my head

ps: This book needs local tyrants to be friends, and the support of rich and handsome people! ! !

In the early morning of the 5th, Student airborne the 600 paratroopers stranded at the airport to Marama Airport. At 16:5, the 5th Mountain Division arrived by plane one after another. By sunset, a regiment of the 22th Mountain Division had already landed.The communication system of the British army was severely damaged by the fierce German air strikes. Freiberg was not informed of the fall of Marama Airport in time and missed the opportunity to regain the airport.When he learned of Malama's situation, he ordered a counterattack overnight.It is a pity that the order was not delivered in time, and the British army launched a counterattack at dawn on the [-]nd.On the road near the airport, it was violently attacked by German aviation, and the counterattack failed.

In Rethymnon and Iraklin, the German army still did not turn around, and even Colonel Slim, the head of the 2nd Paratrooper Regiment commanded by Rethymnon, was captured in the battle. After dawn on the 7th, the German Air Force forced the British Navy to withdraw to Alexandria.The German army immediately transported heavy equipment and troops to Crete from the sea, and the battle situation on the island further favored the German army. On the 24th, the German army completely occupied the Marama area and began to attack Chania.Major General Ringer, commander of the 5th Parachute Division, arrived on the island and took command of the Western Battlegroup.On the same day, the western battle group and the central battle group joined forces. On the 25th, Lingel commanded a regiment of the 5th Mountain Division, the Gliding Assault Regiment, and the rest of the 3rd Paratrooper Regiment to attack Chania with all their strength.

On the 5th, the German army broke through the Chania defense line. On the 11th, the German army captured the urban area of ​​Chania. On the 12th, the Germans occupied Souda Bay.At the same time, a reinforced Italian regiment landed on the east coast of Crete. 13th.German troops occupy Rethymnon.And join up with the airborne troops near Iraklin. April 1940, 4.The Germans completely occupy Crete.

The Crete Airborne Campaign lasted 12 days and ended with the German occupation of Crete.During the battle, the German army was killed or missing a total of 1.4 casualties, including Major General Sussman, commander of the 7th Airborne Division, and lost 220 aircraft, including 179 transport aircraft.The German airborne division suffered huge losses in the battle.More than 15000 people were killed in battle, nearly three-quarters of the three paratrooper divisions; a total of 9500 airborne troops participated in the battle were injured, accounting for one-third of the total.Due to the huge losses of the German airborne troops in this battle, Crete was called "the grave of German paratroopers".The British Commonwealth Army on Crete lost 1700 people and injured 1.5; the navy suffered about 2000 casualties, totaling about 1.8.The Greek army captured about 6000 people and suffered about 3000 casualties, with a total of nearly 2.8 casualties.Total Allied casualties were approximately 3 cruisers and 6 destroyers of the British Navy were sunk, and 1 aircraft carrier, 3 battleships, 6 cruisers and 7 destroyers were damaged.The British resistance in Crete actually saved the island of Malta, because of the fighting over Crete.The Wehrmacht had no more airborne troops to fight.

The Battle of Crete continued the myth of Germany's invincibility, and the German army also suffered 12 casualties for this.The loss of personnel is not the most terrible.What was really fatal was that this battle made Hitler and his generals completely lose their confidence in using paratroopers to fight. After more than two years, this devil army was reduced to the embarrassing situation of being with ordinary infantry.Now only Zhang Jun still has three established paratrooper divisions in his hands. Although the German Wehrmacht retains the designation of four paratrooper divisions, they no longer use them as paratroopers, but as elite infantry.This is the most tragic aspect of the Battle of Crete.

In fact, Zhang Jun still admires the grandsons of the Wehrmacht. Even though there are all kinds of disadvantages, looking at the Battle of Crete, the performance of the German Wehrmacht is still remarkable. At the beginning of the war on the 4th, the situation was extremely unfavorable to the German army. Many airborne points were met with unexpectedly violent ground anti-aircraft firepower and tenacious resistance. The nature of combat is completely different.At the same time, the commander of the Central Brigade died in an accident before reaching Crete.However, the troops still insisted on fighting according to the plan, using the insufficient ammunition and light weapons in their hands to fight against the British army who was waiting in full force. This had a lot to do with the outstanding performance of the frontline substitute commander.At the same time, the excellent tactical quality and good psychological quality of combat troops are also very important.

Part of the transport troops responsible for air transport obviously lacked experience in organizing large-scale air transport (under the technical conditions at the time, the performance of the German army was relatively the best), and the confusion of air transport troops also increased the difficulty of the attack to some extent.The disadvantage of the short range of German fighter jets was once again exposed in this battle, so that they could not provide full air support for the landing troops, so they had to rely on increasing the number of dispatches to make up for it.In air-to-sea combat, the German Air Force undoubtedly had absolute air supremacy and severely damaged the Royal Navy, but lacked large surface ships to cooperate with consolidating the results. As long as the German Air Force left the sky, the transport fleet had to risk being discovered by the Royal Navy Dangerous, cautiously "survive".

