1
Destination Crete
“TO CRETE!” This was the decision – and the final destination – of the young Greek infantry lieutenant Theodoros E. Kallinos on 13 April 1941, while he was on the island of Chios. There he was informed that having broken the Greek Army defensive lines, the German forces were advancing on the mainland of Greece.
In April 1941, during the German attack against northern Greece, Lieutenant Kallinos was a company commander in Fortress Kali on the Metaxas Line. At 0200 on 9 April, when the commanding officer of the fortress announced to him via telephone that the city of Salonika had been occupied by the Germans and there was no choice left other than to surrender, Kallinos answered: “I will not surrender, nor have I the right to leave my company to the Germans. I still have 20,000 cartridges for each machine gun. Either we will fight till the last bullet, or we will march southwards in order to fight in a new defensive line.”
On the morning of 9 April at 0800, Kallinos and his company set off for Agios Oros (Mount Athos). They arrived at the harbour of Dafni Monastery after four days of marching from the Metaxas Line – having managed to avoid the German units advancing in the area (see Map 1.1). There, Kallinos was informed that the Germans were not very far from Athens, so he decided to go even further south – to the island of Crete – in order to continue the fight. In small boats, they passed in succession from Mount Athos to the island of Lemnos and then to Lesvos – finally ending up in Chios. There, apart from Kallinos’ men, 300 more soldiers and officers arrived progressively – many of them managing to reach Crete as a result of Lieutenant Colonel Kitsos’ initiative. As Kallinos knew about the presence of the Luftwaffe over the Aegean Sea, he understood that the trip to Crete was very dangerous for his men.
Having in mind the German statement from an Athens radio station that Greek soldiers were not considered prisoners – and so were free to return to their families – he addressed his soldiers:
Officers, NCOs and soldiers: I didn’t leave you to the Germans in the front line and I brought you all here to Chios. I gave an oath as a cadet in 1933, and then again as a 2nd lieutenant in 1937, to defend the homeland even with my blood. I must not forget the oath that I gave and I will go to Crete to defend our country. You are conscripts and you have served the homeland very bravely so far, but now you must return to your families that are waiting for you.
Then the soldiers shouted: “All together to Crete!” and Kallinos ordered: “ATTENTION! I give you a direct order to return to your families and there you will have the chance to work and fight for the freedom of our country. I will go to Crete, which will be a stronghold and the turning point for the freedom of all of Greece.”
Kallinos’ soldiers boarded two big caiques destined for Euboea and Peloponnese. Kallinos himself, along with Sergeant Ioannis Papageorgopoulos from Argos (who had refused to obey the order to return to his home), Lieutenant Avlitis and a Cretan major with 15 more Cretan soldiers, set out for Crete in a small motorboat. They reached the island of Tinos before dawn and the next night, they passed Naxos and then proceeded to Santorini (Thera). Since the boat was not able to cover the distance from Santorini to Crete during the night and before the following dawn, the captain of the boat refused to go to Crete – fearing the Luftwaffe was sinking everything that approached Crete during daylight. After the Cretan major threatened the captain and forced him to take them to the island, they finally departed and disembarked on a beach east of Heraklion (near Chersonnisos).
Special Presentation 1: Theodoros E. Kallinos
Theodoros E. Kallinos (1914-2014) was born in Tsaritsani Elassonas and graduated from the ‘Evelpidon’ Military Academy in 1937. He assumed duties as a company commander in the 19th Infantry Regiment in Serres, where he remained until 1939, when he was transferred to Fortress Kali on the Metaxas Line.
During the Battle of Crete, he was a company commander in Heraklion and he led his men in battle against the 1./FschJgRgt.1 on the hills east of the airfield in the area of Gournes. Being at the point of the counterattack against the paratroopers on Kopsas Hill, he managed to defeat the Germans and change the outcome of the battle. Many years later, he used to say: “I still cannot understand how I wasn’t killed during this charge, where I was totally exposed to the German fire.”
