Battle of Crete
Battle of Crete | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Battle of Greece and the Mediterranean theatre | |||||||||
German Fallschirmjäger landing on Crete, May 1941 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
New Zealand Greece United Kingdom Australia |
Germany Italy | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Bernard C. Freyberg | |||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
United Kingdom: 18,047[1][a] Greece: 10,258[1] – 11,451[2] New Zealand: 7,702[1] Australia: 6,540[1] Total: 42,547[1] |
Germany: 22,000 paratroopers and mountain troops[3] 280 bombers 150 dive bombers 180 fighters 500 transports 80 troop gliders Italy: 2,700 | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
British Commonwealth[4] 3,579+ killed and missing 1,918 wounded 12,254 captured Greece[5] 544+ killed and missing 5,225 captured Material: Royal Navy:[6][b] 12 fleet and 7 auxiliary ships sunk, 22 damaged Royal Air Force: 21 aircraft shot down 12 aircraft destroyed on ground Total: ~23,000 total casualties[7] 4,000 to 6,000 killed[8] (4,000 ground troops, 2,000 sailors) | |||||||||
Over 500 Greek civilians executed by Axis soldiers. |
The Battle of Crete (
The Battle of Crete was the first occasion where Fallschirmjäger (German paratroops) were used en masse, the first mainly airborne invasion in military history, the first time the Allies made significant use of intelligence from decrypted German messages from the Enigma machine,[13][14] and the first time German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population.[15] Due to the number of casualties and the belief that airborne forces no longer had the advantage of surprise, Adolf Hitler became reluctant to authorise further large airborne operations, preferring instead to employ paratroopers as ground troops.[16] In contrast, the Allies were impressed by the potential of paratroopers and started to form airborne-assault and airfield-defence regiments.
Background
British forces had initially garrisoned Crete when the
The Italians were repulsed, but the subsequent German invasion of April 1941 (
The
Prelude
Order of battle
Allied forces
No RAF units were based permanently at Crete until April 1941, but airfield construction had begun, radar sites had been built and stores delivered. Equipment was scarce in the Mediterranean and in the backwater of Crete. The British forces had seven commanders in seven months. In early April, airfields at Maleme and Heraklion and the landing strip at Rethymno on the north coast were ready and another strip at Pediada-Kastelli was nearly finished. After the German invasion of Greece, the role of the Crete garrison changed from the defence of a naval anchorage to preparing to repel an invasion. On 17 April, Group Captain George Beamish was appointed Senior Air Officer, Crete, taking over from a flight-lieutenant whose duties and instructions had been only vaguely defined. Beamish was ordered to prepare the reception of the Bristol Blenheim bombers of 30 and 203 Squadrons from Egypt and the remaining fighter aircraft from Greece, to cover the evacuation of W Force, which enabled the transfer of 25,000 British and Dominion troops to the island, preparatory to their relief by fresh troops from Egypt.[27]
The navy tried to deliver 27,000 long tons (27,000 t) of supplies from 1–20 May 1941, but Luftwaffe attacks forced most ships to turn back, and only 2,700 long tons (2,700 t) were delivered. Only about 3,500 trained British and Greek soldiers were on the island, and the defence devolved to the shaken and poorly equipped troops from Greece, assisted by the last fighters of
On 30 April 1941,
The
On 17 May, the garrison on Crete included about 15,000 Britons, 7,750 New Zealanders, 6,500 Australians and 10,200 Greeks.
Axis forces
On 25 April, Hitler signed Directive 28, ordering the invasion of Crete. The Royal Navy retained control of the waters around Crete, so an
In May,
The Germans planned to use Fallschirmjäger to capture important points on the island, including airfields that could then be used to fly in supplies and reinforcements. Fliegerkorps XI was to co-ordinate the attack by the
Intelligence
British
Major-General Kurt Student did not add an attack on Crete to Operation Marita until March 1941; supply difficulties delayed the assembly of Fliegerkorps XI and its 500 Ju 52s, then more delays forced a postponement until 20 May 1941. The War Cabinet in Britain had expected the Germans to use paratroops in the Balkans, and on 25 March, British decrypts of Luftwaffe Enigma wireless traffic revealed that Fliegerkorps XI was assembling Ju 52s for glider-towing, and British Military Intelligence reported that 250 aircraft were already in the Balkans. On 30 March, Detachment Süssmann, part of the 7th Fliegerdivision, was identified at Plovdiv. Notice of the target of these units did not arrive, but on 18 April it was found that 250 Ju 52s had been withdrawn from routine operations, and on 24 April it became known that Göring had reserved them for a special operation. The operation turned out to be a descent on the Corinth Canal on 26 April, but then a second operation was discovered and that supplies (particularly of fuel), had to be delivered to Fliegerkorps XI by 5 May; a Luftwaffe message referring to Crete for the first time was decrypted on 26 April.[36]
The British Chiefs of Staff were apprehensive that the target could be changed to Cyprus or Syria as a route into Iraq during the
German
Weapons and equipment
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2017) |
German
The Germans used the new
The troops also carried special strips of cloth to unfurl in patterns to signal to low-flying fighters, to co-ordinate air support and for supply drops. The German procedure was for individual weapons to be dropped in canisters, due to their practice of exiting the aircraft at low altitude. This was a flaw that left the paratroopers armed only with knives, pistols and grenades in the first few minutes after landing. Poor design of German parachutes compounded the problem; the standard German harness had only one riser to the
Greek
Greek troops were armed with
Though Kippenberger had referred to them as "...nothing more than malaria-ridden little chaps...with only four weeks of service," the Greek troops repulsed German attacks until they ran out of ammunition, whereupon they began charging with fixed bayonets, overrunning German positions and capturing rifles and ammunition. The engineers had to be reinforced by two battalions of German paratroops, yet the 8th Regiment held on until 27 May, when the Germans made a combined arms assault by Luftwaffe aircraft and mountain troops. The Greek stand helped to protect the retreat of the Commonwealth forces, who were evacuated at Sfakia. Beevor and McDougal Stewart write that the defence of Alikianos gained at least 24 more hours for the completion of the final leg of the evacuation behind Layforce. The troops who were protected as they withdrew had begun the battle with more and better equipment than the 8th Greek Regiment.[citation needed]
British Commonwealth
British and Commonwealth troops used the standard
The Matildas had 40 mm
Strategy and tactics
Operation Mercury
Hitler authorised Unternehmen Merkur (named after the swift Roman god Mercury) with Directive 28; the forces used were to come from airborne and air units already in the area and units intended for Unternehmen Barbarossa were to conclude operations before the end of May, Barbarossa was not to be delayed by the attack on Crete, which had to begin soon or would be cancelled. Planning was rushed and much of Unternehmen Merkur was improvised, including the use of troops who were not trained for airborne assaults.[citation needed] The Germans planned to capture Maleme, but there was debate over the concentration of forces there and the number to be deployed against other objectives, such as the smaller airfields at Heraklion and Rethymno. The Luftwaffe commander, Colonel General Alexander Löhr, and the Kriegsmarine commander, Admiral Karlgeorg Schuster, wanted more emphasis on Maleme, to achieve overwhelming superiority of force.[41] Student wanted to disperse the paratroops more, to maximise the effect of surprise.[41] As the primary objective, Maleme offered several advantages: it was the largest airfield and big enough for heavy transport aircraft, it was close enough to the mainland for air cover from land-based Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and it was near the north coast, so seaborne reinforcements could be brought up quickly. A compromise plan by Hermann Göring was agreed, and in the final draft, Maleme was to be captured first, while not ignoring the other objectives.[42]
