20 April 2011

"Flames were everywhere enveloping the ship. The heat was overpowering and boiling water from fractured pipes scalded the flesh from people’s bones. 'I could see a woman with both legs trapped and her body engulfed in flames,' recalled Lance-Corporal Gill 'She disappeared as the deck collapsed beneath her.' Ammunition that had been brought on board as a means of defence began exploding with the bullets flying everywhere. The screams of survivors were heard amidst the flames as they fought to get off the remains of the ship."

The above account is part of a series which Dr Monty Soutar has written in his new role as coordinator of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s website about the 28 Māori Battalion. The website is a place to record, remember, honour and maintain information and knowledge of the Māori Battalion and its outstanding contribution to Aotearoa New Zealand.

This ANZAC Day it has been 70 years since the sinking of the Hellas, a Greek rescue ship whose role in World War II came to a dramatic end, taking with it the lives of several New Zealand soldiers, including those from the 28 Māori Battalion.

Most of the Māori Battalion was evacuated from the Athens area to Crete aboard the Glengyle in the early hours of Anzac Day, however some had been aboard the Hellas the previous night. The Māori Battalion left behind 10 dead and 81 prisoners of war. Of the 750 Māori Battalion members who served in Greece, today there are only three surviving veterans: Arthur Midwood of Rotorua, Arthur Brooking of Te Araroa (now in Havelock North) and Sir Henare Ngata (Gisborne).

In total 291 New Zealand servicemen died in Greece. Another 387 were wounded and 1,862 were taken prisoner. Those who have no grave have their names recorded on the Athens Memorial which stands within Phaleron War Cemetery, a few kilometres to the south-east of Athens.

To read more about the story of the Hellas visit

http://www.28maoribattalion.org.nz/photo/sinking-hellas-anzac-story

ENDS

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