Theodoros E. Kallinos here as a young lieutenant in 1941. (Author’s collection)
During the German occupation of Greece (1941-1944), Kallinos joined the Resistance and he participated in the struggle against the Germans. Although he was never arrested, he was sentenced to death by an Italian court martial, while his father and his three younger brothers were jailed.
In the early post-war period in Greece, he was involved in the turbulence of the civil war. In 1947, he was discharged from the army; finally, he officially retired in 1962 as a colonel. After the war, he continued his struggle for democracy and Greek Independence; even at the age of 97, he used to say: “Why am I continuing my struggle at this age? Because I deeply believe that as long as the mind works, one must keep on fighting for his ideas.”
In Heraklion, Lieutenant Kallinos presented himself to Major Kasimatis from the Regimental Depot Battalion and he was assigned the role of organising a company comprising mainly local soldiers. One week later, Kallinos’ company marched flawlessly along the main road of Heraklion in front of the Heraklion Guard HQ – in the town centre – with an astonished Major Kasimatis watching from the balcony. After that display, Kasimatis assigned Kallinos’ company to cover the town and the airfield from the east against possible landings by sea or air. During the night of 19/20 May, Kallinos’ company settled into defensive positions on Kako Oros Hill and prepared for battle.1
Map 1.1 The Greek Front in April 1941 and Lieutenant Kallinos’ route. (N. Valasiadis, 2015)
The HQ building of the Heraklion Guard and Regimental Depot Battalion (right) in the centre of Heraklion. Opposite to it (left) is the Dialynas Building. (Author’s collection)
Attention all passengers: the mountains away on the horizon and the villages that can barely be seen are Crete. Yes, now you all know that our final destination is Crete. In a while, we will get off in the big harbour of Souda Bay. The city of Chania is just five kilometres away from Souda.
The announcement by the captain of the boat that transported the Greek soldiers from Nafplion (in Peloponnese) echoed throughout the boat and on the upper decks. It was the morning of 20 April 1941: the day of the Orthodox Easter.
Among the recruits was Private Christos Roussopoulos, who had set out on 3 April from his village, Neo Cheimonio, in Thrace. Now, for the first time, he heard that he was heading to Crete. Christos Roussopoulos recorded in his diary:
We all began climbing like ants onto the upper deck from each of the boat’s hatches and finally there didn’t remain even one inch of empty space on the deck. As the time passed, the mountains came closer to us. We could see very clearly a few villages. The sea was full of boats from the convoy, four cargo and three warships. From the soldiers who stayed all night on the upper deck we heard that during the night the alarm was raised three times and each time they had to lie on the deck in order to make room for the anti-aircraft guns and the gunners.
After a while we entered the big natural harbour of Souda. It looked like the entire war fleet of Greece had been assembled there. From a distance it was not possible to see their names but the guns on the bow, the stern and on the sides could be clearly seen. In the harbour there were also submarines and even hydroplanes and many cargo ships […]
[…] As soon as the companies began leaving the harbour, the alarm sirens started sounding and right away the anti-aircraft guns both from the shore and the warships opened fire. German Stukas appeared in the sky like little swallows. We were ordered to scatter. We scattered, everyone finding and lying down in a trench. The German planes were flying in circles high in the sky and some of them were diving, then releasing their bombs above the harbour. Two of the aircraft were hit and crashed far away while one ship in the harbour was on fire.
Things quietened for a moment and we came out of the trenches. We dusted the thorns from our clothes and we began laughing, pointing at some lads, in order to show that we were not afraid at all. It was pure hypocrisy. The truth was that we had been afraid, and very much so indeed. Then we were assembled again in our platoons and companies [...]
