Germany's Worst Airborne Disaster: The Battle of Crete | Animated History

Hi, I'm Griffin Johnson, the Armchair Historian. In today's video, we'll be looking at the Battle of Crete, the largest airborne invasion ever attempted by Nazi Germany. While the Germans eventually managed to conquer the island after a 13-day battle, it nearly came at the price of an entire airborne division. In the face of crippling supply shortages and devastating enemy air superiority, the Allied forces fought with stubborn determination alongside the defiant Cretan people. Before we begin, I'd like to thank our sponsor, Call of War. Call of War is a free online PvP strategy game with millions of users worldwide. Take control of a nation, form alliances with other players, and participate in conflicts that can last for weeks. While the game strives for historical accuracy, players are free to choose their own path to victory. Of course, changing history requires a powerful military and a thorough understanding of the many units under your command. Strategy is also important, so choose carefully from a variety of methods to dominate your opponents, ranging from armored spearheads to air raids. Fight for world domination, expand your borders, and secure dominance over whole continents. I'll be hosting a special game for the first viewers to click the link in the description. Go to the website or app and type TheArmchairHistorian in the search bar, then enter the password TheArmchairHistorian as one word. The slots are limited, so remember to join at the end of the video. Click the link in the description below within the next 30 days and you'll unlock the amazing new player pack, which includes one month of premium subscription and 13,000 gold. After the fall of mainland Greece in April of 1941, the remaining Allied forces in the country withdrew to reinforce the garrison on the island of Crete. The defenders' situation was dire from the moment they arrived, as their rapid evacuation had forced them to leave behind most of their equipment. Nearly all heavy weapons and vehicles had been lost, and ammunition was in short supply. Fortunately for the Allies, the Royal Navy remained firmly in control of the Mediterranean, rendering an amphibious invasion of Crete impossible. While German air superiority allowed for frequent bombing raids, Britain's naval dominance kept the island safe for a month following the invasion of Greece. In the meantime, German high command began considering how to invade the island without naval superiority. To many, this simply was not feasible. Some wanted to focus their attention and resources for the imminent invasion of the Soviet Union and simply let the Allies have the island. But others, including Hitler, were concerned about the danger British forces posed to Axis operations in the eastern Mediterranean. With Crete as a base, the British Royal Air Force could attack naval convoys sent to resupply General Erwin Rommel's forces in North Africa, and their bombers could strike at the vital oilfields in Romania. Playing on these concerns, General Kurt Student, commander of the Luftwaffe's Fallschirmjäger or paratroopers, and his commander Hermann Göring heavily advocated for an aerial invasion of Crete, dropping airborne forces en masse to bypass the Royal Navy and seize control of the island. Their plan, codenamed Operation Mercury, was controversial and would be the first air-based invasion in history. Though high command was skeptical, Adolf Hitler eventually approved the plan, on the condition that it did not interfere with the invasion of the Soviet Union. The main objective of Operation Mercury was the capture of Maleme, the largest airfield on Crete. Taking it would allow the rapid deployment of supplies and reinforcements to secure the island, and it was close enough to the Greek mainland to allow land-based fighters to support the invasion. Other targets included two smaller airfields and the main port at Souda Bay. The initial invasion force consisted of 750 glider-borne troops, 10,000 paratroopers, and 5,000 airlifted mountain infantry. They were divided into three groups, each dedicated to capturing one of the airfields. Group West, the largest of the three, was to drop first and capture Maleme before the others arrived. Göring and the other officers of the German Navy wanted to focus overwhelming force at Maleme, while Student, perhaps eager to demonstrate the ability of his paratroopers, wanted to spread his men out across a wider front to surprise the enemy at multiple objectives. Little did he know, the element of surprise had already been lost. The British Ultra Program had long since broken the Nazis' Enigma Codes, and the Allies knew all of the details of the German plan almost as soon as it was made. Armed with this intelligence, the defenders of Crete dug in and prepared to defend the island. Shortly after dawn on May 20th, a massive aerial bombardment of Allied positions signaled the beginning of the invasion. Following the bombers and fighters, a fleet of transport planes lumbered into view above Maleme, dropping massive waves of paratroopers and supply canisters. As the sky filled with parachutes and gliders, the defenders took up arms and took advantage of one of the major risks of an airborne invasion. Until they landed, the dreaded Fallschirmjäger were nothing but a sea of