Evelyn Waugh, the British satirical writer, was serving with 8 Commando on Crete during the German invasion. When asked afterward about his experience, he remarked that it was "Like German Opera. Too loud and too long."
If the battle of Crete was an opera, then German General der Flieger Kurt Student was its composer and director. Born into a Prussian military family, he served as the leader of a fighter squadron in WWI. Between the wars, he applied himself as a leader of infantry formations. As a result, he was almost uniquely qualified to lead the formation of Germany's parachute infantry, the Fallschirmjäger.
During the stunning German victories at the outset of WWII, the Fallschirmjäger and glider forces proved to be a formidable strategic and tactical arm of Blitzkreig warfare. From the experience gained in executing drops in Norway and the Low Countries, Student was able to evolve the overall plan - and almost every detail - of the airborne invasion of Crete. Most importantly, he won Hitler's approval to carry it out. The plan was called "Operation Merkur" and it was to be the crowning glory of Student's Fallschirmjager.
On the island of Crete, British and ANZAC forces withdrawn from the debacle of Greece were resting, refitting, and preparing for a German assault. Leading these troops was Major General Bernard Cyril Freyberg, commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He had served in WWI, earning the DSO three times and the VC for his personal bravery. His actions in WWI were so remarkable that they were mentioned in five dispatches. His preparations on Crete were vigorous, but they did not take into account a total "vertical envelopment" by parachute forces.
The Invasion Begins
The envelopment began on the morning of May 20, 1941. Two waves of parachute infantry and glider forces landed at four points along the norther coast of Crete: the airfield at Maleme, Canea (the island's capital), and the airfields of Retimo and Heraklion.
Initially, the British and ANZAC soldiers quartered throughout the island and stationed at airbases had easy pickings. The Fallschirmjäger decended onto their objectives and into the sights of allied rifles, machine guns, and anti-aircraft batteries. Once on the ground, the Fallschirmjäger faired no better because they had jumped without their own rifles and machine guns owing to the instability of the German parachute design. Weapons were dropped in containers, which had to be located and recovered. Many Fallschirmjäger fell to the ANZAC and Greek soldier's bullet as they attempted to reach these weapons.
Within the overall plan, airfields were most important. The captured airstrips were to be used to bring in reinforcements, supplies, and heavier weapons. These "inkblots" were to expand with German troops until they united and overwhelmed the defenders. The defenders, however, were not going to give the airfields up easily.
At Maleme, the fighting was particularly fierce. German forces captured parts of the airfield and continued to advance until two British tanks charged their positions and thwarted the attack. The attacks on the other airfields were met with strong resistance as well.
On May 21st, the second day of the battle, some additional German troops would be landed by parachute and the intensity of the fight for the airfields would mount. An attempted sea borne invasion with additional troops and heavy equipment was met with disaster when it stumbled upon a British Navy task force. The small transports were destroyed and almost all of the mountain troops aboard were captured or lost.
Maleme Airfield Falls
At Maleme airfield, the critical moment came when the troop carriers with the 5th Mountain Division troops began to land even though the airfield was still partly under control of the British. Germans on the ground used a captured tank to clear the airfield of the wreckage that was piling up so as to make room for more planes to land. As planes came in, reinforcements and supplies were slowly built up and the fate of Crete was sealed.
The mountain troops arriving at Maleme were commanded by Generalmajor Julius Ringle and they went immediately to work scaling the heights above Maleme and outflanking the entrenched British who were compelled to withdraw.
The battle continued on, but on May 28th, Freyberg ordered his troops to fight their way to the southern coast of Crete for evacuation. The Germans did not become aware of this withdrawal for some time. But by June 1, the Germans in pursuit made it over the mountains and to the British embarkation beaches where captured the remaining forces. The British had evacuated 14,800 men, but as many as 12,000 were left behind, dead or captured. As many as 14,000 Greek troops were left behind as well.
Aftermath
German casualties in the battle for Crete were as high as 6,000 killed and wounded out of the 15,000 that had been sent into the attack. The victory was costly. Rather than being the crowning glory of the Fallschirmjäger, Student would later say that it was "the graveyard of the parachute troops." After Crete, Hitler would almost completely decline the use of the Fallschirmjäger in anything but a ground role.
As for the island of Crete, it would become a relative backwater in the war. Once so highly prized by the German high command and so dearly bought, it was to amount to nothing more than a handful of dust as the focus of the war swung to the East.
