Approaching the Corinth Canal crossing recently I stopped on the northern side and walked over to an area adjacent to the new Peloponnese Tourism Information Centre. It is here that the new Battle of Corinth Canal commemorative memorial has been installed. Looking on the memorial I reflected on the three year journey to see the veterans of this important part in the Greek campaign of 1941 so honoured.
The Battle of Corinth Canal took place on the morning after Anzac Day in April 1941. In the early hours of the morning wave upon wave of German paratroops dropped from their air transports on the waiting Allied defenders below. Their aim was to seize the vital bridge crossing located two or three hundred metres along from the current bridge. The day-long battle was also the first time that Australian – British and other Commonwealth – troops faced an airborne assault by German paratroops and gliders. The battle of Corinth Canal was a practice-run for the coming assault on Crete in May.
Below them were an Allied force that had been quickly put together the previous day to defend the crossing to ensure as many Allied troops as possible would be able to successful cross to the southern side of the Canal and continue their journey to the evacuation beaches and harbours that had been designated across the southern Peloponnese, at Nafplio, Tolo and Kalamata. These included Australian nurses and 33 year old medical officer Major Edward “Weary” Dunlop from Wangaratta would cross the narrow bridge to safety in the hours before the battle started.
The Allied force was under British command and encompassed British, New Zealand and Australian troops. The later included the soldiers of the 2/6th Battalion who had been mostly recruited from Melbourne and Victoria. Their role was to defend both side of the bridge itself. They would face the wrath of the German forces, desperate to capture the bridge intact.
What followed was a desperate battle that encompassed the area around the bridge and beyond, including Corinth town itself. Before they were finally overwhelmed, the Allied forces successfully blew up the bridge – having previously planted explosives there – as German forces ran across it.
Some of the Australians defenders would be killed in the battle, others wounded and around 200 captured. Others continued the fight, successfully retreating south to the Allied embarkation beaches across the Peloponnese. Some like Private George Young from Parkdale would be wounded during the retreat and die in captivity. A number were decorated for their bravery that day, including Captain Henry Dean, a 27 years old farmer from Geelong would be awarded the Military Cross and Private Cyril Coulam, a 35 year old shoe salesman from South Yarra the Military Medal.
It was as a result of my researches into the story of the battle that I began my proposal to have erected a commemorative memorial to those who served at Corinth. I delivered a number of addresses and presentations as well as writing a number of articles on the Australians at Corinth. In 2016 I met with the descendants of soldiers from Palestine who were at Corinth in 1941. After drafting the memorial text and, with the support of Melbourne’s Pankorithinian Association of Melbourne and Victoria under the then leadership of Jenny Krasopoulaki, the memorial plaque was created and was soon transported to Greece.
Following my meetings with the Peloponnesian regional Government and visits to the Municipality of Corinth in 2022, the Battle of Corinth Canal commemorative memorial has been installed at Corinth.
The location is one that should suit commemorative events, given its installation on the external wall of a military facility. This facility is a former machine-gun or general military post, erected around the time of the Second World War. It has been installed at the site where I met the descendants of soldiers from Palestine who served in the Greek campaign a few years ago. The site – with its military connotations – evoked accounts of the campaign told by or written down by these veterans.
The clearing near the memorial also has eucalyptus trees, reminiscent of both Australia and the trees that Australian soldiers noticed on their arrival and marches through Greece in 1941. The nearby Peloponnese Tourism Information Centre, with its lawn and events area would be most appropriate for commemorative events.
Importantly the commemorative plaque site was recently visited by Alison Duncan, Australian Ambassador to Greece.
The installation of the Battle of Corinth Canal commemorative plaque near the Canal is a great day for all who have played a part in its creation – the Pankorithinian Association of Melbourne and Victoria, the Peloponnese Regional Government and the Municipality of Corinth and myself. In particular I thank the Peloponnese Regional Governor Panagiotis Nikas and Corinth Mayor Vassilios Nanopoulos for their support of this initiative. But mostly its installation is important to the families of those Allied soldiers who served here in April 1941.
Finally the installation of the plaque is also a tribute to Melbourne’s Pankorinthian Association – manty of whom would be descendants of the local residents of the region who would have witnessed the battle – whose families made their way to Australia – and to Melbourne and Victoria – from where the diggers of the 2/6th Battalion had departed for Greece and Corinth all those years ago.
I looked forward to attending the first commemorative event at the Battle of Corinth Canal memorial, hopefully next year on 26 April. I also look forward to the installation of the Corinth POW memorial plaque near the site of the former POW camp established by the Germans in Corinth that held thousands of Allied – including many Australian – soldiers at the end of the Greek campaign.
*Jim Claven OAM is a trained historian, freelance writer and published author who has researched the Anzac trail in Greece across both world wars. He is the author of Grecian Adventure which recounts some of the Anzac history of the 1941 Greek campaign and was recently the Associate Producer of the new documentary Anzac The Greek Chapter on the Greek campaign. He has worked to have a series of plaques erected across Greece commemorating locations connected with the 1941 campaign. He thanks Jenny Krasopolaki and the Pankorinthian Association for their support of the Battle of Corinth Canal memorial plaque. He can be contacted via email – jimclaven@yahoo.com.au.