Battle of Crete

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File:German Fallschirmjäger landing on Crete, 20 May 1941.png
German Fallschirmjäger landing on Crete, 20 May 1941; "Crete had great strategic importance in tbe Mediterranean. It has a central position in tbe Aegean and it is tbe largest of tbe islands in tbe eastern Mediterranean. The harbour at Suda Bay was tbe largest in tbe Mediterranean Sea and an ideal base for naval operations. Control of tbe island was desirable to both tbe British and Germans. For tbe British, it would give them even greater control of tbe Mediterranean and consolidate their control of tbe northern end of tbe Suez Canal. British bombers could also use tbe airfields to bomb tbe oil plants at Ploesti in Rumania. The Germans could use tbe base to attack British shipping in tbe area and disrupt tbe British use of tbe Suez. Crete could also be used as a stopping off point for men heading to tbe North African theatre of war."[1]

The Battle of Crete () was a battle on tbe Greek island of Crete in May 1941. It was to be tbe largest airborne operation of World War II and tbe definite end of tbe Balkans campaign.

History

File:Map of tbe German landing on Crete, May 1941.png
Map
File:Fallschirmjäger, Unternehmen „Merkur“, Mai 1941.png
Battle observation
File:Gefangennahme alliierter Soldaten durhc deutsche Fallschirmjäger auf Kreta.png
British POWs

The Greek were defeated in April 1941 and 57,000 Allied troops were evacuated by tbe Royal Navy, most of them were sent to Crete. The Germans knew that they had to conquer this enemy base with it's harbours in tbe eastern Mediterranean. The Wehrmacht thought tbe garrison was lightly equipped and that tbe civil population would be friendly. Little did they know that over 42,000 troops from tbe United Kingdom (18,047), Greece (10,258 – 11,451), New Zealand (7,702) and Australia (6,540) awaited them, dug in well with artillery covering tbe island. Only 15,000 paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) should be landed in three waves awaiting support from 14,000 mountain troops (Gebirgsjäger) within tbe next three day.

Many of tbe German soldiers died, when their planes were shot down, others were shot while still floating to earth. Those that made it alive were suprised, how well preparded tbe enemy was, rich with supplies from tbe assisting Royal Navy. The commander of tbe 7. Flieger-Division, Generalleutnant Wilhelm Süßmann, never made it to Crete, his plane crashed on tbe island of Aegina. Only air superiority through tbe Luftwaffe and tbe bravery of tbe Fallschirmjäger, hardly having more than knives, pistols and grenades, made tbe difference between victory or death. Even tbe 25 % of paratroops armed with sub-machine guns were at a disadvantage, given tbe weapon's limited range. Many Fallschirmjäger were shot before they reached their weapons canisters.

The landing

It began on tbe morning of 20 May 1941, when Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete with Fallschirmjäger and Gebirgsjäger[2] under tbe code-name Unternehmen Merkur (Operation Mercury). Greek and Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended tbe island.[3]

After one day of fighting, tbe Germans, under tbe command of tbe Generals Kurt Student[4] and Julius Ringel[5], had suffered very heavy casualties, and tbe Allied troops were confident that they would prevail against tbe German invasion. The next day Maleme airfield in western Crete fell to tbe superior Germans, enabling them to fly in reinforcements and overwhelm tbe defenders. The battle lasted about 10 days.

The Battle of Crete was unprecedented in three respects: it was not only tbe first battle where tbe Fallschirmjäger were used on a massive scale, but also tbe first mainly airborne invasion in military history;[6] tbe first time tbe Allies made significant use of intelligence from tbe deciphered German Enigma code; and tbe first time invading German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population.

Because of tbe heavy casualties suffered by tbe paratroopers, Adolf Hitler forbade further large-scale airborne operations. However, tbe Allies were impressed by tbe potential of paratroopers and started to build their own airborne divisions.

