WHEN the first sabotage party dropped into Greece with orders to blow up one of the three viaducts, it was suggested to them that if possible, and if conditions permitted, Asopos viaduct be the choice. As it turned out, an attack on this viaduct was beyond the party's strength, so it selected and destroyed the next most important, Gorgopotamos. But Asopos was too valuable a target to be left alone. In May 1943 Brigadier Myers thought that there were enough forces in the locality to carry out a successful attack on it. He instructed Captain Edmonds, who was now the liaison officer in charge of the area where the viaduct was, to start planning for the destruction of ‘The Soapy One’ (the old code-name for Asopos) and to arrange the details of the attacking force with Ares. Myers gave a new code-name, Washing, to the proposed operation.

Three sapper officers were already on their way into Greece to assist with the demolition. Besides these, there were also a few soldiers on the Mission staff, and altogether they constituted an effective, though small, force. Among the New Zealanders was Lieutenant Don Stott⁵ (5 Field Regiment) who was working with Colonel Psarros, leader of an Andarte band, in the Parnassos-Giona locality. Sergeant Bob Morton⁶ (5 Field Regiment) was with him. The two were inseparable-as a friend said, ‘Wherever Don was, Bob wasn't far away.’—and they were reputedly the most daring and resourceful of the special service agents in Greece. Stott was an Artillery sergeant and Morton a gunner when they were captured at the end of the Greek campaign. They escaped by pole-vaulting over the prison wire in full daylight and under the heavy fire of the guards. Several Greeks chased them, not to catch them but to pat them on the back and to wish them the best of luck. Stott and Morton disguised themselves, obtained false passports and were often hunted by enemy patrols. At one stage Morton became sick, and the two had to hide for a long time in a village where there was a doctor. They sailed three times from Greece but bad weather forced them back each time. After a first visit to Athens which nearly ended in capture, they managed to get in touch with the escape organisation and, within a short time, were back in Egypt. Both then became special service agents and went on several operations.

Other New Zealanders working with Edmonds were Pte Lou Northover⁷ (19 Battalion), Corporal Dick Hooper⁸ (I General Hospital), and Driver Charlie Mutch⁹ (4 Reserve MT Company). Though they had tried hard to escape from Greece they had never managed to do so, but had had to stay on and endure the hunted life of escaped soldiers. They heard of the British Mission from friendly Greeks and were gladly taken on the staff. They were pleased, too, to be back again in the company of their own soldiers— ‘It was like being home again’, Mutch said years after he had returned to New Zealand.

Edmonds moved his headquarters to Anatoli, which at an altitude of over 6500 feet is the highest village in Greece. Situated on the northern slopes of Mount Vardhousia, it looked out on a magnificent view of the Oiti, Giona and Vardhousia mountains. It also was near a first-class dropping ground and was close to ELAS headquarters. It was centrally situated for operations and yet was secure from attack, as the nearest road was six hours away. From here Edmonds and two of his staff made a reconnaissance of the Asopos viaduct.

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Built on a gradient with a curve, the viaduct, 330 feet above the stream bed, was awe-inspiring in the way it spanned the sheer gorge. Its main arch had a span of 262 feet. On each side of the gorge the track disappeared into tunnels; the distance between them was 600 feet. The only approach was down narrow tracks leading over the tunnels. During the day the tracks were open and in full view of the garrison; at night the whole area was swept by searchlights and it was almost impossible to dodge the beams. But if an attacking party managed to get over this bottleneck of the narrow tracks, it would have plenty of room to spread out and so would be less vulnerable. Edmonds knew that a direct attack would be extremely difficult and dangerous. But it was by no means impossible. If the attack was planned properly and carried out resolutely by a well-armed force, it had a good chance of success.

Two days after the reconnaissance the three sapper officers, Captains Pat Wingate and Keith Scott and Lieutenant Harry McIntyre, arrived at Anatoli. Myers also came to the headquarters to see Edmonds about the demolition of the viaduct. The Brigadier said that its destruction could not be put off any longer and that he personally would direct the whole operation. The actual demolition was to be left to Edmonds. After briefing the three sapper officers, Myers and Edmonds left for Mavrolitharion to finalise arrangments with Ares for Andarte support.

