Cretan operation. Successful use of airborne assault! (photo story) - history in photographs

22-35 thousand infantry

280 bombers
150 dive bombers
180 fighters
500 transport aircraft
80 gliders
2700

The total strength of the 7th Parachute and 5th Mountain Divisions was 22,750 men. 750 people were to be delivered by gliders, 10 thousand were dropped by parachute, 5,000 were landed by transport aircraft and 7,000 were delivered by sea. Air support was provided by the Luftwaffe's 8th Air Corps, consisting of 280 horizontal bombers, 150 dive bombers and 150 fighters.

The distance from Crete to German air bases established on the mainland and islands ranged from 120 to 240 km and did not exceed the range of German aircraft. The distance to British air bases in Egypt, Malta and Mersa Matruh was 700, 1000 and 500 km respectively.

Intelligence service

British Intelligence and Project Ultra

The British command was aware of the impending invasion thanks to German negotiations, decrypted as part of Project Ultra. General Freyberg was informed of the landing plans and took a number of measures to strengthen the defenses around the airfields and on the northern coast of the island. However, defense preparations were seriously affected practically complete absence modern weapons and underestimation by the Allied high command of the threat of an assault. Not last role Inaccuracies in deciphering German messages also played a role. In particular, in most transcripts of German radiograms, the word “landing” meant primarily a naval landing, not an airborne one. The Allied High Command also rejected Freyberg's proposal to destroy the airfields to prevent reinforcements from being brought in if they were captured by German paratroopers.

German intelligence

The head of German military intelligence (Abwehr), Canaris, initially reported the presence of only 5 thousand British soldiers on Crete and the absence of Greek troops. It remains unclear whether Canaris, who had an extensive network of intelligence sources in Greece, was misinformed or intended to sabotage the landing plans in this way. Canaris also predicted that civilian population will meet the Germans as liberators due to strong republican and anti-monarchist sentiments in society. As shown further events, Canaris seriously underestimated the patriotic spirit of part of the population of Crete.

Problems with logistics forced the date of the operation to be postponed to May 20. By this time, Luftwaffe forces had gained air supremacy over Crete. However, by the beginning of the operation it was not possible to transfer, as planned, the parachute units of the 8th Air Corps from Ploiesti, where they were guarding the Romanian oil fields. The paratroopers were replaced alpine arrows 5th Mountain Division, which lacked airborne experience.

The assault on the island was carried out by the 11th Air Corps of Kurt Student, who initiated the operation against Crete. The strike group included 10 air transport wings - a total of 500 Ju 52 transport aircraft and 80 DFS 230 gliders, to deliver troops from the airfields of mainland Greece. The strike force also included an airborne assault regiment Luftland Sturmregiment under the command of Major General Eugen Meindl, the 7th Air Division under Lieutenant General Wilhelm Süssmann and the 5th Mountain Division Julius Ringel.

From radio intercepts and their intelligence data on mainland Greece, the British knew about the preparation of an enemy landing operation. The Royal British Navy, which was based at Souda Bay, suffered greatly from continuous bombing by the Luftwaffe, and the only British aircraft carrier was lost during the battles for Greece most carrier-based aircraft and could not provide effective air defense of the island. The day before the start German operation Upon landing on Crete, the commander of the island's garrison, Major General Bernard S. Freyberg, sent his planes off the island, believing that the British naval forces and the garrison, which included the New Zealand Division, had the ability to hold Crete and destroy the landing force.

Disembarkation

The forward-based forces amounted to 750 people. The target of the forward detachment was Maleme airfield, which could receive Junkers with the main landing force.

The invasion force was divided into three groups with different tasks:

• Group "Mars": Central group (commanded by Lieutenant General Zussman), - capture of Chania, Galatasai and Rethymnon.
• Comet Group: Western group(commander Major General Eugen Meindl), - capture of the Maleme airfield and approaches to it.
• Orion Group: Eastern group(first under the command of Colonel Bruno Breuer, later General Ringel was to take command), consisting of one parachute regiment and one mountain infantry regiment - the capture of the city of Heraklion and its airfield.

Capture of Crete

The main point of attack was Maleme airfield. On the landing day, May 20, German paratroopers failed to completely capture the landing site. However, at 5 a.m. on 21 May, the New Zealand infantry, Australian maintenance platoon and anti-aircraft platoon holding the line launched an attack, supported by two tanks. The Germans repulsed the attack and drove back the British troops with a counterattack. General Freyberg was saving his strength because he was waiting for the main forces of the Germans, which, according to his information, were supposed to land from the sea, and thus missed the chance of victory. On the morning of May 21, the Germans received reinforcements and cleared the outskirts of Maleme, after which it became possible to land heavy transport aircraft at the airfield. On 23 May the British unsuccessfully attacked the airfield. On May 24, they were forced to leave the approaches to the airfield and retreat to fortified positions east of Maleme. In fact, this predetermined the course of the battle - already on May 21, units of the 5th German Mountain Division and artillery began to land at the airfield. Having gained the opportunity to land infantry using an air bridge, inflicting serious losses on the British fleet and ground forces by air, the Germans quickly captured the island.

On May 30, while the British rearguard still held the Loutro-Sfakia region, the garrison commander, General Freyberg, left Crete in the evening on a flying boat. According to the entry in the Combat Log of the German 5th Mountain Rifle Division, the last center of resistance on the island of Crete was suppressed by 16:00 in the area of ​​Sfakia. On June 1, the day after the end of the evacuation, the British officially announced the surrender of the island.

The Royal British Navy evacuated about 15,000 soldiers to Egypt, losing several ships, sunk or damaged.

Losses

The British Army lost most of the troops stationed on the island. The losses of Great Britain and her Dominions amounted to more than 4,000 killed and wounded and 11,835 prisoners. The Greek army practically ceased to exist after the operation.

• The British Navy lost in the Battle of Crete (solely from air action): three cruisers, six destroyers, 10 auxiliary ships and more than 10 transports and merchant ships. Three battleships, an aircraft carrier, six cruisers, and 7 destroyers were also damaged. About 2 thousand people died. The losses of the allied Greek fleet are not specified.
• The British Air Force lost 46 aircraft.
• The Germans lost about 6,000 men out of 22,000 who took part in the operation. The Luftwaffe lost 147 aircraft shot down and 73 in accidents (mostly transport ones).

Results of the operation

The serious losses that Germany suffered during the operation showed that a large-scale air invasion of a local well-fortified defensive area, although it can be successful, is associated with significant losses of the most well-trained military units. The reason was the impossibility of providing the landing operation with artillery and full air support, in conditions of landing on unprepared bridgeheads. German paratroopers were forced to act in conditions of separation from the centralized command and neighboring units, against prepared defenses, which were supplied with artillery and armored vehicles. On the other hand, with a traditional landing from the sea, losses could be even higher. The clear interaction between the branches of the Wehrmacht troops was especially evident, in particular the support of ground forces by aviation.

In mid-July, Student and Riegel flew by plane to East Prussia, where Hitler presented them with awards. In a conversation with Lieutenant General Kurt Student, the Fuhrer said that “the time of paratroopers has passed.” The most important result of the operation to capture Crete was that in the future Hitler categorically forbade the use of airborne units in major operations, in order to avoid losses in personnel.

The Wehrmacht personnel who participated in the capture of the island received the right to wear on the cuff the ribbon of military valor “KRETA” / “CRETE”, approved in 1942 by Hitler personally.

A number of senior commanders of the German armed forces insisted on carrying out an amphibious operation to capture the island of Malta, which, after the loss of Crete, was of strategic importance for the British as a key point on the communication line Gibraltar - Malta - Alexandria. In particular, General Erwin Rommel insisted on carrying out such an operation. With the loss of Malta, the British also lost control of the central Mediterranean. Later, Hitler's stubborn reluctance to carry out an operation to capture Malta was regarded by participants in the events and historians as a major strategic miscalculation.

It follows that despite significant human and material losses and the loss of the island, the British and their allies through their actions prevented the capture of Malta by the Germans. This was the most important strategic consequence of persistent and bloody battle for the island of Crete.

Reflection in culture

• Evelyn Waugh. Chapter VII: Officers and Gentlemen // = Sword of Honor / trans. P. Paveletsky and I. Razumny. - M.: Military Publishing House of the USSR Ministry of Defense, 1977. - P. 311-431. - 616 s. - 65,000 copies.
• James Aldridge. Sea eagle. Tale // = The Sea Eagle () / trans. E. Kalashnikova. - L.: Lenizdat, 1958.
• In the computer game Behind Enemy Lines 2: Desert Fox, the first mission of the German campaign is dedicated to this operation.
• In the computer game "Panzer General" the scenario "Crete" is dedicated.
• Battle of Crete mod for the computer game “Company of Heroes” www.moddb.com/mods/battle-of-crete
• The participation of the famous German boxer Max Schmeling in the operation is shown in the film of the same name.

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Literature and links

• Evgeny Granovsky.
• - abstract
• Hanson Baldwin. Chapter 3: Crete - invasion on wings. // Battles won and lost = Battles Lost and Won / ed. Yu. Bem. - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2002. - P. 78-148. - 624 s. - (Second World War). - 6000 copies. - ISBN 5-9524-0138-4.
• Caius Becker. Part 5: Mediterranean Theatre, 1941. // War diaries of the Luftwaffe. Chronicle of the fighting of the German Air Force in World War II 1939-1945 = The Luftwaffe War Diaries / trans. A. Tsyplenkova. - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2005. - 544 p. - (Behind the front line. Memoirs). - additional, 5,000 copies. - ISBN 5-9524-1174-6.
• Mark Antonio Bragadin. Chapter IV: The Italian fleet in the war with Greece. // Battle for the Mediterranean: the view of the vanquished = The Italian Navy in World War II (1957) / trans. A. Patients. - M.: AST, 2000. - 624 p. - (Military History Library). - 8000 copies. - ISBN 5-17-002636-6.

