091 - Invasion of Crete: a Bloody Mess - WW2 - May 23 1941
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 มิ.ย. 2024
- Operation Mercury commences as fallschirmjäger airborne troops land on the Greek island of Crete. A bloody and messy battle follows as it turns out to be costly in more ways than one.
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Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
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Sources:
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![[TH] VCT Pacific Stage 2 - Week 1 Day 2 // GEN vs T1 | PRX vs TLN](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZkFjjJNwzH0/mqdefault.jpg)
German officer: "We don't reinforce failure." General Freyburg: "We don't reinforce success."
So who was it that Freyberg asked for reinforcements from ? How can Freyberg be responsible for the failure of others ? he was obviously told to keep the airfield open for that purpose but as is stated his troops were short on ammunition and under a lot of stress waiting.
@@harrycurrie9664 yeah, like paratroopers had tons of ammo and stress-free relaxed attitudes. Come on, put the blame where it is deserved. Churchill ordered Freyberg not to alert the Nazis to teh Ultra secrets, so he could not officially announce the invasion and reinforce the airfields, but he could still have planned counter attacks and defended the airfields anyway. He outnumbered the Germans 10:1, and still lost. Even Percival in Singapore was only undernumbered 3: or 4: to 1. Without a doubt, Freyberg was the worst Empire general in 250 years of history, and many bad ones.
@@quattuorperquattuor1711 Yeah, that is why he was knighted, promoted and praised for his divisional command, because the empire often rewarded the worst generals in its history, right? Because that's the way you get to own 25% of the planet Earth. Yes, he could have defended the airfields better - but you need to realize one thing - never in history, before or since, was an invasion done by airborne troops only. ALWAYS, the invader would have the main force coming and airborne was in the support role.
That is why he kept the reserves near the possible landings instead of going for the enemy paratroopers. Just like in Norway, paratroopers would land and take the airfields, but the main problem were amphibious landings - they were the ones that would bring the most troops, heavy equipment and supplies. He waited for those - because sending paratroopers alone was, and is, considered a suicide.
So even when the intelligence reported that it will be an air-only invasion, he had every right to dismiss that as a mistake - which happened A LOT when military intelligence was in question. Even until the end of the war.
In a mind of a commander it made no sense and he had every right to believe that the naval landing would come. It always did, before and after that.
That ONE TIME IN HISTORY, it didn't. He was tricked. So that made Freyburg, a man praised by his superiors, who had only that one defeat in his military history that included service in both World Wars, "the worst Empire general in 250 years of history"?
How infantile do you have to be to even think that, let alone say it.
@@harrycurrie9664 I was actually referring to Maleme where they had the Germans all but beaten, then had to withdraw because they couldn't be reinforced. Not placing blame as much as pointing out the irony.
@@quattuorperquattuor1711 Perhaps I should have used the word pressure not stress. As for Churchill he had been trying to cull the NZers off since he landed them at the wrong place in Turkey during the 1st world war, to instruct them not to install defences because the Germans my realise we had their codes just heaped the pressure on the NZers. He asked for reinforcements and got none, who was it he asked ? So he had a counter attack planed but the reinforcements in the form of an Australian battalion arrived 2 hours after the start time. He did defend the airfields … and very well if you consider the mauling the Germans took, enough for Hitler to never use paratroopers again. The 10/1 sounds a bit BS to me but it should also be considered that Freyberg had to defend the whole island and couldn't concentrate his forces in areas that were known as German targets because of Churchills directions.
British Intelligence: Okay so the Germans are coming by air to very specific locations. Please ensure strong air defence and mobile units to mop up any who slip through the cracks.
Bernard Freyberg: So, what you're telling me is that I need to prepare for a Naval invasion?
British Intelligence: What!? No! Prepare your air defences!
Bernard Freyberg: Understood. Soldiers! Man the Coastline!
perhaps he had not seen a parachute before
Now I see where the Monty Python troupe got their inspiration.
Yes, he had the intelligence, BUT, his hands were tied! ULTRA was too valuable to let the Germans know we had it. What would have happened if the Germans had invaded, and, everything was prepared to receive them. Commonwealth prisoners would have said “we knew you were coming”. German counter intelligence (Abwehr) would have started to put things together - we let the Germans bomb Coventry, because to do otherwise would have given the game away.