The invasion force was divided into Kampfgruppen (battlegroups), Centre, West and East, each with a code name following the classical theme established by Mercury; 750 glider-borne troops, 10,000 paratroops, 5,000 airlifted mountain soldiers and 7,000 seaborne troops were allocated to the invasion. The largest proportion of the forces were in Group West. German airborne theory was based on parachuting a small force onto enemy airfields. The force would capture the perimeter and local anti-aircraft guns, allowing a much larger force to land by glider.[43] Freyberg knew this after studying earlier German operations and decided to make the airfields unusable for landing, but was countermanded by the Middle East Command in Alexandria.[44] The staff felt the invasion was doomed now that it had been compromised and may have wanted the airfields intact for the RAF once the invasion was defeated.[44] The Germans were able to land reinforcements without fully operational airfields. One transport pilot crash-landed on a beach, others landed in fields, discharged their cargo and took off again. With the Germans willing to sacrifice some transport aircraft to win the battle, it is not clear whether a decision to destroy the airfields would have made any difference, particularly given the number of troops delivered by expendable gliders.[44]
Group name | Codename | Commander | Target |
---|---|---|---|
Gruppe Mitte (Group Centre) | Mars | Generalmajor Wilhelm Süssmann | Prison Valley, Chania Souda, Rethymno |
Gruppe West (Group West) | Comet | Generalmajor Eugen Meindl | Maleme |
Gruppe Ost (Group East) | Orion | Oberst Bruno Bräuer | Heraklion |
Battle
20 May
Maleme–Chania sector
At 08:00 on 20 May 1941, German paratroopers, jumping out of dozens of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft, landed near Maleme Airfield and the town of Chania. The 21st, 22nd and 23rd New Zealand battalions held Maleme Airfield and the vicinity. The Germans suffered many casualties in the first hours of the invasion: a company of III Battalion, 1st Assault Regiment lost 112 killed out of 126 men, and 400 of 600 men in III Battalion were killed on the first day.[45] Most of the parachutists were engaged by New Zealanders defending the airfield and by Greek forces near Chania. Many gliders following the paratroops were hit by mortar fire seconds after landing, and the New Zealand and Greek defenders almost annihilated the glider troops who landed safely.[45]
Some paratroopers and gliders missed their objectives near both airfields and set up defensive positions to the west of Maleme Airfield and in "Prison Valley" near Chania. Both forces were contained and failed to take the airfields, but the defenders had to deploy to face them.
Rethymno–Heraklion sector
A second wave of German transports supported by Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica attack aircraft, arrived in the afternoon, dropping more paratroopers and gliders containing assault troops.[47] One group attacked at Rethymno at 16:15 and another attacked at Heraklion at 17:30, where the defenders were waiting for them and inflicted many casualties.
The Rethymno–Heraklion sector was defended by the British 14th Brigade, as well as the
As night fell, none of the German objectives had been secured. Of 493 German transport aircraft used during the airdrop, seven were lost to anti-aircraft fire. The bold plan to attack in four places to maximise surprise, rather than concentrating on one, seemed to have failed, although the reasons were unknown to the Germans at the time.
Among the paratroopers who landed on the first day was former world heavyweight champion boxer Max Schmeling, who held the rank of Gefreiter at the time. Schmeling survived the battle and the war.
21 May
Overnight, the 22nd New Zealand Infantry Battalion withdrew from Hill 107, leaving Maleme Airfield undefended. During the previous day, the Germans had cut communications between the two westernmost companies of the battalion and the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Andrew VC, who was on the eastern side of the airfield. The lack of communication was assumed to mean that the battalion had been overrun in the west. With the weakened state of the eastern elements of the battalion and believing the western elements to have been overrun, Andrew requested reinforcement by the 23rd Battalion.[48] Brigadier James Hargest denied the request on the mistaken grounds that the 23rd Battalion was busy repulsing parachutists in its sector. After a failed counter-attack late in the day on 20 May, with the eastern elements of his battalion, Andrew withdrew under cover of darkness to regroup, with the consent of Hargest.[49] Captain Campbell, commanding the westernmost company of the 22nd Battalion, out of contact with Andrew, did not learn of the withdrawal of the 22nd Battalion until early in the morning, at which point he also withdrew from the west of the airfield.[50] This misunderstanding, representative of the failings of communication and co-ordination in the defence of Crete, cost the Allies the airfield and allowed the Germans to reinforce their invasion force unopposed.[51] In Athens, Student decided to concentrate on Maleme on 21 May, as this was the area where the most progress had been made and because an early morning reconnaissance flight over Maleme Airfield was unopposed.[49][52] The Germans quickly exploited the withdrawal from Hill 107 to take control of Maleme Airfield, just as a sea landing took place nearby. The Allies continued to bombard the area as Ju 52s flew in units of the 5th Mountain Division at night.[50]
Maleme Airfield counter-attack
In the afternoon of 21 May 1941, Freyberg ordered a counter-attack to retake Maleme Airfield during the night of 21/22 May. The 2/7th Battalion was to move 18 miles (29 km) north to relieve the 20th Battalion, which would participate in the attack. The 2/7th Battalion had no transport, and vehicles for the battalion were delayed by German aircraft. By the time the battalion moved north to relieve 20th Battalion for the counter-attack, it was 23:30, and the 20th Battalion took three hours to reach the staging area, with its first elements arriving around 02:45.[50] The counter-attack began at 03:30 but failed because of German daylight air support.[49] (Brigadier George Alan Vasey and Lieutenant-Colonel William Cremor have criticised Freyberg for not properly defending Maleme Airfield.)[53] Hargest also blamed Freyberg for the loss of the airfield.[54]
Axis landing attempt, 21/22 May
22 May
Maleme
The defending force organised for a night counter-attack on Maleme by two New Zealand battalions, the 20th Battalion of the 4th Brigade and the
Axis landing attempt, 22/23 May
Admiral Andrew Cunningham sent Force C (three cruisers and four destroyers, commanded by Rear Admiral Edward Leigh Stuart King) into the Aegean Sea through the Kasos Strait, to attack a second flotilla of transports, escorted by the Italian torpedo boat Sagittario. The force sank an isolated caïque at 08:30, saving itself from an air attack that struck the cruiser HMS Naiad as the German pilots tried to avoid killing their troops in the water. The British squadron was under constant air attack and, short of anti-aircraft ammunition, steamed on toward Milos, sighting Sagittario at 10:00. King made the "difficult" decision not to press the attack, despite his overpowering advantage, because of the shortage of ammunition and the severity of the air attacks.[63] The transports were defended by a torpedo charge by Sagittario, which also laid a smoke screen and traded fire with the British force,[64][65] trying to lure them to a different direction. Indeed, King was unaware that a major enemy convoy was ahead of his force until 11:00.[58] Eventually, the convoy and its escort managed to slip away undamaged. King's ships, despite their failure to destroy the German troop transports, had succeeded in forcing the Axis to abort the landing by their mere presence at sea. During the search and withdrawal from the area, Force C suffered many losses to German bombers. Naiad was damaged by near misses and the cruiser HMS Carlisle was hit. Cunningham later criticised King, saying that the safest place during the air attack was amongst the flotilla of caïques.[64][65]