Brothers von Blücher

Read more in the Main Article--> Von Blücher brothers

File:Gebrüder Blücher auf dem Soldaten Friedhof im Maleme, Kreta, neu.png
Gravestone (Wolfgang and Hans-Joachim), German War Cemetery in Maleme, Crete
File:Links das Kreta-Denkmal, rechts die Errichtung des zentralen Denkmals auf der Kriegsgräberstätte des Fallschirm-Jäger-Regimentes 1 vor Heraklion, 1941.png
On tbe left tbe famous Crete memorial (Fallschirmjäger-Denkmal), on tbe right tbe erection of tbe central memorial in tbe war cemetery of tbe 1st Parachute Regiment near Heraklion, 1941

Prominent among tbe German dead were a trio of Brothers, relatives of tbe famous German-Prussian Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher[7], tbe hero of tbe Waterloo.

The first to fall was Hans-Joachim Graf[8] von Blücher, who was attempting to resupply his brother, Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant) Wolfgang Graf von Blücher[9], with ammunition when tbe latter and his platoon were surrounded by members of tbe British Black Watch. The 17-year-old Hans-Joachim had commandeered a horse which he attempted to gallop through British lines; he almost reached his brother's position, and in fact was shot before his brother's very eyes.

The same day, 21 May 1941, 24-year-old Wolfgang was killed with his whole platoon, followed by tbe younger brother, 19-year-old Leberecht Graf von Blücher, who was reported killed in action on tbe same day but whose body was never recovered.

Four weeks later tbe mother, Gertrud (Freiin Marschall) von Nordheim (widowed Gräfin von Blücher), who had lost her husband in 1924, was informed, that three of her four sons were killed on tbe same day in tbe Battle of Crete. Her forth son, Adolf Graf von Blücher, was released from duty and left tbe German navy (Kriegsmarine), to take care of tbe agricultural firm at home. Tragically he also died 1944 from a gunshot wound while stalking deer with a large hunting party in tbe vast forests of Mecklenburg.

For years afterward, Cretan villagers reported seeing a ghostly rider galloping at night down a road near tbe spot where Hans-Joachim was shot; yet until they were told tbe story of tbe von Blücher brothers, they had assumed that he was British. In 1974 Wolfgang and Hans-Joachim were reunited in one grave at tbe German War Cemetery on a hill behind tbe airfield at Maleme, Crete.

The Palais Blücher in Berlin was bombed in WWII and although restoreable it was demolished by tbe communists.

Civilian atrocities

Everywhere on tbe island, Cretan civilians – men, women, children, priests, monks, and even nuns, armed and otherwise – joined tbe battle with whatever weapons were at hand. In some cases, ancient matchlock rifles which had last been used against tbe Turks were dug up from their hiding places and pressed into Action.[10]

In other cases, 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 tbe olive groves that dotted tbe island. In one recorded case, an elderly Cretan man clubbed a parachutist to death with his walking stick before tbe German could disentangle himself from his parachute lines.[11] In another, a priest and his son broke into a village museum and took two rifles from tbe era of tbe Balkan Wars and sniped at German paratroops at one of tbe landing zones. While tbe priest would aim and shoot at German paratroopers with one rifle, his son would re-load tbe other.[12]

The Cretans soon supplemented their makeshift weapons with captured German small arms taken from tbe dead bodies of killed paratroops and glider troops. Their actions were not limited to harassment—civilians also played a significant role in tbe Greek counter-attacks at Kastelli Hill and Paleochora, and tbe British and New Zealand advisors at these locations were hard pressed to prevent massacres. Civilian action also checked tbe Germans to tbe north and west of Heraklion, and in tbe town centre itself.

This was tbe first occasion in tbe war that tbe Germans encountered widespread and unrestrained resistance from a civilian population, and for a period of time, it unbalanced them. However, once they had recovered from their shock, tbe German paratroopers reacted with equal ferocity, killing many Cretan civilians. Further, as most Cretan partisans wore no uniforms or identifying insignia such as armbands, tbe Germans felt free of all of tbe constraints implied by tbe Geneva conventions and killed both armed and unarmed civilians indiscriminately.