Notes

Excerpt characterizing the Cretan operation

At the end of January, Pierre arrived in Moscow and settled in the surviving outbuilding. He went to see Count Rastopchin and some acquaintances who had returned to Moscow, and was planning to go to St. Petersburg on the third day. Everyone celebrated the victory; everything was seething with life in the ruined and reviving capital. Everyone was happy to see Pierre; everyone wanted to see him, and everyone asked him about what he had seen. Pierre felt especially friendly towards all the people he met; but now he involuntarily kept himself on guard with all people, so as not to tie himself to anything. He answered all the questions that were put to him, whether important or most insignificant, with the same vagueness; Did they ask him: where will he live? will it be built? when is he going to St. Petersburg and will he undertake to carry the box? - he answered: yes, maybe, I think, etc.
He heard about the Rostovs, that they were in Kostroma, and the thought of Natasha rarely came to him. If she came, it was only as a pleasant memory of the long past. He felt free not only from everyday conditions, but also from this feeling, which, as it seemed to him, he had deliberately brought upon himself.
On the third day of his arrival in Moscow, he learned from the Drubetskys that Princess Marya was in Moscow. Death, suffering, and the last days of Prince Andrei often occupied Pierre and now came to his mind with new vividness. Having learned at dinner that Princess Marya was in Moscow and was living in her unburned house on Vzdvizhenka, he went to see her that same evening.
On the way to Princess Marya, Pierre kept thinking about Prince Andrei, about his friendship with him, about various meetings with him, and especially about the last one in Borodino.
“Did he really die in the angry mood he was in then? Wasn’t the explanation of life revealed to him before his death?” - thought Pierre. He remembered Karataev, about his death, and involuntarily began to compare these two people, so different and at the same time so similar in love that he had for both, and because both lived and both died.
In the most serious mood, Pierre drove up to the old prince's house. This house survived. It showed signs of destruction, but the character of the house was the same. An old waiter with a stern face who met Pierre, as if wanting to make the guest feel that the prince’s absence did not disturb the order of the house, said that the princess deigned to go to her rooms and was received on Sundays.
- Report; maybe they’ll accept it,” said Pierre.
“I’m listening,” answered the waiter, “please go to the portrait room.”
A few minutes later the waiter and Desalles came out to see Pierre. Desalles, on behalf of the princess, told Pierre that she was very glad to see him and asked, if he would excuse her for her impudence, to go upstairs to her rooms.
In a low room, lit by one candle, sat the princess and someone else with her, in a black dress. Pierre remembered that the princess always had companions with her. Who these companions were and what they were like, Pierre did not know and did not remember. “This is one of the companions,” he thought, looking at the lady in a black dress.
The princess quickly stood up to meet him and extended her hand.
“Yes,” she said, peering into his changed face after he kissed her hand, “this is how you and I meet.” They Lately often talked about you,” she said, turning her eyes from Pierre to her companion with a shyness that struck Pierre for a moment.
“I was so glad to hear about your salvation.” This was the only good news we received for a long time. - Again, the princess looked back at her companion even more restlessly and wanted to say something; but Pierre interrupted her.
“You can imagine that I knew nothing about him,” he said. “I thought he was killed.” Everything I learned, I learned from others, through third hands. I only know that he ended up with the Rostovs... What a fate!
Pierre spoke quickly and animatedly. He glanced once at the face of his companion, saw a carefully, affectionately curious gaze fixed on him, and, as often happens during a conversation, for some reason he felt that this companion in a black dress was a sweet, kind, nice creature who would not disturb him. intimate conversation with Princess Marya.
But when he said the last words about the Rostovs, the confusion in Princess Marya’s face was expressed even more strongly. She again ran her eyes from Pierre’s face to the face of the lady in a black dress and said:
– Don’t you recognize it?
Pierre looked again at the pale, thin face of his companion, with black eyes and a strange mouth. Something dear, long forgotten and more than sweet looked at him from those attentive eyes.
“But no, this can’t be,” he thought. – Is this a stern, thin and pale, aged face? It can't be her. This is just a memory of that.” But at this time Princess Marya said: “Natasha.” And the face with with attentive eyes, with difficulty, with effort, like a rusty door opening, smiled, and from this open door suddenly it smelled and doused Pierre with that long-forgotten happiness, which, especially now, he did not think about. It smelled, engulfed and swallowed him all up. When she smiled, there could no longer be any doubt: it was Natasha, and he loved her.
In the very first minute, Pierre involuntarily told both her, Princess Marya, and, most importantly, himself a secret unknown to him. He blushed joyfully and painfully. He wanted to hide his excitement. But the more he wanted to hide it, the more clearly—more clearly than in the most definite words—he told himself, and her, and Princess Marya that he loved her.
“No, it’s just out of surprise,” thought Pierre. But just as he wanted to continue the conversation he had begun with Princess Marya, he looked at Natasha again, and an even stronger blush covered his face, and an even stronger emotion of joy and fear gripped his soul. He got lost in his words and stopped mid-speech.
Pierre did not notice Natasha, because he did not expect to see her here, but he did not recognize her because the change that had happened in her since he had not seen her was enormous. She lost weight and became pale. But this was not what made her unrecognizable: she could not be recognized in the first minute when he entered, because on this face, in whose eyes before there had always shone a hidden smile of the joy of life, now, when he entered and looked at her for the first time, there was no there was a hint of a smile; there were only eyes, attentive, kind and sadly questioning.
Pierre's embarrassment did not affect Natasha with embarrassment, but only with pleasure, which subtly illuminated her entire face.

“She came to visit me,” said Princess Marya. – The Count and Countess will be there one of these days. The Countess is in a terrible situation. But Natasha herself needed to see the doctor. She was forcibly sent with me.
– Yes, is there a family without its own grief? - Pierre said, turning to Natasha. – You know that it was on the very day we were released. I saw him. What a lovely boy he was.
Natasha looked at him, and in response to his words, her eyes only opened more and lit up.
– What can you say or think for consolation? - said Pierre. - Nothing. Why did such a nice boy, full of life, die?
“Yes, in our time it would be difficult to live without faith...” said Princess Marya.
- Yes Yes. “This is the true truth,” Pierre hastily interrupted.
- From what? – Natasha asked, looking carefully into Pierre’s eyes.
- How why? - said Princess Marya. – One thought about what awaits there...
Natasha, without listening to Princess Marya, again looked questioningly at Pierre.
“And because,” Pierre continued, “only that person who believes that there is a God who controls us can endure such a loss as hers and ... yours,” said Pierre.
Natasha opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but suddenly stopped. Pierre hastened to turn away from her and turned again to Princess Marya with a question about the last days of his friend’s life. Pierre's embarrassment had now almost disappeared; but at the same time he felt that all his former freedom had disappeared. He felt that over his every word and action there was now a judge, a court that was dearer to him than the court of all people in the world. He spoke now and, along with his words, reflected on the impression that his words made on Natasha. He did not deliberately say anything that might please her; but, no matter what he said, he judged himself from her point of view.
Princess Marya reluctantly, as always happens, began to talk about the situation in which she found Prince Andrei. But Pierre's questions, his animatedly restless gaze, his face trembling with excitement little by little forced her to go into details that she was afraid to recreate for herself in her imagination.
“Yes, yes, so, so...” said Pierre, bending forward with his whole body over Princess Marya and eagerly listening to her story. - Yes Yes; so has he calmed down? softened? He always sought one thing with all the strength of his soul; be quite good that he could not be afraid of death. The shortcomings that were in him - if there were any - did not come from him. So has he relented? - said Pierre. “What a blessing that he met you,” he said to Natasha, suddenly turning to her and looking at her with eyes full of tears.
Natasha's face trembled. She frowned and lowered her eyes for a moment. She hesitated for a minute: to speak or not to speak?
“Yes, it was happiness,” she said quietly. in a chesty voice, – for me it was probably happiness. – She paused. “And he... he... he said that he wanted this, the minute I came to him...” Natasha’s voice broke off. She blushed, clasped her hands on her knees and suddenly, apparently making an effort on herself, raised her head and quickly began to say:
– We didn’t know anything when we drove from Moscow. I didn't dare ask about him. And suddenly Sonya told me that he was with us. I didn’t think anything, I couldn’t imagine what position he was in; I just needed to see him, to be with him,” she said, trembling and gasping for breath. And, not allowing herself to be interrupted, she told what she had never told anyone before: everything that she experienced in those three weeks of their journey and life in Yaroslavl.
Pierre listened to her with his mouth open and without taking his eyes off her, full of tears. Listening to her, he did not think about Prince Andrei, nor about death, nor about what she was telling. He listened to her and only pitied her for the suffering she was now experiencing as she spoke.
The princess, wincing with the desire to hold back tears, sat next to Natasha and listened for the first time to the story of these last days of love between her brother and Natasha.
This painful and joyful story was apparently necessary for Natasha.
She spoke, mixing the most insignificant details with the most intimate secrets, and it seemed that she could never finish. She repeated the same thing several times.
Behind the door, Desalles' voice was heard asking if Nikolushka could come in to say goodbye.
“Yes, that’s all, that’s all...” said Natasha. She quickly stood up just as Nikolushka was entering, and almost ran to the door, hit her head on the door covered with a curtain, and with a groan of either pain or sadness burst out of the room.
Pierre looked at the door through which she went out and did not understand why he was suddenly left alone in the whole world.
Princess Marya called him out of his absent-mindedness, drawing his attention to his nephew, who entered the room.
Nikolushka’s face, similar to his father, in the moment of spiritual softening in which Pierre was now, had such an effect on him that he, having kissed Nikolushka, hastily stood up and, taking out a handkerchief, went to the window. He wanted to say goodbye to Princess Marya, but she held him back.
– No, Natasha and I sometimes don’t sleep until three o’clock; please sit. I'll give you dinner. Go down; we'll be there now.
Before Pierre left, the princess said to him:
“This is the first time she spoke about him like that.”