While Force C made its attack on the convoy, Force A1 (Rear Admiral H B Rawlings), Force B (Captain Henry A Rowley) and Glennie's Force D converged west of Antikythera. Concerned about the level of anti-aircraft ammunition available following repeated air attacks, the combined force was ordered to report on their stock of high-angle ammunition at 09:31. Of the cruisers, HMS Ajax had 40 per cent, Orion 38 per cent, Fiji 30 per cent, HMS Dido 25 per cent and Gloucester only 18 per cent. Ajax, Orion and Dido were ordered to return to Alexandria with Glennie's Force D to rearm but Gloucester and Fiji remained with Rawlings' Force A1.[66]
At 12:25 Force A1, stationed 20 to 30 miles west of Antikythera, received a request from King to support the damaged Naiad. Force A1 headed east into the
Between 15:30 and 15:50, while attempting to rejoin Force A1, Gloucester was hit by several bombs and had to be left behind due to the air attacks;
23–27 May
Fighting against fresh German troops, the Allies retreated southward. The 5th Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of
When rounding the western side of Crete, the three ships were attacked by 24 Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. Kashmir was hit and sank in two minutes, and Kelly was hit and turned turtle soon after and later sank. Kelly shot down a Stuka before sinking and another was badly damaged and crashed upon returning to base.[74] Kipling survived 83 bombs, while 279 survivors were rescued from the ships. (The Noël Coward film In Which We Serve was based on this action.)[75] The Royal Navy had suffered so many losses from air attacks that on 23 May Admiral Cunningham signalled his superiors that daylight operations could no longer continue, but the Chiefs of Staff demurred.[76] German search-and-rescue aircraft and Italian motor torpedo boats spotted and rescued the 262 survivors from the German light convoy sunk off Cape Spatha.
After air attacks on Allied positions in Kastelli on 24 May, the 95th Gebirgs Pioneer Battalion advanced on the town.[77] These air attacks enabled the escape of German paratroopers captured on 20 May; the escapees killed or captured several New Zealand officers assigned to lead the 1st Greek Regiment. The Greeks put up determined resistance but, with only 600 rifles and a few thousand rounds of ammunition available for 1,000 ill-trained men, they were unable to repel the German advance.[78] Fighting by the remnants of the 1st Greek Regiment continued in the Kastelli area until 26 May, hampering German efforts to land reinforcements.
Despite the dangers posed by British naval forces, the Kriegsmarine made another attempt to supply the invasion by sea. On 24 May Oberleutnant-zur-See Österlin, who had led the Maleme Flotilla, was given the task of transporting two
Awful news from Crete. We are scuppered there, and I'm afraid the morale and material effects will be serious. Certainly the Germans are past-masters in the art of war—and great warriors. If we beat them, we shall have worked a miracle.
— Alexander Cadogan, Diary, 27 May 1941[82]
Schuster issued Österlin new orders to sail for the Gulf of Kissamos, where a landing beach had already been selected and marked out. Upon nearing the shore on 28 May, the lighter was positioned ahead of the tug and firmly beached. A party of engineers then blew the lighter's bow off using demolition charges and the two tanks rolled ashore. They were soon assigned to Advance Detachment Wittman, which had assembled near Prison Valley reservoir the day before. This ad hoc group was composed of a motorcycle battalion, the Reconnaissance Battalion, an anti-tank unit, a motorised artillery troop, and some engineers. General Ringel gave orders for Wittmann to "strike out from Platanos at 03:00 on 28 May in pursuit of the British 'main' via the coastal highway to Rethymno" and thence towards Heraklion.[79] Although they did not play a decisive role, the panzers were useful in helping round up British troops in the Kissamos area, before speeding eastward in support of the German pursuit column.[79]
On the night of 26/27 May, a detachment of some 800 men from No. 7 and No. 50/52 Commandos, as part of Layforce, landed at Souda Bay (Colonel Robert Laycock).[83] Laycock had tried to land the force on 25 May, but had turned back due to bad weather.[83] Although armed mainly with only rifles and a small number of machine guns, they were to carry out rearguard actions in order to buy the garrison enough time to carry out an evacuation.[83]
Troops of the German 141st Mountain Regiment blocked a section of the road between Souda and Chania. On the morning of 27 May, the New Zealand
Italian landing at Sitia
On 26 May, in the face of the stalled German advance, senior Wehrmacht officers requested Mussolini to send Italian Army units to Crete in order to help the German forces fighting there.
At 13:30 on 28 May, the Italians believed that three cruisers and six destroyers of the Royal Navy were steaming up towards the northern coast of Crete in support of Allied troops, but the Royal Navy was fully occupied evacuating the Crete garrison.[85][87] The Italians assumed that the Royal Navy force would be off Sitia, the planned landing site, by 17:00 and the commander decided that the slowest ship of the convoy would be taken in tow by Lince to increase speed and Crispi was detached to shell the lighthouse at Cape Sideros. The 3,000 men of the division and their equipment were on shore by 17:20 and advanced west mostly unopposed, rendezvousing with the Germans at Ierapetra. The Italian troops later moved their headquarters from Sitia to Agios Nikolaos.[87][91]
Retreat
The Germans pushed the British, Commonwealth and Greek forces steadily southward, using aerial and artillery bombardment, followed by waves of motorcycle and mountain troops (the rocky terrain making it difficult to employ tanks). The garrisons at Souda and Beritania gradually fell back along the road to Vitsilokoumos, north of Sfakia. About halfway there, near the village of Askyfou lay a large crater nicknamed "The Saucer", the only place wide and flat enough for a large parachute drop. Troops were stationed about its perimeter, to prevent a landing that might block the retreat. On the evening of the 27th, a small detachment of German troops penetrated Allied lines near Imbros Gorge threatening a column of retreating unarmed Allied forces. The attack was held off by four men, the only ones with weapons[citation needed]. Led by Cpl Douglas Bignal, the men sacrificed themselves, securing the withdrawal of the remainder. Amongst this group was New Zealander Pte Willy Falconer of the Maori battalion, a hero of 42nd Street and Galatas. Also killed were LCpl Philip Stamp and Pte Andrew Payton.[citation needed]
Near Souda, the 5th New Zealand Brigade and the 2/7th Australian Battalion, held off the 141st Mountain Regiment, which had begun a flanking manoeuvre, and on 28 May, at the village of Stylos, the 5th New Zealand Brigade fought a rearguard action. The Luftwaffe was over Rethymno and Heraklion and they were able to retreat down the road.[92]
The retreat of the brigade was covered by two companies of the Māori Battalion under Captain Rangi Royal, who overran the I Battalion, 141st Gebirgsjäger Regiment and halted the German advance. When the main unit was safely to the rear, the Māori retreated 24 miles (39 km), losing only two killed and eight wounded, all of whom were recovered. Layforce was the only big unit in this area to be cut off. Layforce had been sent to Crete by way of Sfakia when it was still hoped that reinforcements could be brought from Egypt to turn the tide of the battle.
