The Battle of Heraklion was part of the Battle of Crete, fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete between 20 and 30 May 1941. British, Australian and Greek forces of 14th Infantry Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Brian Chappel, defended Heraklion port and airfield against a German paratrooper attack by the 1st Parachute Regiment of the 7th Air Division, commanded by Colonel Bruno Bräuer.
The attack on Heraklion during the afternoon of 20 May was one of four airborne assaults on Crete that day, following German attacks against Maleme airfield and the main port of Chania in the west of Crete in the morning. The aircraft that dropped the morning attackers were scheduled to drop the 1st Regiment over Heraklion later the same day. Confusion and delays at the airfields in mainland Greece meant that the assault was launched without direct air support, and over several hours rather than simultaneously; some units were still at the airfields by the end of the day. Those German units dropping near Heraklion suffered very high casualties, both from ground fire and upon landing. Those dropping further away were severely hampered by armed Cretan civilians. The initial German attack failed; when it was renewed the next day it failed again. The fighting then settled into a stalemate.
A battalion of the German 5th Mountain Division was supposed to reinforce the paratroopers at Heraklion by sea, bringing with it artillery and anti-aircraft guns. It was delayed en route, diverted to Maleme, then intercepted by a British naval squadron and scattered. The German overall commander, Lieutenant-general Kurt Student, concentrated all resources on the battle for Maleme airfield, which the Germans won. The Allied Commander-in-Chief Middle East, General Archibald Wavell, ordered an evacuation of Crete on 27 May and the 14th Brigade was taken off by Allied warships on the night of 28/29 May. During the return to Alexandria two destroyers were sunk, two cruisers badly damaged, more than 440 Allied servicemen killed, over 250 wounded and 165 taken prisoner. Due to their heavy losses on Crete the Germans attempted no further large-scale airborne operations during the war.
Background
Greece became a belligerent in World War II when it was invaded by Italy on 28 October 1940. A British and Commonwealth expeditionary force was sent to support the Greeks; this force eventually totalled more than 60,000 men. British forces also garrisoned Crete, enabling the Greek Fifth Cretan Division to reinforce the mainland campaign. This arrangement suited the British as Crete could provide their navy with harbours on its north coast. The Italians were repulsed by the Greeks without the aid of the expeditionary force. In April 1941, six months after the failed Italian invasion, a German attack overran mainland Greece and the expeditionary force was withdrawn. By the end of April, 57,000 Allied troops were evacuated by the Royal Navy. Some were sent to Crete to bolster its garrison, though most had lost their heavy equipment.
The German army high command (Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH)) was preoccupied with the forthcoming Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union and was largely opposed to an attack on Crete. Adolf Hitler was concerned about attacks on the Romanian oil fields from Crete and Luftwaffe commanders were enthusiastic about the idea of seizing Crete by an airborne attack. In Führer Directive 28 Hitler ordered that Crete was to be invaded to use it "as an airbase against Britain in the Eastern Mediterranean". The directive also stated that the operation was to take place in May and must not interfere with the planned campaign against the Soviet Union.
Opposing forces
Allies
On 30 April 1941 Major-general Bernard Freyberg, who had been evacuated from mainland Greece with the 2nd New Zealand Division, was appointed commander-in-chief on Crete. He noted the acute lack of heavy weapons, equipment, supplies and communication facilities. Equipment was scarce in the Mediterranean, particularly in the backwater of Crete. The British forces on Crete had seven commanders in seven months. No Royal Air Force (RAF) units were based permanently on Crete until April 1941 but airfield construction took place, radar sites were built and stores delivered. By early April airfields at Maleme and Heraklion and the landing strip at Rethymno, all on the north coast, were ready and another strip at Pediada-Kastelli was nearly finished.
Of the seven airstrips on Crete, the best equipped, and the only one with a concrete runway, was at Heraklion. It was also the only one with blast pens to protect aircraft on the ground. It was still improvised in nature, with the fuel store located outside the positions defending the airfield for example. A radar station was established on Ames Ridge, a hill south east of Heraklion airfield, but it was outside the defensive perimeter and its communications were unreliable. By 29 April 47,000 Commonwealth troops of the defeated Allied expeditionary force were evacuated from mainland Greece. In the space of a week 27,000 of these arrived on Crete from Greece, many lacking any equipment other than their personal weapons, sometimes not even those. Of these, 9,000 were further evacuated and 18,000 remained on Crete when the battle commenced. With the pre-existing garrison of 14,000 this gave the Allies a total of 32,000 Commonwealth troops to face the German attack, supplemented by 10,000 Greeks.
Heraklion was defended by the British 14th Infantry Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Brian Chappel. The brigade was made up of: the 2nd Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment (2nd York and Lancs; with a complement of 742 officers and men on the eve of the battle) and the 2nd Battalion, the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) (2nd Black Watch; 867), with the Australian 2/4th Battalion (2/4th; 550) temporarily attached. The men of the 2/4th had been evacuated from mainland Greece to Crete, arriving on 27 April. On the night of 15/16 May, four days before the battle, the brigade was reinforced by the 2nd Battalion of the Leicester Regiment (2nd Leicesters; 637), which was transported from Alexandria to Heraklion by the cruisers HMS Gloucester and HMS Fiji. Also attached were 450 artillerymen of the 7th Medium Regiment Royal Artillery fighting as infantry and the Greek 3rd and 7th regiments (both battalion-sized and lacking training and weaponry) and a Greek depot battalion undergoing training. Supporting the brigade was the 234 Battery of the 68 Medium Regiment of artillery, which was equipped with 13 captured Italian field guns. Also attached to the brigade were the 7th Battery of the 2/3rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, five heavy infantry tanks and six light tanks – not all necessarily operational at a given time – and a variety of other small anti-aircraft, support and ancillary units. As well as the Italian guns the brigade could field a further two artillery pieces and 14 anti-aircraft guns of several calibres. In total Heraklion was defended by just over 7,000 men, of whom approximately 2,700 were Greek.