[…] On 21 April at 9 p.m. we were assembled again. We were told that the next morning we were to leave on foot for Heraklion. That night indeed we didn’t see anyone drunk. The songs and the discussions continued into the late evening. Finally, 22 April dawned. In the camp there weren’t any bugles, nor loudspeakers, so all the announcements were made with a loud voice. At 6 a.m. we were told to start packing our things. At 7 a.m. we were given some bread, a little cheese and a few olives. As soon as the distribution had been finished, we were again assembled in our companies and after a while we were given the order to march […]
Private Christos Roussopoulos in 1941. (Courtesy of the Society of Cretan Historical Studies)
[…] Today, 23 April, is the celebration of Saint George but none of my friends has the name Giorgos [George] to wish him well… In the street we saw empty English vehicles. I suppose that they were going to pick up the English soldiers marching to Heraklion as well. As soon as we walked down the slope of the last hill, the city of Heraklion appeared. Even from a distance it looks like it is one of the biggest cities of Greece.
The town of Heraklion is surrounded by big walls that were built by the Venetians. At the point where the road from Chania meets these walls there is a gate like an arch. It is called ‘The door to Chania’. We turned right and after a short distance we got off the roads. On the walls there were old wooden buildings used as barracks. After a while more English lorries came, bringing the rest of the troops. The officers told us that they didn’t ask the English to transport us by lorries in order not to show that we were afraid to walk. When the night fell we entered those old barracks to sleep but in an hour we all went out to escape from the bugs and we lay down outside the buildings [...]
[…] Today is 5 May. Early in the morning we assembled in platoons with our belongings and waited in lines. We passed through the city… In a short time we passed outside the barracks of the 43rd Greek Infantry Regiment of the V ‘Crete’ Division. Those barracks are now given to our English allies so we camped in the fields under the olive trees and under the sky and the stars. We were lucky and it didn’t rain. After a while we passed the airport of Heraklion which is full of English soldiers with their anti-aircraft guns, surrounded by sandbags for protection from the bombs falling on the airfield. At the end of the airfield there is a down-slope with a small church in a cave and then the valley of Karteros. Far away on the opposite side of the valley there is a mountain with strange black stones. We have the impression that this is an ‘evil mountain’ and we are right since this mountain is called Kako Oros (Evil Mountain). There, at the foothill of this mountain we stopped. Each company was assigned to cover a certain area away from the other companies and each platoon respectively away from the other platoons of the company.
When the German bombers come and bomb the airfield, they leave flying over the slopes of this mountain right above our positions. While they fly over us, the English anti-aircraft guns keep firing and the shrapnel from the shells falls on us. The officers tell us to build trenches covered with stones […]
[…] Even from the first day some are wounded, fortunately not badly. We improve the trenches by putting flat stones above our heads. The bombings occur many times during the day and the officers advise us not to walk around without reason.
One day while the aircraft were leaving two of them were hit and I saw them crashing into the sea.2 The next day pieces from the planes along with four corpses of the crew members were washed ashore on the sandy beach.3 The next day, the guys from our company who went to Heraklion for supplies saw the entire ceremony of their burial by the Greek authorities. An honour guard even presented arms and fired a farewell salute. According to international law a proper burial should be given to each soldier, even for enemies when they fall doing their duty. Greece totally conforms to those rules […]
[…] Today is 16 May. During an afternoon bombing raid some of our aircraft, those old types with double wings, were scrambled together with some English aircraft. A dogfight began in the sky right over our heads. The sky was full of noises from the engines of the planes and the firing of the machine guns. We found the courage to come out of our trenches in order to see this not so pleasant ‘spectacle’. They played like sparrows that play thieves and policemen except that those twit pleasantly, while the planes roar and spew hot metal. In time they were so mixed up that we couldn’t say which was a friend and which was the enemy. Suddenly a plane was on fire. White smoke and red flames sparkled in the sunlight. We began cheering, believing that it was a German plane. From the smoke a white object like a handkerchief appeared. Soon this handkerchief took the shape of a small white umbrella and under this was hanging a black spot like a mouse. The flame became stronger and a trail of smoke was left. The plane began to fall and crashed very far from us, behind some hills. The umbrella was getting bigger and we clearly saw that it was the pilot of the plane.