Evacuation, 28 May – 1 June
From 28 May – 1 June, troops were embarked for Egypt, most being lifted from Sfakia on the south coast, where about 6,000 troops were rescued on the night of 29/30 May but the force was attacked by Luftwaffe dive bombers on the voyage back and suffered many losses. About 4,000 men were withdrawn from Heraklion on the night of 28/29 May, on the next night 1,500 soldiers were taken away by four destroyers and during the night of 31 May/1 June another 4,000 men were lifted. About 18,600 men of the 32,000 British troops on the island were evacuated; 12,000 British and Dominion troops and thousands of Greeks were still on Crete when the island came under German control on 1 June.[94]
Surrender
Colonel Campbell, the commander at Rethymno, was forced to surrender his contingent. Rethymno fell and on the night of 30 May, German motorcycle troops linked up with the Italian troops who had landed on Sitia. On 1 June, the remaining 5,000 defenders at Sfakia surrendered.[95] By the end of December, about 500 Commonwealth troops remained at large on the island. While scattered and disorganised, these men and the partisans harassed German troops for long after the withdrawal.
Civilian resistance
Cretan civilians joined the battle with whatever weapons were at hand.[96] Most civilians went into action armed only with what they could gather from their kitchens or barns and several German parachutists were knifed or clubbed to death in olive groves. In one recorded incident, an elderly Cretan man clubbed a parachutist to death with his walking cane, before the German could disentangle himself from his parachute.[97] In another recorded incident, a local priest and his teenage son broke into a small village museum and took two rifles from the era of the Balkan Wars and sniped at German paratroops at landing zones. The Cretans also used captured German small arms. The Crete civilian actions against the Germans were not limited to harassment; mobs of armed civilians joined in the Greek counter-attacks at Kastelli Hill and Paleochora; the British and New Zealand advisers at these locations were hard pressed to prevent massacres. Civilians also checked the Germans to the north and west of Heraklion and in the town centre.[98]
Massacres of Greek civilians
The Battle of Crete was not the first occasion during the Second World War where the German troops encountered widespread resistance from a civilian population, as similar events took place during the invasion of Poland (Kłecko); nevertheless it initially surprised and later outraged them. As most Cretan partisans wore no uniforms or insignia such as armbands or headbands, the Germans felt free of all of the constraints of the Hague Conventions and killed armed and unarmed civilians indiscriminately.[99][e] Immediately after Crete fell, a series of collective punishments against civilians began. Between 2 June and 1 August 195 persons from the village of Alikianos and its vicinity were killed in mass shootings known as the Alikianos executions.[100] On 2 June, several male citizens from Kondomari were executed by a firing squad, with the shootings being captured on film by a German army war correspondent. On 3 June, the village of Kandanos was razed to the ground and about 180 of its inhabitants killed. After the war, Student, who ordered the shootings, avoided prosecution for war crimes, despite Greek efforts to have him extradited.[101]
The first
Aftermath
Analysis
The German Air Ministry was shocked by the number of transport aircraft lost in the battle, and Student, reflecting on the casualties suffered by the paratroopers, concluded after the war that Crete was the death of the airborne force. Hitler, believing airborne forces to be a weapon of surprise which had now lost that advantage, concluded that the days of the airborne corps were over and directed that paratroopers should be employed as ground-based troops in subsequent operations in the Soviet Union.[16]
The battle for Crete delayed Operation Barbarossa but not directly.[105] The start date for Barbarossa (22 June 1941) had been set several weeks before the Crete operation was considered and the directive by Hitler for Operation Mercury made it plain that preparations for Merkur must not interfere with Barbarossa.[24] Units assigned to Merkur were intended for Barbarossa and were forced to redeploy to Poland and Romania by the end of May. Movement of surviving units from Greece was not delayed. The transfer of Fliegerkorps VIII north, ready for Barbarossa, eased the Royal Navy evacuation of the defenders. The delay of Operation Barbarossa was exacerbated also by the late spring and floods in Poland.[106]
The Air operation impact of the Battle of Crete to Operation Barbarossa was direct.[107] The considerable losses of the Luftwaffe during the operation Mercury, specifically regarding troop carrier planes, affected the capacity of air power operations at the start of the Russian campaign. Additionally, with German parachute troops being decimated in Crete, there was an insufficient number of men that were qualified to carry out the huge-scale airborne operations that were necessary at the beginning of the invasion. Furthermore, the delay of the whole Balkan campaign, including the Battle of Crete, did not allow for exploiting the strategic advantages that German forces had gained in the Eastern Mediterranean. With the VIII Air Corps ordered to Germany for refitting before Crete was secured, significant command and communication issues hampered redeployment of the whole formation as the ground personnel was directly redeployed to their new bases in Poland.[107]
The
Ultra
For a fortnight, Enigma intercepts described the arrival of Fliegerkorps XI around Athens, the collection of 27,000
The Germans captured a message from London marked "Personal for General Freyberg" which was translated into German and sent to Berlin. Dated 24 May and headed "According to most reliable source" it said where German troops were on the previous day (which could have been from reconnaissance) but also specified that the Germans were next going to "attack Suda Bay". This could have indicated that Enigma messages were compromised.[113]
Antony Beevor in 1991 and P. D. Antill in 2005 wrote that Allied commanders knew of the invasion through Ultra intercepts. Freyberg, informed of the air component of the German battle plan, had started to prepare a defence near the airfields and along the north coast. He had been hampered by a lack of modern equipment, and the lightly armed paratroopers had about the same firepower as the defenders, if not more. Ultra intelligence was detailed but was taken out of context and misinterpreted.[114][115]
While emphasis was placed on the airborne assault, the German messages also mentioned seaborne operations; Freyberg, expecting an amphibious landing, garrisoned the coast – which reduced the number of men available to defend the airfield at Maleme, the principal German objective.
