Battle of Greece and Battle of Crete - World War II DOCUMENTARY

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s on the Eastern and Western Fronts, as well as the Pacific War, are often central to depictions of World War II. But the conflict was truly global and each of its smallest parts was crucial and decisive. The invasion of Greece by Italy and then Germany is one of the least talked about parts of the war. Welcome to our

documentary

about the Battle of Greece and the Battle of Crete. These long videos take forever to make, so we would appreciate all the likes and shares we can get; It's a great help. If you are interested in the history of this era, be sure to visit our second channel, The Cold War, the link is in the upper right corner.

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We used Mindstone to gather the reference material for this video; Click the link below to join our shared library and join the conversation with us directly. Support our channel and this great new platform by joining Mindstone today! In the early 20th century, Italian nationalists pushed for the expansion of their empire. The newly unified Kingdom of Italy was striving to form a powerful colonial empire, with Italian Somaliland and Eritrea among the first colonies to be established abroad. During the Italo-Ottoman War of 1911, Italy occupied the largely Greek Dodecanese Islands and annexed the North African province of Libya. For their participation in the First World War, they were promised the provinces of Trent, South Tyrol and Dalmatia, the Austrian coast, parts of western Carniola and the German colonies in Africa.

At the end of the war, they did not receive all of the promised lands, causing the Italian government to be humiliated. This “mutilated victory,” as Italian nationalists called it, led to the rise of fascism in the kingdom, and its leader, Benito Mussolini, became Prime Minister in 1922. Mussolini wanted to forge a new Roman Empire in Africa and the Balkans. , and he wanted to achieve supremacy over the Mediterranean, where his sphere of influence was located. At the same time, a defeat against burgeoning Turkey in 1922 had thrown Greece into a chaotic state in which the monarchy was overthrown and several revolutions and counter-revolutions occurred.

In 1935, the royalists, with the help of the British, restored King George II to the Greek throne, but the country was still in a period of crisis. The King, instead of attempting to resolve the crisis through parliamentary means, asked Ioannis Metaxas, a former army general with pro-fascist views, to form a new cabinet. On August 4, 1936, the new Metaxas regime abolished the constitution and political parties and established a dictatorship. Metaxas, now prime minister of this fascist government, sought to restore order in his country, although this did not break the democratic spirit of the Greek people. As the outbreak of war loomed over Europe, Metaxas pursued a policy of neutrality and close relations with the other Mediterranean powers.

Relations between Italy and Greece had never been particularly good, but worsened after the Italian invasion of Albania, which gave them a foothold in the Balkans. The presence of Mussolini's troops on the Greek-Albanian border threw the Greeks into the arms of the British, on whom they were also economically dependent. This resulted in the acceptance of a British guarantee of independence on 13 April. However, the start of World War II reversed Italian plans for a Greek invasion, as by 1940 they were fighting the British in North Africa as well as the Mediterranean, and were unable to open another front. But Count Galeazzo Ciano, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mussolini's son-in-law, had other plans.

He exerted much control over the Albanian governor Francesco Jomini and the military commander Sebastiano Visconti Prasca, and viewed Albania as his personal domain. Ciano believed that he could increase his popularity in Albania by adding territories with Albanian minorities in Greece and Yugoslavia, coinciding with Mussolini's expansionist desires. Mussolini was finally convinced by the assassination of the Albanian leader in northern Greece, Daout Hoxha, and an invasion was planned for the end of September. Visconti Prasca began moving Italian units to the Greek border, while Albanian guerrillas were armed and trained to disrupt the Greek rear, but the Germans delayed the start of the operation because they wanted to maintain the status quo in the Balkans.

In response, the Italians attempted to force Greece into a reaction that would give them a convenient pretext to invade. The provocations reached their peak in August, when the submarine Delfino torpedoed and sank the destroyer HRN Elli. The Greek authorities pretended not to know the identity of the attackers, but prepared for war. When German troops entered Romania on October 12, 1940, Mussolini decided to act immediately, proclaiming October 26 as the day of the invasion. Although Il Duce was furious that Romania was in the Italian sphere of influence, German interest in the Balkans prevented Turkey from coming to Greece's aid, and this allowed the dictator to declare war on them.

On October 22, Ciano drafted an ultimatum to present to Metaxas, in order to leave Greece no way out: occupation or war. Metaxas, responded with his famous “Oxhi!” or not." Six days later, some 140,000 men, in pouring rain, invaded Greece along a 90-mile front. They believed the invasion would be quick and they would face some 36,000 Greeks, enjoying a three-to-one advantage. one against the defenders. To the surprise of the Italians, the political divisions in Greece were temporarily silenced in an atmosphere of national unity when the Greeks quickly mobilized reservists to the front. At this time, the Greek army deployed a fully mobilized infantry division. in Epirus, the 8th Division, commanded by General Charalambos Katsimitros, while the 9th Division was positioned on the Yugoslav border.

They had no tanks and few machine guns and artillery. Supported by other formations, these divisions would have to contain. Italian advance until reinforcements arrived. Only the forces on the Bulgarian border were not moved, as the Greeks feared that the Bulgarians would invade and aid the Italians in their offensive. The British, honoring their guarantee, reinforced Crete, as it was very important to them strategically, and sent aircraft, supplies and money to aid the Greek cause. Pressured by the Italians in Africa, they were unable to send ground forces. The border was divided by the invaders into three sectors. The Epirus front, under the command of General Carlo Rossi, extended from the sea to Ioánnina and had the 25th Army Corps "Ciamuria", composed of the 23rd Mountain Infantry Division "Ferrara", the 51st Division "Siena " and the "Centauro" Armored Division. , the 6th, 7th and 19th Cavalry Regiments and the 3rd Grenadier Regiment, backed by heavy artillery and Black Shirt militias.

The Pindus Front in the center had General Mario Girotti's 3rd "Julia" Division of elite Alpini mountain troops, backed by a machine gun battalion and mountain artillery. The eastern sector reached the Yugoslav border and encompassed the area bounded by Korçë, the Italian center in Albania, and Florina, the gateway to Lake Prespa in Greece. Here, in less mountainous terrain, was the 26th Army Corps "Corizza" under the command of General Gabriele Nasci, composed of the 19th "Venezia", ​​29th "Piedmont" and 49th Divisions. "Parma", three battalions of Albanian troops, the 101st Machine Gun Battalion, heavy artillery and a tank regiment. Visconti Prasca's initial Italian advance was so strong that he drove back the Greek forces on the border.

There, the Greeks had organized the 17-mile Elaia-Kalpaki-Kalamas Line in defense of Ioannina, the capital of Epirus. The center of the line was strongly defended and the left was held with light forces. As the Pindus Mountains gave them shelter, on the right there was only a small detachment of Evzones, the famous Greek mountain troops in kilts, commanded by Colonel Konstantinos Davakis. On the coast there was a small detachment of two battalions led by Major Nikolaos Lioumbas. The Greek commander-in-chief Alexandros Papagos, hero of the Balkan wars, was placed in command of the country's defense and gave complete freedom of action to General Katsimitros, with the mission of stopping the Italian advance until he had sufficient forces.