The officers took the opportunity to explain to us that the German paratroopers would arrive the same way. We started shouting ‘At arms!’ in order to arrest the German who jumped and descended to the ground. Our officers stopped us and said that he landed a long way from us in other company areas and they were going to take care of him. Some hours later we were told that when the pilot landed and the Greek soldiers shouted ‘Halt!’, he responded, ‘English, English’, so it turned out that he was English and the plane was English as well. Up to the evening we had two more bombing raids on the airfield. During the following hours we were instructed on how to deal with the paratroopers. We were told that it was certain that the Germans were planning to attack in order to occupy Crete. From now on we are on alert day and night and ready with guns in hand […]4
Special Presentation 2: David Hutton
David Hutton was born in 1917 in Liff, near Dundee. His grandfather had also served in the Black Watch. He left school at 14 to start work initially at a market garden in Liff; then on a poultry farm, but at the age of 16, he decided to join the army.
David Hutton, ‘A’ Coy, 2nd Bn, BW. (Courtesy of David Hutton)
Having been turned down by the Royal Scots Greys due to being under 18, he went to another recruiting office, lied about his age and was taken on by the Black Watch in 1934 at the age of 17. He was sent to Palestine with the 2nd Battalion and later, he was promoted to corporal and sent to Somaliland; then to Egypt and finally, to Crete. Hutton and his platoon leader, Lieutenant Michael Fairly, were seriously injured during an attack on the second day of the battle, while their machine gunner, Private James Reekie, was killed. Hutton was transferred to a field hospital in Villa Ariadne in Knossos, where after the battle, he was taken prisoner by the Germans. He was then transferred to a POW camp in Germany, where he remained for the rest of the war.
David Hutton from ‘A’ Company, 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch Regiment recalls:
I had joined the army before World War Two. I joined in 1934 and knew that I would be engaged in battles overseas. We were moved from Somaliland back to Egypt for desert training at the end of 1940. We did not know why or where we would need these skills; everything was kept secret. It was around February/March 1941 when one morning, we were told to collect our belongings; we were always ready to be deployed somewhere at a moment’s notice.
We were loaded onto trucks to move from Cairo to Alexandria. In Alexandria, we boarded HMS York and we sailed at dawn. About half-way across the Mediterranean Sea, we were attacked by two torpedo-carrying aircraft: they missed us! We arrived in Souda Bay and moved into the village of Galatas. We dug trenches around the hill overlooking Souda Bay. We were later transferred to Heraklion and continued to dig trenches along the coast, as it was thought the Germans would attack from the sea. We were well trained for the job – therefore, going to Crete was part of the job we had signed up to do. We were relatively comfortable going into hotspots, maybe a little apprehensive. We had three years’ experience of war in Palestine and extensive battles in Somaliland before moving to Crete, so we just got on with the job.5
‘KRETA!’ The decision was announced as soon as the company commanders came out of the commanding officer’s tent. Only one night is left and tomorrow we begin against the enemy at last. A general agitation prevails in the camp. The messengers come and go from everywhere carrying last minute orders. Afterwards, briefings about the operation follow. The island of Crete is roughly 260 km long and 30 to 40 km wide and will be invaded by air.
Paratroopers are going to be used with strong air support. Since the English forces with the remaining Greek soldiers have been on the island for many months, strong resistance is expected. It is likely that the Royal Navy will try to impede our flight to the island. Our regiment [FschJgRgt.1] has as its mission the occupation of the town of Heraklion and the airfield east of the city. Heraklion has a population of 40,000 and it is the biggest town on the island. We will be dropped east of the airfield with the task of occupying a radio station almost 12 km from the town. Everything is clear. Everything will go well. When evening fell in the camp calm prevails. It is not possible to sleep. Thoughts hang around in my mind. One year before, in exactly the same month, we were heading to Narvik. Tomorrow we will jump on Crete! Thousands of kilometres separate these two places. In the north, rocks, ice and sleet. Here, tropical heat, dry landscape with sandy and dry areas and fields. I wonder what 20 May 1941 is going to bring? Will I taste victory? Or will my comrades dig a grave for me?6
These were the thoughts of NCO Dr Günther Müller of FschJgRgt.1’s sanitary unit on the eve of the battle.
