim memories, books etc) Noah has deconstructed this content and then written/crafted it in order to populate each file correctly.

In developing the Archive, Noah has captured not just people’s activities as part of the Greek Campaign but, where possible, their whole stories. In order to help future researchers or family members, Noah has also pulled in content, where relevant, from other sources like Wikipedia or official accounts, in order to paint a picture and to tell the story, where possible, for many veterans.

To find out more about Noah’s approach to the Archive please click on the link below.

La Raison d’Etre by Noah Scott

As we have previously stated, Noah’s endeavours may well have gone unrecognised without the time Mary Peterkin (Sanderson) has spent this year, painstakingly taking Noah’s content and transferring the records and stories (literally piece by piece) onto the website.

This has been a major achievement, as it means not only is all of Noah’s hard work and dedication visible for all to see, but we also now have a very substantial and lasting legacy, not just for a few famous veterans who we know about or who have written books, but just as importantly many unknown and unsung heroes of this ill-fated campaign.

David and Mary Sanderson have now taken over the Archive function. Given that we are now receiving veterans’ stories from children and grandchildren, we have developed a couple of proformas which we are asking people to complete if they wish their relative to be added to the Archive. Please contact us at greekveterans@gmail.com if you wish to add a veteran to the Archive.

 

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Veteran Story: Eric Sanderson

This week we are pleased to feature Trooper Eric Rockcliff Sanderson of the QO 4th Hussars, father of David Sanderson our Chairman. 

Eric joined the 4th Hussars in 1938. In early 1941 he found himself in northern Greece, and on 6th April 1941, the day after his 21st birthday, he woke to learn that Germany had invaded northern Greece. As a tank driver at the rear end of the retreat to the ports in the south, Eric was one of around 8,000 men left behind in late April 1941. He took to the Taygetos mountains where some 800 men attempted to make their way even further south hoping that a boat would come to take them to safety. Most of these “evaders” were caught pretty quickly. Eric did very well as he managed to avoid  capture for several months until late October, when he was captured by the Italians and taken as a PoW to Italy. Following the Italian collapse in September 1943, Eric was then taken by the Germans to Germany. 

Please click on the link below and scroll down to STORY where you will be able to read about Eric’s  experiences. You will also find links to information about the QO 4th Hussars. 

Read Eric Sanderson’s Story