Germans
The German assault on Crete was code-named "Operation Mercury" (Unternehmen Merkur) and was controlled by the 12th Army commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm List. The German 8th Air Corps (VIII Fliegerkorps) provided close air support; it was equipped with 570 combat aircraft. The infantry available for the assault were the German 7th Air Division, with the Air-landing Assault Regiment (Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment) attached, and the 5th Mountain Division. They totalled 22,000 men grouped under the 11th Air Corps (XI Fliegerkorps) which was commanded by Lieutenant-general Kurt Student who was in operational control of the attack. Over 500 Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft were assembled to carry them. Student planned a series of four parachute assaults against Allied facilities on the north coast of Crete by the 7th Air Division, which would then be reinforced by the 5th Mountain Division, part transported by air and part by sea; the latter would also ferry much of the heavy equipment.
For the assault on Heraklion the Germans assigned their strongest individual force of those launching the initial assault on Crete: the 1st Parachute Regiment, the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Parachute Regiment and an anti-aircraft machinegun battalion, all from the 7th Air Division. This force totalled approximately 3,000 men and was commanded by Colonel Bruno Bräuer. A few days before the attack, German intelligence summaries stated that the total Allied force on Crete consisted of 5,000 men and that the garrison of Heraklion was 400 strong. Before the invasion, the Germans conducted a bombing campaign against Crete and the surrounding waters to establish air superiority. The RAF rebased its surviving aircraft to Alexandria after 29 of their 35 Crete-based fighters were destroyed.
Paratroopers
The design of the German parachutes and the mechanism for opening them imposed operational constraints on the paratroopers. The static lines, which automatically opened the parachutes as the men jumped from the aircraft, were easily fouled and so each man wore a coverall over all of their webbing and equipment. This precluded their jumping with any weapon larger than a pistol or a grenade. Rifles, automatic weapons, mortars, ammunition, food and water were dropped in separate containers. Until and unless the paratroopers reached these they had only their pistols and hand grenades with which to defend themselves.
The danger of fouling the static lines also required that German paratroopers leapt headfirst from their aircraft and so they were trained to land on all fours – rather than the usually recommended feet together, knees-bent posture – which resulted in a high incidence of wrist injuries. Once out of the plane German paratroopers were unable to control their fall or to influence where they landed. Given the importance of landing close to one of the weapons containers, doctrine required jumps to take place from no higher than 400 feet (120 m) and in winds no stronger than 14 miles per hour (23 km/h). The transport aircraft had to fly straight, low and slowly, making them an easy target for any ground fire. Paratroopers were carried by the reliable tri-motored Ju 52. Each aircraft could lift 13 paratroopers, with their weapons containers carried on the planes' external bomb racks.
Opposing plans
Allied defences
Chappel deployed the three Greek units in Heraklion and the open ground to the town's west and south. The town was protected by its early modern walls. Running east from the town Chappel deployed in turn the 2nd York and Lancs, the 2nd Leicesters and the 2/4th. The 2/4th was deployed to overlook the airfield from two hills, known as "the Charlies". To their east, closing the gap between the Charlies and the sea were the 2nd Black Watch; within their perimeter was East Hill, from which they could dominate both the coast road and the airfield itself, which lay some 3 miles (5 km) from the centre of Heraklion. The field guns and the artillerymen fighting as infantry were positioned to the east of Heraklion, behind the front-line battalions. Ten Bofors anti-aircraft guns were positioned around the airfield. All units were well dug in and camouflaged.
German assault
The overall German plan for their assault on Crete was to land two reinforced German regiments by parachute and assault glider at Maleme airfield and near the main port of Chania in the west of Crete the morning of 20 May. The aircraft which dropped them were scheduled to then make further drops at Rethymno and Heraklion in the afternoon.
Bräuer, anticipating opposition from half a battalion, rather than seven, planned for the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Parachute Regiment (II/1), reinforced by an anti-aircraft machinegun company, to land in two groups on or near the airfield and capture it. The regiment's 3rd Battalion (III/1) would land in the open areas south west of Heraklion, rapidly concentrate and take the town by a coup de main. The 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Parachute Regiment (II/3) would land immediately to the west of the III/1. Bräuer would drop with the 1st Battalion (I/1) 5 miles (8 km) to the east as an operational reserve. After capturing the airfield and town Bräuer intended to move his regiment west towards the Germans landing 80 kilometres (50 mi) away at Rethymno, while deploying a scouting screen eastwards.
Battle
Initial assault
On the morning of 20 May the attacks on Maleme airfield and Chania took place as scheduled. The transport aircraft involved in them returned to mainland Greece to embark the paratroopers scheduled to drop at Rethymno and Heraklion in the afternoon. The Germans were having problems with their hastily constructed airfield facilities which had consequences for the attack on Heraklion. They were blanketed with dust clouds blown up by the aircraft's engines, reducing safe taxiing speeds and making taking off and landing hazardous. Several Ju 52s which had been damaged by Allied ground fire crashed on landing and had to be towed clear of the runways. Refueling was carried out by hand and took longer than anticipated. Aware that this would mean a significant delay to when the drop around Heraklion would commence, the commander of the Ju 52 wing, Rüdiger von Heyking, attempted to have the air support attack similarly delayed. Inadequate communication systems prevented this message from getting through in time.