He had been prepared for a counteroffensive. Katsimitros had a difficult decision: retain the Elaia-Kalamas line or retreat towards the second line of defense at the southern gateway to Greece, from Preveza across the Aliakmonas River almost to Thessaloniki. In the end, the Greek general decided to protect Ioannina and Epirus and take advantage of the easily defensible mountainous terrain there. Visconti Prasca, for his part, planned for Rossi's infantry to attack the center of the defensive line, while the “Centauro” Armored Division advanced through the narrow valley of the Kalamas River, attempting an enveloping maneuver against his left wing. This attack would be aided by two similar maneuvers aimed at encircling the Greek forces in the defense line, one in the Pindus Mountains towards Metsovo and the other towards Paramythia south of the Kalamas River.

Visconti Prasca decided not to advance into Western Macedonia before the Epirus area could be secured. Despite the bad weather, Epirus was scheduled to be, in Mussolini's words, liquidated in a few weeks. On the first day of the offensive, Rossi sent the “Siena” division, with some Albanian contingents, to advance south along the coast towards Paramythia, under the command of General Francisco Rivolta, while the “Ferrara” and “Centauro” divisions advanced. towards the Elaia-Kalamas sector to Kalpaki. They advanced 30 miles after two days, although the Armored Division was hampered by mountainous mud and rendered useless to fight in these conditions. At first, none of these units encountered resistance, as Papagos approved an initial strategic withdrawal behind the Kalamas River.

On November 2, the weather improved and the Italians decided to attack the main defensive line. The Battle of Elaia-Kalamas began with the "Ferrara" division attacking the bulk of the Katsimitros line several times. The harsh terrain and high morale and fortifications of the 8th repelled attack after attack despite air support from the Italians. On 5 November, Rivolta was much more successful in crossing the Kalamas River, advancing slowly south and capturing the port of Igoumenitsa the next day. In response, Lioumbas's detachment had to withdraw further south to protect the gateway to southern Greece. The deepest Italian advance came a day later, when coastal forces occupied the town of Margariti.

However, by November 8 the Italian offensive in Epirus had ceased. At the same time another fighting was taking place in the Pindus Mountains. The "Julia" division decisively defeated Davakis' small detachment on 29 October and four days later reached within 12 miles of the vital Metsovo Pass, capturing the town of Konitsa and the villages of Samarina and Vovousa. But the Alpini were slowed by poor weather conditions and were forced to stop, calling for reinforcements that never arrived. Papagos realized the precarious situation on this front and sent reinforcements, including the 1st Division. On November 4, General Vasileios Vrachnos commanded this counteroffensive at the Battle of Pindus.

He first occupied Mount Tambouri north of Samarina and sent his cavalry on an enveloping maneuver behind the city. Surrounded, the "Julia" suffered heavy casualties, but finally managed to escape the encirclement and began to withdraw, calling for reinforcements. Later that day, Vrachnos managed to return tosent to attack the 48th "Taro" Division defending Pogradec. The “Taro” fought bravely, preventing Tsolakoglou from making any progress. Blocked in front of Pogradec due to a shortage of anti-armor weaponry, the Greek general attempted a flanking movement in the hills west of the city. However, the Italians enjoyed a great defensive position there thanks to a prevailing fog that masked the muzzle flashes of the Italian artillery.

As the 13th charged, they encountered a murderous barrage of fire from an invisible Venezia Division. In response, General Moutousis, an experienced gunner, measured the distance with his eyes alone and obtained the firing coordinates. The Italian positions were then bombed, forcing them to surrender on the heights around Pogradec. On November 30, the 13th Division defeated the Italians, while the 17th Division moved up to relieve them. On December 4, Pogradec fell to the Greeks, the third key Albanian city to do so. With the capture of Pogradec, the 3rd Corps was relegated to a passive role while the offensive directed towards Tepelene continued.

This offensive had been delayed by air attacks and, to continue their advance, the Greeks needed the 2nd Corps to take the town of Permet and secure the Drina Valley, from where Italian snipers threatened the 1st Corps position. In early December, the 2nd Corps began its advance along the Vojussa River, with the aim of securing the connection between the 1st and 3rd Corps. They faced the “Modena” Division with the exhausted remains of the “Julia” attached. Sensing the weakness of the enemies, Papadopoulos attacked the exposed "Julia". "Julia" was defeated and "Modena" had to withdraw. Soon the towns of Permet and Frasher fell to the advancing 2nd Corps.

At this point, Mussolini was trying to save face by accusing the Greeks of a deep hatred of the Italians and that they were offering military bases to the British. Praising the tenacity of the soldiers on the front, he urged the Italian people to have faith that Soddu would save the situation. But in Berlin, Hitler was furious at the Italian failure and wrote a highly critical letter to Il Duce blaming him for tarnishing the Axis' reputation, both politically and militarily. The Führer was preparing his forces for an invasion of Greece. Throughout December, reinforcements continued to arrive to support the retreating Italians, but they arrived too slowly.

Soddu was demoralized and wanted an armistice to end the conflict with the Greeks. This angered Mussolini, who fired Soddu and replaced him with Ugo Cavallero. Cavallero had carefully studied the situation and decided that it would be best to retreat to the Shkumbin River, a natural barrier that stretches across Albania from the northern approaches of Pogradec in the east to the Adriatic Sea in the west. Frustratingly for the Italians, Cavallero's order to withdraw and reform at Shkumbin came after a series of brave rearguard actions that caused the Greeks considerable problems. Although the Greeks had taken Permet on December 3, the Italian defense line along the Kelcyre Valley was strengthening.

While the 10th and 11th Divisions prepared to attempt to break the line, further west the 1st Corps was advancing slowly from Kakavia to the Drina Valley, along a greatly extended 40-mile front. It was easier to go along the coast, but the Greek advance was almost stopped by fierce fighting on the road to Argyrokastro. Along that road was Hill 669, a strategic height coveted by the Greeks. Geloso's 11th Army fanatically held on to Hill 669 under a meter of snow, repelling several attacks from the Greek 8th Division. By then, the weather was causing far more casualties on both sides than the fighting.

For this reason, Demestichas had placed the exhausted 8th Division in reserve while the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Divisions would be the new vanguard of the 1st Corps. On December 4, a change in the weather allowed Demestichas' forces to take Hill 669. Soldiers from both sides were later found frozen to death. A day later, the 3rd Division marched towards Delvine while the 4th Division captured Dervican. On December 6, Lioumbas's detachment finally occupied the key port of Saranda and the way to Argyrokastro was finally opened. The next day, General Leonidas Steriopoulos of the 4th Division began his attack on the outskirts of Argyrokastro.

With Cavallero's order to retreat to the Shkumbin River, the city had been evacuated by the Italians a day earlier. On December 8, elements of the 4th occupied Argyrokastro and another of the Italian centers in Albania fell. Next on the Greek list was Tepelene. The city was between heights and the Italians had been fortifying it for 2 months. Due to incessant snowstorms, the first Greek attacks on December 15 failed. At the same time, the 3rd Corps successfully secured the Pogradec area and the 5th Corps captured Ostravicë Mountain, advancing towards Mount Tomori. On the coast, the Greeks continued their advance towards the city of Himare, which hindered the new objective, the important supply port of Valona.