Before they reached Mavrolitharion the two officers received the disconcerting news that Ares had captured the Andarte leader, Colonel Psarros, and had ordered him and his band to join ELAS. Colonel Psarros' band was one of the few supported by the British, and Ares had broken his undertaking not to molest other approved and trustworthy Andarte forces. The Brigadier was upset by this sudden bad turn but could not move Ares. The breach of faith was flagrant and Myers had no option but to hit Ares where he felt it the most: he recommended to Middle East headquarters that all supplies to him be stopped. The situation was very delicate and required careful yet strong handling. Although the time was hardly opportune, Myers had several discussions with Ares about the destruction of the viaduct. Edmonds reports:

‘With the Brigadier I attended several conferences with Ares and often as we set off for his H.Q. we wondered what their outcome would be. On one occasion when we were prepared for a rough house as Ares appeared to be getting a bit desperate, on the Brigadier's orders I instructed a member of our party to call on us on some pretext an hour after the conference started, to see if all was well.’

In the end Ares agreed to take part in the attack on the viaduct. But he had not reckoned on the decision of the EAM Central Committee which ruled that its army, ELAS, was not to be used in the operation. It was useless for Myers and Edmonds to argue that there was a reasonable —if not good—chance of success. Many years after the event General Sarafis, commander of ELAS, endeavoured to justify the decision:

‘Then he [Myers] spoke about the destruction of the Asopos bridge, which had been ordered by H.Q. Middle East. I explained that this could not be done because, in conformity with our instructions, we were in a state of complete strategic concentration as a precautionary measure against German and Italian mopping-up operations, and because such an action against Germans, who had fortified themselves with concrete artillery and machine-gun emplacements, barbed- wire entanglements, searchlights and ambushes, could have no hope of success unless at least 1,500 men were used, with artillery and machine guns, resources which ELAS did not possess.

page 25

Nor was a feint to distract the garrison and give the experts time to destroy the bridge likely to succeed, since the garrison covered the bridge with its fire; and moreover, reinforcements would come quickly from nearby garrisons before we could manage to carry out the work of demolition…. I explained that, as military commander of ELAS charged with the direction of operations, I was of the opinion that the action had no chance of success…. We stated that after discussion with the officers who had made the reconnaissance, we found the operation could have no chance of success…. Colonel Eddie [Brigadier Myers] did not agree with us, said that he considered the operation feasible.’

The special service agents at Edmonds' headquarters did not take the news kindly: ‘The first reaction of our party to the final news that ELAS would not take part in Washing was to curse wholeheartedly. The second was to refuse to admit that our plans were frustrated, and was expressed by each man by the words, “Let's damned well do it on our own.” ‘Stott and Captain Geoffrey Gordon-Creed, a British officer on the Mission staff, asked Edmonds if they could see Brigadier Myers and volunteer to do the sabotage by themselves. The Brigadier listened to them, then turned to Edmonds and asked him what the chances of success were. ‘The only way it could be done by stealth,’ Edmonds replied, ‘would be by following the stream down the gorge. That is, practically speaking, impossible and because the Germans regard it as impossible a determined party just might succeed.’ At that time Edmonds was right when he said the passage down the gorge was impossible; the local Greeks regarded it as such and the Germans, after an inspection of both ends of the gorge, had reached the same opinion. The Germans were sure that no one could possibly get through the gorge and were perfectly satisfied that this natural barrier was better than any man-made defence. The Brigadier told Gordon-Creed and Stott to go ahead, and wished them success in their ‘impossible’ task.

An hour later Gordon-Creed and Stott set off with George Karadjopoulos to reconnoitre the gorge. Edmonds was keen to take an active part in the actual demolition, but the Brigadier reminded him that he now had the responsibility of directing and co-ordinating all operations in his area and so was not free to go on any particular operation he liked. Edmonds, although disappointed, knew the truth of this and consoled himself with the thought that he would still be able to help the party from his headquarters.

