The battle for Greece & Crete.pdf - Army Museum of South Australia

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CasualtiesCountry Killed Missing Wounded POWsAustraliaNew ZealandBritish (Army)Royal MarinesRAFTotal274671612114711,7425071,4552443091,7373,1091,6925,3151,03522811,836GreeksGerman5921,990 1,9952,594500 German aircraft were destroyed.The German perspectiveIt would appear that Hitler was not keen to invade Crete however two of his Generals thought that itwas important for Germany to control Crete.General Halder in 1940 in his concept for controlling the Eastern Mediterranean considered that it wasnecessary for Germany to gain control of Crete. General Kurt Student of the XI Corps had similarviews and after discussing the concept with Reichmarshal Goering he was encouraged by Goering toplace his case before Hitler. Student was successful in convincing Hitler and the fate of Crete wassealed.Operation Merkur (Mercury)The plan to invade Crete was given the code name ‘Operation Merkur (Mercury) ‘. It was decidedthere would be a simultaneous attack by air on the towns of Maleme, Canea, Sunda Bay, Retimo, andHeraklion. This initial plan was later changed to an attack on Maleme and Canea in the morning andRetimo and Heraklion in the afternoon with the airborne attack to be supported by two seabornelandings at Maleme and Heraklion. This seaborne support did not occur as the invasion fleet wascompletely destroyed by the Royal Navy.Lord Haw-Haw (William Joyce) the British traitor used by the Germans for propaganda called Cretethe “Island of Doomed Men”.The Invasion of CreteAir attacks began on the 14 th May to soften up the defence for the airborne landings to take place on the20 th May – by the 19 th May all the airfields on Crete had been destroyed and all British aircraft hadeither been destroyed or departed.The German planned to take Crete by the use of airborne landings on the 20 th May at Maleme usingAssault Regiments and then one Parachute Rifle Regiment of the 7 th Air Division at Canea – Sunda;Retimo and Heraklion. Maleme airfield was captured on the 20 th May and the Germans thencommenced landing troop carrying aircraft on the 21 st May.German plansfor the invasionof Crete- 20 -
At 6.45 am on the 20 th May 1941 the Germans began the bombardment of the defences on Crete, at8.00 am the invasion commenced with the arrival of 3,000 paratroopers, 750 by Glider and eventually5000 by transport aircraft and 7000 by boat in all a total of 22,000 troops.German Paratrooperslanding on CreteThe invasion of Crete was to be the first airborne invasion in history and its impact on the Germanswas to be horrific. The casualties were so high that Hitler declared ‘that the day of the parachutist isover’, which is understandable when an examination of the casualties is made. This resulted in aplanned airborne invasion of Cyprus being cancelled.Retimo:Heraklion:700 killed and 500 taken prisoner (for a short time)1000 killed out of 2000 dropped.In total the invasion of Crete resulted in 6000 killed and 200 Aircraft destroyed and150 damaged.The German Invasion ForceThe German invasion force was to consist of 22,000 troops under the command of General Lohr andwas to consist of the following:IV Air FleetVIII Air Corps120 Dornier 17s40 Heinkel 111s80 Junkers 88s150 Junkers 87b Stukas90 Messerchmitt 110s90 Messerchmitt 109sFormation Commander RemarksGeneral LohrGeneral Freiherr Von RichthofenXI Air Corps3 Transports Groups -500 Junkers 52sGlider Wing- 70 DFS 230 GlidersSquadron –Fiesceler Storch ReconnaissanceStorm Regiment HQ1 st ; 2nd ; 3 rd ; 4 th Battalions7 th Parachute Division HQParachute Engineer Battalion1 st Parachute Regiment1 st ; 2 nd ; 3 rd BattalionsGeneral Kurt StudentBrigadier MeindlMajor General SussmanMajor LiebachColonel Brauer- 21 -Based at TatoiBased at EleusisBased at EleusisBased at Mycenae,Based at ArgosBased at MolaoiKilled duringinvasion replacedby Colonel Hadrich
Page 1 and 2: THE BATTLEFORGREECE AND CRETEMatt W
Page 3 and 4: The German Invasion Force- Strength
Page 5 and 6: PrefaceIf one wishes to examine par
Page 7 and 8: Dissentions about the campaignMany
Page 9 and 10: This bond which developed between t
Page 11 and 12: Recollections of a Greek Youth a Pa
Page 13 and 14: AthensApril20 th Nurses____________
Page 15 and 16: The GreeksGeneral Alexander Papagos
Page 17 and 18: The RAAF in GreeceVery little infor
Page 19 and 20: Crete was considered to be of strat
Page 21 and 22: Troops were to be dispersed to the
Page 23: The evacuation Beachat Sfakia (Stak
Page 27 and 28: The PlayersAustraliaBrigadier Georg
Page 29 and 30: On one occasion on the submarine HM
Page 31 and 32: The march throughout was an exceedi
Page 33 and 34: Extract from the War Diary of 7 th
Page 35 and 36: April 25 1941: Fine. Remained hidde
Page 37 and 38: On the 20 th the Hospital ship Oba
Page 39 and 40: The route taken by Paul Cullen duri
Page 41 and 42: 42 nd Street gained importance in t
Page 43 and 44: Australian Units who served in Gree
Page 45 and 46: List of some of the ships involved
Page 47 and 48: CruiserHelle (sunk)SubmarinePapantk
Page 49 and 50: Service details of some of the Mili
Page 51 and 52: The grave of L/Cpl BarnesPlaques in
Page 53 and 54: 7 th Division Provost CompanyPerson
Page 55 and 56: BibliographyAustralian Corps of Sig

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