Captured MS.406 fighters of GC I/7, in July 1941.

On 13 May 1941, the fears of de Gaulle and Spears were realised when German aircraft landed in Syria in support of the Iraqi rebel Rashid Ali, who was opposed to the pro-British government. On 8 June, 30,000 troops (Indian Army, British, Australian, Free French and the Trans-Jordanian Frontier Force) invaded Lebanon and Syria in what was known as Operation Exporter. There was stiff resistance from the Vichy French and Spears commented bitterly on ‘that strange class of Frenchmen who had developed a vigour in defeat which had not been apparent when they were defending their country’

 

In 1941 Beirut added war between Vichy France and Britain to its stock of conflicts. The fall of France in June 1940 had shattered Lebanese Christians, many of whom had based their lives on French power and culture. Many Arabs, however ...

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German intelligence badly underestimated the Allied strength on the island. In all, the forces on the island numbered some 32,000 Commonwealth troops and 14,000 Greek soldiers. This was significantly more than the German intelligence estimate of some 10,000 Commonwealth troops and the remnants of ten Greek divisions. In fact the picture that British intelligence had of the German intentions was far better than the Germans information on Allied dispositions. From the end of April, a stream of ‘Ultra’ intelligence, decrypted by the code-breaking office at Bletchley Park, indicated that the Germans were planning to land an airborne invasion of Crete with emphasis being on the capture of the airfields, and then following that up with air landing some reinforcements, and bringing in others by sea. Additionally, it was very difficult for General Löhr to conceal the build-up of Luftflotte IV in Greece. This information was passed along ...

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With the issuing of War directive No. 28, preparations for the invasion of Crete began; however, it took time to assemble the necessary men and equipment since they were scattered all across Europe. As a result, D-Day for Operation Mercury was put back until 20 May. This delay allowed the confused defense of Crete to be put into some sort of order.19 General der Flieger Alexander Löhr, the commander of IV Luftflotte, was put in charge of executing Operation Mercury. His task force consisted of the following units:

1. VIII Fliegerkorps under the command of General der Flieger Freiherr (Baron) Wolfram von Richthofen.

2. XI Fliegerkorps, commanded by Generalmajor Kurt Student: 10 air transport groups with approximately 600 troop carriers and 100 gliders; one reconnaissance squadron; the reinforced 7th Flieger (Airborne) Division; 5th Gebirgs (Mountain) Division; one regiment of the 6th Gebirgs Division; several airborne antiaircraft, engineer, and medical ...

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On 6 April German forces in Bulgaria invaded Greece. Although the Metaxas Line, fortresses on the Greek- Bulgarian border, stopped the Germans until Yugoslavia fell on 17 April, by 27 April the whole Peloponnesian peninsula was overrun and Athens was in German control. In addition, while the Balkan campaign was in progress, Section L, the Operations Section of OKW, had to produce an appreciation to show whether it was more important for future strategy in the Mediterranean to occupy Crete or Malta. All officers of the section, whether from the Army, Navy, or Air Force, together with General Walter Warlimont, voted unanimously for the capture of Malta since it seemed to be the only way to secure permanently the sea-route to North Africa. Their views were, however, overtaken by events even before they reached General Alfred Jodl. Hitler was determined that Crete should not remain in the hands of the ...

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General Kurt Student inspecting paratroopers somewhere in the Mediterranean theatre.

When 7 Flieger Division began returning from Crete in June 1941 it was in tatters, having suffered 3,352 fatalities out of an airlanded force of 8,060. It would take time to rebuild even if the OKW permitted it, which was in some doubt for a while. Many senior officers believed that now the element of surprise was forfeit, the enemy would be even more alert to the possibilities of airborne invasion and any future operations would be doomed to costly failure. They had lost sight of the fact that surprise can be achieved through many more means than one. With Goring's backing, Student's forceful persuasion carried the day and he personally supervised the division's gradual reconstruction, even though it would never again fight as a whole.