General Georgios Bakos of the 3rd Division was blocked at Borsh by three grenadier battalions, some Blackshirt militias and the depleted “Siena” Division. Borsh was an ideal defensive position south of Himare, and the grenadiers took full advantage of its advantages, fortifying it with light and heavy artillery, mortars and machine guns. It took three days of incessant attacks and many casualties for the position to fall into Greek hands. The 3rd Division now advanced northeast and surrounded Himare. On December 19, the northeastern town of Kuc fell under a surprise attack, and two days later the northwestern height of Tsipista also fell.

Himare was now surrounded and the "Siena" was forced to abandon the city to avoid the encirclement. The Greek troops who entered the city on December 22 were greeted by the locals with enthusiastic celebrations. Despite this success, Metaxas knew that eventually the Italians could regroup and begin a counteroffensive. He wanted to stop the offensive and define a clear defense strategy on the now extended 155-mile line from Pogradec in the north to Himare in the south. On the other hand, Papagos had no other intention than to continue moving forward. On December 28, Metaxas managed to convince Papagos. The Greek objective now was to consolidate supply and communications lines as the 2nd Corps prepared for an offensive to capture the Kelcyre Valley.

At this point, the 3rd and 5th Corps were reorganized into the Western Macedonian Army Department, including the 9th, 10th, 13th, and 17th Divisions. Under the command of General Ioannis Pitsikas, its mission was to hold the Korçë-Pogradec sector up to the Yugoslav border. Papadopoulos's 2nd Corps controlled the central sector on both sides of the Vojussa River with the 1st, 11th and 15th Divisions. And on the left, covering the Argyrokastro sector all the way to the coast, was the 1st Demestichas Corps with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Divisions, along with the heavily controlled 8th Division and with the 5th and 16th Divisions in reserve.

The Greeks reinforced their position with around 280,000 men in total. Instead, Cavallero concentrated most of his forces in the center, with Vercellino's 9th Army and Geloso's 11th Army anchored on Mount Tomori, overlooking the Kelcyre Valley and Tomorica Valley, the obvious Greek routes for an advance on Tirana. Further to the Italian right was General Carlo Rossi's reformed 25th Corps, from the coast to the Tomorica Valley, with six divisions defending Valona. In total there were around 100,000 men between the right and the center, with 60,000 more in reserve. On the left, General Gabriele Nasci's 26th Corps was leading the Western Macedonian Army Department, with some 100,000 more men.

With a total of 260,000 men, the Italians had reinforced their position and Cavallero had finally achieved balance. On January 5, Cavallero launched a rapid attack against the Greek lines on the coast. The 58th "Legnano" Division would advance along the coast to Himare, while the "Pousteria", "Siena" and 7th "Lupi di Toscana" would attack the 2nd Corps in the center. The “Legnano” made some advances but was quickly pinned down, while in the center the 15th Division defeated the Wolves of Tuscany, and the 1st and 11th began a counteroffensive against the Kelcyre Valley. In just five days, and with the reinforcement of the 5th Cretan Division, the strategic Klisura Pass fell and the Kelcyre Valley was secured.

By January 25, the 2nd Corps' mission had been accomplished with the occupation of the Trebeshine Range. Two days later, Rossi's 25th Corps counterattacked and drove the Greek forces from the Trebeshine Mountains. The 5th Cretan managed to hold off the Italians and repulsed the attack on January 29. After hard fighting, the Cretans captured Trebeshina on 2 February. In the following weeks, this division repulsed several Italian attacks attempting to dislodge them from the mountain, even in the deadly icy weather of Trebeshina. By February 17, the Greeks had captured the mountain ranges, but it was a costly victory, especially for the Cretan Division, which suffered 5,000 casualties.

Greek morale suffered a severe blow following the death of Metaxas on January 29. It was certain that the Germans would attack through Bulgaria, and Papagos decided to reorganize his forces to meet this new threat, transferring many divisions back to the Bulgarian border. The 1st and 2nd Corps came under the Epirus Army Department, commanded by General Markos Drakos, with a total of nine divisions. Papagos then ordered Drakos to launch a desperate offensive to take Tepelene and the key port of Valona. This offensive failed and, as a result, Papagos replaced Drakos with General Pitsikas, while Tsolakoglou would be left in command of the Western Macedonian Army Department.

Pitsikas concentrated most of his forces in the Trebeshine Mountains and dug trenches to provide cover, as he sensed that a renewed Italian offensive would be directed against them. And he was right. The Italians now had 28 divisions and on March 2 Mussolini himself arrived in Tirana to supervise the operation. Il Duce wanted to save face by carrying out a last offensive with the aim of driving back the Greeks and allowing the Italians to take Epirus. Operation Spring was scheduled for March 9. The plan was to recover the Klisura Pass and from there advance towards Leskoviki and Ioannina. The attack would be carried out by General Gastone Gambara's 8th Corps, composed of eight divisions, and the veterans "Centauro" and "Piemonte" in reserve.

Pitsikas, on the other hand, appointed General Bakos as the new commander of the 2nd Corps and placed the 17th in his reserve. The Spring Offensive began at dawn with a devastating artillery bombardment and aerial bombardment. The "Puglie" Division then advanced to capture the strategic hills 717 and 731 against the 1st Division of General Vasileios Vrachnos, while the "Pinerolo" and "Sforzesca" Divisions pressed on the Mecgorane ridge. The Italians were repelled but the “Puglie” did not surrender. A second charge momentarily secured Hill 717, lost it, and then regained it around 12:00 p.m. Throughout the day, six more attempts on Hill 731 failed, except leaving scores of Italians dead in front of the Greek lines.

By evening, the Italians were still in possession of Hill 717, but Vrachnos was not too concerned as long as Hill 731 remained in the hands of the 1st Division. Simultaneous Italian attacks on the left of the line failed against the 11th and 15th Divisions. On the Italian right there was similar bad luck, as the 8th Division stopped the advance towards Mecgorane. The next day he broke out with another artillery bombardment and the “Puglie” attempted once again to take Hill 731. Gambara came dangerously close to taking the hill but was eventually repelled. The 1st still stood firm. The “Cagliari” Division came to the aid of the “Puglie”, trying to flank the hill, but Vrachnos placed units to protect its flanks and the “Cagliari” was also repelled.

The fruitless attacks in the mud and rain continued on March 11. They followed a predictable pattern. Cavallero seemed to have no other idea than to repeatedly feed his men with Greek artillery and machine guns. The next day, the exhausted “Puglie” was replaced by the new “Bari” Division, which also suffered heavy losses. On the sixth day of the offensive, the tension was beginning to show. Some Italian units had to be driven forward and machine gun detachments were placed in the rear to deter stragglers. By March 15, no less than seventeen bloody and unsuccessful attempts had been made on Hill 731.

Gambara urged an immediate suspension of the offensive, but Mussolini would not give up so easily. Meanwhile, Bakos replaced the badly battered 1st Division with the 17th. On March 18, Cavallero ordered the eighteenth attempt to take Hill 731, which would be carried out by the “Siena” with unitsarmored vehicles of the “Centauro”. This attack, like the others, ended in piles of blood on the lower slopes of the hill. The Italian casualties in the space of ten days had been terrible: 12,000 dead without any visible advantage. Hill 731 was strewn with the corpses of Greeks and Italians. On March 22, the Italians broadcast a request for a ceasefire around the hill, but Papagos proposed a general truce along the entire front.