Hinsley wrote that it was difficult to measure the influence of intelligence gained during the battle, because although Ultra revealed German situation reports, reinforcement details and unit identifications and although more intelligence was gleaned from prisoners and captured documents, it was not known how swiftly the information reached Freyberg or how he used it. The German parachute warfare manual had been captured in 1940, and after the war, Student said that he would have changed tactics had he known this. Field-signals intelligence was obtained, including bombing instructions and information from the Fliegerkorps XI tactical code. Lack of air cover prevented much British air reconnaissance north of Crete, but on 21 May signals intelligence enabled an aircraft to spot a convoy. After midnight the navy sank twelve ships and the rest scattered, which led to a second invasion convoy being called back. The second convoy was intercepted during the morning of 22 May, despite the cost to the navy of a daylight operation, and no more seaborne attempts were made.[118]
Casualties
Official German casualty figures are contradictory due to minor variations in documents produced by German commands on various dates. Davin estimated 6,698 losses, based upon an examination of various sources.[119] Davin wrote that his estimate might exclude lightly wounded soldiers.[120]
Reports of German casualties in British reports are in almost all cases exaggerated and are not accepted against the official contemporary German returns, prepared for normal purposes and not for propaganda.
— Davin[121]
In 1956, Playfair and the other British official historians, gave figures of 1,990 Germans killed, 2,131 wounded, 1,995 missing, a total of 6,116 men "compiled from what appear to be the most reliable German records".[122]
Exaggerated reports of German casualties began to appear after the battle had ended. In New Zealand,
The Germans lost at least 12,000 killed and wounded, and about 5,000 drowned.
— Taylor[123]
Churchill claimed that the Germans must have suffered well over 15,000 casualties. Buckley, based on British intelligence assumptions of two enemies wounded for every one killed, gave an estimate of 16,800 casualties. The United States Army Center of Military History, citing a report of the Historical Branch of the British Cabinet Office, concluded that military historians accept estimates from 6,000 to 7,000 German casualties.[124] The Australian Graves Commission counted about 4,000 German graves in the Maleme–Souda Bay area, and about 1,000 more at Rethymno and Heraklion, that would have included deaths during the German occupation due to sickness, accidents, or fighting with partisan forces.[125]
The official historians recorded 147 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed and 64 damaged beyond repair by enemy action, with 73 destroyed due to extensive non-combat damage, for a total of 284 aircraft. Another 84 planes had repairable non-combat damage. In 1987, Shores, Cull, and Malizia recorded losses of 220 aircraft destroyed and 64 written off due to damage, a total of 284 aircraft between 13 May and 1 June: 147 in combat, 73 non-combat, 64 written-off, and 125 damaged but repairable.[122][10] A total of 311 Luftwaffe aircrew were listed as killed or missing and 127 were wounded.[10] In a 1948 RAF staff publication, Luftwaffe losses were given as about 4,500 parachute and glider troop casualties and about 170 Ju 52s lost or severely damaged; losses in fighter and bomber units were small due to the lack of air opposition.[126]
The British lost 1,742 killed, 1,737 wounded, and 11,835 taken prisoner from a garrison of slightly more than 32,000 men; and there were 1,828 dead and 183 wounded Royal Navy personnel.[122] Of a force of more than 10,000 men, 5,255 Greek troops were captured.[127] After the war, the Allied graves from the four burial grounds that had been established by the Germans were moved to Souda Bay War Cemetery. A large number of civilians were killed in the crossfire or died fighting as partisans. Many Cretan civilians were shot by the Germans in reprisal during the battle and in the occupation.[128] One Cretan source puts the number of Cretans killed by Germans at 6,593 men, 1,113 women, and 869 children. German records put the number of Cretans executed by firing squad as 3,474 and at least 1,000 civilians were killed in massacres late in 1944.[129]
The Luftwaffe sank the cruisers HMS Gloucester, HMS Fiji, and HMS Calcutta and the destroyers Kelly, Greyhound and Kashmir from 22 May – 1 June. Italian bombers from 41° Gruppo sank the destroyer HMS Juno on 21 May and on 28 May damaged another destroyer, (HMS Imperial), beyond repair.[130][131] The British also lost the destroyer HMS Hereward on 29 May, when she was attacked by German Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive-bombers.[132]
Damage to the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, the battleships HMS Warspite and HMS Barham, the cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Dido, HMS Orion, and HMAS Perth, the submarine HMS Rover, the destroyers HMS Kelvin and HMS Nubian, kept them out of action for months. At anchor in Souda Bay, northern Crete, the heavy cruiser HMS York was disabled by Italian explosive motor boats and beached on 26 March; and was later wrecked by demolition charges when Crete was evacuated in May.[133] By 1 June, the eastern Mediterranean strength of the Royal Navy had been reduced to two battleships and three cruisers, against four battleships and eleven cruisers of the Italian Navy.[12] For the British, the Battle of Crete was the costliest naval engagement of the entire war.[134]
Royal Navy shipborne anti-aircraft gun claims for the period of 15–27 May amounted to: "Twenty enemy aircraft ... shot down for certain, with 11 probables. At least 15 aircraft appeared to have been damaged ..."; from 28 May – 1 June, another two aircraft were claimed shot down and six more damaged, for a total of 22 claimed destroyed, 11 probably destroyed and 21 damaged.[135]
Crete Military Casualties | Killed
|
Missing (presumed dead) |
Total Killed and Missing
|
Wounded | Captured | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
British Commonwealth | 3,579[136] | 3,579[4] | 1,918[4] | 12,254[137] | 17,754[138] | |
German[9] | 1,353 | 2,421 | 3,774 | 2,120 | 5,894 | |
Greek[5] | 426 | 118 | 544 | 5,225 | 5,769 |
Occupation
For the German occupation of Crete, see Fortress Crete.
See also
- Military history of Greece during World War II
- Battle of Maleme
- Invasion of Yugoslavia
- The 11th Day: Crete 1941 – documentary containing eyewitness accounts of participants in battle and resistance movement
- Fallschirmjäger memorial
- Von Blücher brothers
- Greek resistance
- Cretan resistance
- Crete Cuff Title
Notes
- a The following forces were present on Crete as of 20 May 1941: Armed Forces: 15,063; Royal Navy: 425; Royal Marines: 1,941; Royal Air Force: 618.[1]
- b From 20 May to 2 June: 4 Cruisers, 8 Destroyers, 2 Minesweepers, 5 Motor torpedo boats were sunk and 3 Battleships, 1 Aircraft Carrier, 7 Cruisers, 9 Destroyers and 2 assault ships were damaged.[6][139]
- c Between 13 May to 1 June 147 in combat, 73 non-combat, 64 written-off and 125 damaged.[10]
- d Italian submarines: Nereide, Tricheco, Uarsciek, Fisalia, Topazio, Adua, Dessie, Malachite, Squalo, Smeraldo and Sirena.[35]
- e After the King had escaped to Crete on 22 April and issued a defiant memorandum to the Germans, Hitler responded by attacking him in a speech on 4 May. The British feared a propaganda coup if a sovereign monarch under their protection were to be captured and helped him to escape.[140]
- Bernard Freyberg • Clive Hulme • Robert Laycock • Patrick Leigh Fermor • John Pendlebury • George Psychoundakis • Max Schmeling • Theodore Stephanides • Evelyn Waugh (the battle forms an important episode in Waugh's novel Officers and Gentlemen, part of the Sword of Honour trilogy) • Lawrence Durrell • Charles Upham • Geoffrey Cox • Dan Davin(New Zealand Official Historian of the battle)
References
- ^ a b c d e f Daniel M. Davin (1953). "The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945". Victoria University of Wellington. p. 480. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ^ "(Greek) page 10, retrieved on 27.5.2010: 474 officers and 10,977 soldiers" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
- ^ "Air War for Yugoslavia Greece and Crete 1940–41" p. 402
- ^ a b c Davin, p. 486 and Playfair, p.147, for RN Casualties.