Pierre was led into the large, illuminated dining room; a few minutes later steps were heard, and the princess and Natasha entered the room. Natasha was calm, although a stern, without a smile, expression was now again established on her face. Princess Marya, Natasha and Pierre equally experienced that feeling of awkwardness that usually follows the end of a serious and intimate conversation. It is impossible to continue the same conversation; It’s shameful to talk about trifles, but it’s unpleasant to remain silent, because you want to talk, but with this silence you seem to be pretending. They silently approached the table. The waiters pushed back and pulled up chairs. Pierre unfolded the cold napkin and, deciding to break the silence, looked at Natasha and Princess Marya. Both, obviously, at the same time decided to do the same: contentment with life and recognition that, in addition to grief, there are also joys, shone in their eyes.
- Do you drink vodka, Count? - said Princess Marya, and these words suddenly dispersed the shadows of the past.
“Tell me about yourself,” said Princess Marya. “They tell such incredible miracles about you.”
“Yes,” Pierre answered with his now familiar smile of gentle mockery. “They even tell me about such miracles as I have never seen in my dreams.” Marya Abramovna invited me to her place and kept telling me what had happened to me, or was about to happen. Stepan Stepanych also taught me how to tell things. In general, I noticed that being an interesting person is very peaceful (I now interesting person); they call me and they tell me.
Natasha smiled and wanted to say something.
“We were told,” Princess Marya interrupted her, “that you lost two million in Moscow.” Is this true?
“And I became three times richer,” said Pierre. Pierre, despite the fact that his wife’s debts and the need for buildings changed his affairs, continued to say that he had become three times richer.
“What I have undoubtedly won,” he said, “is freedom...” he began seriously; but decided against continuing, noticing that this was too selfish a subject of conversation.
-Are you building?
- Yes, Savelich orders.
– Tell me, did you not know about the death of the Countess when you stayed in Moscow? - said Princess Marya and immediately blushed, noticing that by making this question after his words that he was free, she ascribed to his words a meaning that they, perhaps, did not have.
“No,” answered Pierre, obviously not finding the interpretation that Princess Marya gave to his mention of her freedom awkward. “I learned this in Orel, and you can’t imagine how it struck me.” We were not exemplary spouses,” he said quickly, looking at Natasha and noticing in her face the curiosity about how he would respond to his wife. “But this death struck me terribly.” When two people quarrel, both are always to blame. And one’s own guilt suddenly becomes terribly heavy in front of a person who no longer exists. And then such death... without friends, without consolation. “I’m very, very sorry for her,” he finished and was pleased to notice the joyful approval on Natasha’s face.
“Yes, here you are again, a bachelor and a groom,” said Princess Marya.
Pierre suddenly blushed crimson and tried for a long time not to look at Natasha. When he decided to look at her, her face was cold, stern and even contemptuous, as it seemed to him.
– But did you really see and talk with Napoleon, as we were told? - said Princess Marya.
Pierre laughed.
- Never, never. It always seems to everyone that being a prisoner means being a guest of Napoleon. Not only have I not seen him, but I have also not heard of him. I was in much worse company.
Dinner ended, and Pierre, who at first refused to talk about his captivity, gradually became involved in this story.
- But is it true that you stayed to kill Napoleon? – Natasha asked him, smiling slightly. “I guessed it when we met you at the Sukharev Tower; remember?
Pierre admitted that it was true, and from this question, gradually guided by the questions of Princess Marya and especially Natasha, he became involved in a detailed story about his adventures.
At first he spoke with that mocking, meek look that he now had at people and especially at himself; but then, when he came to the story of the horrors and suffering that he had seen, he, without noticing it, became carried away and began to speak with the restrained excitement of a person experiencing strong impressions in his memory.
Princess Marya looked at Pierre and Natasha with a gentle smile. In this whole story she saw only Pierre and his kindness. Natasha, leaning on her arm, with a constantly changing expression on her face along with the story, watched Pierre without looking away for a minute, apparently experiencing with him what he was telling. Not only her look, but exclamations and short questions, which she did, showed Pierre that from what he was saying, she understood exactly what he wanted to convey. It was clear that she understood not only what he was saying, but also what he would like and could not express in words. Pierre told about his episode with the child and the woman for whose protection he was taken in the following way:
“It was a terrible sight, children were abandoned, some were on fire... In front of me they pulled out a child... women, from whom they pulled things off, tore out earrings...
Pierre blushed and hesitated.
“Then a patrol arrived, and all those who were not robbed, all the men were taken away. And me.
– You probably don’t tell everything; “You must have done something…” Natasha said and paused, “good.”
Pierre continued to talk further. When he talked about the execution, he wanted to avoid the terrible details; but Natasha demanded that he not miss anything.
Pierre started to talk about Karataev (he had already gotten up from the table and was walking around, Natasha was watching him with her eyes) and stopped.
- No, you cannot understand what I learned from this illiterate man - a fool.
“No, no, speak up,” said Natasha. - Where is he?
“He was killed almost in front of me.” - And Pierre began to tell the last time of their retreat, Karataev’s illness (his voice trembled incessantly) and his death.
Pierre told his adventures as he had never told them to anyone before, as he had never recalled them to himself. He now saw, as it were, a new meaning in everything that he had experienced. Now, when he was telling all this to Natasha, he experienced that rare pleasure that women give when listening to a man - not smart women who, while listening, try to either remember what they are told in order to enrich their minds and, on occasion, retell the same or adapt what is being told to their own and quickly communicate their own smart speeches, developed in their own small mental economy; but the pleasure that real women give, gifted with the ability to select and absorb into themselves all the best that exists in the manifestations of a man. Natasha, without knowing it herself, was all attention: she did not miss a word, a hesitation in her voice, a glance, a twitch of a facial muscle, or a gesture from Pierre. She caught the unspoken word on the fly and brought it directly into her open heart, guessing the secret meaning of all Pierre’s spiritual work.
Princess Marya understood the story, sympathized with it, but now she saw something else that absorbed all her attention; she saw the possibility of love and happiness between Natasha and Pierre. And for the first time this thought came to her, filling her soul with joy.
It was three o'clock in the morning. Waiters with sad and stern faces came to change the candles, but no one noticed them.
Pierre finished his story. Natasha, with sparkling, animated eyes, continued to look persistently and attentively at Pierre, as if wanting to understand something else that he might not have expressed. Pierre, in bashful and happy embarrassment, occasionally glanced at her and thought of what to say now in order to shift the conversation to another subject. Princess Marya was silent. It didn’t occur to anyone that it was three o’clock in the morning and that it was time to sleep.
“They say: misfortune, suffering,” said Pierre. - Yes, if they told me now, this very minute: do you want to remain what you were before captivity, or first go through all this? For God's sake, once again captivity and horse meat. We think how we will be thrown out of our usual path, that everything is lost; and here something new and good is just beginning. As long as there is life, there is happiness. There is a lot, a lot ahead. “I’m telling you this,” he said, turning to Natasha.
“Yes, yes,” she said, answering something completely different, “and I would like nothing more than to go through everything all over again.”
Pierre looked at her carefully.
“Yes, and nothing more,” Natasha confirmed.
“It’s not true, it’s not true,” Pierre shouted. – It’s not my fault that I’m alive and want to live; and you too.
Suddenly Natasha dropped her head into her hands and began to cry.
- What are you doing, Natasha? - said Princess Marya.
- Nothing, nothing. “She smiled through her tears at Pierre. - Goodbye, time to sleep.
Pierre stood up and said goodbye.

Princess Marya and Natasha, as always, met in the bedroom. They talked about what Pierre had said. Princess Marya did not speak her opinion about Pierre. Natasha didn't talk about him either.
“Well, goodbye, Marie,” Natasha said. – You know, I’m often afraid that we don’t talk about him (Prince Andrei), as if we are afraid to humiliate our feelings and forget.
Princess Marya sighed heavily and with this sigh acknowledged the truth of Natasha’s words; but in words she did not agree with her.
- Is it possible to forget? - she said.
“It felt so good to tell everything today; and hard, and painful, and good. “Very good,” said Natasha, “I’m sure he really loved him.” That's why I told him... nothing, what did I tell him? – suddenly blushing, she asked.
- Pierre? Oh no! How wonderful he is,” said Princess Marya.
“You know, Marie,” Natasha suddenly said with a playful smile that Princess Marya had not seen on her face for a long time. - He became somehow clean, smooth, fresh; definitely from the bathhouse, do you understand? - morally from the bathhouse. Is it true?
“Yes,” said Princess Marya, “he won a lot.”
- And a short frock coat, and cropped hair; definitely, well, definitely from the bathhouse... dad, it used to be...
“I understand that he (Prince Andrei) did not love anyone as much as he did,” said Princess Marya.
– Yes, and it’s special from him. They say that men are friends only when they are very special. It must be true. Is it true that he doesn't resemble him at all?
- Yes, and wonderful.
“Well, goodbye,” Natasha answered. And the same playful smile, as if forgotten, remained on her face for a long time.

Pierre could not fall asleep for a long time that day; He walked back and forth around the room, now frowning, pondering something difficult, suddenly shrugging his shoulders and shuddering, now smiling happily.
He thought about Prince Andrei, about Natasha, about their love, and was either jealous of her past, then reproached her, then forgave himself for it. It was already six o'clock in the morning, and he was still walking around the room.
“Well, what can we do? If you can’t do without it! What to do! So, this is how it should be,” he said to himself and, hastily undressed, went to bed, happy and excited, but without doubts and indecisions.
“We must, strange as it may be, no matter how impossible this happiness is, we must do everything in order to be husband and wife with her,” he said to himself.
Pierre, a few days before, had set Friday as the day of his departure for St. Petersburg. When he woke up on Thursday, Savelich came to him for orders about packing his things for the road.
“How about St. Petersburg? What is St. Petersburg? Who's in St. Petersburg? – he asked involuntarily, although to himself. “Yes, something like that a long, long time ago, even before this happened, I was planning to go to St. Petersburg for some reason,” he remembered. - From what? I'll go, maybe. How kind and attentive he is, how he remembers everything! - he thought, looking at Savelich’s old face. “And what a pleasant smile!” - he thought.
- Well, don’t you want to go free, Savelich? asked Pierre.
- Why do I need freedom, Your Excellency? We lived under the late count, the kingdom of heaven, and we see no resentment under you.
- Well, what about the children?
“And the children will live, your Excellency: you can live with such gentlemen.”
- Well, what about my heirs? - said Pierre. “What if I get married... It could happen,” he added with an involuntary smile.
“And I dare to report: a good deed, your Excellency.”
“How easy he thinks it is,” thought Pierre. “He doesn’t know how scary it is, how dangerous it is.” Too early or too late... Scary!
- How would you like to order? Would you like to go tomorrow? – Savelich asked.
- No; I'll put it off a little. I'll tell you then. “Excuse me for the trouble,” said Pierre and, looking at Savelich’s smile, he thought: “How strange, however, that he does not know that now there is no Petersburg and that first of all it is necessary for this to be decided. However, he probably knows, but he’s only pretending. Talk to him? What does he think? - thought Pierre. “No, someday later.”
At breakfast, Pierre told the princess that he had been to Princess Marya yesterday and found there - can you imagine who? - Natalie Rostov.
The princess pretended that she did not see anything more extraordinary in this news than in the fact that Pierre had seen Anna Semyonovna.
- Do you know her? asked Pierre.
“I saw the princess,” she answered. “I heard that they were marrying her to young Rostov.” This would be very good for the Rostovs; They say they are completely ruined.

