Robert Kershaw, many congratulations on The Hill. Why was Crete so important for the Germans to capture?
In hindsight one could argue Crete was not so important to capture as it subsequently tied up two fortress infantry divisions and Luftwaffe and shipping assets for the duration of the war. Maybe the most successful German PW camp in the Mediterranean theatre. Student was anxious to prove the strategic worth of his fledgling airborne corps, which had been denied participation in Greece and Russia. Hitler’s attraction was to secure his Balkan flank when he invaded Russia the following month. He also obsessed about protecting the Romanian oilfields at Ploesti, which might become vulnerable to RAF bombing attacks. The operation also likely saved Malta from German airborne assault, as well as diverting attention from its massive build up on the Russian frontier.
It’s fascinating to read of Kiwi troops having to change fire as Cretan mobs attacked German paratroopers with ‘rocks, shovels, pitchforks, scythes and old shotguns.’ How surprised were the Germans, and the New Zealanders, by the resistance on the island?
Active hostile civilian resistance against German invasion was unheard of at this stage of the war. German intelligence reports claimed the civilian population was on side according to the mysterious Major Beck synopsis and regular Greek forces had already surrendered on the Peloponnese mainland. German military psyche was attuned to ‘fairness’ in war and traditionally, as evidenced by the Franco-Prussian War and in Belgium in 1914-18, outraged by any form of armed insurrection by irregulars out of uniform. Such resistance was generally pitilessly put down, as later happened in all German occupied areas of Europe.
Likewise, such resistance, although understandable and planned for by British and Commonwealth forces facing possible German invasion in 1940, it had never been seen on the continent. Potential Greek resistance by either uniformed forces or civilian irregulars on the Island of Crete, was never a serious factor in planning ground defences. The New Zealanders were just as surprised at the outbreaks of violence as the Germans.
The Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) was a relatively recent innovation in 1941. Were the Germans the most effective of the war?
The highpoint of German airborne effectiveness was between 1940-1. Thereafter they were used in an airborne reinforcement role in Tunisia and Sicily in 1943. Crete was a pyrrhic victory for the Fallshirmjäger, every third paratrooper deployed was a casualty, which broke the backbone of the operational effectiveness of the newly created XI Fliegerkorps. Although Hitler confided to Student that the day of the parachutist was gone, he nevertheless retained and expanded the airborne arm, as shock infantry. Their selection and training produced first-class troops, becoming ‘fire-brigade’ like reinforcements that extinguished many a crisis on numerous fronts. By 1944 they had been expanded to army formation size.
The Allies by contrast came to a different conclusion following the outcome of the battle of Crete. Britain and especially the United States expanded their airborne forces to mount multi-division corps size offensive airborne operations. This was to have a significant impact on the eventual outcome of the war from D-Day 6 June 1944 and onwards. So the Allied airborne arm in many respects eclipsed the earlier effectiveness of the Fallschirmjäger.
Where was Hill 107 and why was it strategically vital for the New Zealanders to hold?
Hill 107 was situated on the coast by the Tavronitas River estuary 11½ to the west of the capital at Chania, on the western side of the island of Crete. It completely overlooked the newly constructed Maleme aerodrome, one of only three airstrips on the island. With the failure of German airborne attacks on two airfields further east at Rethymnon and Iraklion, Maleme aerodrome, only partially held, remained the only conduit to fly in future German reinforcements. Its evacuation by the New Zealanders led to the unravelling of the entire British and Dominion defence of the island. The fall of this one hill decided the outcome of the battle for Crete and was the strategic vital ground to hold.
What was the NZ feeling of fighting in Crete, an island in the Mediterranean, so far from home?
Crete for the New Zealanders was initially an oasis of peace after the pressured and hectic withdrawal under fire from the Greek mainland. It was simply another wartime position to be held. Most soldiers simply viewed it as a stepping stone on the way to Egypt and the Western Desert, where they expected to fight. Many were homesick as they had been far from home for two years, part of the anti-invasion force in England when Germany was threatening to invade in 1940. Some had seen service in the desert and others during the seemingly pointless rearguard actions fought in Greece. Prior to the battle they felt they were having a bad war. An anticipated German airborne invasion offered some chance to get their own back in what was rapidly starting to appear a misdirected war.
What sort of personality was James Hargest, the commander of the 5th NZ Brigade?
James Hargest the commander of 5 Brigade was a brave, highly decorated First World War officer and soldier, still suffering the effects of post combat stress disorder, from the 1914-18 trenches. Like many allied officers at this early stage of the war, he was unable to encompass the speed at which decision making was required in the new kind of aerial warfare. The Luftwaffe provided aerial artillery, which might strike at any time, and airborne landings completely negated the previous First World War tactical and operational concept of a ‘front line’. In this new type of Warfare there was no front line. Hindered by a lack of resources, particularly communications, the slightly rotund Hargest found himself totally fatigued and psychologically ill matched to deal with the fast-moving crisis in which he found himself. He was a capable officer in the traditional sense but unable to cope in the new environment to which he was violently exposed. Unaware and often phased by new developments, he relied upon his subordinates to take vital decisions on the ground, which actually his remit as brigade commander – but he was leading from too far back.
Kurt Student was the commander of German paratroops. Many atrocities were committed in Crete during the war, but Student was acquitted thanks to NZ testimony, despite his paratroopers having killed civilians, for example at Kondomari. Did he get away with it?
Student was as incensed as his overall commander Marshal Hermann Göring at the atrocities his men suffered at the hands of ‘bandits’ on Crete. There was no place in the ordered German military mind or tactical doctrine to deal with civilian resistance. Student gladly passed on Görings directive to take punitive action against the excesses. After the war he faced eight charges for war crimes, including on Crete and was found guilty of three. The previous NZ 4 Brigade Commander Lindsay Inglis interceded on his behalf and he only received five years. This was commuted so that he was released in 1948. He therefore did get away with it, living in good health in retirement and revered internationally as the ‘father’ of airborne forces. The ‘old eagle’ as he was called, lived comfortably and died in 1978 at the age of 82.
How many men were lost in the fight for The Hill?
The figures are difficult to specifically assess, because of the chaotic nature of the fighting on and around the hill. Hargest’s 5 Brigade began the battle with 3,183 men of which about 950 were eventually evacuated from Crete. General Meindl’s German Sturmregiment suffered grievously, 72 officers fell of which 34 were killed with 1,166 men wounded and missing from which 667 never came back. General Ringel’s mountain troops lost 580 killed and 458 wounded. 7 Luftlande Division overall lost 5,140 casualties with 3,094 killed. Of 503 JU 52 transport aircraft inserted during the operation, 271 were lost and maybe 147 damaged, representing some 54% of the whole. These were eye-watering losses.
What are you working on next?
The next project is going to be connected with Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of Russia in 1941, a comparison between summer and winter fighting.
Robert Kershaw is the author of The Hill: The Brutal Fight for Hill 107 in the Battle of Crete is out now and is published by Osprey.
Aspects of History Issue 22 is out now.
