Talk:Battle of the Corinth Canal

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the story behind the blowing up of the Corinth Canal Bridge

My father’s first cousin was John Tyson. In 1941 he was a combat engineer and was a Captain in the British Army in Greece. As the British (and Commonwealth forces retreat in the face of the advancing German Army, he was in the rear guard. He was given the object to slow down the Germans and give the British more time to retreat and evacuate from Greece. As part of that object, on April 1941, he blew up the bridge over the Corinth canal. He was awarded the Military Cross by the King as a result of that action. Here is what he wrote his mother in London, on June 12, 1941:

“Regarding this MC (Military Cross) business – I gather that while I was away a version of the affair appeared in one of the local papers so I presume it is no longer a secret. Put boldly it boils down to the fact that Phillips & I were sleeping just by the Corinth bridge over the canal which had been prepared for demolition by some New Zealanders more or less under my supervision. The following morning they (the Germans) staged a first-class air raid with bombers & fighters – knocked out all the AA (anti-aircraft) guns and reduced the ground area to complete silence. Then they dropped swarms of parachutists all over the place and captured the bridge – at least they walked onto the bridge as there was no one to stop them – Phillips & I then fired rifle shots at the explosive charges (we were about 200 yards away) & managed to set it off. It blew up very well & as the atmosphere then got distinctly hostile we decided to go – that was where I left all my kit.

Anyway we walked some way & at intervals picked up isolated British troops & weapons & without too much trouble managed to break through the outer ring of parachutists & started to walk towards one of the embarkation ports. We walked about 15 miles cross country (very unpleasant!) dodging aircrafts at intervals & then eventually joined up with a battalion of New Zealand infantry who were absolutely splendid to us. We just sat back & did what we were told & went down with them to the embarkation beach & had a most successful trip over to Egypt although a lot of other people (all those who had come out earlier) had been dumped at Crete into Greek comfort. Altogether looking back on it, it was a very interesting experience. The bridge going up was a wonderful sight – the calculated charge to destroy it was about 500 lbs. of explosive, but we put on all we had as it couldn’t be used for anything else – just over 3 tons! It went off very well.” 206.71.151.86 (talk) 02:42, 12 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]