Nazi Invasion of Crete circa 1944 Office of Strategic Services (OSS) World War II

• published: 18 Oct 2014
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more at http://quickfound.net/links/military_news_and_links.html "Military Film Report: On the German invasion of Crete during World War II and its eventual fall in ten days. Emphasizes the German victory over British, New Zealander and Australian forces rested in superior air power. Animated maps and live-action photography show direction of invasion, course of battles and Allied retreat. Presents complete tactical picture, describes defenses of major Cretan cities and includes scenes of German troops, topography of Crete, dive bombing, parachute jumping, ground fighting, convoys, air attack on retreating troops and the British evacuation." Reupload of a previously uploaded film, in one piece instead of multiple parts. Public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete The Battle of Crete (German: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta; Greek: Μάχη της Κρήτης) was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur ("Operation Mercury"). Greek and Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. After one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered very heavy casualties and none of their objectives had been achieved. The next day, through miscommunication and the failure of Allied commanders to grasp the situation, Maleme airfield in western Crete fell to the Germans, enabling them to fly in reinforcements and overwhelm the defenders. The battle lasted about 10 days. The Battle of Crete was unprecedented in three respects: it was not only the first battle where the German paratroops (Fallschirmjäger) were used on a massive scale, but also the first mainly airborne invasion in military history; the first time the Allies made significant use of intelligence from the deciphered German Enigma code; and the first time invading German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population. Because of the heavy casualties suffered by the paratroopers, Adolf Hitler forbade further large-scale airborne operations. However, the Allies were impressed by the potential of paratroopers and started to build their own airborne divisions... Allied forces had occupied Crete when the Italians attacked Greece on 28 October 1940. Though the Italians were initially repulsed, subsequent German intervention drove 57,000 Allied troops from the mainland. The Royal Navy evacuated many of them; some were taken to Crete to bolster its garrison. Possession of Crete provided the Royal Navy with excellent harbours in the eastern Mediterranean, from which it could threaten the Axis southeastern flank... On 30 April 1941, a New Zealand Army officer, Major-General Bernard Freyberg VC was appointed commander of the Allied forces on Crete. By May, the Greek forces consisted of approximately 9,000 troops... The British Commonwealth contingent consisted of the original 14,000-man British garrison and another 25,000 Commonwealth troops evacuated from the mainland... On 25 April, Hitler signed Directive Number 28, ordering the invasion of Crete... This was to be the first truly large-scale airborne invasion, although the Germans had used parachute and glider-borne assaults on a much smaller scale in the invasions of Denmark and Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and mainland Greece. In the last instance, German paratroops (Fallschirmjäger) had been dispatched to capture the bridge over the Corinth Canal which was being readied for demolition by the Royal Engineers. German engineers were landed near the bridge in gliders, while parachute infantry attacked the perimeter defence. On 1 June, the remaining 5,000 defenders at Sphakia surrendered, although many took to the hills and caused the German occupation problems for years. By the end 1941, an estimated 500 British Commonwealth troops remained at large, to say nothing of the Greeks... Allied commanders at first worried the Germans might use Crete as a springboard for further operations in the Mediterranean's East Basin, possibly for an airborne attack on Cyprus or a seaborne invasion of Egypt in support of the German/Italian forces operating from Libya. However, these fears were soon put to rest when Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, made it apparent the occupation of Crete was likely a defensive measure intended to secure the Axis southern flank...