Crete has always been of immense geopolitical significance. An island crossroads for three continents, Crete is roughly equidistant from Greece, (and greater Europe) to the north, Asia Minor to the west, and Africa to the south. That’s why it has been invaded many, many times over its long, 7,000-year history.
In the spring of 1941, Hitler was preparing to invade Russia (Operation Barbarossa). He needed to secure his southern flank, however, so while the Germans were overrunning Greece earlier in April, he set his sights on Crete. The decision to invade was made on April 25th, and the invasion, code -named Operation Mercury, commenced on May 20th. It would take 12 days for the Germans to prevail.
Wanting a quick victory, and in face of the superior sea power of the Royal Navy, the Germans’ chosen commander for the operation, General Kurt Student, a 51 year-old former WWI fighter pilot, suggested to Hitler that the invasion be conducted by air.
It was a risky, massive paratroop drop involving some 20,000-plus paratroopers and mountain troops for a total force of 22,000. This had never been attempted before by the Germans. The Allies, greatly aided by intelligence they had decrypted from the Germans’ Enigma Machine, were much better prepared than they otherwise would have been, but unfortunately their defense was lacking in coherence and efficiency.. The Germans also had to contend with some 10-11,000 Greek forces, about a quarter of the entire 42,500 resistance. Half were British forces, and the rest were Australian and New Zealanders.
Cretans in particular had a reputation for being fierce wartime combatants by virtue of their historically extensive experience in armed conflict. It would be the first time the Germans would encounter massive civilian resistance to invasion. The Luftwaffe’s losses were appalling: out of 610 aircraft they lost 370, over half, as opposed to 33 aircraft lost on the Allies side. After Crete, Hitler would never again attempt a mass airborne invasion, which likely figured into his calculations when he was considering invading the British Isles.
The naval side of the battle told almost the opposite story. The Germans sank 12 ships in the Royal Navy’s fleet and damaged 7 auxiliary ships, while only one ship, an Italian destroyer, was damaged, as well as a torpedo ship, by the British.
Before the battle, and after the loss of Greece, 57,000 Allied forces were evacuated from Greece. Some were sent to fortify Allied troops already garrisoned in Crete in anticipation of a German invasion.
German intelligence had estimated that there were only 5,000 troops defending Crete, with just 400 at Heraklion. They missed the well-camouflaged British and Allied positions, and surprisingly suggested that the Cretans would welcome the German invaders.
Commander of the Allied forces on Crete, Major-General Bernard Freyberg, who knew an airborne invasion was imminent and that the Germans would need the airfields the British had just built on the island, did not sabotage the airstrips with craters. Neither did he inform his troops of the day that the Germans were coming.
As the attack began on the early morning of the 20th, Freyberg, eating his breakfast, said, “They’re dead on time.” The Germans first dropped paratroopers at Maleme, at the west end of Crete. They eventually overwhelmed the New Zealand defenders, who had fought well. The New Zealanders abandoned Maleme that night, and were ordered by Freyberg to abandon Crete on the 22nd.
This allowed the Germans to land unimpeded at Maleme, greatly bolstering their attack with the German Mountain Division. Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe, flying almost unopposed, had a field day sinking British battleships.
The next drop zone for the Germans was in Chania, 40 km east of Crete’s west coast and the island’s second-largest city. The Germans dropped right onto the camouflaged Allied positions, and suffered great losses. Next, within the same hour, they landed at Rethymno and Heraklion, creating a four-front battle.
The first day of the Battle of Crete ended with heavy losses for the Germans and an uncertain outcome. The commander of the German forces, General Kurt Student, disappointed with the outcome, even considered suicide, reflecting on the promise of an easy victory given to the Führer. That same evening, the Greek King George II and the Greek government in exile, who were in the Chania area, were transported to Egypt with great difficulty.
Resistance in Heraklion was spirited and fierce. The allies shot down many German planes, but German troops managed to take Heraklion. The Allies counterattacked, and with the help of Greek irregulars, that is, average citizens, retook the city. The Germans, far from being welcomed to Crete, suffered gruesome deaths at the hands of Cretan men, women, and even children, some butchering Germans with shotguns and even garden tools, the first time the Germans faces such opposition from locals during the invasion itself. The Germans, dressed for a colder climate, suffered greatly from thirst, but the Cretans ambushed for them at local wells.
On May 28, the Germans repelled the Allied forces to the south. After this, London decided to withdraw the Commonwealth forces from Crete and transport them to Egypt. Most of the Greek soldiers and 500 British retreated to the impregnable mountains of Crete, from where they continued the guerrilla war. On June 1, the British officially announced the surrender of the island.
Allied losses were 3,500 killed, 1,900 wounded and 17,500 captured. The Germans, according to their own data, suffered the following losses: 3,986 killed and missing, 2,594 wounded and 370 aircraft. Among the German captured was former world heavyweight boxing champion Max Schmelling.
The Battle of Crete was called the "graveyard of German paratroopers" due to the high casualties they suffered, which forced Hitler to ban such air operations in the future. For their part, the Allies were impressed by the paratroopers' great potential in combat and created their own parachute forces.
