Operation Mercury: The German invasion of Crete    By: Trevor Reed

The German invasion of Crete, codename operation Mercury, was a monumental battle for airborne warfare. Never before had the Germans used their airborne forces, the Fallschirmjager, on such a large scale.

The Germans saw Crete as a place to strengthen their hold on the Mediterranean are, and also had an airfield that could be strategically sued as a base for bombing runs into the Balkans and North Africa to support German campaigns in those areas. The German Generalmajor Kurt Student saw this as a good opportunity to show off the ability of his Fallschirmjager. He believed that his airborne troops could operate alone, and not just in support of the Wehrmacht.

The German command decided to coordinate the attack on this strategic island with an attack against the British on the Mersa Matruh, which would limit the British assistance to the Greeks on Crete. Just one month earlier the German Fallschirmjager had seized a bridge over the Corinth Canal. This bridge was a very important escape route for the allies from Megara. The Germans captured and blew the bridge. During the battle the allies retreated to Crete, instead of Egypt as the Germans had thought.

For the invasion the Germans planned two main drops onto the island, one early in the day against Canea and the airfield ad Maleme, and the second against the airfields at Heraklion and Rethymnon. The Germans would have a combined landing force of just around 8,000 men. Without large numbers of armory and support the Germans knew that they must attack quickly with full force. Student believed that the main focus of the attack should be on Heraklion to secure the airfield.

Besides the fact that the Germans had severely underestimated the number of allied forces on the island, the allies were in a bad position. They were short on just about all of their supplies, with not enough air support and artillary to compliment and support the extra amounts of troops. The total amounts of allied forces on the island numbered 32,000 common wealth troops and 10,000 Greek soldiers.

The allies were under the impression that the Germans could not organize such a large scale airborne assault. Major General Bernard Freyberg was put in command of Crete on 30 April. Despite the Intel and German code that was broken by the allies “Ultra Secret” explaining the airborne attack on the island, the allied command still believed the main leading forces would come by sea. A second piece of Intel was uncovered from a Bf 110 German airplane that had crashed into Suda Bay detailing plans for the 3^rd Fallschirmjager. This too was discarded because the Allies thought it was a fake to distract from the main landings. Because this Intel was ignored Freyberg continued to concentrate his forces along the coast to protect against a seaborne invasion.

The invasion began on May 20. The most daring German airborne operation of the was now underway. The first landing around Maleme proved to be successful. The German forces captured and secured the bridge over the Tauronitis. The Fallschirmjager continued to move inland taking out anti-aircraft batteries and making their way towards the airfield. The rest of the drops did not go so smoothly however. Many of the Fallschirmjager were quickly engaged once they toughed down and some even dropped right on top of enemy units. Two companies of the 2^nd Btn were ordered by Miendl to move towards the Maleme airfield and secure Hill 107 (a strategic hill near the airfield which is critical to have in order to take the airfield.)

The 3^rd Fallschirmjager regiment landed south on the island and took out coastal AA batteries and artillery making it easier for reinforcements to land by sea. By the end of the day Germans casualties were mounting and the biggest objective completed had been the capturing of the bridge over Tauronitis.  Many of the German units were pinned down and separated. Student ordered the second wave of Fallschirmjager to deploy. Because of bad wind and dust the second drop was much dispersed and the battalions landed at different times. This caused the battalions to move and fight without the full strength of each division. A part of the 3^rd Btn and Miendl in taking the Hill (Hill 107). The fight began building as smaller units of German Fallschirmjager began landing in more concentrated enemy areas. By the end of the day the Germans barely held onto the island. Nothing was going right for the Germans. They could not hold of take Herakloin, the city that Student assessed as the most important objective. They still did not have a secure place for the German Nacy to enter the beach. The one thing that was going well for the Germans was that they had a small foothold on the western side of the airfield at Maleme and on Hill 107. From this small foothold the Germans landed a single airplane on the runway to see if it was secure. Later they landed more planes on the western side of the airstrip, and soon had total control of that side of the airfield. The Germans were now able to land badly needed supplies and artillery. This artillery was a big surprise to the allies, who never thought that artillery could be moved and used in an airborne assault.

Still even with the Germans hold on the Malene airfield, a strong and organized attack could have driven them from the airfield.  Because of the poor communication between allied forces, they were not able to recognize this vulnerability or coordinate the attack. They were not used to defending against this kind of warfare and had trouble coordinating their units. They did however coordinate one counterattack involving two Australian Battalions. Lt Colonel L W Andrew had to spread out his units across the airfield and a large surrounding area. Therefore he was not able to attack the airfield with sufficient men. He was effectively beaten back by the Germans on the western end of the battlefield and was forced to shorten his perimeter and give the rest of the airfield over to the Germans. The Germans were able to land more reinforcements and supplies on the airfield. ( I am still working on this summary and it will be done soon )