- ^ a b Αγώνες και νεκροί του Ελληνικου Στρατού κατά το Δεύτερο Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο 1940–1945 [Struggles and Dead of the Greek Army during the Second World War 1940–1945] (in Greek). Athens: Γενικό Επιτελειο Στρατού, Διεύθυνση Ιστορίας Στρατού [General Staff of the Army, Army History Directorate]. 1990. pp. 15–16.
- ^ a b See Casualties Section
- ^ "How British Bungling Lost the Battle for Crete in WWII". www.thenationalherald.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
- ^ a b c "The Historical Combat Effectiveness of Lighter-Weight Armored Forces" (PDF). The Dupuy Institute. 2001. p. 84. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- ^ a b c d Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987, p. 403
- ^ "The Battle for Crete". www.nzhistory.net.nz. Archived from the original on 21 April 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
- ^ a b Pack 1973, p. 91.
- ISBN 978-1-4728-0990-2. Archivedfrom the original on 28 September 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
The first convincing demonstration of this potential in operational conditions came in May 1941, when the entire plan for the German airborne capture of Crete was decrypted two weeks before the invasion took place.
- ISBN 978-0-14-016787-0.
- ^ Maloney, Shane (July 2006). "Bogin, Hopit". The Monthly. Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
- ^ a b Beevor 1991, pp. 229–230
- ^ Long 1953, p. 203,
- ^ a b Beevor 1991, p. 11
- ^ Murfett 2008, p. 114
- ^ Long 1953, p. 205.
- ^ Churchill & Gilbert 1983, p. 898
- ^ Pack 1973, p. 21.
- ^ Spencer 1962, p. 95.
- ^ a b c d Schreiber, Stegemann & Vogel 1995, pp. 530–531
- ^ Brown 2002, pp. 1–2
- ^ Vick 1995, p. 27
- ^ Richards 1974, pp. 324–325.
- ^ Richards 1974, pp. 325–327.
- ^ Playfair et al. 1956, p. 126.
- ^ Long 1953, pp. 218–219.
- ^ a b Cunningham, Section 2 paragraph 5
- ^ Long 1953, pp. 210–213
- ^ Antill 2005, p. 13.
- ^ Air 2001, p. 124.
- ^ a b Bertke, Smith & Kindell 2012, p. 505
- ^ a b Hinsley 1994, pp. 81–82.
- ^ Buckley 1952, p. 163.
- ^ Antill 2005, p. 25.
- ^ MacDonald 1995, p. 153.
- ^ a b c Antill 2005, p. 24.
- ^ a b c Kavanaugh 2010, p. 38
- ^ Kavanaugh 2010, p. 39
- ^ Antill 2005, p. 32
- ^ a b c Vick 1995
- ^ a b Keegan 2011, p. 135
- ^ Keegan 2011, pp. 135–138
- ^ Germany and the Second World War, Volume 3, Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, p. 546, Oxford University Press, 1995
- ^ Donald, Haddon; Hutching, Megan (2000). "Haddon Donald describes defending Maleme airfield, Crete". New Zealand History online. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- ^ a b c "The battle: days 1–3 – The Battle for Crete". New Zealand History online. 2011. Archived from the original on 2 February 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- ^ a b c Long 1953, pp. 221–255.
- ^ "The controversies – The Battle for Crete | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". www.nzhistory.net.nz. Archived from the original on 16 December 2008. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
- ^ a b c Donoghue, Tim (2011). "Officer breaks rank over the Battle of Crete". stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ^ "Battle of Crete: Greece sacrificed much for the greater good – Neos Kosmos". 30 May 2010. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- ^ "Battle of Crete". www.lawrencewattskiwiwarhistory.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- ^ Pack 1973, p. 32.
- ^ Roskill 1957, p. 441.
- ^ Greene & Massignani 1998, p. 170.
- ^ a b c Bilalis, Aris (2019). "The German convoys to Crete". Naftiki Ellas. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021 – via Academia.edu.
- ^ O'Hara 2009, pp. 119
- ^ Beevor 1991, p. 164
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987, pp. 357
- ISBN 978-0-608-13736-0. Archivedfrom the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ Cunningham, Section 1, paragraph 5.
- ^ a b Greene & Massignani 1998, p. 172.
- ^ a b Beevor 1991, p. 167
- ^ a b c Otter, Chapter 14
- ^ Cunningham, Section 1, paragraph 8, and Section 2, paragraphs 30-35.
- ^ Cunningham, Section 2, paragraph 35.
- ^ Roskill 1957, p. 442.
- ^ Cunningham, Section 2, paragraph 38.
- ^ Beevor 1991, pp. 166–168.
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987, pp. 357–9
- ^ Roskill 1957, p. 443.
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987, p. 358.
- ^ Beevor 1991, pp. 170–171.
- ^ Roskill 1957, pp. 443–444.
- ^ Davin 1953, pp. 289–292.
- ^ Davin 1953, pp. 71–72
- ^ a b c Ansel 1972, pp. 401–402.
- ^ Schenk, p.25
- ^ a b Ansel 1972, pp. 401–402
- ^ Cadogan, Alexander (1972). The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan 1938–1945: Edited by David Dilks, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. Page 381.
- ^ a b c d Saunders 1959, p. 55
- ^ Davin 1953, pp. 377–379
- ^ a b Forty, George, The Battle of Crete Ian Allan, London, 2001, p. 129
- ^ Germany and the Second World War, Volume 3, Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, p. 549, Oxford University Press, 1995
- ^ ISBN 978-0-405-13030-4
- ISBN 978-1-78289-318-9. Archivedfrom the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-921941-24-5. Archivedfrom the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-85109-969-6. Archivedfrom the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ "Egeo in Guerra – Lo sbarco italiano a Creta del maggio 1941". Archived from the original on 3 February 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
- ^ Playfair et al. 1956, p. 144.
- ^ Chappell 1996, p. 16
- ^ Roskill 1957, pp. 444–446.
- ^ Playfair et al. 1956, pp. 142, 146.
- ^ Beevor 1991, pp. 116–117
- ^ MacDonald 1995, pp. 176–178.
- ^ MacDonald 1995, p. 195.
- ^ Beevor 1991, pp. 342, 235–248.
- ^ Kiriakopoulos 1995, pp. 32–34.
- ^ Beevor 1991, pp. 236, 342.
- ^ Beevor 1991, pp. 292, 165.
- ^ Beevor 1991, pp. 231.
- ^ Stein, Stuart. "Noteworthy War Criminals". University of the West of England. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
- ^ Willmott 2008, pp. 128–129.
- ^ Germany and the Second World War, Volume IV, The Attack on the Soviet Union, Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt ed, (1995), see especially p.376; McDonald, C. (1995) The Lost Battle: Crete 1941, pp. 63–84.
