194 1 On April 25th, Hitler signed Fuehrer's Order No.28, ordering the Germans to invade Crete. 194 1 On May 20th, 2000, Germany launched a military operation codenamed "Operation Mercury", and the Germans began to carry out the plan of airborne invasion of Crete, Greece. The troops invested by the Germans include the 8th, 1 1 aviation corps (433 bombers, 233 fighter planes, 500 transport planes, 50 reconnaissance planes, 72 transport gliders and the 7th airborne division of 1/aviation corps) and 1 aviation corps.
Its operational deployment is as follows: The 7th Airborne Division (under its jurisdiction 1, 2, 3 paratroopers) and the independent airborne regiment form an airborne assault cluster; The 5 th Mountain Division is the reserve team, ready to carry out airborne landing or landing reinforcements at any time, and the 8 th Air Force is responsible for air cover and fire support; The Navy's Southeast Fleet is responsible for maritime support. The air assault fleet is divided into three clusters and airborne at four locations: the western cluster is composed of airborne independent groups, and airborne attacks Maalim area; The central cluster, consisting of the 2nd Regiment (under the 2nd Battalion) and the 3rd Regiment of the 7th Airborne Division, raided Suda Port and Ray Simenon area. The eastern cluster consists of the main force of 1 regiment and the 2nd regiment of the 7th Airborne Division, and is responsible for occupying the Iraqi forest airport area.
Due to intelligence errors, the Germans greatly underestimated the allied defense forces on Crete. 19401On October 28th, 6000 British troops sent troops to Crete. Together with the Greek and British troops retreating from Greece, there are 1 division, 1 brigade, 2 regiments,1battalion, 5 companies, with a total strength of about 44,000 people, including Greek troops 1.4 million people and Commonwealth troops of 30,000 people. Major-General Freburg, commander of the New Zealand Division, was appointed as the garrison commander of Crete, taking unified command of the troops on the island.
Fraiberg, based on the example of German invasion of roads, beaches and other open areas in the Netherlands, thinks that the German army is not very dependent on the airport, and the British army will also use the airport, so it did not destroy the airport. However, it turns out that this is an extremely wrong decision. At 2: 00 a.m. on May 20, the German airborne guidance group took the lead in landing in Crete and joined the subsequent airborne troops. At 4: 30 in the morning, the first wave of German attack took off. At 5 o'clock in the morning, the German Eighth Air Force made intense preparations for air fire strikes against Malama, Iraklin Airport and downtown Ganya.
The initial German airborne operation was not smooth. Colonel Mayndel's 3rd Battalion of Gliding Assault Regiment just landed in the preset positions of the 22nd and 23rd Battalions of the New Zealand Army, resulting in the death of all officers and two-thirds of the soldiers in the battalion, completely losing their combat effectiveness. Its commander, Colonel Maindel, was seriously injured when landing and could not command the battle. Due to the loss of combat effectiveness of the 3rd Airborne Battalion, the Germans had to change their plans and attack the commanding heights near the airport first 107, and then seize the airport. But German paratroopers made no progress after paying huge losses.
The 3rd regiment of German paratroopers, led by Major General sussman, commander of the 7th Airborne Division, took off in 20 minutes, and the glider that sussman and the headquarters took unfortunately crashed, resulting in the death of sussman and members of the headquarters. The 3rd Paratrooper Regiment was hit by intensive fire when landing, which caused great losses. Among them, the 3rd Battalion landed in the defense zone of the 4th Brigade of the New Zealand Army, and almost all the troops were wiped out. 1 and 2 battalions were forced to build fortifications on the spot and turned to defense under the attack of the British army. Due to the interruption of communication, the students did not know that the first wave of attacks was seriously frustrated, but they organized the second wave of attacks as planned, and carried out airborne attacks on Ray Simonon and Iraklin.
German paratroopers under the command of Colonel brower, 1 Regiment and 2 Regiments, 2 Battalions and ***4 Battalions, plan to capture the Iraqi forest area and the airport. brower intends to attack an urban area and an airport with 1 Battalion, and the other two battalions will cover the east and west wings respectively. However, due to the delay in departure time, 600 people were stranded at the departure airport due to the loss of aircraft. The airborne lasted for more than two hours, and the landing was scattered and the organizational system was chaotic. After brower landed, the situation was not good, and he decided to focus on attacking the airport, but there was no progress until dark.
At this time, there were only less than 600 people left in the western German battle group. The Germans tried their best to make a final blow to the 107 highland, but when they touched the highland, they found that the British army had retreated. After dawn, the Germans were commanding and captured the Malama airport in one fell swoop. The situation began to improve, because the gains and losses of Malama airport decided the outcome of the battle of Crete. In the early morning of 2 1, the German follow-up reinforcements descended smoothly to Malama airport without resistance. 16, the 5th Mountain Division also arrived by plane. By sunset, a regiment of the 5 th Mountain Division had landed, the strength of the German army was obviously enhanced, and the war situation began to change in favor of the German army.
After dawn on the 23rd, the German Air Force sank several British warships, forcing the British navy to withdraw to Alexandria. The Germans immediately transported heavy equipment and troops from the sea to Crete, and the situation on the island further benefited the Germans. On 24th, the German army completely occupied the Malama area and began to attack Ganya. Major General Ringo, commander of the Fifth Mountain Division, arrived on the island and took over the command of the western battle group. On the same day, the western battle group joined forces with the central battle group. On the 25th, Ringo commanded a regiment of the 5th Mountain Division and the rest of the gliding assault regiment and the 3rd Parachute Regiment to attack Ganya. On the 26th, the Germans broke through the Ganya line. On the 27th, the Germans captured the city of Gagna. On the 28th, the Germans occupied Suda Bay. At the same time, a reinforced regiment of the Italian army landed on the east coast of Crete. On the 29th, the Germans occupied Resimenon and joined the airborne troops near Ikerrin. 1941June 2, the Germans completely occupied Crete.
The airborne combat in Crete lasted for 12 days, with about 4,000 German casualties or missing, including Major General sussman, commander of the 7th Airborne Division, injured 10000, casualties 14000, and 220 aircraft were lost, including transport aircraft 179. The 7th Airborne Division, the only airborne division of the German army, suffered huge losses in the battle, with more than 5,000 casualties and losses close to three quarters of the whole division. The number of airborne troops participating in the war was 6500, accounting for one third of the total. Crete is called "the tomb of German paratroopers" because of the huge losses of German airborne troops in this battle.
The airborne battle of Crete was one of the large-scale airborne battles during the Second World War. However, due to heavy losses, the German airborne troops basically existed in name only, and did not participate in any major battles until the end of World War II.