The Italians rejected him and twice more the “Siena” charged the hill, without success. After that, Cavallero finally had to admit defeat and on March 25 the operation was stopped. The heroic and battered 1st Division was sent home to rest in reserves, and Papagos reorganized his forces again, threatened by the imminent German invasion, but still concerned about the Italians. The Spring Offensive was a failure that weakened Mussolini's national and international position. The Greeks celebrated this victory, but were exhausted and suffered many casualties, weakening them against a German attack. As World War II progressed, it became clear that Nazi Germany had become the dominant power in Europe.

The only nation that had not yet fallen to Adolf Hitler's regime, Great Britain, was being heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe, and its colonial possessions in North Africa were being attacked by both Germans and Italians. Hitler thought that victory was assured and for some time he had been considering launching an invasion of the Soviet Union. To do this he would need the full support of his allies, fascist Italy and imperial Japan. The Balkan War had to end, so the Germans began work on their plan for an invasion of Greece, codenamed Operation Marita. However, in Greece the popular mood was changing;

Without their leader Metaxas, their morale fell. The collapse of the economy, the lack of food and good news from the front and the increase in deaths and injuries did not help. Germany was the great cloud darkening on the northern horizon. The Greek commander-in-chief, Alexandros Papagos, addressed this situation and planned a joint offensive with the Yugoslavs and the British to crush the Italians before Germany could attack. The Germans feared that British planes based in Greece would bomb Romanian oil fields, their only source of oil on the Eastern Front. They needed to secure their southern flank if they were to be prepared to confront the Soviet Union.

In March 1941, Hitler pressured Bulgaria and Yugoslavia to sign the Tripartite Pact and join the Axis. Additionally, the 12th Army was stationed on the Bulgarian border for the invasion, with the 5th and 16th Panzer Divisions on the Turkish border to deter them from intervening. But on March 27, Hitler's plans were thwarted by a coup in Yugoslavia. The new Yugoslav regime, assisted by the British, was committed to the defense of Greece and assured that it would protect the Struma Valley. To defend Eastern Macedonia, the Greeks had built a chain of fortifications along the Bulgarian border in defense of the key center of Thessaloniki.

The 96-mile Metaxas Line, named after its deceased leader, consisted of 21 fortification complexes, the largest being Fort Roupel. This line, however, was poorly manned, as twelve divisions were needed and only four assigned. General Konstantinos Bakopoulos commanded the Eastern Macedonian Army Section there, with the 7th and 14th Divisions east of the Strymon River; and to the west, the 18th and the newly assembled 19th Mechanized Division under General Nikolaos Lioumbas, a veteran of the previous campaign. The rest of Papagos' forces were still on the Albanian front, preparing for a final offensive to drive Italy out of the Balkans. On March 2, the British dispatched Expeditionary Force "W" under General Sir Henry Wilson.

This force was composed of the 1st Armored Brigade, led by Brigadier Harold Charrington; the 2nd New Zealand Division under General Bernard Freyberg; and the 6th Australian Division commanded by General Sir Iven Mackay. On March 21, Charrington and Freyberg had led their men to the Aliakmon River. This second line extended east from the city of Florina, passing through Edessa to the north of Mount Olympus and the coast of Katerini. Although Papagos did not want to abandon Thessaloniki, the Greeks supported them with the Central Macedonian Army Section, composed of the 12th and 20th Divisions. Unwilling to lose an Axis member, Hitler adjusted the plans for Operation Marita to also include the invasion of Yugoslavia.

Many forces of the German 12th Army were redirected against the Yugoslav-Bulgarian border, while the rest of the army would assault the Metaxas Line. The plan was to invade southern Yugoslavia, outflank the Metaxas Line and surround the Greeks. There was a weak point to the left of the Metaxas Line: Mount Belles, where the borders of Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria met. If a breach is achieved, the Germans could be in Thessaloniki within hours, isolating forces in the east. Furthermore, if the Monastir Pass fell to the Germans, the Greek army in Albania would be trapped and would have to surrender.

Therefore, possession of Monastir and the Axios Valley was essential. Field Marshal Wilhelm List's 12th Army was divided into three army corps, comprising five armored Panzer divisions, including three SS regiments of the "Adolf Hitler" Panzer Division under Josef Dietrich; two motorized divisions, three light mountain divisions and some infantry divisions, with over 1,000 Luftwaffe aircraft and 1,900 heavy tanks against Wilson's 176 tanks and 45 aircraft. By April 5, these forces had been successfully reunited. At 5:15 a.m. on April 6, the Germans declared war on Greece. At the same time, the invasion of Yugoslavia began with the bombing of Belgrade. List's motorized artillery began shelling Fort Roupel and the adjacent forts.

The 18th Mountain Corps under General Franz Böhme was tasked with assaulting most of the Metaxas Line at Roupel, while General Otto Hartmann's 30th Corps had to advance towards the Turkish border and outflank the forts. more eastern. Meanwhile, General Georg Stumme's 40th Panzer Corps was ordered to assault southern Yugoslavia and take the key positions of Monastir and Strumica. Böhme's 125th Regiment was the first to assault the Metaxas Line, while artillery was still attacking the Greek forts. Pieces of the con

crete

superstructures began to give way under the incessant hammering. But Roupel's defenses proved surprisingly resilient after the bombardment, and Bakopoulos's forces managed to repel the initial German assault.

In the east, Hartmann managed to outflank the Metaxas Line and would capture the cities of Xanthi and Komotini a few days later. Roupel, however, was the unbreakable obstacle to a general German advance, and Bakopoulos ordered it to be held "to the last man." In the west, Stumme sent the 73rd Division to capture Prilep, thus isolating Yugoslavia from its allies, and the 2nd Panzer Division to capture Strumica and outflank the Metaxas Line. The Panzers met little resistance and managed to occupy Strumica the same day. In response, Lioumbas protected the city of Kilkis to avoid encirclement. On April 7, attacks on Fort Roupel resumed.

The Germans were again repelled, but managed to infiltrate positions around the fort and pinned down where the Greek guns were. To the west, the 2nd Panzer Division enjoyed much more success, as it repelled a Yugoslav counterattack and fought its way through the mountains, overrunning the lightly manned defensive line of Lioumbas's forces south of Lake Doiran. Lioumbas was forced to retreat and Kilkis was occupied by the Panzers, who continued south towards Thessaloniki. As a result, the Metaxas Line had been completely isolated from the rest of the Greek defenses. Bakopoulos continued to resist, but his strength was exhausted.

A day later, Thessaloniki fell and Bakopoulos was forced to call a truce, which List accepted. The Wehrmacht would allow all captured Greek officers to keep their weapons and promised that none of them would be sent to a concentration camp. The

battle

for Fort Rupel had cost the Germans more than 300 dead, compared to fifty-six Greeks. But most of the Greek defenses had disappeared and now the only one who could stop the German advance was Wilson. On the Albanian front, the Greeks launched a joint offensive with the Yugoslavs against the Italian forces, with the aim of advancing towards Durazzo and Valona.

