AWM Website: At the start of 1941 the battalion moved into camp at Ikingi Maryutand undertook desert training. In early April it left Ikingi for Greece to support the 6th Division. A few days after arriving in Athens the 2/1st headed for Gerania in the north to support different units manning the Aliakmon line: A Company joined the 2/4th Battalion, north of the Aliakmon river; B and C Companies were allocated to the 4th New Zealand Brigade; and D Company went to the 17th Brigade at Kalabaka. The machine-gunners fought alongside the infantry for the rest of the campaign and evacuated between the end of April and the beginning of May.
A small group from battalion headquarters evacuated first, returning directly to Alexandria. Elements from A Company (less a section), B Company (less 9 Platoon), and C Company boarded the Costa Rica, which was sunk by German aircraft shortly after. The men were rescued and taken to Crete by accompanying naval destroyers but most of their equipment and machine-guns were lost. Meanwhile, B and D Companies were also evacuated to Crete. D Company, which still had its guns, was sent to the 19th Brigade in the Georgioupolis area and the rest of the battalion went into camp in the Suda area. On 12 May B Company's 7 Platoon also went to Georgioupolis and the rest of the battalion returned to Egypt.
The men in the Georgioupolis area were stationed along the beach and on to Retimo. When the Germans began their attack on Crete on 20 May the Australians reorganised their defences and the machine-gunners grouped around Canea and Retimo. Bitter fighting ensued as more and more German paratroopers landed on the island. By 30 May the Germans occupied the island; defenders were either evacuated, escaped, or became prisoners.
The 2/1st suffered considerably during the ill-fated Greek and Crete campaigns. Of 104 casualties, 77 were captured, two of whom escaped and one died in Germany.
Clyde was born 1 Aug 1919 in Inverell, NSW. Post-war he was a station manager at Boggabilla, NSW, a place near Goondawindi on the Queensland-New South Wales border. He died 24 Aug 2005 on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. he was 85.
AWM Nominal Roll
Service Record at the Australian National Archives
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