William Arthur Mackinder

In memoriam

31335 New Zealand Army Service Corps

From New Zealand Electronic Text Collection, The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War, Petrol Company, Chapter 8, Crete Page 118: There occurred no further enemy aggression until 1515 hrs, when under cover of a mortar barrage on this sector, the enemy advanced to within 200 yards of our forward posts, screened by natural cover which made his progress difficult to detect until the attack developed to a large-scale assault on our hill, which possessed many strategic advantages, preventing enemy advance on Galatos and commanding both the right and left flanks of his movement on the lower levels. D Section area therefore developed into an area of concentrated enemy fire from mortar, automatic and light weapons, met by a heavy return fire from our own men with rifle and Bren. Dvrs O. G. Jones and Barker (on the bren-gun)discouraged further enemy advance through the wire defences at the foot of the hill, while rifle fire picked off enemy targets as they appeared. When it became apparent that the enemy's mortar fire was becoming too heavy, and severe casualties were being inflicted on our men, it was decided by the section sergeants to evacuate the position to rear defences, at 1700 hrs. Following this retirement, which Staff-Sergeant Williams directed, though wounded, D Section survivors were distributed among the other sections, while all sections from then on became mixed-up. During the retirement, Driver Watkins adds, Driver W. A. Mackinder still held his forward position, under fire from the enemy's machine guns and mortars, and took toll with his rifle. He held his position until mortally wounded.

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