Now you could argue that you have plan B & C in place…but the real point is that Greece was a waste of time and great resources (British and ANZAC troops), again Churchills inference as grand strategy master (remember the Dardanelles) failed. We should not have been there, we should have left the ANZAC troops and their precious resources in north Africa where they would have done more good.
In the backwater of the war, the British Royal Navy had three cruisers and six destroyers sunk, and 16 more ships including an aircraft carrier badly damaged. Too high a price to be paid, when they should have been running supplies to Malta and savaging German supply lines. But such is second sight. But that is what we pay generals to have, NO.
By the way Frieberg had a VC or to give him his full title; Lieutenant General Bernard Cyril Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, VC, GCMG, KCB, KBE, DSO and THREE BARS!!!
Sir, the enemy is actively taking an airfield. Should we resist them?
@@classicalcarpenter4297 But British and Commonwealth forces were everywhere the Germans landed, yet the Germans didn't make the connection you suggest. Freyberg's error was in not supporting the New Zealanders defending Maleme. The German plan was dependent on capturing an airfield, if the defenders of Maleme had been reinforced rather than allowed to retreat , and I think their CO was also at fault for making that request, then the further German assault waves would also have been battered. The loss of Crete was due to failures at senior command level.
Legends say that general Freyberg is still waiting for the seaborn invasion.
2 years later can confirm he is still waiting
There's no better feeling than understanding what the hell Indy is talking about on the phone before watching the episode.
Yes, whenever I understand what he is talking about I feel like I am the smartest human on earth 😂😂😂
Oh yeah!!
amen
I agree
...unless you're actually from Crete, as I am, in which case understanding what he's talking about is like looking at a car crash... of your own car.
As a Cretan, to the aussies and the kiwis who lost relatives here, a "thank you" is far to small.
Legend has it in NZ, that if you go to Crete and say your a Kiwi, the locals treat you far better than they do any other type of tourist.
Englishmen died there too.
@@keepitsteel1993 true, totally true, but kiwis and Australians died half a world away.
@@steliosarvanitis5606 Yeah they did. My great uncles were not at Crete, they arrived a little later and fought in Egypt. But that was the weird thing. Japan was loose in the pacific, and here we were, fighting in Africa and Europe. (Grandad was a radio navigator on the Harvards, which patrolled NZ waters from the air, so never deployed overseas)
@@keepitsteel1993 Oh yes they did indeed. But they also started the Greek Civil War - and that is a story for another time, after the greek resistance forced the germans out.
On this week in 1941 my grandmother's brother died defending Crete. He was an AA gunner who was declared missing on 23rd May, and was believed to have been killed in a pre invasion Stuka raid close to the coast. His whole body was never recovered, however his belongings are buried under a war memorial in my village.
I thank you for the time and effort you put into these videos. It's important that future generations learn about history's greatest mistakes and don't repeat them.
May he Rest In Peace, as a Greek myself all I can do is pray for his soul.
Be well.
While in college in 1983 I visited England. We were given rail travel passes and encouraged to "go out and explore!". So off I went essentially out to 'somewhere'. Anyway I tromped around and walked into this little village and was amazed that they had a fairly large memorial right there in the middle! Wow. WW1. Quite a number of lads listed. THAT.. is England...
My grandmother was born and raised at Heraklion. She was a teenager at the time of the invasion. She is still alive!
@@DomiAngel God Bless her! If possible, I hope you were able to talk to her about what life was like then.
@@christopherfritz3840 There are many things like that in the UK. There are also lots of War Memorial Clubs, including one in my village. Essentially pubs but with a membership system, where sports like darts or snooker are played, people also hold functions there like birthdays, weddings or funeral wakes. On the wall there is a list of local people who died in the 1st and 2nd world war. As people pass by for their night of sport or fun or remembrance, it's the tradition to take your hat/beanie off and tap the list on the wall out of respect. There are so many monuments too. Part of what I do for a living is protecting them from graffiti or vandalism using cctv systems.
This week is summed up as the Allied version of Conrad von Hötzendorf trying to defend an island against a naval invasion that doesn't exist.
some say Freyberg's ghost is still waiting
Honestly, even Conrad von Hötzendorf would have won on Crete.