At first everything went well, but after the fall of Skopje on April 7, the Yugoslavs were out of action. General Georgios Tsolakoglou, commander of the Epirus army, continued to advance and fight for a few days, but on April 10 news of the fall of Thessaloniki forced them to halt the offensive and consider retreating. On April 15, the Greeks began their withdrawal from the Albanian front and on April 20 they reached Greek soil again. The progress of a five-month campaign had been undone in just two weeks. In Greece, the political and military establishments suffered a defeatist paralysis. Even Papagos knew that the country was going to be occupied and that he and the rest of his army would be captured.

At Aliakmon, Wilson prepared his forces to hold the line, hoping that forces in Albania would come to his aid. By 8 April, Prilep had fallen to the 73rd Division and Stumme's forces prepared to advance towards Monastir. The 9th Panzer Division defeated the Greeks defending the Monastir Valley and rallied for an offensive towards Kozani. The objective of the attack was to encircle Tsolakoglou's forces in Albania and the British on the Aliakmon Line, and thus prevent the two from joining. At this time, Wilson's forces at Aliakmon were beginning an organized retreat to a new defensive position on Mount Olympus.

Mackay's forces were tasked with the defense of the key Klidi Pass, linking the towns of Vevi and Klidi, and had to buy as much time as possible. The 9th, reinforced with the SS Adolf Hitler regiment, took Vevi on April 11 and launched the attack on Klidi the next day, using the same Blitzkrieg strategy that had devastated France and Yugoslavia. Stumme planned to mount a three-pronged attack with Dietrich's SS regiment flanking Mackay's forces, while the bulk of the 9th Division directly assaulted the Klidi Pass with the aim of capturing the road to Kozani. At 8:30 the Germans launched a preliminary attack on two high points around the pass.

Although the Australian companies offered fierce resistance, by 11:00 these positions had been lost to German bayonet charges. The retreat of his comrades caused a concussion in the Allied camp and soon some of his forces began to retreat, leaving the Klidi Pass undefended. Only a few New Zealand machine gun detachments stood in the way of the German forces, and they would stop the incoming waves by firing with open sights. The heroic tenacity of the New Zealanders was very successful, preventing a rapid German advance and giving Mackay time to organize a retreat south to Kozani. Meanwhile, in the village of Sotir, a small Australian force under Brigadier George Vasey was sent to guard the Allied retreat.

As night fell, Vasey's men were digging in when Brigadier Charrington arrived with his armored forces to take command of the delaying actions. Meanwhile, a western company of the 9th Division captured the village of Xinon Neron, leaving the Greek 12th and 20th Divisions in a difficult position. The retreat of the Australians had left them unprotected, but they continued to offer brave resistance against Dietrich's SS regiment. Eventually, the Greek forces managed to retreat to the heights of Klisoura, protecting their allies as they retreated. Fortunately, the Germans were also delayed by road demolitions executed by the British, preventing them from exploiting the disorganized state of the Allies.

By now, the majority of Mackay's forces had already successfully reached Kozani, largely due to these obstacles and the tenacity of the Greek forces. The next day, the Australians continued to offer heroic resistance at Sotir. The tank squadron was especially effective in this defense, as its mere presence deterred the German infantry from attacking. At the same time, Charrington was progressively withdrawing Allied forces to the second delaying position at Ptolemaidas. At noon, Stumme's forces launched a well-coordinated assault from Xinon Neron, but most of the allied forces had already managed to escape to the south. Pressing his retreat, the German general sent his Panzers in pursuit of the fleeing Australians.

But the tank crews were frustrated by the effectiveness of the Allied demolitions, so they decided to attempt a flanking maneuver to the west while the German infantry assaulted the positions at Ptolemais. As twilight fell, the Panzers surprisingly fell on theallied headquarters. Although Charrington's tanks managed to contain the German surprise attack, the brigadier feared that his forces would be isolated. In the end, the Australians began their final retreat southwards covered by British tanks. However, this came at a great cost, as as a result, Charrington's Armored Brigade ceased to exist as a combat unit and most of its vehicles were damaged beyond repair.

However, the objective had been achieved. Mackay suffered heavy casualties, but had gained two days of time for the British withdrawal, although the Greek divisions did not withdraw quickly enough and soon found themselves trapped at the Kleisoura Pass. They attempted to create a defensive position to stop the German advance, and the 20th Division was hit hard, but they eventually managed to retreat to Lake Kastoria. Back in Macedonia, the 30th Corps was tasked with occupying northeastern Greece, while the 50th Division secured Thessaloniki and the 164th moved to occupy the Aegean islands. This allowed Böhme's forces to continue the advance and support Stumme in the offensive.

On the morning of April 14, the spearheads of the 9th Panzer Division reached their objective of Kozani and established a bridgehead over the Aliakmon River, but Wilson's forces had slipped away and soon Stumme ordered his forces to continue the chase. On April 15, Panzers captured the Greek 12th Division at the Siatista Pass and inflicted heavy losses, while Dietrich's SS forces annihilated the 20th Division at Kastoria. Dietrich then continued to advance south towards Ioannina, aiming to completely trap the Greek army in Albania. On April 19, the SS regiment had captured Grevenna and a day later attacked the Katara Pass, defeating the Epirus army and capturing Ioannina.

Soon, Tsolakoglou realized the hopelessness of the situation and offered to hand over his army to him. Like the Macedonian forces under Bakopoulos, Tsolakoglou's forces were treated with great respect and were allowed to keep their weapons and return home after the end of the campaign. However, this eliminated the remaining Greek forces; Wilson was now alone in the task of defending Greece. He created his new defensive line on Mount Olympus, while preparing his forces for another retreat through Larissa, this time towards the Thermopylae Pass. This line extended from the coast of Platamon to the Servia Pass, passing through Olympus.

Wilson deployed the 4th and 5th New Zealand Brigades and the 16th Australian Brigade for the defense of this position. From Thessaloniki, the bulk of the 18th Corps captured Veria and Edessa on 11 April and Katerini on 14 April, placing themselves just ahead of the Olympus Line at the start of the offensive. With the arrival of Stumme's Panzers a day later, the attack on Mount Olympus began. The Germans were held there for the next three days by the heroic British forces, who fought them tooth and nail. Worthy of note is the Battle of Servia Pass, where Panzers of the 9th Division fought a small force of New Zealanders.

At dusk on April 14, the German 11th Infantry Regiment began the attack by crossing the Aliakmon River, but their efforts were thwarted by accurate artillery fire from the 4th New Zealand Brigade. The day ended with the beginning of the Stuka bombardment of the Allied positions in the pass. The next morning, Stumme ordered two companies to advance and silence the troublesome enemy forces that were preventing them from crossing the river. However, these forces advanced directly into a trap, when the New Zealanders ambushed them at point-blank range. As the Germans were trapped and running out of ammunition, these companies would soon be destroyed by heavy fire from the New Zealanders.

At noon, two motorcycle companies crossed the river following their comrades and were pinned down by Allied artillery and snipers. Two infantry assaults north of Servia would be repelled during the rest of the day and no bridge would be built due to the intense bombardment of their positions. The Stuka bombing raids were also unsuccessful, as the Allies maintained strong entrenched, fortress-like positions. By the end of the day the Germans had lost over 300 men with two New Zealanders killed and six wounded. Stumme now realized that dislodging the Allies from the Servia Pass would be more difficult than expected.