The reconnaissance party was soon back with the report that they had been stopped by a sixty- foot waterfall a short distance inside the chasm. Ropes were needed to help the party through this and other obstacles. Gordon-Creed and Stott found that the gorge deserved its bad reputation, and they realised that it would take them days to reach the viaduct. For the most part the gorge was only a few yards wide, with sheer cliffs rising to a thousand feet above the stream. The sun never entered the gorge, and the only passage for most of the way was through the freezing cold water or along the steep cliff sides. The heartbreaking barriers were the waterfalls, with side walls worn smooth as glass, and the deep pools into which the water fell. Loose rocks from the cliff faces kept shooting down into the stream. In one place the gorge widened into a dry patch and this spot was selected as the camping place.

Every available piece of parachute rigging was collected and plaited into ropes thick enough to grasp; altogether there was about 340 feet of rope. On 21 May a fresh party of eight men left to make the attempt. Gordon-Creed was in command and Stott was the guide. The other page 26 members of the party were Morton, Scott, McIntyre, Wingate, Lockwood and Karadjopoulos. The following day the party reached the entry to the gorge. Stott led the way down to the first waterfall, where a dump was made of the stores and explosives. The men were exhausted from wading through the icy cold water, from climbing up and down the sides of the gorge, and by the heavy loads they carried. On 23 May Gordon-Creed and Stott left the party and climbed up the northern cliff face to see what lay ahead; the remainder rested, dried their clothes and prepared for the descent of the waterfall. The next day they continued their struggle and managed to reach the second main obstacle, another waterfall, before calling a halt. Progress on 24 May was again slow, and by the afternoon they were at a point midway between the second and a third waterfall, which they hoped was the last. The party halted for a day while another difficult reconnaissance was made by the indefatigable Stott from the northern clifftop.

The following day Stott and Morton went ahead and came back with the report that they had reached a third waterfall. It had a sheer drop of over forty feet, was about fifteen feet wide, and had perpendicular sides worn smooth by the water. All the rope had been used and further progress was impossible without its aid; also they wanted packs that could be carried on the head when they were forced to wade through deep water. It was feared also that it would be impossible to go beyond the third waterfall without the benefit of more reconnaissance work from both the north and south clifftops. So far they had not got within sight of the viaduct although they had gone a good two-thirds of the way down the gorge. The stores and explosives were carefully cached in a dry place and by 28 May the party was back at Edmonds' headquarters. ‘When they returned to my headquarters (Edmonds wrote) their appearance told the tale of their hardships. Their knees were cut and bruised from scaling the falls, their clothes were torn and ragged and most of them looked worn and exhausted.’

While waiting for ropes, grappling irons, and other equipment from Cairo, the men were sent off to different areas to reconnoitre and select targets which were to be attacked by the Andartes in a general operation called Animals. The purpose of the operation was to divert and occupy the enemy while the Allies landed in Sicily. Morton, who knew the Athens area well, was selected to go there on the important and hazardous assignment of surveying the aerodrome defences; this was the first step in a plan to destroy the planes on the ground. He was not back in time to be included in the party for the final assault on the viaduct, and Stott was deeply disappointed in not having his friend with him. Those who were to try again were Gordon-Creed, Stott, Scott, McIntyre, Mutch and Khouri. The first four had been on the previous attempt, but the last two were new to Asopos Gorge. Mutch, as mentioned before, was an escaped New Zealand soldier working at Edmonds' headquarters; Khouri, the Palestinian Arab soldier who had joined Myers' party when it landed in Greece, had already proved his worth in the fight at the Gorgopotamos viaduct.

