This week, 70 years ago, the Royal Navy began evacuating Commonwealth and Greek forces from Crete, after having failed to stanch the German airborne invasion.  
    Crete is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the largest and most populous of the Greek Islands and is acknowledged as the cradle of European Civilization. Zeus was born there and it was home to the Minotaur.
    Through the secret “Ultra” Program the British learned that the Germans intended to attack the island. The Germans really had no choice.From Crete the Romanian oilfields and refineries at Ploiesti, which supplied the Reich with much of its oil, were within easy bomber range for the British. In addition, British bombers from Crete could more easily interdict convoys to Axis forces in North Africa.
    The Commonwealth seemed to have all the advantages. As always, “Britannia ruled the waves.”  It was defended by 40,000 British, Greek, Australian and New Zealand soldiers. And British intelligence had determined the exact date, time and objectives of the coming German attack. Major General Bernard Freyberg commanded the Allied Defenders. These forces consisted of most of the Second New Zealand Division under the command of Brigadier General Edward Puttick, Nineteenth Australian Infantry Brigade under the command of Brigadier General George Vasey, the Fourteenth Infantry Brigade under the command of Brigadier General Brian Hubbert Chappel, together with approximately eleven thousand Greeks.
    Sounding overconfident, General Freyberg said, “Although I do not wish to seem overconfident, I feel that at least we will give an excellent account of ourselves, and with the help of the Royal Navy I trust that Crete will be held.” He also noted that he was, “...not in the least anxious about an airborne attack.”
    The only advantage which the Germans had was that the Luftwaffe had wrested control of the air from the Allies. The attacking forces consisted of elements of the Seventh Flieger Division under the command of Lieutenant General Wilhelm Süssman, and the Fifth Gebirgs (Mountain) Division commanded by Major General Julius Ringel. Overall command rested with paratroop pioneer Kurt Student.
    On April 25th Hitler signed Directive No. 28, ordering the invasion of Crete. He made it clear that the assault on Crete, named Operation Mercury, should not interfere with Operation Barbarossa, which was scheduled to begin on June 22nd.  Therefore, Operation Mercury must conclude before the end of May. The launch date for Operation Mercury was May 20th.  
    The British knew the German plan, which was to attack the three airfields on the north side of the island, closest to Greece, with the biggest push coming against the airport at Maleme, on the western end of the island. The other two airports were Rethymnon and Heraklion. The commander of the troops assaulting Maleme was Major-General Eugen Meindl. On the first day he was shot and seriously wounded. General Süssman led the attack against Rethymnon and on the first day he was shot and killed. Colonel Bruno Bräuer commanded the troops tasked with capturing Heraklion. After the war Bräuer, by now a General, was charged with war crimes by a Greek Military Court, tried, convicted and sentenced to death on December 9, 1946.  He was executed by a firing squad at 5:00 p.m. on May 20, 1947, in Athens, and is buried on Crete. German casualties on the first day were very heavy.  One of the paratroopers landing on Crete the first day was former world heavyweight champion, Max Schmeling where he was wounded seriously enough to end his military career.  
    King George II, Prime Minister Emmanouil Tsouderos and other members of the government evacuated aboard British Destroyer H.M.S. Decoy, headed for Alexandria the first day.
    On the evening of May 21st the Germans seized control of the Maleme.  With that, units of the Fifth Mountain Division began arriving by plane, even though the airfield was still under Allied artillery fire. On May 22nd the New Zealanders failed in their attempt to push the Germans out of the Maleme Airport.  
    In the meantime, the Luftwaffe’s Fliegerkorps VIII, under General Der Flieger, Baron Wolfram von Richthofen, was hammering the Royal Navy. The cruisers H.M.S. Naiad and Carlisle were hit.  Battleships H.M.S. Warspite and H.M.S. Valiant were damaged.  Aboard the Valiant was Midshipman Prince Phillip of Greece - future husband of the Queen of England. The destroyer Greyhound was sunk.  Cruisers Gloucester, Juno and Fiji were sunk. On May 23rd destroyers Kashmir and Kelly were sunk, while Kipling was damaged. The captain of the Kelly was Lord Louis Mountbatten - grandson of Queen Victoria and uncle of the aforementioned Prince Phillip - who, although he went down with his ship, was able to swim to safety.
    In a letter to his superior, General Freyberg wrote, on May 24, “The fighting has been very fierce and we can definitely say that the much-vaunted parachutists have been heavily defeated. I cannot believe they will be used again for a similar objective.”  On the latter, he was proved correct. On the former, he was obviously horribly wrong.
    On the ground the Allies were retreating. On May 27th General Freyberg ordered his troops to begin withdrawing to the south coast to be evacuated. For the next four nights sixteen thousand troops were evacuated to Egypt.  Most were taken from the small port town of Sphakia. On May 28th the Kriegsmarine was able to land two light tanks. Destroyers Hereward and Imperial were sunk on May 29th. By June 1st Crete was under German control.  That same day, cruiser H.M.S. Calcutta was sunk.
    For the 11 day battle, Allied casualties were: British - 791 dead, 268 wounded, 6,576 captured; Australian - 274 dead, 507 wounded, 3,079 captured; New Zealand - 671 dead, 967 wounded, 2,180 captured; Greek 426 dead, 850 wounded, 5,255 captured; Civilian - 3,000 dead; Royal Navy - 1,828 dead, 183 wounded.
     German casualties included 4,041 dead, 2,640 wounded, 17 captured. In addition 370 aircraft were destroyed or damaged.
    Because of Hitler’s insistence that the operation be complete by the end of May, the Luftwaffe withdrew under that time table, which allowed the Royal Navy to evacuate so many defenders or Allied losses would have been even greater.
    Although German losses, for what was accomplished, do not seem to be that heavy, Hitler thought they were. In consequence, he forbade any further airborne operations. The British and Americans, on the other hand, studied the German operation and improved upon it. Afterward, Baron von Richthofen would confirm what General Billy Mitchell had said twenty years earlier, “We have finally demonstrated that a fleet within range of the Luftwaffe cannot maintain the sea when weather permits flying.”
    For the Allies, the Battle of Crete was a disaster. A heavily defended island, protected by the world’s most powerful navy was overrun by a lightly armed, numerically inferior force in a week. And the defenders were aware of the attackers’ intentions! However, because the Axis resources were stretched so thin, they were never able to make use of the island and its strategic location.

NEXT WEEK: INVASION OF SYRIA
 
Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own.