 

Alfred Sturm, who had led the division during the ...

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Brandenburger feldwebel with Generalleutnant Müller

In Greece, where there were also Italian forces garrisoned, their disarming also took place relatively quickly. It was only on the Dodecanese Islands that the Italians took sides with Bodoglio. The German Army High Command issued directives to Generalleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller, the commander of the 22. Luftlande-Division to take control of those islands. Once again, the division, which had participated in air-landed operations with the airborne forces in Holland, was to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with paratrooper formations.

 

One of the main strongpoints of the Italians, which was soon occupied by English forces as well, was the island of Leros. In the end, there were some 2,300 English and 5,350 Italian forces arrayed against the Germans. In order to cross the waterways to the islands, the 1./Küstenjäger-Abteilung “Brandenburg” (Hauptmann Kuhlmann) and Pionier-Landungs-Kompanie 780 (Oberleutnant Bunte) were attached to Müller’s forces.[1]

 

The latter ...

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Paratroopers being prepared to be flown to Leros.

The jump horn had sounded for Oberleutnant Oschatz and his men. Oschatz nodded to Leutnant Hörl, who was to be the first one to jump. The officer flung himself through the door and sailed through the air. The jolt from the chute’s deployment hit hard, but he then found himself floating down towards the island. He started receiving fire. Off to the right, he saw other men jumping from a Ju 52. Up ahead, another aircraft, which had just started its approach, was caught up in a burst of fire from antiaircraft weapons. Flames shot out of the engines and a wing started to come off. At that moment, as the machine began to falter, the men inside started to jump.

 

Leutnant Hörl saw the ground racing towards him. He pulled up his legs, initiated his parachute landing fall, bounced against ...

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Marinefährprahm - these seen off the island of Leros in 1943.

During the night of 14–15 November, the British destroyer Echo succeeded in landing 250 soldiers and their equipment at Portolago to reinforce the island’s defenders. Another group landed that evening from Samos, being ferried over in motor-torpedo boats and launches.

 

At first light on 15 November, the paratroopers were positioned along the broad expanse of Monte Racchi, some 100 meters below the crown of the adjacent Monte Meraviglia. That day, they succeeded in establishing firm contact with the other battle groups on the island. In a conference among the commanders, it was stated by Major von Saldern from the 22. Luftlande-Division that they would have to launch another attack the next day. General Müller was sending in another battalion from Kalymnos, which would be brought over by torpedo boats after sundown.

 

At noon on the decisive day of ...

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By Alex Crawford

By early 1941 the situation in the Middle East did not look promising for the British. The Italians had overrun most of the British Territories in Sudan and northern Kenya, as well as threatening the all-important Red Sea route to the Suez Canal. Aden had been a prime target for the bombers of the Regia Aeronautica, being raided regularly by lone aircraft. The early gains in North Africa were retaken by the newly arrived Afrika Korps, under the command of Erwin Rommel, and the situation in Greece was precarious as the Germans were about to give their Italian Allies a helping hand.             

In Baghdad it was decided that the time was ripe for a change of Government, as a result a coup d'etat brought power to a certain Rashid All el Ghailani. Rashid was a previous Prime Minister with pro-Axis sympathies. He was backed by the ...

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It was at Alexandria, though, that Britain chose to concentrate its Mediterranean fleet, despite having to use a harbour much inferior to Valletta. As for Britain’s other Mediterranean holdings, Cyprus had not been much used as a naval base since it was acquired from the Ottomans, while the bay of Haifa possessed a special strategic value as the terminal of the great oil pipeline from Iraq. Gibraltar was to prove slightly less of a problem in relations with Spain than the British government expected, even after war with Germany broke out: Franco, to Hitler’s disgust, refused to be drawn into the war, partly for fear that Britain would then occupy the Canaries. Hitler denounced Franco for his ingratitude after years of support during the civil war, suggesting that he must have Jewish blood. Still, what Britain required was easy access from west to east, particularly towards the Suez ...

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