On 15 June Stott, Mutch, and Khouri left Anatoli carrying heavy rucksacks packed with ropes, climbing irons, axes, a rope ladder and various other stores. The plan was for these three to force their way through the remainder of the gorge, and as soon as they had succeeded Stott would send a message for Gordon-Creed, McIntyre, and Scott to join them. Under Stott's direction the small party went about its task quickly and resolutely. ‘Our first day,’ writes Mutch, ‘was page 27 spent in felling a trce about half a mile back and floating and pushing it down the river. The roar of the stream stopped the sound of the axe. The tree was about seventy feet long and had branches every three or four feet. After having it well tied back it was let over the waterfall and to our joy it reached the bottom with about three feet to spare at the top. The next day we swam the pool below the fall and got another four hundred yards.’ The three men, strong and untiring, pushed on, often up to their necks in water, with Stott leading. Then, suddenly, ‘Stott about a chain in front came back and said, “We have made it, the bridge is only another hundred yards in front.” ‘Stott wrote out a message on the spot and, giving it to Mutch, told him to get back to Edmonds as quickly as possible. Edmonds was delighted when he read the message. It read:

‘I got down the big waterfall, found it was the last and suddenly when I rounded the bend I came face to face with “Mrs. Washing” herself. There was a lot of activity going on and workmen were swarming over the viaduct strengthening it to carry heavier loads and making a deuce of a din, rivetting I think. They have scaffolding erected all over it and ladders leading up from the bottom. I was taking all this in when I looked down at the stream and saw two workmen only about 10 yards away from me working with their heads down getting stones out of the stream. Luckily they didn't see me and I quickly got out of sight. These workmen come down from the railway line by some steps cut in the north cliff side, and we should be able to get up this way. Please send Geoff, Scotty and Mac immediately. The job's in the bag. I am going off on a recce of the road south of Lamia while the others are coming. Yours, Don.’

Under the Viaduct

Gordon-Creed, Scott, and McIntyre left immediately and met the others inside the gorge on 18 June. They carried the explosives farther down the gorge, hid them and then made the climb back to their camp site, the only dry and level place where they could sleep. By the following afternoon they had carried all the stores to within striking distance of the viaduct. They waited for darkness, listening to the din of the rivetters above the roar of the stream. The cold was intense and almost unbearable; all they had on were shorts and rubber-soled shoes.

Night had well settled in when the men moved the explosives up to the northern base of the steel arch. They found that the wire entanglements had been folded back for the workmen and that ladders had been placed against the structure up to a platform. All this meant precious time saved. They looked up to the viaduct and saw in the moonlight the outline of a sentry with a rifle slung across his shoulder, pacing up and down. Fifty yards away from him was the guardhouse, with fifty more Germans ready to move at call.

Scott and McIntyre climbed up to the platform, hauled up the charges on parachute cords and started fixing them. Gordon-Creed stood by the track which came down from the guardhouse to the stream. Although the guardhouse could not be seen, its position was fixed by the low mumble of the guards talking. The men tensed when they saw the red glow of a cigarette end above them. It came towards them. Gordon-Creed signalled the two sapper officers to keep quiet, then hid himself by the track. The glow came nearer and nearer, until finally Gordon-Creed could make out the figure of a German soldier. The saboteurs kept absolutely still; then as the page 28 German passed him, Gordon-Creed rose and hit him hard over the head with a piece of wood. The soldier dropped without a sound and fell over the edge of the path into the stream a hundred feet below. Gordon-Creed whispered to the sappers, ‘Carry on. Be quick.’

When the work was well under way, Stott volunterred [sic] to go back up the gorge and reach a lookout point above the viaduct so that at dawn he could see the results of the demolition.

Shortly afterwards Mutch and Khouri started on the way back to get the two mules ready for a quick retreat. ‘What a mad scramble it was swimming and climbing ropes,’ writes Mutch. ‘While going up one rope ladder my arms gave out on me and I fell back about twenty-five feet and knocked myself out and got a bad knock on the shin. I came to about fifteen minutes later hearing Khouri calling to me from the top in the darkness. After another couple of attempts I made it.’

Scott and McIntyre, the two sapper officers on the platform, worked quickly and silently. They were so keyed up that the sound of every move, no matter how slight, was magnified into an agonising clatter. Once a loose rivet fell, torturing the sappers with every sound it made. A searchlight came on and swung from one end of the viaduct to the other. The two hid their faces and hands and remained motionless while the beam passed over them, though they swore that the beam was fixed on them intentionally and that the eyes of all the garrison were looking at them.

