sherds at Volos and Pherae, which he deposited at the British School at Athens. 28 In Athens he caught up with archaeological colleaguesâYoung who had dug at Curium on Cyprus, his old lecturer Alan Wace, Monty Woodhouse and others. Wace had returned to Greece in 1939 to resume excavations at Mycenae and to celebrate his sixtieth birthday. With war looming, he had helped to safely store material from the National Museum and ostensibly joined the British legation, although he was probably, even at this stage, working for MI6. 29 Monty Woodhouse, younger than Jim and a classical scholar, was also attached to the British legation and would end the war as a full colonel. After the fall of Crete, both Wace and Woodhouse worked for Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Egypt.
At the same time that Jim volunteered, a raft of British archaeologists prepared to leave for Greece. As early as 1938, a special department in the War Office sounded out dons and archaeologists with a view to using their linguistic skills should war eventuate. Officials understood that when war spread to the Mediterranean, language skills would be vital and they hoped that ancient Greek might be a short cut to the modern language. And so it proved. The archaeologist John Pendlebury, who, together with Jim, had received £50 from the Cambridge Classics Board in 1939 for research, had spent the mid-1930s as curator of Knossos on Crete and was almost more Cretan than the locals. Nicholas Hammond, a Cambridge don, and the archaeologist, David Hunt from Magdalen College in Oxford, were both recruited. Hammond, Pendlebury and Hunt flew to Greece as the English expeditionary forces began evacuating Dunkirk. Unable to enter Greece, Hammond and Hunt continued to Egypt, where they joined the Welsh Regiment at Alexandria. All three were to play important roles in the course of the war in Greece. 30 Tom Dunbabin, an Australian classicist and two years older than Jim, would end the war as a Lieutenant-Colonel and worked on Crete with SOE. With few linguistic skills and a personality disinclined to follow orders, Jim Stewart was never approached.
As the Germans thrust southwards into Greece, chaos ensued. Allied troops who had assumed they would be marching north were in retreat almost as soon as they landed in Greece. German Panzer units smashed through defences and the Australian and New Zealand divisions pulled back to Thermopylae, the pass held heroically by Athenians during the Persian Wars over two thousand years earlier. The Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis shot himself on 18 April and two days later Allied forces made the decision to retreat. Evacuation plans were ill prepared and sketchy. When the Greek division surrendered at Epirus, Germans skirted Thermopylae and advanced on Athens. The king and his household, complete with English mistress and pet dachshund, flew to Crete, where they installed themselves in the city of Canea, which they declared the new capital of Greece. On 25 April final evacuations took place. In all, twenty-six vessels were sunk during the evacuation and over two thousand troops died. Jim only ever wrote briefly of his Greek experiences:
Most of the Pioneer companies were captured in Greece. Largely through no fault of the Regiment individual units had a very bad time, and were left in the lurch by the Area HQs ⦠The wreckage of two companies and one more or less intact company got away to Crete, with the rest of a rather dazed âLustre Forceâ, and were incorporated into âCrete Forceâ, but only after an appalling experience of sea-evacuation. It was a miracle that any degree of organization or discipline was maintained, but in both the standard was not lower than that of other units from Greece, and was rather better than that of some British units. 31
Later Jim itemised the personal possessions he had lost in Greece and Crete, including a kitbag, pullover, leather gloves, heavy boots, rubber
At the same time that Jim volunteered, a raft of British archaeologists prepared to leave for Greece. As early as 1938, a special department in the War Office sounded out dons and archaeologists with a view to using their linguistic skills should war eventuate. Officials understood that when war spread to the Mediterranean, language skills would be vital and they hoped that ancient Greek might be a short cut to the modern language. And so it proved. The archaeologist John Pendlebury, who, together with Jim, had received £50 from the Cambridge Classics Board in 1939 for research, had spent the mid-1930s as curator of Knossos on Crete and was almost more Cretan than the locals. Nicholas Hammond, a Cambridge don, and the archaeologist, David Hunt from Magdalen College in Oxford, were both recruited. Hammond, Pendlebury and Hunt flew to Greece as the English expeditionary forces began evacuating Dunkirk. Unable to enter Greece, Hammond and Hunt continued to Egypt, where they joined the Welsh Regiment at Alexandria. All three were to play important roles in the course of the war in Greece. 30 Tom Dunbabin, an Australian classicist and two years older than Jim, would end the war as a Lieutenant-Colonel and worked on Crete with SOE. With few linguistic skills and a personality disinclined to follow orders, Jim Stewart was never approached.
As the Germans thrust southwards into Greece, chaos ensued. Allied troops who had assumed they would be marching north were in retreat almost as soon as they landed in Greece. German Panzer units smashed through defences and the Australian and New Zealand divisions pulled back to Thermopylae, the pass held heroically by Athenians during the Persian Wars over two thousand years earlier. The Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis shot himself on 18 April and two days later Allied forces made the decision to retreat. Evacuation plans were ill prepared and sketchy. When the Greek division surrendered at Epirus, Germans skirted Thermopylae and advanced on Athens. The king and his household, complete with English mistress and pet dachshund, flew to Crete, where they installed themselves in the city of Canea, which they declared the new capital of Greece. On 25 April final evacuations took place. In all, twenty-six vessels were sunk during the evacuation and over two thousand troops died. Jim only ever wrote briefly of his Greek experiences:
Most of the Pioneer companies were captured in Greece. Largely through no fault of the Regiment individual units had a very bad time, and were left in the lurch by the Area HQs ⦠The wreckage of two companies and one more or less intact company got away to Crete, with the rest of a rather dazed âLustre Forceâ, and were incorporated into âCrete Forceâ, but only after an appalling experience of sea-evacuation. It was a miracle that any degree of organization or discipline was maintained, but in both the standard was not lower than that of other units from Greece, and was rather better than that of some British units. 31
Later Jim itemised the personal possessions he had lost in Greece and Crete, including a kitbag, pullover, leather gloves, heavy boots, rubber
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