The battle for Greece & Crete.pdf - Army Museum of South Australia

EvacuationThe actions of the Greeks allowed for 50,662 of the 62,600 allied troops sent to defend Greece to beevacuated, with 26,000 being sent to Crete and the remainder to Egypt. The evacuation was successfuldue to the actions and the excellent work by the members of the Provost Corps (Military Police) inkeeping the vehicles moving at night and on very dangerous roads just ahead of the German advancetroops. This same efficient work also enabled the troops to assemble and be loaded on board theevacuation ships in an orderly and safe manner.Unfortunately, the effort and work of the Provost Corps in both Greece and Crete is very poorlyreported or acknowledged. Ask any member of the 6 th Division for a comment on the work of theMilitary Police during this campaign- the common statement will be; ‘only for the MPs I would beeither dead or a POW’.The evacuation took place over a number of nights and from a number of beaches commencing on thenight of the 24 th April and completed by the 29 th April. The evacuations encountered some difficultiessuch as German Paratroopers capturing the Corinth Canal.Corinth CanalUnfortunately, some troops were left behind these were predominately Base Troops and the Cypriotand Palestinian civilian labourers and a large amount of equipment.The evacuations took place at a number of beaches over a very large area. The embarkation pointswere at Rafina designated as “C Beach”, Porto Rafti “D Beach”, Megra “P Beach”, Theodora “JBeach” this was not used and was replaced by Kalamata, Navplion “S & T Beach’s”.The evacuation beaches- 8 -