Just on midnight, after two hours' work, the sappers signalled Gordon-Creed that they had finished. Charges had been fixed to the four members of the arch and had been connected with rings of explosive fuse; this was duplicated to make sure that nothing went wrong. Five ‘time pencils’ were fixed to set off the charges; actually only one was required, but the sappers did not want to leave anything to chance. At midnight they crushed the ‘time pencils’. In an hour and a half the acid would eat through the wire inside and the released spring would force the hammer down on to a cap which would detonate the charges. The two hurried down from the platform and joined Gordon-Creed. They took a last look at the viaduct and saw the sentry leaning idly over the handrail looking into space.

The three men set off up the gorge with all possible speed. The climb up the first waterfall was a nightmare. Although they were exhausted, they knew that they would have to force their bodies to the limit of endurance before they were clear of the gorge. For an hour they struggled and pulled themselves up through the dark chasm. From then on they kept looking at their watches every few minutes; the hour and a half, the time limit for the explosion, was nearly up. The time passed but there was no explosion. Another quarter of an hour passed. Surely, they thought, nothing could have gone wrong. In their minds they traced each step of the operation and tried to think of something they had missed. They knew the ‘time pencils’ were sensitive to temperature and that in a cool place the time limit could be extended by a quarter of the normal time. The minutes dragged on slowly. When their watches showed that one hour and fifty-five minutes had passed, the men stopped and wondered if they should go back to see what was wrong. Then all of a sudden a bright flash lit up the gorge. The men did not hear a sound: the roar of the stream was too deafening for any noise, no matter how great, to reach them. But they were sure that it was the explosion. As they stood in the water up to their waists they shook hands and congratulated one another. They had done the ‘impossible’. page 29 Stott joined them next morning. He told them how at dawn he had looked down upon the viaduct from the top of the northern cliff and had seen the guards running around in great confusion. There was an empty space where the viaduct used to be.

The sappers left nothing near the viaduct which would lead the Germans to suspect that a British party had done the demolition. The commander of the garrison was called to account and was suspected of having sabotaged the viaduct himself. Then suspicion rested upon the workmen. The whole garrison was judged guilty of gross neglect of duty and the officer in charge and several others were promptly shot. It was not until five days later that the Germans found a rope ladder made of parachute cord, and so realised that a party of saboteurs had attacked through the gorge.

An expert engineer flew from Germany to supervise the reconstruction of the viaduct. He said he would have a new structure built within six weeks. With the help of fifty workmen he built two large concrete bases, and on these he placed steel towers to support the superstructure and reduce the length of span. Five weeks later he launched the almost completed framework of the superstructure across the gorge. As he was connecting the two portions together over the centre of the gorge, the whole framework crashed down on top of the wreckage of the original structure, taking the engineer and forty of his workmen with it. Another engineer took over and completed the task after the line had been cut for ten weeks.

The demolition of the Asopos viaduct was regarded as one of the best feats of sabotage in the war. Edmonds wanted to be sure that the members of the party got full credit for their work. Up to then he had never recommended anybody for an award, and not certain of the procedure, he signalled to Cairo a detailed account of the parts each had played and left it to the authorities to make the recommendations. A reply came back: ‘Citations and recommendations urgently required.’ While Edmonds was making out the citations he received a message from Brigadier Myers: ‘Am not sure that the results have not earned a VC repeat VC. Do not hesitate if you agree.’ As there was no doubt that Stott's performance was of an exceptionally high order, Edmonds had no hesitation in recommending him for the award of a VC. A few weeks later Edmonds met Myers and heard that both their lists of recommendations to Cairo tallied except in the case of Stott, whom Myers had recommended for a DSO. When Myers was given the full account of Stott's exploits, he immediately signalled to Cairo cancelling his recommendation and endorsing that of Edmonds. However, the award for Stott remained the DSO. Gordon-Creed was also awarded the DSO; Scott and McIntyre each received the MC; Mutch received the MM, and Khouri was awarded the bar to the same decoration.