6th Division (Australia) - Greece, Crete and Syria

Greece, Crete and Syria

Hitler was concerned that if Greece became a British ally then oilfields in Romania, on which Germany relied for her fuel, might be open to air attack from Greece. As the Germans were planning an invasion of Russia for June 1941, they could not allow such a threat to their essential oil supplies, and so they began planning an invasion of Greece. In March 1941, Prime Minister Robert Menzies, of Australia, with the concurrence of his Cabinet, agreed to the sending of Australian troops to Greece to defend against a German attack. Both Menzies and the I Corps commander, Lieutenant General Thomas Blamey, felt that the operation was risky and might end in disaster. But Menzies felt that Greece should be supported against German aggression and that the defence of Greece was a "great risk in a good cause".

The 6th Division arrived in Greece in late March and early April 1941, where they joined with a New Zealand and British force. On 6 April the Germans began their invasion of Greece, sending a total of 27 divisions. After arriving in Greece, the Australians were transported north towards the Yugoslav border, where they took up defensive positions around the Florina Valley. During the fighting around Vevi that followed, troops from the 2/4th and 2/8th Infantry Battalions and the 2/3rd Field Regiment, from Brigadier George Vasey's 19th Brigade, fought against the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler brigade. Despite their efforts, the Allied force, together with Greek units, was unable to halt the rapid German advance down central Greece towards Athens. The Allies were outflanked by the Germans, and by 27 April they were driven off the Greek mainland, with a final act of defiance being made around Porto Rafti. A total of 1,500 men from the 6th Division were captured in Greece.

After withdrawal from Greece, while some elements of the division were evacuated back to Alexandria, the majority of the 6th Division was sent to Crete where they were cobbled together to form a hasty garrison. The 19th Brigade had been landed intake with all of its infantry battalions, while only elements of the 16th and 17th Brigades had been landed. As a result, these units were combined together to form composite battalions. In addition to the infantry, two of the division's field artillery units, the 2/2nd and 2/3rd Field Regiments had also been landed. They had both lost all of their equipment in Greece and as a result the 2/2nd were thrown into the line as infantry, while the 2/3rd were hastily re-equipped with 14 captured French and Italian artillery pieces. On 20 May, the Germans launched an airborne assault on the island and over the course of a week and a half heavy fighting ensued around Maleme airfield, Heraklion, Canea, and Retimo during which heavy casualties were inflicted upon the Germans before, having exhausted their ammunition and lacking air support, the garrison was evacuated back to Egypt close to the end of the month. As in Greece, a large number of men were unable to be evacuated and as a result a large number of 6th Division personnel, including the majority of the 2/1st, 2/7th and 2/11th Battalions, were taken prisoner. A great deal of equipment was also lost. During the fighting, the 2/7th Infantry Battalion, fighting alongside the New Zealand 28th (Maori) Battalion, undertook a bayonet charge at a position known as 42nd Street that was later described as "one of the epics of the war", which resulted in about 300 Germans being killed.

While the majority of the division was in Crete, the 6th Division Cavalry Regiment, which had not be sent to Greece, was detached to the British 7th Armoured Brigade and subsequently took part in Operation Brevity in May. Following the evacuation of Crete, while the 6th Division began rebuilding in Palestine, the cavalry was allocated to take part in the bloody but successful attack on Vichy French forces in the Syria-Lebanon campaign. Two depleted infantry battalions from the 17th Brigade – the 2/3rd and 2/5th – were also committed and subsequently took part in the drive on Damascus in mid-June. They were later joined by the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion and together they fought through the campaign until the French capitulated in mid-July. In the process they suffered 168 casualties.

After the conclusion of the fighting in Syria, the rest of the 6th Division joined the 17th Brigade and undertook garrison duties there. In December 1941, the division received news that the Japanese had attacked on Pearl Harbor and invaded Malaya. Nevertheless, the division remained in Syria over Christmas, during which time they endured a bitterly cold winter that saw heavy snow falls. Finally, in January 1942, the decision was made to withdraw them back to Australia to meet threat posed by Japanese advances in the Pacific. The 19th Brigade departed first and subsequently arrived at Fremantle on 10 March. Meanwhile, the 16th and 17th Brigades were diverted to defend Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from the Japanese. They remained there from mid-March through to early July 1942.