Paratroopers carrying a map of Crete during Operation ‘Merkur’. (G. Müller & F. Scheuering, Sprung über Kreta)
Special Presentation 3: Dr Günther Müller
Dr Günther Müller (1911-1962) served in the FschJgRgt.1 from 1939 in Poland until 1943 on the Eastern Front. From 1 March 1943, he served with the 2nd FschJg Division in Russia and in Italy. He was taken prisoner by the Americans on 18 September 1944 in Brest, France along with the famous fallschirmjäger general and veteran of the Prison Valley battle, Bernhard Ramcke. He was released from captivity on 19 September 1946.
Dr Günther Müller. (Author’s archive)
In addition to his duties as a medical NCO, Müller used his camera to record the battle east of the airfield in the area of the command post of the FschJgRgt.1. Later, with Fritz Scheuering, he wrote a book describing their memories of – and experiences in – the battle, titled Sprung über Kreta (Jump Over Crete), which was published in 1944. Today, this book is one of the main sources for the battle in Heraklion – and especially for the area east of the airfield.
Sprung über Kreta and Sieg der Kühnsten were the two main books about the Battle of Crete published during the war. They are both excellent sources of pictures, accounts and evidence, but since they were published during the war, they were censored and, in some respects, supported German propaganda, so they must be approached with some caution. (Author’s collection)
Pictures taken by Dr Günther Müller during the battle, but never published in his book. (Author’s collection)
Paratrooper Gerhard Broder from the 2./ FschJgRgt.1 remembers:
Gerhard Broder. (Courtesy of Gerhard Broder)
In Stendal7 we are alerted that we are going to be used against Greece. We will be transported by land or air but wearing only the standard Luftwaffe uniform without any paratrooper insignia. The exact destination is unknown to us. The trucks are loaded on trains. The railway transport is rather cosy and comfortable. The landscape passes at a slow speed. I always find a corner in which to sleep in the wagons, on a truck or in a cargo net. The locomotives transport large troop units with great reliability over long distances. From the train I see the beautiful and fertile Hungarian land and Budapest […]
[…] We approach the Balkan Mountains at the Greek border and we drive through the Rupel8 pass along the Sturma [Strimonas River valley] in order to reach Salonika [see Map 1.1]. In the valley immediately past the border, we meet Greek fortifications which are the so-called Metaxas Line. The concrete bunkers are similar to the Maginot Line. It strikes me that often the firing directions look backwards and the bunkers provide cover to each other. Near the bunker is a German military cemetery with birch crosses and still fresh graves. In my mind I imagine the attack of the Gebirgsjäger [German mountain troops] and the conquest of the fortifications. Soon we reach Salonika at last… The convoy continues further to the gulf of Thermaikos and to the south [...]