The German general therefore decided to bypass this position by Dietrich's exploit further west, and the New Zealanders would be left in control of the pass for the next few days. Furthermore, the Allies would enjoy similar success at the Olympus Pass to the relief of the British and Greek governments. But when the Italian army recaptured Korçë on the Albanian front, Wilson finally feared a total encirclement and ordered a withdrawal on April 17, suffering only light casualties. After crossing the Pineios River, the 16th Australian Battalion and the 21st New Zealand Battalion under Brigadier Arthur Allen made a last stand at Tempe Gorge, a key point just opposite Larissa.

They needed to hold off the Germans until April 19. The German 6th Division crossed the mountains and exited Tempe Gorge, only to find the bridges and ferry demolished and the railroad blocked. The weary mountain troops were met with heavy machine gun fire from the south bank of the river. As night fell, the first Panzers crossed the river, but became stuck in a swamp while trying to avoid a demolished road. On the morning of 18 April, armored infantry crossed the river on floats, while troops of the 6th made their way around the New Zealand battalion. The battalion was wiped out and Allen's forces had to retreat.

A day later, Böhme's forces entered Larissa and took possession of the airfield, where the British had left their supply depot intact. At the same time, the Greek government was shocked when Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis committed suicide. On April 21, the port of Volos fell to the German advance. All seemed lost for the defenders and eventually Wilson began to prepare for an evacuation to Crete, which began three days later. On 15 April, the 40th Panzer Corps was reinforced by the victorious 5th Panzer Division from the invasion of Yugoslavia, and reached Grevenna on 19 April. From there, the Panzers advanced south via Kalabaka towards Lamia.

Meanwhile, the battered 9th Panzer Division was assigned to reserve. In just two days, the 5th reached its objective and joined Böhme's 18th Corps. But the Germans had lost much time and Wilson's forces had reformed into a new defensive line at the Thermopylae Pass, the gateway to Athens, the Greek capital. From the port of Piraeus, some British troops were already being evacuated to Crete. The plan was for the forces at historic Thermopylae to make a last stand and buy as much time as possible for the evacuation of Greece. The defense line consisted of light field fortifications, the construction of which did not appear to have advanced beyond the initial stage.

Freyberg's 2nd New Zealand Division was tasked with defending the coastal pass, while Mackay's 6th Australian Division was to hold the town of Brallos. On April 22, a flying column of the 5th Panzer Division, supported by well-camouflaged artillery and individual tanks, was attacking the Thermopylae positions defended by the British infantry. The first German probing attacks were unsuccessful. The next day, the 6th Division undertook a wide enveloping movement, crossing the difficult terrain to the west of the British positions. This operation was carried out simultaneously with another flanking maneuver carried out by a motorcycle battalion supported by tanks advancing through the city of Molos.

On 23 April, Wilson ordered a withdrawal from Thermopylae and it was decided that the British positions would be occupied by one brigade each. These brigades, the 19th Australian and the 6th New Zealand, were to hold the passes as long as possible, allowing the other units to withdraw to the Peloponnese. A day later, the Germans attacked, encountering fierce resistance and suffering considerable casualties. Against all odds, the allies held out all day. Once the delaying action was completed, they withdrew towards the evacuation beaches and established another rearguard in Thebes. The panzer units that initiated a chase along the road advanced slowly due to the steep slope and the large number of sharp and difficult curves.

But from Lamia, Bohme had sent a motorcyclist battalion of the 2nd Panzer Division to cross to the island of Euboea and seize the port of Chalcis. Now, he commanded this battalion to outflank the last British resistance and capture Athens. The motorcycle troops met only slight resistance and on the morning of April 27 the first Germans entered Athens. The Athenians had been waiting for the Germans for several days and confined themselves to their homes with the windows closed. The fall of Greece was now an established fact, with the Germans raising the Nazi flag on the Acropolis. At the same time, two battalions of the 2nd Parachute Regiment fell into the Gulf of Corinth in an airborne operation, attempting to trap the British in Athens.

However, by this time most of the British troops were already in the Peloponnese for evacuation. The aerial capture of the Isthmus of Corinth had been coordinated with a campaign across western Greece launched on 25 April. Dietrich's SS regiment advanced from Ioánnina in a drive along the western foothills of the Pindus Mountains via Arta to Mesolongion, and crossed into the Peloponnese at Patras in an effort to gain access to the isthmus from the west. On April 27 they met with the paratroopers in Corinth and learned of the fall of Athens. In their hasty evacuation, which took place mainly at night, the British used numerous small ports, such as Nafplio, Kalamata and Monemvasia, and had already managed to evacuate more than 20,000 soldiers.

Dietrich rushed back to Patras to encircle the retreating British forces from the west, while Böhme's forces advanced from the east towards Argos. Both forces met in the port of Kalamata on April 29, capturing some 8,000 British and Yugoslav prisoners and liberating many Italians from the Greek camps. Meanwhile, the Germans only lost about 5,000 men in the entire campaign. By April 30, the last British troops had escaped or been taken prisoner and hostilities ceased, thus ending the invasion. The British successfully completed the evacuation of some 50,000 troops to Crete, but in their hasty retreat they lost 11,840 men. The loss of Greece was hard for the allies.

The Greeks had inspired the democratic

world

with their resistance against the Italian invaders, even earning the respect of the unstoppable Germans. And although Greece was divided between the Axis powers, this is not the end of our story. At the end of October 1940, the Kingdom of Greece had been invaded by fascist Italy. The British, having guaranteed their Greek allies against the Italian threat, quickly moved to reinforce the island of Crete with the 14th Infantry Brigade, mainly in Suda Bay. Brigadier Brian Chappell was placed in command of this unit to defend the island. For the British, control of Crete was of utmost importance as it provided them with an ideal location to maintain naval and air superiority in the eastern Mediterranean.

But when the Greeks managed to repel Mussolini's offensive, Hitler feared that the British could use Crete to prepare a landing on the Balkan coast, or that they could carry out aerial bombardments from there on the Romanian oil fields, of vital importance for the campaign. planned against the Soviet Union. Union. If the Germans wanted to safely launch Operation Barbarossa, they needed to secure Greece and the island of Crete. In April 1941, Hitler launched Operation Marita and his forces invaded the Greek mainland. Despite fierce resistance, the Germans managed to occupy the country in just 24 days. But Crete still posed a threat to Hitler's plans and he needed to decide quickly how to deal with it.

Despite the Italian Navy's numerical superiority, they had been defeated by British Admiral Andrew Cunningham's forces at Taranto and Matapan, so they could not be relied upon to launch an amphibious assault on the island. However, the Germans now boasted air superiority in the region, and when General Kurt Student of the 11th Air Corps presented a plan for an air invasion of Crete, codenamed Operation Merkur, he managed to convince the Führer on the 25th. April to issue a directive in favor of this audacious operation. General Alexander Loehr of Luftflotte IV was placed in overall command of Operation Merkur, but General Student would be assigned to lead the air invasion.

