20 MAY – 1 JUNE 1941

01 GRUPPE WEST ATTACKS MALEME

Split into three, Gruppe West is the largest of the fallschirmjäger assaults and is led by the most senior German officer involved in the landings, Generalmajor Eugen Meindl. Casualties are catastrophic, with one battalion of 600 men losing 400 killed during the landings.

02 GRUPPE MITTE (CENTRE) ATTACKS RHETHYMNON

Landing in the first wave on the morning of 20

May, Gruppe Mitte is leaderless from the start when its commander – Wilhelm Süssmann – is killed along with his staff when their glider crashes onto the island of Aegina on the way to Crete.

03 GRUPPE OST (EAST) ATTACKS HERAKLION

Scattered on landing, Gruppe Ost’s commander – Oberst (Colonel) Bruno Bräuer – gathers as many men as he can and tries to capture the city, only to be beaten back by the Highlanders of 2nd Battalion Black Watch.

04 HILL 107 LOST TO GERMANS

Having lost most of its radios in Greece,

Leslie Andrew’s New Zealanders rely on telephone lines, which are swiftly cut. Mistakenly thinking half his battalion overrun, Andrew asks permission to withdraw off Hill 107. His brigade commander mishears the question and agrees.

05 ROYAL NAVY CAUSES CARNAGE

Nighttime actions by Royal Navy destroyer and cruiser flotillas cause hundreds of casualties among the seaborne gebirgsjäger, with their first convoy only saved from total annihilation by the bravery of Captain Francesco Mimbelli and the crew of the escorting Italian torpedo boat the Lupo.

06 THE NEW ZEALANDERS SAVED

Forced to retreat to Sphakia, the New Zealanders from Maleme and Khania are saved from destruction by Greek troops of the 8th Cretan Regiment. Understrength and only armed with World War I rifles and a handful of rounds, the Cretans hold out in Alikianos until 27 May to allow the Kiwis to escape.

08 FREYBERG IS EVACUATED

Freyberg is privy to enough knowledge about ULTRA – Britain’s secret breaking of the Nazi Enigma codes – to make his capture unthinkable. Against his wishes he is evacuated from the island by flying boat on the night of 30 May, having to leave thousands of his soldiers behind to their fate.

07 THE ITALIAN ARMY LANDS IN SITIA

Adding insult to injury for the British and Commonwealth defenders, on 28 May 3,000 Italians from the 50th Infantry Division Regina land unopposed at Sitia on the island’s eastern tip and begin to advance westwards to link up with the exhausted Germans.