Introduction

It all started at dawn on May 20, 1941. Many of the 7,700 New Zealand soldiers stationed on Crete were eating breakfast when hundreds of German transport planes - some towing gliders - rumbled into the skies over the Mediterranean island. Suddenly the sky was filled with thousands of German airborne paratroopers.

German paratroopers over Crete

Thus began the battle that later became known as the Battle of Crete. For 12 days, troops from New Zealand, Britain, Australia and Greece, with the support of the inhabitants of Crete, desperately tried to repel a massive German air attack. They almost succeeded.

Many New Zealand soldiers were able to leave Crete, but several thousand were not so lucky: more than 2,000 were captured and 671 died. Among the evacuees were Charles Upham and Alfred Halme, who were later awarded the Victoria Cross for their participation in the fighting in Crete. Some of the New Zealand soldiers were sheltered by local residents of Crete, who to this day remember their role in this battle.

Review

The battle in Crete was one of the most dramatic during the Second World War. For 12 days in May 1941, a mixed force of New Zealand, Britain, Australia and Greece desperately tried to repel a massive air attack from Germany. Despite huge losses, the enemy airborne troops managed to gain a foothold on the island and subsequently win. The battle ended with the evacuation of most Allied troops to Egypt.

Greek campaign

The island of Crete became a German target following the rapid occupation of the Greek mainland in April 1941. German troops poured into the Balkans, quickly defeating Yugoslavia and outflanking the Greek border troops. The 2nd New Zealand Division - part of the British Commonwealth forces hastily transferred to help Greece - was soon at the center of the action. Outnumbered in terms of weapons and numbers, the division's soldiers had to retreat in battle to the south of the country. During the last week of April, more than 50,000 soldiers allied forces were evacuated from mainland Greece, including most of the 2nd New Zealand Division. In this short campaign, almost 300 New Zealanders were killed and 1,800 were captured.

The enemy now turned his attention to Crete. The German high command considered the options of capturing the island or focusing its efforts on the planned invasion of the Soviet Union. The capture of Crete had its advantages. This could simultaneously give the Germans good base in the eastern Mediterranean, and also prevent the British from using the island to organize operations in the Balkans. When invading by sea there was a risk that the operation would be disrupted by the British naval forces, but the Germans could also use well-trained airborne troops. After assurances that the capture of the island would not greatly disrupt plans in Eastern Europe, Adolf Hitler reluctantly agrees to the invasion of Crete - Operation Mercury.

To Crete

Most of the Allied troops evacuated from Greece were sent to Crete. By the end of April, there were already more than 42,000 soldiers from Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations and Greece on the island. They included the bulk of the New Zealand division (7,700 men). One brigade had already been sent directly to Egypt, and it was expected that the New Zealand soldiers stationed in Crete would soon follow there. But faced with a shortage of ships, as well as the threat of a German attack, the British decided to use the soldiers already there to defend the island.

On 30 April, command of the so-called "Creforce" - the designation given to the Allied forces on Crete - was given to Major General Bernard Freyberg, who commanded the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He had a lot to do difficult task. During the withdrawal from Greece, the British were forced to abandon their heavy equipment and transport. Most soldiers arrived in Crete with only personal weapons. Military equipment and ammunition were in short supply, and a lack of tools meant that troops were forced to dig defensive trenches using helmets. Heavy weapons - tanks and artillery - could practically be counted on one hand. It was also not enough air support, because Royal Air Force The British were deployed elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

The issue of protecting Crete was not made easier by the geography of the island. Key positions on the island were the airfields of Maleme, Rethymnon and Heraklion, as well as Souda Bay. All of them were located on the northern coast and were a little more than 100 km from Greece, which was occupied by Germany. The loss of these positions could make defense of the island almost impossible, given the Germans' ability to quickly transport men and materials from bases to the mainland. However, the British were not prepared to destroy these positions, as the port at Souda Bay was needed to supply Allied forces on Crete, and there was still hope that the Royal Air Force could be based on the island in the future.

Despite these problems, the British had one undeniable advantage - they were well aware of Germany's intention to invade Crete. This information was obtained from decryptions of German codes called "Ultra". The only thing is that the British did not know the date of the invasion and the comparative advantage of the German naval and airborne forces. Armed with this knowledge, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was convinced that the defenders of Crete had a good chance of repelling the attack and defeating the Germans.

Air strike

The British expected Germany to launch an attack on the island in mid-May 1941. The Germans planned to launch the invasion on the 15th, but supply problems in Greece delayed the attack by a week. Having learned of this from Ultra sources, Freyberg was confident that everything possible had been done to prepare the island's defense, despite limited resources and time constraints.

The invasion began on the morning of May 20. After 8 am, soldiers of the troops in Crete saw gliders in the sky, the approach of which was accompanied by the roar of an air armada. Hundreds of planes filled the sky, parachuting over Maleme and the city of Chania. Later that During the day, paratroopers landed around the airfields of Rethymnon and Heraklion.

Death toll from German side grew. Many paratroopers died before reaching the ground; others were destroyed immediately after landing while they tried to free themselves from the parachute. Despite heavy losses, enough paratroopers landed successfully to take a weakened position west of Maleme (an area that Freyberg mistakenly had been unguarded) and in the Prison Valley, southwest of Chania.

By the end of the day, German forces around Maleme, Rethymno and Heraklion had failed to achieve any of their objectives. The command in Athens feared that the operation was a failure and that the prospect of a humiliating defeat loomed before him. The next day it was decided to throw all available resources into an attack on Maleme. Securing positions at the airfield was key to the success of the invasion; Without him, it was impossible to send reinforcements.

Destroyed German glider

German victory

The Germans' calculation to concentrate forces for a strike in Maleme was justified. On the morning of 21 May it became clear that the New Zealand infantry battalions defending the airfield and the main hills near it had retreated. This fatal mistake sealed the fate of the Allied forces in Crete. Despite the fact that the airfield was still under artillery fire, the Germans wasted no time in sending reinforcements, which decided the outcome of the battle in their favor.

German soldiers at an anti-aircraft gun

The superiority of Germany's military forces in Crete, both on the ground and in the air, was obvious. After six days of fierce fighting, Freyberg received orders to evacuate the exhausted soldiers. Part of the forces in Crete retreated to Sfakia on south coast, and from there 10,500 troops left the island over four nights. In a separate evacuation at Heraklion, another 6,000 soldiers were rescued, although some died during the return to Egypt due to enemy air attacks.

The remaining soldiers—about 6,500—officially surrendered to the Germans on June 1, 1941. Most of them spent the rest of the war in prison camps - first in Italy, and then in Germany and Poland. Others hid in the mountains, and then crossed to Egypt on submarines or fishing boats. Thanks to the help of the civilian population of Crete, some people were able to avoid captivity on the island and for several years participated in resistance battles.

Casualties in the battle

More than 1,700 British, Commonwealth and Greek soldiers died in the Battle of Crete, and 15,000 were captured. New Zealand casualties numbered 671 killed and 2,180 prisoners of war. More than 6,000 Germans were killed or wounded. The Luftwaffe lost more than 350 aircraft.

On May 20, 1941, the Germans launched an invasion of Crete. Landing on or near hidden defensive positions, the paratroopers suffered heavy losses. The surviving paratroopers were able to gain a foothold on the island, but by the end of the first day their position was precarious.

Maleme airfield

The invasion began shortly after dawn on May 20, 1941 with a massive Luftwaffe bombing campaign. For New Zealanders on Crete - those who had endured a week of daily air attacks - the arrival of German planes meant another day of bombing and strafing. Around 7:30 a.m. the shelling died down and many were preparing for breakfast. Before the soldiers had a chance to eat breakfast, an even more intense air bombardment began. After 8 am, gliders began to appear in the sky. While gliders flew overhead, German transport planes also appeared, beginning to drop paratroopers and containers with weapons and ammunition. Soon the sky above the New Zealand soldiers was filled with many colorful parachutes.

The people below were amazed at what was unfolding above their heads. After a short confusion, they grabbed their weapons and began shooting at the figures of the paratroopers slowly descending to the ground. There were a colossal number of people killed by rifles and machine guns. Many paratroopers died before they could reach the ground, and others were shot while trying to unfasten their parachute straps. The inhabitants of Crete were also involved in the battle. Local villagers armed with shotguns, axes and shovels attacked the paratroopers who landed near their homes. Later, during German occupation islands, the population of Crete will suffer terrible reprisals for these actions.

The battle was initially fought in the areas around Maleme and the Chania-Galatas sector. Approximately 50 gliders landed around Maleme, mainly along the dry bed of the Tavronitis River. Parachute landing was also dropped to the west, south and east of Maleme airfield, with orders to seize control of the airfield and the high ground near it. Those landing to the south and east found themselves surrounded by New Zealand units and were defeated. In one of the airborne battalions, two thirds of all paratroopers were killed. To the west of the airfield the situation was different. Most of the gliders managed to land safely in an area that was not visible to the defenders from the high ground. A significant number of paratroopers were also dropped into and near the Tavronitis riverbed, that is, in the territory that Freyberg had left unprotected. These units quickly reorganized and soon posed a danger to the airfield.

In Maleme, key positions were defended by the 22nd battalion. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Andrew, awarded with a cross Victoria in the First World War, the battalion took up positions along the western boundaries of the airfield, as well as on a nearby high hill, so-called Hill 107. By the afternoon the situation was serious enough for Andrew to request additional support from the 23rd Battalion, which had taken up a position to the east. This request was rejected by Brigadier James Hargest, commander of the 5th New Zealand Brigade, who mistakenly believed that the 23rd Battalion was too busy in its own territory dealing with enemy landings.