Student was a very capable and energetic commander, he fought as a pilot in the First World War and created the first battalion ofFallschirmjager, the parachute branch of the Luftwaffe. Confident of the success of the operation, Student began using Junkers Ju87 Stuka bombers to disrupt the sea power of the British fleet and carry out air attacks on British airfields. Meanwhile, he prepared his men for the upcoming offensive. He divided his forces into 10 airlift groups with a total of approximately 600 troop transport vehicles and 100 gliders. The most used were the reliable Junkers Ju52 transport and the DFS230 assault glider.

The three-engine Junkers Ju52 was an ideal parachute drop vehicle, capable of carrying 13 paratroopers and their equipment. The DFS230 was a glider with a speed of approximately 100 to 120 mph and could carry 8 passengers; one of them with the ability to fire a machine gun through a hole in the fabric on the right side. At sea, Student would be aided by two naval convoys carrying equipment and supplies, commanded by Admiral Karlgeorg Schuster. The Luftwaffe's plan was to carry out an aerial landing in three groups with a total of 15,000 men, with 7,000 reinforcements arriving by sea. Group West, formed by the elite 1st Airborne Assault Regiment, would be commanded by General Eugen Meindl;

Colonel Bruno Brauer's East Group would have the 1st Fallschirmjäger Regiment of the 7th Air Division; and the Center Group would be led by General Wilhelm Sussmann with the rest of the 7th Air Division. Student planned to carry out the landing in two waves: the first in the morning, with Group West landing at Maleme airfield and Group Center's 3rd Fallschirmjäger Regiment near Chania; and the second wave in the afternoon, with Group East landing at Heraklion and Group Center's 2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment near Rethymnon airfields. General Wolfram von Richthofen's 7th Air Corps, consisting of 280 bombers, 150 dive bombers and 180 fighters, was to provide strong air support for all landings.

Meanwhile, Student's gliders would have to protect the parachute drop and neutralize ground defenses before landing. Once Chania, Maleme, Heraklion, and Rethymnon had fallen, naval convoys would land General Julius “Papa” Ringel's hardened 8th Mountain Division to secure Suda Bay, and from there they would move on to occupy the rest of the island through its mountain. ranges. Returning to Crete, 19,000 men, commanded by General Bernard Freyberg, arrived on the island after a hasty evacuation from mainland Greece. Freyberg was a notable and experienced commander, who was recently in action in Greece commanding the New Zealand divisions in their evacuation. When he arrived in Crete, all he wanted was to return to the Middle East.

But when the British realized that the Germans were coming towards Crete, Churchill put Freyberg in command of the Cretan forces, thinking that an experienced general like him would be better prepared than Brigadier Chappell. At this time, the British had been largely preparing for an amphibious invasion, and Admiral Cunningham formed four task forces to prevent sea landings. Force A, commanded by Admiral Henry Rawlings, was placed west of Crete to confront the Italian Navy if it appeared. It consisted of the battleships Warspite and Valiant and five destroyers. Captain Henry Rowley's Force B was nearby between Cape Matapan and Sapienza Island with two cruisers and two destroyers to assist Force A or C if needed.

From Leros to the Strait of Kasos was Force C with two cruisers and four destroyers, commanded by Admiral Edward King in defense of Heraklion and Sitia. And with three cruisers and four destroyers, Admiral Irvine Glennie's D Force was positioned west of the Antikythera Channel in defense of Rethymnon. But information gathered by Ultra intelligence alerted the British to the impending airborne invasion, and Freyberg had to prepare his defenses from scratch. He also had to be careful not to show that they were expecting an airborne invasion, as that would have revealed that they had cracked the Enigma code.

On May 17, the general had about 40,000 soldiers available, including British, New Zealand, Australian and Greek, although some lacked weapons. Freyberg divided his forces into four groups to defend the four points where the invaders were going to land. At Heraklion he stationed Chappell's 14th Infantry Brigade with some Greek and Australian battalions, with a total garrison of 8,000 men; in the Georgioupolis-Rethymnon sector was Brigadier George Vasey's 19th Australian Infantry Brigade with some Greek regiments attached, for a total of 7,500 men; In Suda Bay were the British marines of General Eric Weston in defense of Chania, accompanied by some Greek and Australian forces, with about 8,000 men; and finally the 2nd New Zealand Division under Brigadier Edward Puttick covered the Maleme-Galatas sector, just west of Chania, with approximately 8,000 more men.

Freyberg further assigned the 1st Battalion of the Welsh Regiment to the Akrotiri Peninsula, and placed east and west of Chania some 16 MKVI light tanks and 6 obsolete Matilda MKII heavy tanks. In the early hours of May 20, Operation Merkur was launched. It began with the 7th Air Corps conducting a series of concentrated attacks on British defensive positions, followed by Student's first wave of gliders and paratroopers. Group West was the first to land, with three companies landing near Maleme; Two Group Center companies then landed, one near Galatas and another on the Akrotiri peninsula. In response, the defenders' low-level machine guns and anti-aircraft guns fired incessantly to keep the paratroopers pinned down.

South and east of Maleme airfield, as well as on the Akrotiri peninsula, the Germans were quickly defeated and virtually annihilated. The paratroopers suffered heavy casualties against the British bombardment and General Meindl himself was seriously wounded an hour after landing. But the West Group was initially successful, capturing the high ground, dominating Maleme airfield from the west and pushing the defenders underground near Galatas, so that some of the gliders could land undetected. In the afternoon, the Germans were stopped by the strategic Hill 107 on the western edge of Maleme and a dust storm delayed the arrival of the second wave of paratroopers.

Finally, at 16:15 the rest of the Center Group descended towards Rethymnon while the East Group delayed its arrival in Heraklion for an hour. This delay also caused the drops to spread out, allowing the defenders to kill many of the paratroopers before they had even reached the ground. As in the first wave, the Germans suffered heavy casualties upon landing, although they managed to occupy the hills south of Rethymnon. But at Heraklion, the Eastern Group had lost a third of its forces and was now on the defensive. Realizing the failure of his plan, Student decided to concentrate his remaining forces on supporting the attack on Maleme.

On 21 May, Vasey's forces launched a counterattack against the Germans at Rethymnon, but the paratroopers held their ground. Meanwhile, Student sent the devastating Stukas to bomb Maleme, Rethymnon and Heraklion in preparation for a new attack. Group East and Center were ordered to hold firm in a defensive position, while Student dropped 550 paratroopers at Tavrontis to reinforce Group West. On Hill 107, the 22nd New Zealand Battalion under Colonel Leslie Andrew was the main unit defending Maleme, and decided to launch an attack against the Germans without support. This assault was very effective, as the paratroopers were only armed with small arms and grenades, and could not resist much longer.

But despite the success of his assault, Andrew withdrew from Hill 107 at night after his tanks broke down, thinking he had been overwhelmed. This stroke of luck allowed the Germans to achieve their main objective. Protected by glider fire, the Germans recovered and then took Hill 107 and the western edge of the airfield. This was the turning point of the battle, as the Germans subsequently managed to take Maleme airfield and could now continue to land more troops and equipment for the invasion, including a regiment of mountain troops led by General Ringel. With these reinforcements, the Germans quickly gained the advantage and gained numerical superiority.