To which events are you referring to ?
that british general must go in same school as Boris Johnson
I won't let you disparage our boy Hötzendorf like that. He would have have immediately prepared a counter offensive at Maleme, even though it wasn't winter and the terrain not as mountainous as he would have preferred.
My grandfather never spoke much of what happened in those times, but he was a 12 year old kid during this invasion and he was there. God rest the souls of those who helped overcome the Nazi regime! Their sacrifice will never be forgotten
Of all the bumbling commanders we've seen in this war so far, Fryberg's incompetence is genuinely shocking. At least to me.
It says a lot about the British establishment at the time that he was promoted and given a knighthood after Crete.
@@anenglishmanabroad Commonwealth politics He was the senior NZ officer & a VC, so having him shot probably wasn't an option
His leadership at the Third Battle of Monte Cassino was less than inspiring. His only contribution was advocating for the bombing of the Abbey whose ruins were used by the fallschirmjäger to make it a charnel house for NZ troops.
@@marks_sparks1 To be fair, most British and Commonwealth servicemen favoured the bombing, as they thought the Abbey was being used for artillery observation, although apparently the Germans did not in fact use it in this way.
Huntziger is still in the lead (at least until Barbarosa)
There's a lot going on with this tie, Indy. 3.5/5
Ps, I can't WAIT for your Bismarck operation next week.
We need more tie reviews
Also, if you want to see something magnificent look for Don Cherry, the old Toronto hockey coach, and his suits
@Gianni Verschueren If you’ve seen the show Community, Indy always seems to have the vibe of Señor Chang entering the paintball war
Lol loving these tie reviews. Keep them up
How is this 3 days ago if the video was posted 2 hours ago
When I visited Crete last year, I found a small local monument in honor of the dead local civilians who were punished by the Nazi after the invasion was completed.
Sadly many civilians were killed by the Nazis after the battle.
@@user-ig3gz7rd3d surely in response to the resistance they put up on the invasion day. The Greeks at the mainland weren't particularly mistreated, were they? (I'm not sure about this)
@@PilgrimEnge after the following battle many civilians will die especially from hunger under the German occupation. In Athens it was common to see dead people in the streets.
There were many massacres in later years during the Resistance
@@WorldWarTwo assuming this will be assuredly be made note off when the time comes
Bruh why is this man so stubborn, IT WAS LITERALLY RAINING GERMANS AND STILL HE DID NOTHING.
Because the amphibious invasion was perceived to be the greater threat? British intelligence indicated that two divisions would support the airborne operation with a seaborne assault (5th Gebirgs and 22nd Luftlande). In reality, only the 5th Gebirgs Division was assigned to Crete. Their boats were intercepted by the Royal Navy, an outcome which was never assured. British forces at sea were low on anti-aircraft ammunition and had to partially withdraw during the invasion. Those that remained were hit hard. The cruisers Gloucester and Fiji were sunk by air attack, while the battleship Valiant was struck with two bombs.
he was busy singing "It's raining men"
What didn't he do ? He had so little resources … even accurate British accounts of the battle say so.
@@andrepinto1131 ahhahahahahhahahah
German rain by Adolf zonday
The locals fighting the Germans had more competency than the British general charged with protecting them...
Freyberg was actually a very good division commander won several hard won victories in North Africa and Italy between 1941-1945. (except Crete and Monte Cassino) but as corps commander or garrison command of large number of troops he was hopelessly out of his depth
It's their country and they know it. Freyberg was a foreigner there today, gone tomorrow.
This shows a lot of the weaknesses with airborne assaults as well. These falschirmjäger elite troops face third-line militia or a tank and start to take a beating from them.
@@SusCalvin As the Japanese proved in the Phillipines, a tank - even a bad tank - is a game-changer if the enemy doesn't have a tank or serious anti-tank weaponry of their own.
@@stephenwood6663 And in Malaya. Japanese tanks were small and lightly-armoured and would have been slaughtered in Europe, but confronting opponents who had no tanks at all and no decent anti-tank facilities, they were game changers.
Operation Mercury feels like a microcosm of the war so far: Despite German failures in operational secrecy/intelligence/logistics, they still get the win due to individual drive, overwhelming force, and Allied command incompetence + mediocre support.