In desperation, Andrew decided to use his meager reserves - two tanks and an infantry platoon - to drive the Germans back to the edge of the airfield. But the counterattack fizzled out when the tanks broke down. Unable to contact the leading company and fearing that the rest of the battalion would be cut off, Andrew decided to retreat from Hill 107 to the nearest mountain range. Hargest gave permission to retreat with the phrase that later became famous, “if you must, you must.” He then gave the order to send two companies to reinforce the 22nd battalion. One of these companies briefly occupied Hill 107, but then had to retreat. The second company was unable to establish contact with the battalion in the dark and was also forced to retreat. Andrew ordered the battalion to be withdrawn to join the 21st Battalion in the east, leaving behind the two forward companies that were fighting on the western edge of the airfield. Both companies managed to break away from the enemy after it was observed that the rest of the battalion had already retreated.

Territory of Galatas-Chania

In the territory of Galatas-Chania German attack began with the assault on the gliders. An airborne assault from gliders landed near Chania, but was unable to reach main goal- the capture of Chania and Souda - and was forced to surrender a few days later. German losses during this operation were significant, as many gliders were shot down or severely damaged upon landing. Among the dead was the commander of the 7th Air Division, General Wilhelm Sussmann.

The German landings in this sector were concentrated at a place called Prison Valley, south of Galatas. Two battalions of paratroopers, landing on both sides of the Chania-Alikianos road, managed to take up a position around the Agia prison complex. Their presence threatened communications with the 5th Brigade in the east, and the need for a powerful counterattack became apparent.

The defense of the territory was carried out by the 10th New Zealand Brigade under the command of Colonel Howard Kippenberger. He quickly realized that his exhausted brigade was in no condition to organize the operation. At 4 New Zealand Brigade headquarters, Brigadier Lindsay Inglis came to the same conclusion; he believed that his brigade's attack could drive the Germans out of Prison Valley and provide an opportunity to help in Maleme. Freyberg rejected this idea, and Inglis was ordered to carry out the attack as a single battalion instead. Two companies of the 19th battalion and three British light tanks went to carry out the order, but, without achieving any significant success, they soon retreated.

By the end of the day, the German position on the island was precarious. Two waves of airborne troops were unable to gain a foothold at the airfields or the port of Souda Bay. Although the troops achieved some success at Maleme, the second wave of German paratroopers, landing near Rethymno and Heraklion, encountered strong resistance and made no further progress. The German commanders in Athens feared that they had grossly underestimated the number of defenders on Crete and would now suffer a humiliating defeat.

Translation for Irina Beloglazova

15,000
Greece:
11,000
Australia:
7,100
New Zealand:
6,700
Total:
40,000

22,000-35,000 infantry
280 bombers
150 dive bombers
180 fighters
500 transport aircraft
80 gliders
Italy:
2,700

12,000 prisoners
5255 captured Greeks

Battle of Crete(V German plans - Operation Mercury listen)) - a strategic landing operation of Germany during the Second World War. The Battle of Crete took place from May 31, 1941. The operation was aimed at destroying the British garrison on the island of Crete to establish strategic control over the Mediterranean basin. It is a direct continuation of the Greek campaign of the Italo-German armed forces aimed at driving Britain out of the Mediterranean. Ended with the occupation of Crete, Germany gained control of communications in the eastern Mediterranean,

Operation Mercury went down in history as the first major operation airborne troops. Despite heavy losses, the German paratroopers were able to complete the tasks assigned to them and ensure the landing of the main forces of the German troops. The successes of the German airborne units forced the top leadership of the other countries participating in the war (in particular, Great Britain) to reconsider their attitude towards this type of troops.

Conditions before surgery

Crete in relation to mainland Greece

The total strength of the 7th Parachute and 5th Mountain Divisions was 22,750 men. 750 people were to be delivered by gliders, 10,000 by parachute, 5,000 by transport aircraft and 7,000 by sea. Air support was provided by the Luftwaffe's 8th Army, consisting of 280 horizontal bombers, 150 dive bombers and 150 fighters. The island's defenders numbered approximately 15,000 British, 7,100 Australians, 6,700 New Zealanders, 11,000–12,000 regular Greek army soldiers, plus an unspecified number of irregulars and paramilitary forces.

The distance from Crete to German air bases established on the mainland and islands ranged from 120 to 240 km and did not exceed the range of German aircraft. The distance to British air bases in Egypt, Malta and Mersa Matruh was 700, 1000 and 500 km respectively.

Intelligence service

British Intelligence and Project Ultra

The British command was aware of the impending invasion thanks to German negotiations deciphered as part of Project Ultra. General Freyberg was informed of the landing plans and took a number of measures to strengthen the defenses around the airfields and on the northern coast of the island. However, the preparation of the defense was seriously affected by the almost complete lack of modern weapons and the underestimation by the Allied high command of the threat of an assault. Inaccuracies in deciphering German messages also played an important role. In particular, in most transcripts of German radiograms, the word “landing” meant primarily a naval landing, not an airborne one. The Allied High Command also rejected Freyberg's proposal to destroy the airfields to prevent reinforcements from being brought in if they were captured by German paratroopers.

German intelligence

The head of German military intelligence (Abwehr), Canaris, initially reported the presence of only 5 thousand British soldiers on Crete and the absence of Greek troops. It remains unclear whether Canaris, who had an extensive network of intelligence sources in Greece, was misinformed or intended to sabotage the landing plans in this way. Canaris also predicted that the civilian population would greet the Germans as liberators due to strong republican and anti-monarchist sentiment in society. As subsequent events showed, Canaris seriously underestimated the patriotic spirit of part of the population of Crete.

Twelfth Army intelligence painted a less optimistic picture, but it also significantly downplayed the size of the garrison and the troops evacuated from the mainland. The commander of the 12th Army, General Loehr, was confident that two divisions would be enough to successfully capture the island, but he left the 6th Mountain Division in reserve in Athens. Subsequently, this precaution fully justified itself.

Armament

Germany

The main weapon of the German paratrooper was the Mauser 98k carbine. About a quarter of the paratroopers who landed were armed with an MP-38 or MP-40 submachine gun instead of a carbine. Each squad had a light machine gun at its disposal.

Weapons and ammunition were dumped in containers. The Germans used parachutes different colors, to designate containers with various cargoes: personal weapons, heavy weapons, ammunition. LG-40 recoilless rifles were dropped on special bundles of 3 parachutes.

Unlike paratroopers from most other countries, German paratroopers jumped without carbines and machine guns (paratroopers armed with MP-38/40 left the plane with weapons since their compactness made it possible to attach them under the parachute suspension system), which were dropped separately - in containers. The design of the German army parachute was very reliable, but did not allow control of the direction of flight, and paratroopers often landed far from their weapons. At these moments, they could only rely on personal weapons - pistols and hand grenades, which were used to stuff the voluminous pockets of landing overalls. Many paratroopers were killed while trying to get to containers with weapons.

Great Britain

British troops used Lee-Enfield rifles and Vickers light machine guns. Allied forces on Crete did not have the mobility needed to quickly respond to paratroop attacks before they could organize a defense.

The Allies had about 85 guns of various calibers, some of which were captured Italian guns without ammunition.

The air defense consisted of one light anti-aircraft battery of 20 mm cannons, the forces of which were divided between two airfields. The guns were carefully camouflaged in nearby olive groves, and some were ordered not to fire during the initial air attacks by German fighters and ground attack aircraft in order to keep them in reserve.

The Allied tank force consisted of 9 Matilda IIA infantry tanks of the B Division of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment and 16 Mark VIB light tanks of the C Division of the 4th Her Majesty's Hussars. Just like most British tanks of the time, the Matilda's 40mm guns contained mostly armor-piercing shells, which were ineffective against infantry.

The tanks had a number of technical problems. The motors were worn out and could not be repaired using the resources available in Crete. Because of this, most of the tanks were used as bunkers at strategic defense points. Many of the British tanks were lost on the march due to mountainous conditions unfavorable for their use, rather than in battle.

Greece

Greek troops were predominantly armed with obsolete Austrian 6.5 mm Mannlicher-Schönauer mountain carbines and 8 mm Steyr-Manlicher M1895 rifles, received as reparations after the end of the First World War. About a thousand Greeks had antique French Gras rifles of the 1874 model. Most and the best of the heavy weapons had previously been transferred to the continent, but the Greek garrison of Crete was left with twelve obsolete French Saint-Etienne M1907 machine guns and about forty light machine guns from various manufacturers. Big problem There was a shortage of ammunition - in some units there were only 30 rounds of ammunition per soldier. Due to a mismatch in weapon calibers, the Greeks could not use British ammunition. Therefore, the Greeks were stationed in the eastern sector, where no significant German forces were expected.

Disembarkation

The forward-based forces amounted to 750 people. The target of the forward detachment was the Maleme airfield, which could receive the Junkers with the main landing party.

The invasion force was divided into three groups with different tasks:

• Group "Mars": Central group (commander General Sussmann), - capture of Chania, Galatasai and Rethymno

• Group "Comet": Western group (commander Major General Eugen Meindel), - capture of the Malam airfield and approaches to it.

• Orion Group: Eastern Group (initially under the command of Colonel Bruno Breuer, later General Ringel would take command), consisting of one parachute regiment and one mountain infantry regiment, captures the city of Heraklion and its airfield.

Capture of Crete

The main point of attack was Maleme airfield. On the day of the landing, May 20, German paratroopers failed to completely capture the landing site. However, at 5 a.m. on 21 May, Australian soldiers from the maintenance platoon and the anti-aircraft gunner platoon holding the line launched an attack, supported by two tanks. The Germans repulsed the attack and drove back the British Coalition troops with a counterattack. General Freyberg saved his strength because he was waiting for the main forces of the Germans, which, according to his data, should land from the sea and thus missed the chance of victory. On the morning of May 21, the Germans received reinforcements and cleared the area around Maleme, after which it became possible to land heavy transport aircraft at the airfield. On 23 May the British unsuccessfully attacked the airfield. On May 24, they were forced to leave the approaches to the airfield and retreat to fortified positions east of Maleme. In fact, this predetermined the course of the battle - already on May 21, units of the 5th German mountain rifle division and artillery began to land at the airfield. Having gained the opportunity to land infantry using an air bridge, inflicting serious losses on the British fleet and ground forces by air, the Germans quickly captured the island. On June 1, the day after the end of the evacuation, the British officially announced the surrender of the island.