At night the first naval landing was attempted, carried out by 20 caiques escorted by the Italian torpedo boat Lupo. But Force D managed to repel them, destroying half of the enemy ships. However, this caused Admiral Glennie's forces to suffer a shortage of ammunition and had to be recalled to Alexandria in the following hours. The next day, a new naval landing attempt was thwarted at dawn by Force C. This convoy of 38 caiques, escorted by the Italian destroyer Sagittario, was heading towards Heraklion. Sagittarius's heroic actions, laying a smoke screen under concentrated fire, managed to save the flotilla and return unharmed to Greece.

Additionally, the British navy was under incessant bombardment, losing two cruisers and three destroyers in the process, and Admiral King ordered Force A to reinforce Force C in the Aegean Sea. This was a mistake, as the two forces were now easy prey for the Luftwaffe. Warspite and Valiant were hit by bombs, while the destroyer Greyhound and the cruisers Gloucester and Fiji were sunk. The naval forces would be reinforced by the 5th Destroyer Flotilla from Malta, consisting of five destroyers under the command of Lord Louis Mountbatten on the Kelly. But these reinforcements would also be attacked by the Stukas, who managed to sink the destroyers Kashmir and Kelly.

Mountbatten and his crew, however, would be saved by the destroyer Kipling, immediately retreating to Alexandria with his flotilla. Overall, these heavy losses forced the British fleet to abandon the area around Crete and abandon the island on 23 May, consolidating the Luftwaffe's triumph over the British Navy. Back inland, a new counterattack by Vasey's forces managed to defeat the Germans in the hills south of Rethymnon. The paratroopers had to retreat to the town of Perivolia, and some of them retreated to a factory in Stavromenos. Back in Galatas, the Center Group launched an assault on Pink Hill. They managed to take it, but then lost it in a counterattack by Captain Michael Forrester and his Greek regiment.

Meanwhile, East Group temporarily captured half of Heraklion in the afternoon during a daring assault, but Chappell's forces counterattacked and recaptured the western half of the city. The British resisted tooth and nail, but without Maleme, their efforts would be fruitless. At night, the New Zealanders under Puttick launched a counterattack to recapture the vital Maleme airfield, but were soundly defeated by Ringel's fresh mountain troops. This put an end to their aspirations to recapture the now main German landing point. Over the next few days, the Germans continued to strengthen their forces from Maleme, while the Center Group around Rethymnon and the East Group at Heraklion continued to resist the British attacks under heavy pressure.

May 23 began with a fearsome German attack. The Center Group, reinforced and better equipped, captured Galatas and assaulted the Pink Hill, expelling the Greeks from there. But Puttick knew that if the invaders were not hit hard and unexpectedly, they would sweep away the defenders. As such, he sent out Maori regiments under their traditional war cry, the Haka, to take the Germans by surprise. This was very effective and Puttick managed to free Galatas from German control. But the Germans were reinforced by Ringel's mountain troops and two days later they began a new counterattack, forcing the Maori to withdraw.

With Galatas now in German hands, the way to Suda Bay was open. Puttick then retreated to form a new defensive line, from Chania to Suda, centered on a sunken road called 42nd Street, which ran from Chania to the town of Tsikalaria. When the British began to reinforce Heraklion on 26 May and the situation in the west was stable, Student decided to launch a new wave of attacks on Colonel Brauer's whereabouts. Four companies of paratroopers were withdrawn from Maleme on 28 May to reinforce Group East. Additionally, an Italian regiment of about 3,000 men would make a naval landing in the city of Sitia at noon, which would then continue advancing along the eastern end of the island.

On May 27, Ringel's main offensive was launched. But, to their surprise, New Zealand and Australian forces massed on 42nd Street and began a bayonet charge. As a result, the Germans had to pack their bags and suffered losses while fleeing. The British had finally gotten a day of respite, but it would not be enough. Freyberg realized that the Germans were now superior in numbers and equipment, and with no other option he ordered an evacuation of theisland, beginning with Weston and Puttick's forces at Suda Bay. They would have to traverse a small mountain road through the Lefka Ori or White Mountains to the southern bay of Sphakia, where the evacuation fleet would be waiting for them.

On 28 May, two battalions of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Commando were sent from Alexandria to Suda to cover the retreat southwards. British troops marched 60 to 70 miles through difficult terrain under the threat of continuous bombing by the Luftwaffe. Meanwhile, Ringel's mountain troops occupied Chania and Suda, and continued their advance in pursuit of the retreating British forces, while sending reinforcements to the Center Group around Rethymnon. Together with the Maori and British Marines, and employing the last remaining Matilda tanks, the commandos under Brigadier Bob Laycock would see some fighting from Beritiana later on, managing to contain the German offensive.

But in the town of Babali Khani, Laycock's forces were isolated by the Germans, who fought to the last breath to give the evacuation as much time as possible. Laycock and some of his men managed to escape, but most were killed or captured. At the end of the day, the British forces would finally arrive safely at Sphakia. At the same time, the Germans at Pervolia were driven back by Vasey's forces, but as the latter had very few supplies, he would only hold the town for a short time. When the evacuation order reached Heraklion and Rethymnon, the British soldiers were stunned.

They had been very successful in their defense and thought they were winning the battle. But they quickly followed his orders and prepared to evacuate. From Heraklion, some 4,000 men from Chappell's brigade were transported by Force B under intense air attack. Reinforced German paratroopers assaulted the city on May 29, but were unable to prevent the garrison from escaping. The next day, the Greek forces in Rethymnon were evacuated while the Australians remained to defend the city. Center Group received extensive reinforcements, including several Panzers, and eventually Rethymnon fell when Colonel Ian Campbell, left in command of the Australian forces, was forced to surrender at night.

From May 28 to June 1, Admiral King's Force C would carry out the evacuation of some 6,000 men, suffering losses to the Luftwaffe. Of their 40,000 men, the British managed to rescue almost 18,000, while the rest were left behind on the island, ultimately adding up to about 23,000 casualties. On June 1, Ringel's mountain forces captured Sphakia and the remaining 5,000 defenders surrendered. In the east, Brauer's forces managed to unite with the Italians at Ierápetra. This marked the end of the operation, although the loss of life would continue. Throughout the battle, the Cretan population had aided the British in their fight against the invaders, fighting with all the weapons they could muster.

Once the island was occupied, Student ordered the execution of a series of collective punishments against civilians, with more than 500 inhabitants being massacred. After the war, the German general managed to avoid prosecution for the war crimes he committed. Hitler's air gamble had been a success, but not the success he expected. The Germans suffered massive casualties, almost 6,000, and lost a significant number of aircraft. The Führer was so horrified by this that he ruled out any future use of airborne troops on such a large scale. The Fallschirmjäger would then reform to act as normal ground soldiers in future operations, such as Barbarossa.

But the Allies, however, were so impressed by the success of the paratroopers that they quickly began to form their own airborne forces, which would be very important later in the war. The legacy of the battle is that of a major victory for the air forces over a superior naval enemy that was also superior in numbers to its ground forces. Thanks to Mindstone for sponsoring this video! Mindstone is a collaborative learning tool designed for anyone who wants to bring together the content they love in one place they control. If you sign up for Mindstone before June 30, you will become a free founding user for life.

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