Topic summary
Battle of Crete
United Kingdom
Greece
New Zealand
Australia
Germany
ItalyRobert LaycockBernard C. Freyberg
Kurt StudentWalter KochFrancesco Mimbelli18,047
Greece:
10,258 – 11,451
New Zealand:
7,702
Australia:
6,540
Total:
42,547
22,000 paratroopers and mountain troops
280 bombers
150 dive bombers
180 fighters
500 transports
80 troop gliders
Italy:
2,700
3,579+ killed and missing
1,918 wounded
12,254 captured
Greece:
544+ killed and missing
5,225 captured
Material:
Royal Navy:
12 fleet and 7 auxiliary ships sunk, 22 damaged
Royal Air Force:
21 aircraft shot down
12 aircraft destroyed on ground
Total:
~23,000 total casualties
4,000 to 6,000 killed (4,000 ground troops, 2,000 sailors)
1,032 killed
1,632 wounded
2,097 missing (including aircrew losses)
5th Mountain Division:
321 killed
488 wounded
324 missing
Material:
Luftwaffe:
284 aircraft lost, 125 damaged
Italy:
1 destroyer damaged
1 torpedo boat damaged
Total:
5,894 casualties
The Battle of Crete (German: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, Greek: Μάχη της Κρήτης), codenamed Operation Mercury (German: Unternehmen Merkur), was a major Axisairborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete.
The battle began on the morning of 20 May 1941, with multiple German airborne landings on Crete; Greek and other Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. After the first day of fighting, the Germans had suffered heavy casualties and Allied troops were confident that they would defeat the invasion.
The next day, through communication failures, Allied tactical hesitation, and German offensive operations, Maleme Airfield in western Crete fell, enabling the Germans to land reinforcements and overwhelm the defensive positions in the north of the island. Allied forces withdrew to the south coast; more than half were evacuated by the British Royal Navy and the remainder surrendered or joined the Cretan resistance. The defence of Crete evolved into a costly naval engagement; by the end of the campaign the Royal Navy's eastern Mediterranean strength had been reduced to only two battleships and three cruisers.
The Battle of Crete was the first occasion where Fallschirmjäger (German paratroops) were used en masse, the first mainly airborne invasion in military history and the first time the Allies made significant use of intelligence from decrypted German messages from the Enigma machine, and the first time German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population.
Due to the number of casualties and the belief that airborne forces no longer had the advantage of surprise, Hitler became reluctant to authorise further large airborne operations, preferring instead to employ paratroopers as ground troops. In contrast, the Western allies were impressed by the potential of paratroopers and started to form airborne-assault and airfield-defence regiments.