Lessons from the campaign

The serious losses that Germany suffered during the operation showed that a large-scale air invasion of a local well-fortified defensive area, although it can be successful, is associated with significant losses of the most well-trained military units. The reason was the impossibility of providing a landing operation with artillery and full air support in conditions of landing on unprepared bridgeheads. German paratroopers were forced to operate in conditions of separation from centralized command and neighboring units against prepared defenses, which were supplied with artillery and armored vehicles. On the other hand, with a traditional landing from the sea, losses could be even higher. The clear interaction between the branches of the Wehrmacht troops was especially evident, in particular the support of ground forces by aviation.

Overture
DURING the Balkan campaign in April 1941, Germany and Italy occupied mainland Greece. This, however, did not give control over the eastern Mediterranean and was only the beginning of the expulsion of England from here. She still had to take away the Suez Canal, Cyprus, and Malta, but the first step was to capture Crete.
Having occupied the island in 1940, the British built 3 airfields here for Royal Air Force, and from now on actions in northern Africa and in the Middle East it was unthinkable without this “unsinkable aircraft carrier” at the junction of three continents, whose owner was the master of the situation here. Now Crete threatened the supply of German-Italian troops in Africa. Establishing control over it would make it easier to gain superiority at sea, where English ships dominated, the Italian fleet was insignificant, and the German fleet was completely absent.
During the preparations for the attack on the USSR, the importance of Crete increased. The fact is that the only source of oil for the Third Reich was the Ploesti region of allied Romania. The calculations of the campaign in the East were based on blitzkrieg, and disruptions in fuel supplies for war machine and industry in Germany. The Germans wanted to eliminate harassment on the flank and a threat to precious oil fields.
Hitler's military leaders argued that it was necessary to occupy first, but " Godfather» German Airborne Forces, the commander of the 11th Airborne Corps, General Kurt Student, was able to convince Hitler of the priority of Crete, proposing to capture the island through a large-scale airborne operation. The forces needed for this were already near the future theater of operations.
Fuhrer Order No. 28 of 04/25/41: “Successfully complete the Balkan campaign by occupying the island of Crete and using it as a stronghold for the air war against England in the eastern Mediterranean (Operation Mercury).”
But the Wehrmacht's information about the island's defense system was poor. The Abwehr (military intelligence) greatly underestimated the enemy. It was believed that the entire British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had been evacuated from Greece to Egypt, but in fact half of it was dug in on Crete. It was believed that no more than 15 thousand British and Greek soldiers were transferred there, but there were three times as many! Abwehr chief Canaris initially reported that there were only 5 thousand soldiers. Was he misinformed or thereby harming the Reich (it is suspected that he worked for the British)? Be that as it may, after his arrest in 1944 in the Gestapo basements, he was reminded of this miscalculation.
In parallel, the situation in Crete was clarified by reconnaissance of the 12th Army of the Wehrmacht, which also made a mistake true number English troops. The Germans were confident that two divisions would be enough to succeed, but they left the 6th Mountain Division (MSD) in reserve in Athens. As it turned out, this precaution later paid off. Moreover, for some reason they believed that the Cretans sympathized with them and simply could not wait for the arrogant British to be thrown out of the island. Underestimating the patriotism of the population backfired on the Nazis. No less erroneous was the opinion that the enemy was demoralized by defeat on the continent.
So, not much resistance was expected, and the Germans decided to land at four operationally important points on the island, not suspecting that the British already knew their plans. When, at the end of April, 250 Luftwaffe aircraft concentrated in the Bulgarian Plovdiv for no apparent reason, and Goering’s paratroopers remained in Greece after the capture of Corinth, the British already sensed some kind of trick. And British intelligence, having obtained the German Enigma encryption machine and understood its codes (Project Ultra), began to read Wehrmacht secret messages with details of the operation. True, one little thing complicated the British defense and even contributed to the loss of the island. The fact is that in German the concept of “landing” - whether from the air or from the sea - is denoted by the same word (Landung). Military leadership the “great maritime nation” (for now) despised the Airborne Forces and therefore, to the best of their worldview, considered that the Germans would rush to attack mainly from the sea. And there the invincible reigned british navy! The course of events cured the proud British of their superiority complex.

Disposition
The British. On April 30, 1941, New Zealand General Bernard Freiberg, a determined and experienced soldier, was appointed commander of the defense of Crete, who immediately began preparations to repel the inevitable attack (the “Scorcher” plan). At the beginning of the year, there were not even a thousand armed people on the island (mostly gendarmes), and Freiberg was given 31 thousand BEC soldiers and 12 thousand Greeks, in addition, up to 8 thousand Cretan civilians took part in the fighting. Knowing the most likely enemy landing sites, the general spared no effort in carefully preparing for the “hot meeting”, skillfully strengthened the defense of the airfields and north coast. All important areas were equipped with firing points, intelligently located and camouflaged anti-aircraft batteries(German aerial reconnaissance never saw them), ordering not to open fire on the bombers, but to wait for the landing; created many anti-landing barriers, false lines of defense and air defense positions. They wanted to render all 3 airfields completely unusable (mining, barriers) in order to prevent the Germans from using them, but the senior military commander, British Commander-in-Chief Wavell, forbade this, believing that everything was already in place to repel the landing, and “damage to the airfields could interfere use of airfields by our own aviation.” This cost the British the loss of the island; the airfields became the basis of the German victory.
You need to know who opposed the hitherto invincible Wehrmacht. Yes, there were a lot of soldiers on the island, but they were often recruited from the forest and pine trees, there was not enough weapons and equipment. Units without commanders were mixed up in the chaos of a hasty evacuation and needed urgent reorganization.
The Greeks fought with the remnants of the 12th, 20th divisions, the 5th Cretan division, the gendarmerie battalion of Crete, the garrison of Heraklion, and cadets of military academies, staffed with recruits. Things were a little better for the 2nd New Zealand Division Freiberg (7500 bayonets), the 19th Australian Brigade (6500), the number of other scattered English units was 17 thousand people. There were also the best units in the Middle East - a battalion of the Leicester regiment and 700 Scottish mountain riflemen, but they also did not rise to such a strong enemy as Goering’s “green devils”.
The quality of defense was seriously affected by the lack of modern and heavy weapons lost on the mainland. With great difficulty, under Luftwaffe bombs, the British fleet managed to deliver some weapons and equipment to Crete. The island's defenders were armed with several stationary and 85 captured Italian cannons of various calibers without ammunition (having dismantled some for spare parts, they assembled 50 guns suitable for firing), of armored vehicles - 16 dilapidated Cruiser MkI, 16 light Mark VIB, 9 infantry Matilda IIA with armor-piercing shells , meaningless against infantry. Some were used for spare parts, most were simply dug in as bunkers for important areas. 50 anti-aircraft guns and 24 searchlights, divided between airfields, were used as air defense systems.