- ^ a b "PART FIVE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CAMPAIGNS IN THE BALKANS AND". history.army.mil. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ Pack 1973, p. 57
- ^ Vick 1995, p. 21
- ^ "A Brief History of the RAF Regiment". Ministry of Defence. 2012. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ^ Playfair et al. 1956, pp. 148–149.
- ^ Hinsley 1994, pp. 82–84.
- ISBN 978-1-4746-0832-9.
- ^ Beevor 1991, Appendix C.
- ISBN 978-1-135-17934-2. Archivedfrom the original on 28 September 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
It appears that General Freyberg was introduced to Ultra only shortly before the battle of Crete began and therefore had no time to become familiar with its proper interpretation. This situation was exacerbated by the fact that 'he was forbidden to show it (the information derived from Ultra) to anyone or to discuss it with his intelligence staff.' [...] Moreover, tight security regulations prohibiting him from taking action on the basis of uncorroborated Ultra evidence limited its value.
- ^ Antill 2005, p. 36.
- ^ Hinsley 1994, p. 84.
- ^ Hinsley 1994, pp. 84–85.
- ^ Davin 1953, pp. 486–488.
- ^ Davin 1953, p. 488.
- ^ Davin 1953, p. 486.
- ^ a b c Playfair et al. 1956, p. 147.
- ^ Taylor 1986, p. 299.
- ^ Anon 1952, pp. 139–141.
- ^ Davin 1953, pp. 486–487.
- ^ Air 2001, p. 125.
- ^ Long 1953, p. 316.
- ^ "Οι ωμότητες των Γερμανών στην Κρήτη". www.patris.gr. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
- ^ MacDonald 1995, p. 303.
- ^ Higham 2006, p. 166
- ^ Cloutier 2013, p. 71
- ^ English 1993, p. 107
- ^ Whitley 1999, p. 94.
- ^ "How British Bungling Lost the Battle for Crete in WWII". www.thenationalherald.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
- ^ Cunningham, Paragraph 78 and Paragraphs 1–54 of the last section
- ^ Davin, p. 486 and Playfair, p.147, for RN Casualties. This number includes those missing in action.
- ^ Davin, p. 486. The total number excludes several hundred RN PoWs.
- ^ Davin, p. 486 and Playfair, p.147, for RN Casualties. The total number excludes several hundred RN PoWs.
- ^ David A. Thomas (1972). "The Naval Battle for Crete". National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
- ^ Buckley 1952, p. 211
Sources
- Ansel, Walter (1972). Hitler and the Middle Sea. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-0224-7.
- Antill, Peter D. (2005). Crete 1941: Germany's lightning airborne assault. Campaign series. Oxford; New York: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-844-1.
- ISBN 978-0-7195-4857-4.
- Bertke, Donald A.; Smith, Gordon; Kindell, Don (2012). World War II Sea War: The Royal Navy is Bloodied in the Mediterranean. Vol. III. Lulu. ]
- Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: November 1940 – December 1941. Whitehall Histories. Vol. II. London: Whitehall History in association with Frank Cass. ISBN 978-0-7146-5205-4.
- Buckley, Christopher (1952). Greece and Crete 1941. Second World War, 1939–1945; a popular military history. London: HMSO.
- Chappell, Mike (1996). Army Commandos 1940–1945. Elite. London: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-85532-579-1.
- Churchill, Randolph Spencer; Gilbert, Martin (1983). Winston S. Churchill: Finest hour, 1939–1941. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-34402-6.
- Cloutier, Patrick (2013). Regio Esercito: The Italian Royal Army in Mussolini's Wars, 1935–1943. Lulu. ]
- "Cunningham, A. B., The Battle of Crete, Despatch to the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty, 4 August 1941". The London Gazette (Supplement). No. 38296. 21 May 1948. pp. 3103–3119.
- from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- English, John (1993). Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. Kendal, England: World Ship Society. ISBN 978-0-905617-64-0.
- Gill, George Hermon (1957). Royal Australian Navy, 1939–1942. from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
- Greene, Jack; Massignani, Alessandro (1998). The Naval War in the Mediterranean 1940–1943. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-057-9.
- Higham, Robin (2006). Why Air Forces Fail: The Anatomy of Defeat. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-81317-174-6.
- Hill, Maria (2010). Diggers and Greeks: The Australian Campaigns in Greece and Crete. UNSW Press. ISBN 978-1-74223-245-4.
- Hinsley, F. H. (1994) [1993]. British Intelligence in the Second World War. Its influence on Strategy and Operations. History of the Second World War. abr. (2nd rev. ed.). London: ISBN 978-0-11-630961-7.
- H. M. Ships Damaged or Sunk by Enemy Action, 1939–1945 (PDF). No ISBN. London: Admiralty: Director of Naval Construction. 1952. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- Kavanaugh, Stephen (2010). Hitler's Malta Option: A Comparison of the Invasion of Crete (Operation Merkur) and the Proposed Invasion of Malta (Operation Hercules). Nimble Books. ISBN 978-1-60888-030-0.
- ISBN 978-1-4464-9649-7.
- Kiriakopoulos, G. C. (1995). The Nazi Occupation of Crete: 1941–1945. Santa Babara, CA: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-95277-8.
- from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- MacDonald, Callum (1995). The Lost Battle – Crete 1941. Papermac. ISBN 978-0-333-61675-8.
- Murfett, Malcolm H. (2008). Naval Warfare 1919–1945: An Operational History of the Volatile War at Sea. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-45804-7.
- Naval Operations in the Battle of Crete, 20th May – 1st June 1941. Naval Staff History, Second World War. Battle Summary (rev. ed.). London: Admiralty Historical Section. 1960 [194]. OCLC 224008525. BR 1732 (2).
- ISBN 978-1-59114-648-3.
- Otter, Ken (2001) [1999]. HMS Gloucester: The Untold Story (2nd ed.). Durham, UK: G.A.M. Books. OCLC 59524624.
- Pack, S.W.C. (1973). The Battle for Crete. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-810-1.
- ISBN 978-1-84574-066-5. Archivedfrom the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
- Richards, Denis (1974) [1953]. Royal Air Force 1939–1945: The Fight at Odds. Vol. I (paperback (online) ed.). London: ISBN 978-0-11-771592-9. Archivedfrom the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- from the original on 9 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- Saunders, Hilary St. George (1959) [1949]. The Green Beret: The Commandos at War. Four Square Books. London: Landsborough. OCLC 503725176.
- Shores, Christopher; Cull, Brian; Malizia, Nicola (1987). Air War For Yugoslavia, Greece, and Crete 1940–41. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-0-948817-07-6.
- Spencer, John H. (1962). Battle for Crete. London: Heinemann. OCLC 2517566.
- Schreiber, Gerhard; Stegemann, Bernd; Vogel, Detlef (1995). Germany and the Second World War: The Mediterranean, South-east Europe, and North Africa, 1939–1941. Vol. III. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822884-4.