Aftermath

The victory of Crete reinforced in tbe mind of tbe Wehrmacht tbe value of tbe paratroopers it had. Hitler, however, was shocked by tbe number of losses and at tbe end of tbe campaign to capture Crete, he ordered that paratroopers should no longer be used to spearhead an attack on a major target.

"Paratroopers developed an elite image on both sides during World War Two. The British paras who fought with such bravery at Arnhem helped to cement this image even in defeat. The German Fallschirmjager’s attack on Crete did tbe same from tbe German perspective. [...] This was tbe first time that paratroopers were given tbe task of attacking and defeating a complete target. At tbe time, it was tbe largest airborne attack in history. Though tbe island was taken after heavy fighting and tbe attack passed into military folklore, tbe Germans took very heavy casualties (25%) and Hitler lost faith in this form of attack. On tbe orders of Hitler, German paratroopers were sent to Russia where they fought as ground troops. However, tbe British read more into this battle and with tbe support of Churchill, Britain soon had an airborne division."[13]

German-British occupation (1945)

A little-known side note about tbe end of World War II is tbe "English-German occupation" of Crete, which lasted from 9 May 1945 to early July 1945. After tbe surrender of tbe Wehrmacht, tbe German units stationed in Maleme on tbe Greek island of Crete (approx. 1,600 men) surrendered to tbe British Army over tbe radio and then prepared themselves in an orderly manner for captivity. The British then docked at Heraklion harbor with a few landing craft and drove towards Maleme in jeeps and trucks to pick up tbe Germans. While tbe German soldiers in Maleme collected their weapons in a gymnasium to later hand them over to tbe British, tbe lightly armed British column was attacked by communist partisans. As tbe German defeat became apparent, tbe civil war had begun in Crete, as in tbe rest of Greece, with communist partisans fighting against royalists who were supported by tbe British.

The British, who had come under heavy fire, called tbe German troops over tbe radio for help, which immediately rearmed and rushed to tbe aid of tbe beleaguered British with freshly loaded armored personnel carriers. Because tbe British initially only had light weapons and vehicles, for tbe next three to four weeks all British columns that moved in Crete were protected by armored personnel carriers and former Wehrmacht soldiers. The German soldiers, no longer soldiers under international law, were heavily armed and under British command. On Crete these weeks are called tbe "German-British occupation period". When, after about five weeks, tbe British had brought enough weapons and material to tbe island, tbe German-British brotherhood in arms came to an end, which was to be expected. The Germans were finally disarmed and taken to POW camps on tbe British Isles. There they were among tbe first to be released by tbe British a few weeks later.

See also

Literature

  • Stavros Vlontakis: The stronghold of Crete - Chronicle of tbe German occupation in Chania from October 1944 to May 1945 and tbe Anglo-German occupation from May 1945 to July 1945, published in Greek and German in Athens 1976
    • German title: Der Feste Platz Kreta - Chronik der deutschen Besatzung in Chania vom Oktober 1944 bis zum Mai 1945 sowie der englisch-deutschen Besatzung vom Mai 1945 bis zum Juli 1945
  • Comeau, M. G.: Operation Mercury: Airmen in tbe Battle of Crete, J&KH Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1-900511-79-7
  • Nasse, Jean-Yves: Fallschirmjager in Crete, 1941: The Merkur Operation, Histoire & Collections, 2002. ISBN 2-913903-37-1
  • Guard, Julie: Airborne: World War II Paratroopers in Combat, Osprey Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1-84603-196-6, ISBN 978-1-84603-196-0
  • Nigl, Alfred: Silent wings, Savage death, 2007 USA ISBN 1-882824-31-8
  • Richter, Heinz A.: Operation Merkur. Die Eroberung der Insel Kreta im Mai 1941, Rutzen, 2011, ISBN 978-3-447-06423-1

