Battle of Crete (1941): Germany's Great Airborne Invasion

The Battle of Crete was the German invasion of the Greek island of Crete, fought from 20 May to 1 June 1941. It was the first time in history that an island was captured mainly by paratroopers and air-landed troops. Germany won, but its elite airborne force suffered such heavy losses that it never again attempted a large parachute operation, while the Royal Navy paid a high price evacuating the defenders.

Background

In April 1941 Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece to secure its southern flank before the attack on the Soviet Union. British, Australian and New Zealand troops sent to help Greece were forced to evacuate, in an operation sometimes compared with the Dunkirk evacuation, and many of them landed on Crete along with the Greek king and government.

Crete had strategic value. It lay across sea routes in the eastern Mediterranean, and British bombers based there could threaten the Romanian oilfields that Germany depended on. Kurt Student, commander of Germany’s parachute troops, persuaded Hitler that the island could be taken from the air.

The forces

The defenders, known as Creforce, were commanded by the New Zealand general Bernard Freyberg, a decorated veteran of the First World War. He had around 30,000 British and Commonwealth troops, mostly British, Australian and New Zealand, many of them tired and short of equipment after Greece, plus about 10,000 Greek soldiers. They had few tanks, little artillery and almost no aircraft.

The Germans assembled around 22,000 airborne and mountain troops under Luftwaffe General Alexander Löhr, with Student directing the airborne assault. They were supported by more than 500 Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft and gliders and by hundreds of bombers and fighters that ruled the sky over the island.

Crete itself was difficult ground for the defenders. Its only good roads and ports were on the north coast, facing German-held Greece, while the south coast had few harbours. Supplies had to come by sea from Egypt under constant threat from the air, so the garrison lacked transport, radios and heavy weapons. The island’s three airfields, at Maleme, Rethymno and Heraklion, were the obvious German targets, and the defence was built around them.

British codebreakers had given Freyberg detailed warning of the plan through Ultra intelligence. But he was also told to fear a landing from the sea, and he spread his forces to cover both threats.

What happened

On the morning of 20 May 1941 German gliders and paratroopers descended near the airfield at Maleme and around Chania and Suda Bay in the west. In the afternoon a second wave dropped at Rethymno and Heraklion further east. Many paratroopers were killed in the air or soon after landing, because they jumped with only pistols and had to find their weapons in separate containers. Some battalions were almost wiped out on the first day.

The decisive moment came that night at Maleme. The New Zealand 22nd Battalion, holding Hill 107 above the airfield, had lost contact with many of its companies and, fearing it was being overrun, withdrew. On 21 May the Germans secured the airfield and began landing Ju 52s carrying mountain troops, even while the runway was under fire. A counter-attack on the night of 21–22 May failed to retake it.

At sea, the Royal Navy under Admiral Andrew Cunningham intercepted and scattered convoys of small boats carrying German troops on the nights of 21–22 and 22 May. But by day, German aircraft attacked the warships relentlessly. Over the following days the cruisers Gloucester and Fiji and several destroyers, including HMS Kelly commanded by Lord Louis Mountbatten, were sunk.

At Rethymno and Heraklion, Australian, British and Greek troops held their positions and inflicted heavy losses on the paratroopers who landed there. For several days these garrisons remained firmly in control, but they could not influence the decisive fighting in the west, and communications between the sectors were poor.

With German reinforcements arriving steadily, the defenders were pushed back east of Chania. On 26 and 27 May Freyberg reported that his position was hopeless, and the evacuation was ordered.

The defence and the people of Crete

Cretan civilians took part in the fighting from the first day, attacking paratroopers with hunting rifles, old weapons and even farm tools. Their resistance surprised the Germans, who had expected a friendly welcome.

The German response was harsh. After the battle, German troops carried out reprisals against villages accused of resistance. At Kondomari on 2 June 1941 villagers were shot, and the village of Kandanos was destroyed on 3 June. These killings began a long occupation marked by resistance and repression.

Among the defenders, the New Zealand officer Charles Upham earned the first of his two Victoria Crosses on Crete, making him one of only three people ever to receive the award twice.

Evacuation and losses

Most of the defenders retreated south over the White Mountains to the small fishing village of Sfakia. From 28 May to 1 June, Royal Navy ships took off troops at night, and the Heraklion garrison was lifted directly by sea, losing ships to air attack on the way. In total around 16,000 to 18,000 men were evacuated to Egypt. About 12,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were left behind and taken prisoner, while some escaped with Cretan help or joined the resistance in the mountains.

Consequences

Germany had taken Crete, but at enormous cost. Hitler concluded that the surprise value of paratroopers was gone, and Germany’s airborne divisions were used mainly as elite infantry for the rest of the war. Ironically, the Allies drew the opposite lesson and expanded their own airborne forces.

The losses of ships and men weakened the British position in the Mediterranean just as fighting intensified in North Africa, including the Siege of Tobruk. Historians have also debated whether the campaign in the Balkans and Crete delayed or weakened Operation Barbarossa; most think its effect on the invasion of the Soviet Union was limited.

The battle has also been the subject of long debate about command decisions. Critics have questioned Freyberg’s use of Ultra intelligence, the withdrawal from Hill 107 and the slowness of the counter-attack at Maleme. Defenders of Freyberg point to his lack of radios, transport and air cover, and to the restrictions on how Ultra information could be used without revealing its source.

Timeline

• 1941, 6 April: Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
• 1941, late April: Allied troops evacuated from mainland Greece land on Crete.
• 1941, 20 May: The German airborne invasion begins at Maleme, Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion.
• 1941, 21 May: German forces secure Maleme airfield and begin landing reinforcements.
• 1941, 22 May: The cruisers Gloucester and Fiji are sunk by air attack.
• 1941, 28 May: The evacuation from Heraklion and Sfakia begins.
• 1941, 1 June: The last evacuation ships leave; organised resistance ends.

Why it matters

The Battle of Crete was a turning point in airborne warfare and a demonstration of how air power could dominate operations at sea. It is remembered especially in Greece, New Zealand and Australia for the courage of the defenders and the people of Crete.