[…] At the beach, in the gulf of Volos or perhaps the gulf of Euboea, we build an idyllic camp. Some drivers have captured a turtle and they have drilled a hole on the shell. The animal is tethered on a cord and it grazes in grass. We knock the sand in front of our tents gently with sticks, to drive away any snakes. The sea is beautiful and the water is clear. I experience the idyllic beauty of the southern landscape […]
[…] But now the idyll in the gulf is over and it has been replaced by the operational orders. Aerial photographs have been distributed to the company and it has been officially announced that the Greek island of Crete is going to be captured by an airborne assault. This island lies in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, its waters are controlled by the British fleet and it has approximately 480,000 inhabitants […]
[…] Our company is in the second wave of the attack and our mission is to neutralise the anti-aircraft guns and then attack and secure Heraklion’s airfield from the east. According to the aerial photographs, the approach will be over a small island near the coast [the island of Dia]. Crete will be approached in a low altitude flight over the sea and the jump will take place over the coastal road at a height of approximately 80 metres. After a fall of 30 metres, when the canopy is deployed, the speed of descent will be 5-8 metres per second. In this phase the defenceless paratrooper will be exposed to the enemy, but for only a very short time.9
German paratroopers at the Topolia Camp, just before the battle. (Courtesy of Dimitris Skartsilakis)
Men of the 2./FschSanAbt.7 at Megara Airfield in a relaxed moment, just before the battle. Gefreiter Otto Loop – pictured here sitting second from the left – was killed in Heraklion on 27 May, just a few days after this photo was taken. (Courtesy of Jose Ramon Artaza Ivañez)
Men of the 11./FschJgRgt.1 photographed a few days before the invasion. Half of them were killed on the first day of the battle. Seen here (from left to right): Fleischhauer, Jäger Alfred Lange (KIA 20.05.1941), Gefreiter Otto Erlhöfer (KIA 26.05.1941), Oberjäger Johann Brüns (KIA 20.05.1941), Gottwald, Gefreiter Walter Hoppe (KIA 20.05.1941), Jäger Wilhelm Dorfner (KIA 20.05.1941) and Harmuth. (Courtesy of Dr Eberhard Boerger)
Oberleutnant Wolfgang Graf von Blücher of the 2./FschJgRgt.1 wrote to his mother just a few days before the battle:
On the way in Hungary
L 33450, LGP. Vienna, 3.5.1941
[Posted from Athens on 19 May 1941]
My beloved Mother,
I have to thank you for your letter of the 24th [April], which I received before our departure. At the moment we are in very good spirits. I know from last year the excitement of preparing for action, but you should see Lebs [Lebrecht] and Jochen [Hans Joachim]!10 Their delight in being soldiers is even stronger than previously. However, I am only guessing about Lebs, because the last time I met him was in Tangermünde. I think I mentioned that to you already. It will probably be a long time before you receive this letter, because it will only be sent to you from the place where we leave for our mission. A year ago it was Dortmund!11 More than eight days ago we were ordered from Altengrabow ahead of schedule and we left Stendal on the morning of 4 April. Lebs had already left two days earlier.
Hatta [stepfather] phoned me at Stendal one or two days beforehand and learned that we are still there! I can imagine that you thought that we had arrived in Greece after listening to the special announcements12 on the radio. But unfortunately this is not the case. We strongly hope that our mission will come about and that we can push the Tommies [British troops] somewhere else […]
[...] I cannot send home information, as I have a feeling that the mission might begin very soon. One has to obey the rules of secrecy. So I will end. A thousand best wishes to all of you and a big kiss for you,
Yours
Wölfe13
Nobody could imagine what fate awaited the three brothers, just two days after the letter was sent.
Oberleutnant Wolfgang Graf von Blücher. (Courtesy of the von Blücher family)
The original letter sent by Oberleutnant Wolfgang Graf von Blücher. (Courtesy of Adrian Nisbett)
Special Presentation 4: Wolfgang Graf von Blücher
Oberleutnant Wolfgang Graf von Blücher belonged to the 2./FschJgRgt.1 under Hauptmann Gröschke. He was from a Prussian aristocratic family with a deep military tradition, since he was related to Field Marshal Blücher, who fought Napoleon at Waterloo.
Wolfgang Graf von Blücher here as a Leutnant. (Courtesy of the von Blücher family)
He had been awarded the Knight’s Cross in May 1940 for his actions during the invasion of Holland. During the operation in Crete, he was serving in FschJgRgt.1 along with his two younger brothers, Lebrecht and Hans Joachim.
Finally, 19 May arrived. The Allied troops and the Greeks were wondering when this teasing routine of bombing and alarms was going to become a real battle. When night fell, the para-troopers gathered around bonfires – discussing the operation and thinking about what the next morning would bring. The most experienced men knew very well what it was like to jump into a real fight, while the unexperienced ones were anxious to test their courage against the enemy and prove their bravery. Despite the revelation that the paratroopers were seriously vulnerable to the enemy during several stages of previous operations, these men were the pioneers of airborne assault tactics, so no one could imagine or predict what was about to occur during the following days on Crete.