Freyberg gets his during battleaxe. Big time.
It's simple. 1 person was fighting 5 germans, there was no way to win
@@kanedakrsa mhhh battleaxe was an Axis win, the brits lost half their tanks in Day1 and achieved only 1 of their 3 objectives. u might want to rethink ur statement
@@Ricky_ASMR Freyberg's divison gets surrounded and destroyed. Read a book before you suck on your own foot
That analysis cuts both ways: British mediocrity survives to fight another day, because they do not commit when they don't have an advantage. One day the Germans will have won so many fights that they'll have to decide where to take a step back and consolidate or they'll stretch themselves too far. Will they choose wisely?
Some if not all of the Cretan civilians in the picture at 9:00 were shot as partisans by the Germans shortly after. I think the old guy with the white beard was one of them. This was one of the first of a series of pictures taken by a Luftwaffe photographer, including of the shootings. They were not published by the Germans during the war but were discovered postwar.
That's a rare reaction of the German to an agresive population...
No they do it all the time, and just wait to see the future partisan war that is coming. That's gonna be a bloody mess.
THE ALLIES KILL MILIONS! THEY ARE SATANISTS
Webpage with the full set of photos: www.fallschirmjager.net/Bundesarchiv/Kondomari/Kondomari.html
So civilians killing German soldiers is OK, but then shooting "partisans" is a crime?
@@mercomania Shooting partisans is neither a crime nor it is bad. What is bad and what the Germans did was indiscriminately shoot, hang and murder in reprisal and at a 1:10 ratio if not more.
The Cretans were not friendly.
There is a joke. Cretans are known for carrying weapons especially in the villages. Also are known being hot-temper. So the joke is that when the Germans arrived the Cretans tried to offer Raki (local drink bit similar to vodka) and they said: Nien nien and the Cretans, offended, they response, what Nay nay? What are you say? Bang! (shooting with a gun) :D
@Polemarch Raki > Tsikoudia
It was another Abwehr screw-up - the Abwehr reported that the Germans would be welcomed in Crete. Ironically Freyberg failed because he disbelieved his intelligence reports, while the Germans did not lose but found themselves in a bad situation because they believed an intelligence report that proved to be wrong.
Mou aresei pou Tha tous kalodexondan
@Αθηναίος Οπλίτης ta kalutera dwra
This week, German paratroopers invade Crete.
The Cretans' response? "THIS IS CRETE!"
Μονο ελληνας θα σε καταλαβει
I lost a great deal of my family during the resistance of Crete, still have our old house in the mountain riddled with bullet holes by machineguns
There is an urban legend in Crete. Since the Nazi's invassion caught the locals without any actual weapons, they sworn that this will not happen again. Over the years they have gathered a lot of guns and ammo, so much in fact that they say as a joke that if somebody took it all from them at once, the whole island would rise from the sea 5cm because of the lost weight!
Of course the hemp plantations in some places are irrelevant to the firearms-at-home tradition ;)
@@WorldWarTwo Although the firearms-at home-tradition begun long before the plantations, you are right... When the plantations needed "protection" these kind of collections proved to be quite useful! :) :)
@@WorldWarTwo those plantations are for olive sheets... To increase the olive oil price to 420€¢ per kg! ;)
And then people wonder why the US has the Second Amendment. As Rick said in Casablanca, there are parts of this country where the Nazis would have been ill-advised to try to invade.
A lot of the powers in post-WW II Europe look at the lessons in partisan warfare for how to build stay-behind and partisan doctrines for use against soviet invasions.
One of them is to do exactly what you describe but on a state level. You build up little depots out in the forest. Enough for the local Home Guard/militia platoon to blow up a train junction or bridge.
Cretans smashing heads with rocks n stuff. It's worth to read those stories
Yeahh, if they're invading your island and u have no guns, u take rocks sticks and whatever u find. Besides, the atrocities the Germans did to generally Greece can't even be compared
The most gruesome thing Cretans actually did during the invasion was climbing trees and impaling with farmers' tools from there the german parachuters before they could even land in greek soil!
You’re prone to defeat when your generals are still fighting the last war.
