World War II's forgotten Anzacs dust off their medals and remember a fight against overwhelming odds
The battles of Mr Cox and Mr Stephenson and their Anzac comrades are brought to light in a book by author Peter Ewer.
Andra Jackson
April 12, 2008
WORLD War II veteran Frank Cox remembers running six kilometres as a German plane that had just dropped a bomb swooped down and shadowed him as he frantically sought escape.
"He was firing at me, but he was not a good enough shot to get me," said Mr Cox, then a signaller serving in Greece. The chase ended when he tripped over and fell in a ditch.
Mr Cox and Don Stephenson, another Melbourne veteran, are among the 18,000 Australian and 18,000 New Zealand troops who form "the forgotten Anzacs".
"Anzac" has come to denote the Gallipoli campaign in World War I, eclipsing the fact that a second Anzac Corps was formed a generation later, to serve in Greece in World War II.
Like their namesakes in Gallipoli, the Anzac Corps in Greece was formed to take part in what turned out to be a strategic debacle.
They faced an enemy of overwhelmingly greater numbers, were ill-equipped and suffered alarming casualties. As Mr Cox ? one of thousands of Australians captured by the Germans and held for a gruelling three years in a German prison camp ? put it, "we were crucified".
Until now, the veterans of the Greek campaign have been left feeling that their hardships and sacrifices have been written out of the history books.
"They forgot about us, because we got a hiding," Mr Stephenson said.
A book to be launched on Thursday goes a long way to rectifying that omission.
Melbourne writer Peter Ewer's book, Forgotten Anzacs, documents their contribution, based on interviews with the survivors of the campaign.
"There are official histories in Australia and new Zealand dealing with this campaign, but the approach I took was to treat it as a joint national experience, so it is written from an Anzac's experience," Mr Ewer said.
A sociologist and contributor to history journals, and a military history buff, Mr Ewer said British leader Winston Churchill ? also responsible for the Gallipoli bungle ? halted the British offensive in Libya against the Italian army. That offensive included the Sixth Australian Infantry Division, part of the Anzac Corps that was established for the Greek campaign ? "only the second time that precise military term for the formation of two divisions had been used," Mr Ewer said.
"Churchill, in his enthusiasm to impress American public opinion and build a Balkan front, as he called it, halted the British offensive at El Agheila, and sent Don and his colleagues to Athens instead," Mr Ewer said.
"It was probably the greatest strategic mistake that the British military command made in the entire Second World War because it allowed Rommel to begin landing in Libya in February 1941."
Hence the war in North Africa continued for two more years.
The whole of the Australian First Corps headquarters was re-routed to Greece, landing just weeks before the Germans invaded Greece on April 6, 1941.
The Anzacs faced four German army corps. "These people went to fight the best mechanised army in the world at that time without adequate tank support, without adequate air cover," Mr Ewer said.
There was just one British armoured brigade, which had a fairly motley collection of obsolete tanks that quickly broke down, leaving the Anzacs without tank support.
Air support consisted of a number of British squadrons with some Australian and New Zealand pilots, "but they were massively outnumbered by literally hundreds of German aircraft", Mr Ewer said.
Mr Stephenson said one Allied squadron "had only six airplanes and they were thrown out of action the same day".
The Australians were issued with an anti-tank rifle that did more damage to the shoulder of the person firing it than its target. "You had to have your feet firmly placed on the ground, otherwise you'd get a broken shoulder," Mr Stephenson said.
Mr Cox said: "We were on the back foot all the time," with, at times, five German planes "sitting on top of us".
He was with a group that had gone into the hills behind German lines, and was captured while waiting to be evacuated.
Mr Stephenson breaks down when recalling his evacuation to Suta Bay in Crete, where a brother he didn't realise had joined up was, by chance, waiting to meet him.
While constantly strafed overhead by German aircraft, all the new arrivals were issued with 50 rounds, a scabbard, a bayonet and old rifles.
They had to trek over mountainous countryside to the coast where barges waited in the dark to evacuate them.
As Mr Stephenson waited his turn, another person pushed forward, leaving him to wait for the "next barge".
There was no next barge and the stranded Mr Stephenson was captured by the Germans that night.
Mr Stephenson is indignant that "we hear that the Anzacs have died off". He welcomes Mr Ewer's book because the episode in Australia's war contribution "is a story that should have been told".
"The book that Peter has produced is very much overdue."
Forgotten Anzacs will be launched by Dr Peter Stanley from the National Museum of Australia at the visitor centre, Shrine of Remembrance, at 3pm on Thursday. Mr Ewer will give a lecture beforehand at 2pm.
programs@shrine.org.auCRETE CAMPAIGN
May 1941
AUSTRALIANS■274 killed; 507 wounded
■3102 taken prisoner
NEW ZEALANDERS■671 killed; 1455 wounded
■1692 taken prisoner
GREEK CAMPAIGN
March 6 to April 30, 1941
AUSTRALIANS■320 killed; 494 wounded
■2030 taken prisoner
NEW ZEALANDERS■291 killed; 599 wounded
■1614 captured