On the other hand, the British army, with its efficient intelligence agencies, had fully grasped the German army's combat intentions before the war and made targeted deployments. This did cause a lot of trouble for the attacking side in the subsequent battles.As the masters of setting up positions and experts in camouflage, the British army's defensive positions in Crete are also quite interesting. The positions are not only ingeniously set up, but also with reasonable firepower. The excellent camouflage hides its own strength and successfully deceives It was not until the German paratroopers landed on Crete that they found themselves in deep siege.

Compared with the above-mentioned advantages, the combat capability of the British army is nothing to boast about. The island guards have a total of 42640 soldiers. Even if the 10258 Greek soldiers with low morale are excluded, there are still 32382 British troops. It does not count the troops that have been supported after the war started.The German army against it has only 22000 people, and there are no heavy weapons such as tanks.In this advantage, the British army would only passively defend, hiding in the position and waiting for the German army to attack.Only on the 22nd, the British army launched a somewhat decent counterattack in the Irakolin area, and the result was only to cut off the German Central Group from here, and the divided Central Group continued to fight, even in weaker areas. The German army also held its position.

Before that, when the German army hadn't gained a firm foothold, it was the biggest mistake for the British army not to take advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack.The fall of Malim Airport was a turning point in the Battle of Crete. After the garrison lost contact, the commander Lieutenant Colonel Andrew's will began to waver, and finally gave up his position that night.In addition, the communication and command system of the British army is also an obvious weakness. When Freyberg got the news that the 107 Heights had fallen, the situation at Malim Airport had reached an irreversible point.

It should also be mentioned that the British Royal Navy was built in a rut, its combat thinking was far behind, and it did not pay enough attention to aircraft carriers. In my memory, the Royal Navy successfully used aircraft carriers throughout World War II, and only the surprise attack on Taranto commanded by Cunningham .In the Battle of Crete, the British Royal Navy participated in the battle with a total of more than 4 large and medium-sized surface ships, but the aircraft carrier had only one "Formidable", and only [-] aircraft could take off at any time!The effect is simply negligible.The direct consequence of this is that although the British army has a powerful fleet, they can only be "silent lambs" when encountering the fierce offensive of the Luftwaffe.However, the organizational capabilities of the Royal Navy are still impressive. From Greece to Crete this time, a large number of troops will always be able to withdraw from the sea, leaving valuable vitality for future battles. It also gave the British a small comfort after each failure.

It is also worth noting the importance of coordinated operations between the navy and air force.A fleet without air supremacy, no matter how powerful your fleet is, will still be buried under the sea.Similarly, relying solely on air superiority can only achieve partial advantages in specific circumstances, but cannot turn local advantages into overall victory.In the German-British air-sea battle in this battle, although the German Air Force achieved air supremacy and restrained the British fleet's daytime operations, as long as the German planes left, the Royal Navy was still the master of the sea, and the German army could not make full use of it in the end. A large number of reinforcements and heavy weapons were transported by sea lines of communication, which greatly increased the difficulty of winning.Although the British Navy suffered heavy losses, its performance proved its existence, especially the successful withdrawal at the end, which can be said to be the only bright spot of the Royal Navy in this campaign.Although the German army is powerful, it lacks a strong navy and is a lame giant. Success seems to be one step away, but it is out of reach.The multi-line battle in the near future is doomed that the German army will be exhausted from now on, unable to escape the fate of a tragic hero.

On January 1940, 1, Hitler said to Student at the honor reception of the Battle of Crete: "The Battle of Crete proved that the era of paratroopers is over. The paratroopers are an army that relies entirely on suddenness. However, this sudden factor no longer exists.” Hitler’s pessimistic judgment put the German paratroopers in limbo and ruined the continued development of this brand-new method of warfare in the German army. Responsibility, and this is actually the most direct loss caused by the Battle of Crete to the German army.As the most calm bystander in this battle, the United States has actually learned the most from this battle.

At the beginning of his famous report on the Battle of Crete, Major Bonner Ferrers, the American military attache in Egypt, perfectly sums up the German Battle of Crete with the most beautiful description.

"The dramatic Crete battle has written an epic war. The combat ideas are bold and novel, with high imagination. The troops set out from Central Europe and entered the funnel-shaped Greece accurately. Here, they changed their forms and coordinated Power, with its wings. The battle has the tones, the melodies, the harmonies of a master musician, and on May [-] and the days that followed, this power soared through the skies. Its battalions rose with thunderous crescendos The sound rushed into the sky over Crete and covered everything. For the first time in history, the airborne troops landed in front of the enemy and defeated them while being supplied and supported by the air..." (To be continued..)