Very profound statement. Even if it is not original, I like it. 😊
He's not fighting the last war, he's just a fucking idiot
Cxxvii
Y’up
Even the civilian militia are more competent than him.
@@basicpigeonbee No, he did not take Airpower into account
@@kennethbedwell5188 He also ignored pleas from his own troops for reinforcements... AND he was ignoring the current attack expecting a naval attack to happen even when all evidence suggested it wasn't going to, so yes he's just an idiot.
My Great Grandad died on HMS Gloucester during the invasion of Crete so thank you for covering this topic
Thank you for watching & remembering him here, Ben. May your Great Granddad rest in peace.
My Great Uncle was a member of the Fallschirmjägers and was supposed to take part in the invasion of Crete but at the last moment he was recalled because of an injury. That injury most likely saved his life.
*Exam season coming*
- "So he knows they are coming? So he's gonna be prepared for them, right?"
- "No? Why no?"
Evilsamar, read my comments and you’ll understand why. Very easy for armchair Generals that don’t understand the bigger picture
@@iainhunneybell what?
@@SuperLusername, my other comment...
Oh, so he know where and when they’re coming so he’s going to have lots of troops there, right? Oh he didn’t, what an idiot ... or was he? Sit down and learn the bigger picture...
Yes the Brits knew the date, time and location of the invasion, and by the way, ‘Chania’ is pronounced ‘Haa-nia’, not ‘Char-nia’...
Yes the British commander wanted to redeploy troops to best repulse the invasion, but this is where a slightly bigger context is required. The British knew these details via Bletchley and breaking Enigma. However, there was no other viable source of information to support the redeployment of troops and so Churchill refused permission to redeploy as ‘everyone being in the right pace at the right time’ would demand the question from the Germans; So how did they know? If this resulted in the Germans altering Engima and so the Brits losing access to German communiqués, the detriment to the war effort would be far greater that the loss of Crete, and so it was an informed decision to deliberately not redeploy forces as the consequence of the redeployment would likely be far worse than the loss even of Crete.
So if you understand the bigger context you get a very different picture.
@@iainhunneybell dude...I made a joke about the exam season coming and you went off on a tangent
My 94 year old grandmother was at Heraklion during the invasion. It is amazing that I get to hear stories about the invasion and the following occupation from a person who lived through those dark times. Her father was actually executed by the Germans along with a lot of the men of the village as retaliation for something she doesn't even remember.
“But I have a bigger operation to cover this week: Mercury.”
My stupid ass: “yo nazis on the first planet?”
Max Schmeling: "Ach! I'd rather go another round with Joe Louis than be in this fiasco of an invasion!"
I did not know that he had Jumped on Crete! And to live thru that and the Second World War, one of the very few German Paratroopers to do so.
@@GeorgeSemel Sergeant in a mortar platoon, he didnt do a lot of fighting, he was medically unfit and captured, then released by the surrender. He was then removed from combat duty so there would be no bad PR if he was killed and spent the rest of the war doing physiotherapy for German casualties.
One thing I love about this series is that you get a real sense of just how fast events were flowing during the war. You don't get that from books. Hope you're doing well Indy and crew.
I have read in a couple of very informative first-hand accounts, from memoirs of NZ and Australian soldiers that they detested the way their high-command handled the situation in Crete. To make matters worse for the Greek forces fighting along side them and the Cretan population helping them, Freyberg never bothered to inform the Greeks when he decided to retreat. In fact he didn't even tell the Australians fighting in Rethymno, who had to surrender to the Germans.
Oh wow that's even worse. _What the actual flipping fuck, Freyburg?_
Cold climate uniforms to attack Crete in late spring...
Conrad : "of course that didn't work, what did you expect ?! BTW only prepare summer uniforms for that invasion of Russia"
More temperate climate uniforms than cold weather ones. But this will not be the last time German troops are inappropriately dressed in 1941.
It was 34 degrees centigrade in Athens a few days ago. It may have been a little cooler than that in Crete in May 1941 but no wonder the Germans were dehydrated...
I wonder how much of this was due to the German economy. Germany probably had to import a lot of their clothing fibers and weren't always flexible when it came to switching production to what they needed at the time. There's a long lead time from "here's what we need now" to when you're able to produce it and ship it to the front line soldiers. And it wasn't likely the Germans had a huge backstock of uniforms they could just issue as needed.