Invasion.1st day
Maleme. Things didn't work out from the very beginning. On May 20, at 5.50, the Luftwaffe launched a massive attack on the landing zone, but most of the camouflaged positions survived, and air defense systems did not respond to the bombs. What was even worse was that the gliders and Junkers with paratroopers arrived only half an hour after the attack aircraft had left! The Germans did not take the weather into account. The spring was hot and dry, the propellers of hundreds of aircraft at the Greek airfields of Tanagra, Corinth and Megara raised such dust that only some of the aircraft took off in time, while the rest waited on the ground for improved visibility. The launchers circled in the sky, waiting for them, so it was not possible to take advantage of the results of the bombing.
When at 7.25 am the advanced detachment of Captain Altman (2nd company of the 1st airborne battalion) appeared over the target, they were already expected. Hurricane fire turned gliders into sieve; desperately maneuvering and diving, they crashed against the rocks, fell into the sea, plopped down in clouds of dust on the roads, any suitable area, capping and falling apart. But the landing continued; Having dismounted, the lightly armed paratroopers attacked the enemy, amazed by their numbers and suicidal daring pressure. Quickly recovering, the defenders of Crete covered the Germans with mortar and machine gun fire; The capture of the airfield on the move was prevented in hand-to-hand combat by the New Zealanders defending it. Altman managed to capture the bridge and part of the positions west of the airfield, but out of 108 men he had 28 left.
The battalion following ran into heavy barrage fire, many were killed in the air, the battalion commander, Major Koch, and most of the soldiers were wounded in the first minutes. The 1st company, which landed on an enemy battery, captured it, suffering heavy losses; out of 90 soldiers, 30 remained; The 4th company and battalion headquarters fell into the positions of the New Zealand battalion and almost all were killed; The 3rd company, landed on a dry riverbed, reached the air defense battery south of the airfield and destroyed it, minimizing the loss of aircraft during the release of the main forces. Using captured anti-aircraft guns, the Germans shot at trucks with reinforcements rushing to the airfield and took up a perimeter defense. They saw that the bombed enemy positions were just a decoration, and the British were knocking them out with rifle and machine-gun fire from a commanding height, which they could not capture.
The landing battalions were hit with such heavy fire from all guns that many Germans were killed or wounded before they even set foot on the island. In many cases, landings were carried out over defense lines not detected by aerial reconnaissance. Paratroopers were shot in the air, and after landing they were destroyed in hand-to-hand combat. It was a massacre.
The 3rd Battalion landed north-east of Maleme directly over the positions of the 5th New Zealand Brigade and was almost completely destroyed within a few minutes; The 4th battalion with the regimental headquarters successfully landed to the west, losing few people, and was able to get hold of one side of the airfield, but here the regiment commander, General Meindl, was seriously wounded. He was replaced by the commander of the 2nd battalion, Major Stenzler; His reserve men were also in the battle; some of them were killed in the air, some on the ground by armed Cretans, the rest fought east of Spilia. Lieutenant Kissamos's reinforced platoon landed among the Greek battalions, and of the 72, only 13 surrendered paratroopers survived, saved from lynching by New Zealand officers. The fighting continued throughout the day, with positions around the airfield changing hands. The Germans gradually grouped, the 3rd company linked up with the remnants of the scattered and defeated units and made a stand on the northern side of the airfield.
Things turned out poorly for the 3rd airborne division, which was dropped east of Maleme. Even before the landing, the entire regimental headquarters and the commander of the 7th Air Division, General Zussman, who was sent to lead the operation on the spot, were killed (due to a pilot error, the glider broke away from the towing vehicle and crashed into the sea). The 3rd battalion, which landed first, fell on the positions of the New Zealanders, who with well-aimed fire knocked out many of the paratroopers while still in the air; those who landed were killed in hand-to-hand combat or captured. By mistake, the pilots dropped several units over the mountains, and the soldiers who broke their bones left the ranks without a fight. Gone with the wind one company was killed at sea; The 13th mortar company, dropped over the reservoir, drowned in in full force. Only the 9th company landed properly, but after a bloody battle it took up a perimeter defense. The landing under fire continued all day. The survivors were scattered, hiding from the fire in the folds of the terrain, trying to group and find containers with weapons, which was not easy in these conditions. The paratroopers went on the attack with pistols, hand grenades and sapper blades, and the British knocked them out, as if in a shooting gallery, with rifles and machine guns.
Rethymno and Heraklion. Seeing that out of 500 Junkers who threw out the 1st wave of the invasion, only 7 did not return, General Student’s headquarters gave the go-ahead to send the 2nd wave. But things got even worse than in the morning. The planned “carousel” of bomber and transport squadrons again did not work out. Midday, heat - even more dust rose above the airfields; Moreover, difficulties arose with refueling the aircraft; this had to be done with hand pumps directly from barrels. The vehicles went towards the target in small groups at increasingly greater intervals; dense waves of landing did not work out, the soldiers landed without air support and were scattered across large area. They were even less able than their comrades at Maleme to capture their objectives. And below they were already waiting: all the sites more or less suitable for landing were surrounded by firing points and targeted.
The 2nd RPD arrived at Rethymnon very late, at 16.15. Two companies landed shortly after the Luftwaffe raid, but were pinned down by enemy fire; The 3rd company was carried 7 km from the target. For the bulk of the landing party, the landing was delayed, and the enemy (19th Australian brigade) had already come to his senses. The soldiers separated from the planes were met with such dense fire that many died in the air. The living were greatly scattered by the wind, but nevertheless, the fighters of the 2nd battalion still managed to capture the heights dominating the airfield. Having made their way from there to the airfield, they came under such heavy fire from other heights that they had to retreat again. Even a few decrepit tanks inflicted heavy losses on the lightly armed Germans, and some units were completely destroyed. By evening there were already more than 400 dead; the commander, Colonel Sturm, was captured. Survivors of this massacre said that they did not expect such fire and the number of enemy forces; intelligence predicted a much easier course of the operation. Having made sure that the airfield could not be captured, the paratroopers dug in and began to wait for reinforcements. Reinforced during the night by soldiers scattered across the area, the remnants of the regiment again tried to break through to the airfield, but under heavy fire they rolled back and took up a perimeter defense.
The landing of the 1st airborne division began even more late, at 17.30, when the bombers had already left and the enemy was preparing to repel the attack. This regiment found itself in the most difficult situation. Firstly, 600 of his fighters have already been dropped on Maleme; secondly, the Heraklion airfield was covered by reinforced air defense, and they had to jump from high altitude, which significantly increased losses. Those who landed encountered fierce fire from all types of weapons, including artillery and dug-in tanks, which eliminated any chance of success. Two companies that landed west of the airfield were killed (5 soldiers survived); the remaining units were scattered, and only the coming night saved them from complete defeat. Having assessed the situation, the commander, Colonel Breuer, abandoned the attack and, under cover of darkness, began collecting survivors and containers with weapons. Having captured in the village Agya defense node ( former prison) to control the road to Chania, soldiers of the 1st, 2nd and airborne sapper battalions made a regimental command post there and took up a perimeter defense; they were joined by the remnants of the 9th company.
By the evening of the first day, the situation of the German paratroopers in Crete was catastrophic. Many commanders were killed, the losses of personnel were simply monstrous: out of 10 thousand who landed, only 6 thousand remained in the ranks. They did not achieve any of their goals. Positions taken were kept from last bit of strength. Having almost used up their ammunition, the wounded, exhausted Germans were preparing to last fight. The living lay in the heat under fire among the dead and dying, avoiding any movement, without a sip of water or hope of salvation. To add insult to injury, there was no communication (the radios were broken during the landing), Student’s headquarters in Athens did not know what tragedy had unfolded on the island. This situation revealed the specifics of the training of Goering’s “green devils,” especially the middle command level. The commanders, initiated into the general plan of the operation, independently of each other created many active centers of resistance, clinging to the superior enemy, imposing a battle on him, without giving him respite or room to maneuver with his reserves, hoping that his comrades in other sectors would be luckier and would capture areas to receive help. They were active. Thus, the corporal of one dead unit, having collected the weapons of his comrades, dug in at the crossroads, lined himself with grenades and spare magazines, and met the British convoy so fiercely that they retreated with big losses; the task was completed.

2nd day
Maleme. On May 21, having ordered all forces to attack the airfield, General Student decided to urgently deliver there the 3rd echelon of the invasion, the mountain rangers, despite the fact that they would have to land on a small airfield actually in the hands of the enemy under artillery fire. That same night, all available Luftwaffe transport planes in southeastern Europe were transferred to Greece to carry out this task.
At dawn the battle resumed, attack aircraft arrived, and the Germans occupied part of the airfield amid bomb explosions. It was not possible to capture all the runways; planes with ammunition landed directly on the beaches, suffering accidents; Only one landed successfully, which, after taking the wounded, incl. Meindl, went to the mainland.
At 14.00 the last reserve, two airborne anti-tank companies, was landed and went into battle. At 1500, 52-year-old Colonel Ramke jumped off Maleme to lead the assault; With him came 550 soldiers of the 2nd wave of the invasion, who were stranded in Greece due to aircraft breakdowns. With their help, by the end of the day they still managed to occupy the runway, but they were fired upon by British mortars and anti-aircraft guns from the dominant height of 107. The Germans fired at them from captured guns and, to the enthusiastic roar of the paratroopers fighting along the perimeter of the airfield, planes with mountain rangers began to arrive. Heavy fire fell on the Junkers landing on the airfield and the adjacent wasteland. They fell onto the runway like burning torches; capped outside the airfield. The dismounted rangers fell into a hellish fire, which cost many their lives. The Germans cleared the runway clogged with burning debris again and again with the help of captured tanks; More and more vehicles loaded with reinforcements, which immediately went into battle. At the small airfield for such a large amount of equipment (the runway is 600 meters long), chaos reigned; by the evening, the runway was cluttered with 80 mangled, burnt-out vehicles (more than 150 aircraft died in 2 days). But the gates to the island have already opened. Step by step, displacing the enemy, the rangers and paratroopers gained a foothold on the outskirts of the village of Maleme; Stormtroopers were called to the most stubborn firing points, and with their support, the village was occupied at 17.00.
The fighting was led by the mountain ranger general Ringel. At night, the British almost recaptured the airfield; they were stopped only at the edge of the airfield, and at dawn the Luftwaffe drove them away completely. Units on other fronts concentrated their forces and engaged the enemy in battle, helping those who fought at Maleme.
In Rethymno, the bloodless battalions of the 2nd airborne division were driven out from the heights, where they held out for more than a day. Retreating to the ruins of the factory, they held out, fighting off attack after attack under continuous artillery fire, holding 7 thousand enemy soldiers in battle.
In Heraklion, the offensive of the 1st airborne division on the city faltered; Colonel Breuer received an order to stop and prevent the outflow of enemy forces to other areas. The attack aircraft that arrived to help did not cope with the task, not finding camouflaged firing points, and the paratroopers were left to rely only on themselves, repelling the continuous attacks of 8 thousand British with their own and captured weapons.

3rd and 4th day
Maleme. On the morning of May 22, the 1st Battalion occupied Hill 107 without a fight. desperate courage The Germans and New Zealand soldiers retreated. At lunchtime, the Luftwaffe finished off the remaining enemy artillery, and the shelling stopped. The Germans quickly cleared the airfield of debris, and the surrounding area from the British. Now here the air bridge began to work at a high pace, 20 vehicles with heavy weapons and manpower arrived every hour, and they took out the wounded on the return flight. General Student arrived with his headquarters. The outcome of the battle for Crete was still uncertain, but the British had lost their main advantage - the sea that separated them from the mainland.
On May 23, abandoning attempts to recapture the airfield, the British began to retreat to the east.
Rethymno. The Germans repulsed the attacks with the help of attack aircraft, driving the British back to their original positions.
Heraklion. The paratroopers captured Hill 491 and united with their own who had made their way from the other side. Due to heavy losses from the bombing, the British fleet withdrew to Alexandria; 6 thousand Italians landed on the island.

5th and 6th day
GERMAN troops broke through all British defense lines from Maleme to Hania. Desertion among the island's defenders began to reach alarming proportions.
Rethymno. The surrounded paratroopers suffered heavy losses and were on the verge of exhaustion, but continued to draw back the enemy forces.

7th and 8th day
Rethymno. On the night of May 26, the surviving 250 soldiers, having broken through the encirclement, went to Heraklion, but, having received an order, they stopped and, together with reinforcements that had broken through, attacked the enemy, forcing him to pull troops from other areas.
Heraklion. The Germans occupied height 296 and launched an assault, but... the British left the city and the airfield without a fight. On May 27, the capital of the island of Chania fell. The British began evacuating troops from the island. On May 28, Suda Bay was captured, where seaplanes with ammunition immediately began to arrive.

End of operation
Rethymno. The paratroopers continued to attack the enemy, which was ten times superior to them, suffering losses (only 3 officers remained). Having broken through to the airfield, they came across... mountain rangers. Help came at the last moment; the physical and moral strength of the few survivors was running out; The 85th Jaeger Regiment took the city.
After leaving the island through the southern part, the British officially announced its surrender. Operation Mercury ended on June 1. The Allies made no attempt to recapture Crete, and it remained in German hands until the surrender on May 8, 1945.

Losses
LOSSES of the defenders of Crete amounted to 3.8 thousand killed, 3 thousand wounded, 17 thousand captured. 4 cruisers, 6 destroyers, 1 minesweeper, 11 small ships, 33 aircraft were destroyed.
But the Germans lost 6,208 people, of whom 3,714 were killed and 2,494 wounded. But in no case can one trust such surprisingly “accurate” data: in 1974, the remains of 4,465 soldiers were reburied at the specially established “German Military Cemetery” in Maleme. There were many whose graves are not counted - these are missing people and those who drowned at sea. In Operation Mercury, the Wehrmacht lost at least 7–8 thousand people killed.
The Luftwaffe lost 271 aircraft.

