In the Europe of 1941, Crete was a target for Hitler, one that once taken would give him a strong base from which to attack the Middle East. From Crete Hitler would have a pathway through to Cyprus and Egypt, and then on further east. It was an advance that the allies needed to halt.
Allied troops, including 7000 New Zealanders had arrived in Crete, after being evacuated from Greece. As a result, they had lost much of their equipment, and had little in the way of naval or air support.
To the Germans the Battle of Crete was known as ‘Operation Mercury’, and on 20th May 1941 German paratroopers began raining down from the skies. But first German bombers strafed and bombed the Maleme, Hania, and Souda Bay areas. As a result many of the remaining allies’ anti-aircraft guns were destroyed. After the gunfire from the air quietened, the German planes dropped their cargo, 8100 men fell towards Crete, most were parachutists, but some were carried by gliders.
Waiting for them were the allied troops, two brigades of New Zealanders, three British, eight Greek and six Australian, and they were well aware that what was coming. Thanks to the Enigma code breakers, the defenders had known the assault was coming. However the Commander of the New Zealand forces, General Freyberg was not allowed to use this information to alter his battle plans. If he did the British felt that the Germans would realise their code had been cracked and alter it. So Allied troops joined together with the Cretan people to launch a defensive of the island. The battle was fiercely partisan, women and children fought as bravely as the ANZAC soldiers and the men of the island.
