Anzac Fury by Peter Thompson

Author:Peter Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2010-07-25T16:00:00+00:00

That Saturday, while Freyberg was inspecting his troops, Student briefed his regimental and battalion commanders in the Grande Bretagne’s ‘hermetically sealed and shuttered’ ballroom, where a huge map of Crete had been fastened to one wall.27 The forces chosen to carry out Operation Mercury were divided into three groups: Group West under Major-General Eugen Meindl; Group Centre under Major-General Wilhelm Sussmann; and Group East under Lieutenant-General Julius Ringel. The groups were codenamed ‘Komet’, ‘Mars’ and ‘Orion’ respectively, and the landings were to be preceded by saturation bombing and strafing of troop and anti-aircraft gun positions.28

Group West (General Meindl): Two companies of the 1st Assault Regiment were to land in 27 gliders south of Maleme airfield to wipe out any gun positions that had survived the bombing, while nine more gliders carrying the headquarters’ battle group landed on the bed of the Tavronitis River and captured its iron-girdered bridge. Within minutes of these landings, the regiment’s main body – three battalions with more than 1850 troops – would be dropped by Ju-52s to capture the airfield, removing any obstacles from the runway and holding it open for airborne landings. Meindl would be reinforced by sea that afternoon by a battalion of Mountain troops landed on the beaches west of Maleme. Using captured transport such as civilian buses, he was to range as far west as Kastelli and, in the east, link up around Canea with Group Centre.29

Group Centre (General Sussmann): The 3rd Para chute Regiment (Reinforced) was to seize Canea and Suda to eliminate the main enemy headquarters, which was thought to be located in the capital, and dispose of any reserves which might be concentrated there. Two more companies of the 1st Assault Regiment would land south and west of Canea and Suda Bay in 30 more gliders and suppress surviving guns. Five more gliders carrying Major-General Sussmann and his staff would follow with more airborne troops who, when reinforced by the 100th Mountain Regiment, would capture Canea, Suda village and Galatas. Eight hours after the first landings, the 2nd Parachute Regiment less one battalion was to capture Retimo town and airfield 50 kilometres east of Canea.

Group East (General Ringel): The three battalions of the 1st Parachute Regiment (Reinforced) and II Battalion of the 2nd Para chute Regiment were to seize Heraklion town and airfield, 65 kilometres east of Retimo. The runway would be held open for air-landed troops. Ringel’s force would be reinforced by sea the following afternoon by a battalion of Mountain infantry. Student, however, denied Ringel the glory of going into action with his troops on Day 1. The initial assault on Heraklion would be led by Colonel Bruno Brauer of the 1st Parachute Regiment.30

The commanders were then briefed by Major Reinhardt of Student’s intelligence staff. He stated that the British garrison on Crete consisted of no more than 5000 troops, with only 400 men at Heraklion and none at all at Retimo. All the New Zealanders and Australians from Greece had been evacuated to Egypt and there were no Greek troops on the island.

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