Who gained what from this massacre?
The Cretans only suffered from the fight between the “British lion” and the “German eagle” on their land. The occupation was difficult for them; more than 8 thousand people fell victim to it.
What did the Germans win, seemingly victorious in this fight? Nothing but prestige. Possession of Crete was absolutely necessary in the context of further conquests - Malta, Cyprus, the Suez Canal, Alexandria, etc. As it was, the occupation of the island had no impact on the course of hostilities in this region.
What about the British? The answer can be seen in the words of Churchill, included in the epigraph to this article: “Hitler’s hand could stretch further, in the direction of India.” The astute British Prime Minister saw what his generals had not: the danger of this "arm", a new and unusually effective branch of troops that could be delivered anywhere. The Wehrmacht had already swept across Europe like a tornado, smashing foreign armies to smithereens, and the tip of the German bayonet was the airborne troops. The combination of two factors - the “hand of the Airborne Forces” and the “German bridgehead of Crete” - threatened the interests of the British Empire in Asia, but the elimination of one of them removed the danger. But there were problems in Asia: Hitler’s intelligence and diplomats successfully fanned anti-British sentiments; Türkiye was pro-German; an entire air bridge was already operating between the Reich and Persia; During the uprising in Iraq at the end of April 1941, the Iraqi army, blockading British military bases, turned to Hitler for help. If Goering’s “green devils” had come here - and their plans are known: the seizure of Cyprus, Alexandria, the Suez Canal, and everywhere else - then most likely there would have been a blaze all the way to India.
Churchill knew much more than he told his most trusted military leaders. Despite all their objections, he saw in stubborn defense Kryta's opportunity to bleed German Airborne Forces, inflicting fatal losses on them, shortening Hitler by one “arm”. Churchill called it a huge stupidity that the Germans risked their elite troops. The dangerous “arm” was cut off in Crete. In addition, amazed by the high efficiency of Goering's green devils, the Allies began to accelerate the creation of their airborne troops.
And the Fuhrer was not so much pleased with the capture of the island as he was saddened by the losses. The calculation was made on the emotionally unbalanced neurasthenic Adolf, his reaction was the one that Churchill needed: the Fuhrer banned large aircraft from now on. landing operations! Goering's Green Devils were used only as "fire brigades", patching up the most threatening sections of the fronts.
After the war, General Student surprised everyone with his story about how reluctantly Hitler agreed to the plan to capture Crete: “He wanted to stop the Balkan campaign after the Wehrmacht entered the south of Greece.” Hitler intuitively sensed trouble. “He was very upset by the heavy losses in Crete, and he often told me: “The time of parachute troops is over.” I suggested that he take the Suez Canal with his next attack, but after the Cretan shock he refused. I tried repeatedly to dissuade him, but to no avail.” Even the planned capture of Malta (Operation Hercules) was rejected, although Italy also wanted to participate with the forces of the airborne and air assault divisions.
So even though the battlefield remained with the Germans, the British still won. True, they still talk about the sacrifices made in vain. But who cares when we're talking about about world domination?!

Wolf MAZUR
Illustrations from the magazine archive

Original taken from kartam47 in the Cretan operation. Successful use of airborne assault! (photo story)

The battle on Crete (in German plans - Operation Mercury) - strategic

German landing operation during World War II. Battle of Crete

German paratroopers near the Junkers Ju.52 transport aircraft before the start of Operation Mercury (German landing operation to capture Crete).

The operation was aimed at destroying the British garrison on the island of Crete to establish strategic control over the Mediterranean basin. Is a direct continuation of the Greek campaign of the Italo-Germans armed forces, aimed at driving Britain out of the Mediterranean.
Ended with the occupation of Crete, Germany gained control of communications in the eastern Mediterranean.

German Junkers Ju.52 transport aircraft tow DFS 230 gliders during the first day of Operation Mercury (the German landing operation to capture Crete). The photograph shows the flight of the Western Landing Group (code name "Comet"). Its goal was to capture the Maleme airfield and approaches to it.

The second wave of German paratroopers from the Mars Group from the 7th Airborne Division parachute east of the city of Rethymno during Operation Mercury (the German airborne operation to capture Crete). The task of the Mars Group (Central Group), under the command of General Sussmann, was to capture the cities of Chania and Rethymno.

Operation Mercury went down in history as the first major airborne operation. Despite heavy losses, the German paratroopers were able to complete the tasks assigned to them and ensure the landing of the main forces of the German troops.

German transport aircraft Junkers Yu.52 (Ju.52) are dropping troops on Crete.

Pilots of the 7th Squadron of the 2nd Luftwaffe Training Squadron (7.(F)/LG 2) confer after a flight during Operation Mercury. The photo was taken at a Greek airfield after the return of 7.(F)/LG 2 from a flight to cover the landing on Crete.

Pilot of the German fighter Messerschmitt Bf.110C-5 from the 7th squadron of the 2nd training squadron (7.(F)/LG 2) after a combat mission. The photo was taken at a Greek airfield after the return of 7.(F)/LG 2 from a flight to cover the landing on Crete.

The successes of the German airborne units forced the top leadership of the other countries participating in the war (in particular, Great Britain) to reconsider their attitude towards this type of troops.

A group of German paratroopers walks down the street of a Greek village in Crete.

The main weapon of the German paratrooper was the Mauser 98k carbine. About a quarter of the landing paratroopers were armed with an MP-38 or MP-40 submachine gun instead of a carbine. Each squad had at its disposal an MG-34 light machine gun. German technical and military specialists tried to compensate for the lack of heavier weapons with a new product - the 75-mm LG 40 recoilless rifle. Weighing 130 kg, it was 10 times lighter than the German 75-mm field gun with only a third shorter firing range.

Weapons and ammunition were dumped in containers. The Germans used parachutes of different colors to mark containers with various cargo: sidearms, heavy weapons, ammunition. LG 40 recoilless rifles were dropped on special bundles of 3 parachutes.

A group of German paratroopers on Crete. Posing in front of the lens.

German paratroopers and Junkers Ju-52 transport planes flying above them in the area of ​​height No. 107 on Crete. Hill No. 107 in the area of ​​the Maleme airfield was one of the most important strongholds of the Allies, for which there were fierce battles. On May 21, the height was captured by the Germans.

Unlike paratroopers from most other countries, German paratroopers jumped without carbines and machine guns (paratroopers armed with the MP-38/40 left the plane with weapons, since their compactness made it possible to attach them under the parachute suspension system), which were dropped separately - in containers.

Three German paratroopers remove weapons from a container after landing on Crete.

German paratroopers carry containers (Fallschirmjäger Abwurfbehälter) with equipment along the road in Crete.

For ease of transportation on the ground, these containers were equipped with special wheels and handles (partially visible in the photo).

The design of the German army parachute was very reliable, but did not allow control of the direction of flight, and paratroopers often landed far from their weapons.
At these moments, they could only rely on personal weapons - pistols and hand grenades, which they stuffed into the voluminous pockets of their landing overalls. Many paratroopers were killed while trying to get to containers with weapons.

Graves of German paratroopers in Crete.

Italian Marines with an 8mm Breda M37 machine gun after landing in Sitia on Crete.

The commander of the battle group "Orion" (FJR-1 and II./FJR-2 from the 7. Fliegerdivision) Oberst of the Luftwaffe parachute troops Bruno Bräuer (1893-1947, left) during the battles in Crete.

German paratroopers escort British prisoners along a city street in Crete.

German paratroopers search captured British soldiers in Crete.

German paratroopers pass by British soldiers killed in Crete.

A column of British prisoners escorted by German paratroopers on Crete.

A paratrooper of the 3rd battalion of the 7th German division near the bodies of the executed residents of the village of Kondomari on Crete.

German paratroopers on vacation in an olive grove on Crete.

German paratroopers in a captured British Morris-Commercial CS8 in Crete.

German paratroopers on a motorcycle near the crashed German military transport aircraft Junkers Ju-52 (Ju-52, board number 1Z+BA) at Malemes airfield on the island of Crete.

WITH An aerial view of Maleme airfield on Crete, captured by German troops during Operation Mercury. The photo was taken from a German transport aircraft Junkers Ju-52 (Ju.52). On the ground you can see broken and intact German Yu-52 transport aircraft and Ju-87 dive bombers (Ju.87).

German paratroopers are fighting in the city of Chania (Χανιά, Chania) on the island of Crete.

German paratroopers on vacation during a break between battles in Crete.

German paratroopers in battle with Allied units on Crete.

A British military tent camp captured by German troops near the city of Chania on Crete

Prisoners British soldiers under the escort of German paratroopers in Crete.

A German truck passes a column of British prisoners of war on Crete.

German soldiers in captured British trucks in Crete.

The commander of the 5th German Mountain Division, Major General Julius Ringel, awards Iron Crosses to soldiers and officers from among his subordinates who distinguished themselves during the operation to capture Crete.

View of the bombing of ships off the coast of Crete.

The British Navy lost in the Battle of Crete (solely from air action): three cruisers, six destroyers, 10 auxiliary ships and more than 10 transports and merchant ships. Three battleships, an aircraft carrier, six cruisers, and 7 destroyers were also damaged.

The losses of the allied Greek fleet are not specified.

The British Air Force lost 46 aircraft.

The Luftwaffe lost 147 aircraft shot down and 73 in accidents (mostly transport ones).

The British Army lost most of the troops stationed on the island

The Greek army practically ceased to exist after the operation.

After the end of Operation Mercury, General Student was called to the “carpet” to the Fuhrer, Hitler, having learned about the losses, was furious, screams and reproaches against Student were heard from the huge office of the Reich Chancellery, as a result, Hitler forbade future large-scale landing operations with participation of the Airborne Forces, perhaps the Germans were right to act in this way, since the subsequent experience of the Second World War as a whole showed that large-scale operations of airborne troops were too costly and risky, such as, for example, airborne operations carried out by the Red Army in 1943. on the Dnieper and our allies in 1944. in Holland, which did not lead to great successes, but the losses in people and equipment were quite significant.