Exercise EAGLE’S TEWT
By Sergeant Alaina Smith
In March 22, three members of the 3 PARA SPS Detachment (Lieutenant Adam Bending, Staff Sergeant David Hughes and myself) joined forty 3 PARA personnel conducting a Battlefield Study of Op MERCURY, the German airborne invasion of Crete.
T
he aim of the Battlefield Study was to build cohesion, increase morale and educate the participants in cross divisional operation planning and the integration of naval, air, land and airborne forces.
On 21 May 1941, German Paratroopers jumped from over a dozen aircrafts and landed near Maleme airfield. The 21st, 22nd and 23rd New Zealand Battalions held Maleme Airfield and the surrounding area. The Germans suffered many casualties in the first hours of the attack. Most of the parachutists were engaged like open targets by New Zealanders defending the airfield. The gliders following behind were hit by mortar fire seconds after landing and the troops who landed safely were almost annihilated by the New Zealand and Greek soldiers on the ground.
As night fell the Germans were not getting anywhere with securing their objectives. 493 German transport aircraft were used during the airdrop and seven were lost to anti-aircraft fire. The bold plan to attack in many places
as surprise attacks, rather than concentrating on one, seemed to have failed.
Overnight, the 22nd New Zealand Infantry Battalion withdrew from Hill 107, leaving Maleme Airfield undefended. The Germans took full advantage of this and had cut communications between the two westernmost companies of the
battalion and the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Andrew VC, who was on the eastern side of the airfield. The lack of communication was assumed to mean that the battalion had been overrun in the
west. With the weakened state of the eastern elements of the battalion and believing the western elements to have been overrun, Andrew requested reinforcement by the 23rd Battalion. Brigadier James Hargest denied the request on the mistaken grounds that the 23rd Battalion was busy repulsing parachutists in its sector. After a failed counter- attack late in the day on 20 May, with the eastern elements of his battalion, Andrew withdrew under cover of darkness to regroup, with the consent of Hargest.
Captain Campbell, commanding the
western-most company of the 22nd Battalion, out-of-contact with Andrew, did not learn of the withdrawal of the 22nd Battalion until early in the morning, at which point he also withdrew from the west of the airfield.
This misunderstanding, representative of the failings of communication and coordination in the defence of Crete, cost the Allies the airfield and allowed the Germans to reinforce their invasion force unopposed.
My overall experience on the Battlefield Study of Op MERCURY was very interesting and educational. A lot of lessons have been learned from previous mistakes and due to this it has allowed us to become a more organised and strategic force within the Army.
AGC JOURNAL 2022 91
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