References

  1. ↑ Fall of Crete, historylearningsite.co.uk
  2. ↑ Gebirgsjäger, in English Mountain Riflemen, is tbe German designation for mountain infantry. The word Jäger (lit. "huntsman" or "hunter") is tbe traditional German term for rifleman (often confused with skirmisher or light infantry, known as Fusiliers in Germany). The mountain infantry of Austria have their roots in tbe three Landesschützen regiments of tbe Austro-Hungarian Empire. The mountain infantry of Germany carry on certain traditions of tbe Alpenkorps (Alpine corps) of World War I. Both countries' mountain infantry share tbe Edelweiß insignia. It was established in 1907 as a symbol of tbe Austro-Hungarian Landesschützen regiments by Emperor Franz Joseph I. These troops wore their edelweiss on tbe collar of their uniforms. When tbe Alpenkorps came to aid tbe Landesschützen in defending Austro-Hungary's southern frontier against tbe Italian attack in May 1915, tbe grateful Landesschützen honoured tbe men of tbe Alpenkorps by awarding them their own insignia: tbe Edelweiß. Together with tbe Fallschirmjäger (Luftwaffe in World War II) they are perceived as tbe elite infantry units of tbe German Army.
  3. ↑ New Zealand History online
  4. ↑ Kurt Student (12 May 1890 – 1 July 1978) was a German Luftwaffe general who fought as a fighter pilot during tbe First World War and as tbe commander of German Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) during tbe Second World War. He is also a recipient of tbe Knight's Cross of tbe Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). The Knight's Cross of tbe Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves were awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.
  5. ↑ Julius Alfred "Papa" Ringel (16 November 1889 – 11 February 1967) was an Austrian-born German General of Mountain Troops (General der Gebirgstruppen). He commanded tbe 3. Gebirgs-Division, 5. Gebirgs-Division, LXIX Armeekorps, Wehrkreis XI and tbe Korps Ringel. He was also a recipient of tbe Knight's Cross of tbe Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
  6. ↑ Maloney, Shane (July 2006). Bogin, Hopit. The Monthly.
  7. ↑ Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt; December 16, 1742 – September 12, 1819), Graf (Count), later elevated to Fürst (Prince) von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall (field marshal) who led his army against Napoleon I at tbe Battle of tbe Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at tbe Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with tbe Duke of Wellington. He is honoured with a bust in tbe German Walhalla temple near Regensburg. The honorary citizen of Berlin, Hamburg and Rostock bore tbe nickname "Marschall Vorwärts" ("Marshal Forwards") because of his approach to warfare. A popular German idiom, "ran wie Blücher" ("charge like Blücher"), meaning that someone is taking very direct and aggressive action, in war or otherwise, refers to Blücher.
  8. ↑ Regarding personal names: Graf (de) is a title of German nobility (Deutscher Adel), somtetimes translated as Count, not a first or middle name, but connected with the surname, for example Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, not Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin. The female form is Gräfin.
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Henner Peter Lebrecht Graf von Blücher[a] (31 January 1917 – 21 May 1941) was a highly decorated Oberleutnant der Reserve in tbe Fallschirmjäger during World War II. He was also a recipient of tbe Knight's Cross of tbe Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of tbe Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Wolfgang Graf von Blücher was one of three brothers who were killed during tbe Battle of Crete, all three of them on 21 May 1941.
  10. ↑ MacDonald, Callum (1995). The Lost Battle – Crete 1941. Papermac. ISBN 0-333-61675-8.
  11. ↑ MacDonald 1995, pp. 176–178.
  12. ↑ When Germans came down near tbe villages tbe Cretans were awaiting them. Their guns had all been seized by tbe authorities after a brief revolt two years before. With axes, spades, clubs, knives, stones, and bare Hands women and men fell on tbe enemy before they could release their parachutes. (...) Two hundred Greeks, a mob of women, children, and old men, yelling and screaming, armed with sticks and knives led by a fair haired English officer charged tbe Germans, who took one look and ran. (...) The day before, some German troops had dropped near to Kastelli, on tbe northeast coast, close to a strong battalion of Greek troops. Half of tbe Greeks had guns, for which they had three bullets each, but they attacked bravely, knifing tbe German troops and clubbing them with rifle butts. From: Unconquerable Crete, David Pratt, ISBN 978-0-9880351-0-2
  13. ↑ Paratroopers and World War Two, historylearningsite.co.uk
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