- Taylor, Nancy Margaret (2004) [1986]. "8 Blood is Spilt". The Home Front. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945. Vol. I (New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (online) ed.). Wellington, NZ: Historical Publications Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Government of New Zealand. from the original on 20 December 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- The German Campaigns in the Balkans (Spring 1941). Dept of the Army Pamphlet. Washington, DC: Dept. of the Army, Office of the Chief of Military History. 1952. from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- The Rise and Fall of the German Air Force. Air 41/10 (Public Record Office War Histories ed.). Richmond, Surrey: ISBN 978-1-903365-30-4.
- Vick, Alan (1995). Snakes in the Eagle's Nest: A History of Ground Attacks on Air Bases. Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-1629-4.
- Whitley, M. J. (1999). Cruisers of World War II. London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 978-1-86019-874-8.
- Willmott, H. P. (2008). The Great Crusade: A New Complete History of the Second World War (rev. ed.). Washington, DC: Potomac Books. ISBN 978-1-61234-387-7.
Further reading
- Books
- Badsey, Stephen (2000). The Hutchinson Atlas of World War II Battle Plans: Before and After. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-57958-265-4.
- Barber, Laurie; Tonkin-Covell, John (1990). Freyberg: Churchill's Salamander. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 978-1-86941-052-0.
- Beevor, Antony (1991). Crete: The Battle and the Resistance. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-016787-0.
- Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: November 1940 – December 1941. Whitehall Histories. Vol. II. London: Whitehall History in association with Frank Cass. ISBN 978-0-7146-5205-4.
- ISBN 978-0-395-41057-8.
- Clark, Alan (1989) [1962]. The Fall of Crete. London: Anthony Blond. ISBN 978-960-226-090-6.
- Cody, J. F. (2004) [1956]. 28 Maori Battalion. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 (New Zealand Electronic Text Centre [online] ed.). Wellington: Historical Publications Branch. from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
- Comeau, M. G. (2000). Operation Mercury: Airmen in the Battle of Crete. J & K. H. Publishing. ISBN 978-1-900511-79-7.
- Elliot, Murray (1992) [1987]. Vasili: The Lion of Crete. London, Australia, South Africa (Greek pbk. Efstathiadis Group ed.). New Zealand: Century Hutchinson. ISBN 978-960-226-348-8.
- Ewer, Peter (2008). Forgotten Anzacs: The Campaign in Greece, 1941. Carlton North, Vic.: Scribe. OCLC 457093199.
- Guard, Julie (2007). Airborne: World War II Paratroopers in Combat. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-196-0.
- Hadjipateras, Costas; Fafalios, Maria (1989). Crete 1941, Eyewitnessed. Efstathiadis Group. ISBN 978-960-226-184-2.
- Harokopos, George (1993). Spilios Menounos (ed.). The Fortress Crete 1941–1944 The Secret War 1941–1944: Espionage and Counter-Espionage in Occupied Crete. English translation: B. Giannikos (Greek paperback ed.). Seagull. ISBN 978-960-7296-35-1.
- Hellenic Army General Staff (1997). An Abridged History of the Greek-Italian and Greek-German War, 1940–1941 (Land Operations). Athens: Army History Directorate Editions. OCLC 45409635.
- Hill, Maria (2010). Diggers and Greeks. UNSW Press. ISBN 978-1-74223-014-6.
- Kiriakopoulos, G. C. (1985). Ten Days to Destiny: The Battle for Crete, 1941. ISBN 978-0-380-70102-5.
- Kokonas M. D., N. A. (1993). Leigh Fermor, P. (ed.). The Cretan Resistance 1941–1945: The Official British Report of 1945 Together with Comments by British Officers who took part in the Resistance (Greek pbk ed.). London. ISBN 978-960-85329-0-8.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Lind, Lew (1991). Flowers of Rethymno: Escape from Crete. Kangaroo Press. ISBN 978-0-86417-394-2.
- Mazower, Mark (1993). Inside Hitler's Greece: The Experience of Occupation 1941–44. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-05804-8.
- OCLC 21896524.
- OCLC 1027344.
- Nasse, Jean-Yves (2002). Fallschirmjager in Crete, 1941: The Merkur Operation. Histoire & Collections. ISBN 978-2-913903-37-1.
- Nigl, Alfred (2007). Silent Wings Savage Death: Saga of the 82nd Airborne's Glider Artillery in World War II. Santa Ana, CA: Graphic Publishers. ISBN 978-1-882824-31-1.
- Palazzo, Albert (2007). The Battle of Crete. Australian Army Campaigns. Canberra, Australia: Australian Military History Publications. ISBN 978-0-9757669-1-0.
- Psychoundakis, George (1991) [1955]. Patrick Leigh Fermor (ed.). ISBN 978-960-226-013-5.
- Richter, Heinz A. (2011). Operation Merkur. Die Eroberung der Insel Kreta im Mai 1941 [Operation Mercury. The Conquest of the Island Crete in May, 1941] (in German). Rutzen. ISBN 978-3-447-06423-1.
- Ross, A. (2004) [1959]. 23 Battalion. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 (New Zealand Electronic Text Centre [online] ed.). Wellington: Historical Publications Branch. from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
- Sadler, John (2007). Op Mercury, The Fall of Crete 1941. Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-84415-383-1.
- Saunders, Tim (2007). Crete. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-84415-557-6.
- Schenk, Peter (2000). Kampf um die Ägäis: die Kriegsmarine in den griechischen Gewässern 1941–1945 [Battle for the Aegean Sea, the Navy in Greek waters 1941–1945] (in German). Mittler & Sohn. ISBN 978-3-8132-0699-9.
- Spencer, John Hall (2008). Battle for Crete. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-84415-770-9.
- ISBN 978-0-19-821715-2.
- Thomas, D. A. (1980) [1972]. Crete 1941: The Battle at Sea (Greek pbk edition (in English): Efstathiadis Group, Athens ed.). London: Andre Deutsch. OCLC 11023583.
- Willingham, Matthew (2005). Perilous Commitments: The Battle for Greece and Crete 1940–1941. Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-236-1.
- Websites
- Power, Graham. "The Battle of Pink Hill". Power Publishing. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
- Power, Graham. "The ANZACs at 42nd Street" (PDF). Power Publishing. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 May 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
External links
- HMS Ajax at Crete Archived 29 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine
- New Zealand History Second World War
- Australian War Memorial Second World War Official Histories
- H.M. Ships Damaged or Sunk by Enemy Action, 1939–1945
- Landing in the bay of Sitia 28 May 1941 r. (PL)
- Battle of Crete Photo and Documents Archive
- John Dillon's Battle of Crete site
- Stoker Harold Siddall Royal Navy, his capture on Crete and life as a POW
- Richard Hargreaves: The Invasion of Crete
- Admiral Sir A. B. Cunningham, The Battle of Crete
- Charles Prestidge‐King, The Battle of Crete: A Re‐evaluation
- James Cagney, 2011, Animated Maps of The Battle of Crete Archived 1 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- The 11th Day: Crete 1941 Archived 7 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine