Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 14, 2014 12:06:25 GMT 12
From New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25024, 14 October 1944, via Papers Past
CRETE ADVENTURE
LIFE AS A FUGITIVE
REPATRIATED MAORI'S STORY
(Special Correspondent) (Recd. 9.30 p.m.) LONDON. Oct. 13
Few stories of the New Zealanders on Crete can be more exciting than that of Company Sergeant Major Edward Nathan, of the 28th Maori Battalion, who comes from Maropiu, near Dargaviile. He was one of the defenders of Malemi airfield, and while there was wounded in the right eye and left hip. Subsequently he lost the sight of the eye. He was put on a ship for Egypt, but when the vessel was only 300 yards from the shore she was sighted by three Stukas and bombed. Sergeant-Major Nathan dived overboard before the ship sank and, with a few other survivors, swam to the shore.
Long Trek by Night
German troops were waiting for them, but Sergeant-Major Nathan escaped along the rocky coast. He found a cave and rested until nightfall, after which he set out on a long swim, resting from time to time on the rocks, past the position where the Germans were camped.
Three hours later he had covered five miles, and then he struck inland. With the aid of some Greeks, he started a 50-mile trek to Sphakia, where the New Zealanders were to be evacuated. Aided by a donkey to ease his wounded hip, he travelled at night for two and a-half days. Five miles from Sphakia the Greeks left him, taking the donkey, and he limped on until he reached a hill overlooking Sphakia.
Ordeal in Vain
As he looked down he was overwhelmed with disappointment, for now the Germans were rounding up the remaining troops. His strength exhausted, he fainted. He regained consciousness in a Greek doctor's house a fortnight later, suffering from malaria and gangrene. For four months he was an invalid in the house. There he became engaged to Kathleen, a Greek schoolmistress, who nursed him to health.
During the next eight months he roamed round Crete, not staying long in any place in order to avoid the Germans. Eventually he was betrayed and captured. He pretended that he was a Greek, but the Germans were suspicious and for ten days kept him in prison. Twice he was beaten with rifle butts as the Germans demanded to know where he lived, but he told them nothing.
Threatened as Spy
Eventually the Germans said that if he was not British he must be a spy and would be shot. This decided him to declare himself. Soon he became ill in prison with malaria, and the Germans summoned a doctor, who turned out to be the same doctor who had found him at Sphakia.
Sergeant-Major Nathan recovered in hospital and was making plans to escape when his cousin, Corporal J. T. Angell, of Helensville, was brought in. This decided him to stay with his cousin. Eventually the Germans flew them both to Athena. Sergeant-Major Nathan escaped in Athens and spent a fortnight at liberty until the Germans found him once again. He was sent to a camp in Germany near the Polish border. There he made several other attempts to escape, but the details cannot at present be given. Because of his wounds he was repatriated to England, but his cousin is still in Germany.
Soon Sergeant-Major Nathan will return to New Zealand. He is fit and well, but there is one problem on his mind. That is how he will get his Greek fiancee to New Zealand. When he knows the, answer he will consider all his hardship worth while.
CRETE ADVENTURE
LIFE AS A FUGITIVE
REPATRIATED MAORI'S STORY
(Special Correspondent) (Recd. 9.30 p.m.) LONDON. Oct. 13
Few stories of the New Zealanders on Crete can be more exciting than that of Company Sergeant Major Edward Nathan, of the 28th Maori Battalion, who comes from Maropiu, near Dargaviile. He was one of the defenders of Malemi airfield, and while there was wounded in the right eye and left hip. Subsequently he lost the sight of the eye. He was put on a ship for Egypt, but when the vessel was only 300 yards from the shore she was sighted by three Stukas and bombed. Sergeant-Major Nathan dived overboard before the ship sank and, with a few other survivors, swam to the shore.
Long Trek by Night
German troops were waiting for them, but Sergeant-Major Nathan escaped along the rocky coast. He found a cave and rested until nightfall, after which he set out on a long swim, resting from time to time on the rocks, past the position where the Germans were camped.
Three hours later he had covered five miles, and then he struck inland. With the aid of some Greeks, he started a 50-mile trek to Sphakia, where the New Zealanders were to be evacuated. Aided by a donkey to ease his wounded hip, he travelled at night for two and a-half days. Five miles from Sphakia the Greeks left him, taking the donkey, and he limped on until he reached a hill overlooking Sphakia.
Ordeal in Vain
As he looked down he was overwhelmed with disappointment, for now the Germans were rounding up the remaining troops. His strength exhausted, he fainted. He regained consciousness in a Greek doctor's house a fortnight later, suffering from malaria and gangrene. For four months he was an invalid in the house. There he became engaged to Kathleen, a Greek schoolmistress, who nursed him to health.
During the next eight months he roamed round Crete, not staying long in any place in order to avoid the Germans. Eventually he was betrayed and captured. He pretended that he was a Greek, but the Germans were suspicious and for ten days kept him in prison. Twice he was beaten with rifle butts as the Germans demanded to know where he lived, but he told them nothing.
Threatened as Spy
Eventually the Germans said that if he was not British he must be a spy and would be shot. This decided him to declare himself. Soon he became ill in prison with malaria, and the Germans summoned a doctor, who turned out to be the same doctor who had found him at Sphakia.
Sergeant-Major Nathan recovered in hospital and was making plans to escape when his cousin, Corporal J. T. Angell, of Helensville, was brought in. This decided him to stay with his cousin. Eventually the Germans flew them both to Athena. Sergeant-Major Nathan escaped in Athens and spent a fortnight at liberty until the Germans found him once again. He was sent to a camp in Germany near the Polish border. There he made several other attempts to escape, but the details cannot at present be given. Because of his wounds he was repatriated to England, but his cousin is still in Germany.
Soon Sergeant-Major Nathan will return to New Zealand. He is fit and well, but there is one problem on his mind. That is how he will get his Greek fiancee to New Zealand. When he knows the, answer he will consider all his hardship worth while.