targets in the sky. Hundreds were shot down before they touched ground, while mortar shells destroyed most of the gliders as soon as they landed. To make matters worse, those paratroopers who survived were virtually unarmed. Their weapons had been dropped separately, leaving them nothing but knives and pistols to defend themselves in the meantime. This vulnerability was exploited to the fullest by the carefully positioned New Zealand troops, who inflicted heavy casualties on the paratroopers landing to the south and east of Maleme before they even knew where they were. Out of the invasion force, only Group West managed to pursue their objective after landing in a dry riverbed. From there, they engaged the 22nd Battalion and quickly began pushing back the poorly equipped New Zealand troops. Fighting continued throughout the day, and by sunset, the paratroopers had managed to establish a tenuous foothold west of the Maleme airfield. This was far less than Student had hoped to accomplish, and with none of their objectives captured, German commanders in Athens were concerned about the prospects of the invasion. Fortunately, however, what the Germans could not accomplish themselves, the Allies were happy to do for them. The soldiers of Group West awoke the next morning only to find that the New Zealanders, in desperate need of ammunition and resources, had withdrawn from their defensive positions overlooking the airfield. The paratroopers wasted no time in taking advantage of this opportunity and seized the airfield. Soon, German transport planes carrying fresh troops and supplies began landing, and while long-range artillery fire damaged or destroyed dozens of them, enough made it through to turn the tide of the invasion. The Allies recognized the gravity of the situation, but their planned counterattack that night was hampered by delays and hesitation at high levels. When the 20th and 28th New Zealand Battalions finally began their assault in the early hours of May 22nd, they were quickly bogged down by air attacks, and by the afternoon they were forced to retreat. The Germans were now in firm control of the Maleme airfield, and more were being flown in at a steady rate. Slowly, the Allied forces were pushed east, then south. Over the next few days, German forces cautiously advanced towards the port of Souda Bay, bombing Allied positions from the air before probing their defenses and attacking the beleaguered defenders where they were weakest. By May 27th, the Germans had seized control of the main roads leading to the bay, and Souda's garrison, along with that of the city of Chania, were beginning to falter. Facing intense aerial bombardment and an increasingly desperate supply situation, the Allies were forced to stage a full retreat. The defenders headed for the southern beaches of Sfakia, where the Royal Navy would evacuate them to Egypt. The retreating troops could only move at night for fear of bombing and strafing by the Luftwaffe during the day. The march was brutal, but most managed to maintain cohesion during the crossing, while Australian and New Zealand forces in the 5th and 19th Brigades held off the pursuing Germans. Despite operating at roughly half-strength and with very little ammunition, the ANZAC forces in the rearguard fought on, and on the morning of the 27th, they managed to halt the enemy advance with an old-fashioned bayonet charge. This engagement became known as the Battle of 42nd Street, and it bought Commonwealth forces precious time to make it over the mountains and begin their evacuation. Over the next four days, the Royal Navy extracted thousands of soldiers from the southern coast of Crete, with the pursuing Germans following closely. The New Zealand rearguard continued to hold the enemy back as long as they could, but they were gradually pushed back, closer and closer to the beaches of Sfakia, where the evacuations were taking place. On the morning of June 1st, the Germans arrived at the beaches to find about 5,000 soldiers left behind. The rest were on their way to Egypt. Tired, hungry, and finally cornered, the remaining defenders surrendered, bringing the Battle of Crete to an end. Throughout the battle, German forces faced heavy resistance from the civilian population. Villagers shot at the invaders with rifles taken from local museums, paratroopers were stabbed and clubbed upon landing, and armed civilian mobs even joined in several counterattacks by the Greek army during the retreat. This was the first time that the Nazis had experienced such extensive resistance from a civilian population, and they did not take it well. Reprisals and massacres against the Cretan people were frequent and bloody, prompting the birth of the Cretan Resistance just two weeks after the battle came to a conclusion. While the Battle for Crete ended in a victory for the German invaders, the price they paid was extensive. 6,000 men were killed, and nearly 300 aircraft were destroyed. These staggering losses led Adolf Hitler to conclude that the paratroopers could no longer exploit the element of surprise, and they would therefore never be used ever again in a large-scale airborne invasion. After the war, General Student would refer to Crete as the graveyard of the paratroopers. Thanks again to Call of War for sponsoring this video. Click their link in the description below to support our channel.