Battle of Heraklion

With the surrender of Greece in 1941 Crete was thrust into the war. Of the seven airstrips on Crete,[2] The best equipped, and the only one with a concrete runway, was at Heraklion.[3] It was also the only one with any blast pens, to protect aircraft on the ground. However, it was still improvised in nature, with, for example, the fuel store located outside the positions defending the airfield.[2]

About 500 men from the 2/4th were evacuated by sea to Crete, arriving on 27 April.[4]

The Germans believed that the total number of Allied troops at Heraklion was 400.[8] In fact it was over seven battalions, or "nearly enough infantry for a division".[9]

German paratroopers landing on Crete

From the middle of May 1941 air attacks against Heraklion increased to four or five a day until 20 May when troop carriers dropped paratroopers at Maleme airfield on the west of the island. Warning reached Heraklion as their own share of German troop transports were spotted arriving at about 400 feet four abreast in long columns that stretched out of sight. This was the largest of the German parachute formations; it was made up of the 1st Fallschirmjager Regiment; the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Fallschirmjager Regiment and an anti-aircraft machine gun battalion. All were under the command of Colonel Bruno Brauer.[10]

The three battalions of the 14th Brigade managed to kill or wound nearly all the German parachute troops who landed at Heraklion in this first wave, apart from a small pocket.[11]

In a matter of seconds the air was full of parachutes slowly descending to the ground. The moment the Battalion had waited for had come. Intense small-arms fire caused very heavy casualties among the enemy. Of those who escaped death in the air, the majority were killed on the ground, before they had time to get clear of their harness, by small parties of men rushing from their slit trenches with bayonets and bombs. The tanks and carriers also came out of their hiding-places and massacred all those who landed in the open.[11]

The enemy fared no better at the hands of the other units of the garrison. Of about 1,000 enemy troops who had come down inside the perimeter, over 900 of them had been buried by noon the next day. Small parties and odd individuals of course escaped, but these were mopped up during the next few days. Quite a large force, however, had fallen clear of the perimeter and parties of them were heard calling to each other after dark; they made no attempt to attack, being possibly too shaken by what had happened to their comrades. Thus the day ended in complete victory for the Heraklion garrison and the total failure of the Germans to achieve their object of capturing the aerodrome by direct airborne attack.[11]

After this attempt the Germans did not try to land any more paratroopers at Heraklion. Instead they built up their forces outside the perimeter. Before the Germans were able to complete the encirclement of Heraklion a company from the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders joined the defence from Tymbaki on the south coast.[11]

The German forces, victorious from Battle_of_Maleme landed four more companies of troops in the vicinity of Heraklion which successfully linked up with the survivors of the first landings and launched attacks on the British positions. The fighting at times was extremely fierce but the Yorks and Lancs held their positions. By 28 May the position on the island as a whole had been lost and General Freyberg ordered a general evacuation. When the men of the 14th Brigade heard of the evacuation they were astonished;

as to them the whole battle of the last ten days had seemed to have been eminently successful.[11]

During the initial landing, the German paratroopers attacking the airfield were repulsed, but they successfully managed to establish a strong foothold around the Allied position, and after heavy fighting the battalion was withdrawn from town, being taken off the Heraklion mole aboard several British destroyers as the island fell to the Germans.[12] During the evacuation several of the warships that carried the 2/4th were subjected to heavy aerial attack, and several men from the battalion were killed or wounded.[13] After arriving in Alexandria, the battalion was rebuilt in Palestine, making up its losses from the earlier campaigns.[14]