@@stevekaczynski3793 no comparison Athens today is has at least 3-4 degrees of peak temperature even from Crete because 7 million people are living in a Forrest of cement trapped between these mountains (parnitha, penteli, ymmitos)
@@Raskolnikov70 They prepared desert uniforms for the Afrika Korps, and these were in wide use in the Mediterranean. German occupation troops in Greece and Crete and possibly Yugoslavia wore them later, and in the Italian campaign it was fairly common for both sides to mix and match desert uniforms with temperate ones. For example I have seen a photo of a captured German lieutenant in Italy. He has a desert zone peaked cap and tunic, and temperate zone field grey trousers. The paras in Crete simply did not have special uniforms issued to them suitable for the Mediterranean in late spring, and their parachute smocks trapped heat.
As the war went on producing cloth became a struggle for the German war economy, A synthetic wool was produced called Zellenwolle. It was considered rather poor at keeping the cold out. Close-up photos of German uniforms late in the war sometimes show they were made of poor-quality cloth.
@@aftastosk6016 And the mosquitos. Don't forget the damn mosquitos.
My late father was with the 2/1st Battalion at Rethymnon and told me about Max screaming "Dont shoot me!" He said that the 2/1st battalion only surrendered after they ran out of ammunition. Most of the troops then escaped the temporary stockade and made their way south. Left behind he spent 3 months sheltered by the Cretans until captured. He said in the end he could run up mountain sides faster than a goat. Unfortunately they turned a corner in the village they were in and ran into a waiting German patrol. The village was destroyed by the Germans in reprisal.
I’d heard about the Cretans attacking the paratroopers and hunting them through the night, but not that the women and children got in on it as well.
Freyberg and German intelligence? They deserve each other.
I am from Crete and I can assure you that all the residents of the island actually took part in the battle of Crete. Elderly, young men and women, teenagers and young children. Also, because they did not have many weapons, they literally used what they could find: stones, rods, wood, etc. In Crete there is a cemetery with all the Germans who died on the island
I am Cretan and my great grandfather ( my grandfather's father ) was a priest in the village of Kalamitsi Alexandrou ( Καλαμίτσι Αλεξάνδρου ) in the province of Chania. In our house that still exists in that village we have a well inside our property in which my great grandfather had repeatedly hidden partisans inside of it while giving them food, water etc. My grandfather was a kid at that time so thankfully I have had a pretty straight forward narration of the story.
Xavia, Kriti!! Had the privilege of visiting there in May, 2006. Served in the Naval Reserve at nearby Souda Bay for 2 weeks.
Did you do any jogging there?
@@russellshaw8479 No...but i did do some rock climbing. went down in one of the many ravines and climbed back up. Saw some caves and a couple of small lakes. Good work out.
the commitment of the New Zealanders is still ccelebrated in Crete!
Heroes, all. What a staggeringly heroic defense. o7
Auf Kreta wird auch euer Bob-Semple-Panzer gefeiert,mit dem ihr den Krieg alleine gewonnen habt.
We are losing objective Berta!
- German Fallschirmjäger, 1941
The battle of Crete is seen by many to be one of the bravest battles in history. As mentioned, it was the first time civilians actually fought in the battle. Crete was a strategic point that should never have been lost. Allied reinforcements and a better command would maybe result in a win
Yes, but reinforcing Crete would have meant less Allied troops in North Africa, thus an easier war for Rommel.
@@dragosstanciu9866 I get your point, but Rommel's forces were outnumbered, the reinforcements wouldn't stay on the island for a very long time. Maybe they'd have to but Rommel would still lose. Also Crete and Malta were very important strategic points for Africa
No, not the first time, happened quite often and the end was always the same, the troops line up civilians and execute them for shooting at them to teach them a lesson, rinse and repeat.
@@trauko1388 DID YOU NOT HEAR INDIE NEIDEL he literally said it was the first time. Martin Gilbert also says that in his book, NO, just NO. I mean I get what u confused about. People that fought were drafted into the military. THOSE WERE MOMS, CHILDREN AND OLD PEOPLE
@@thalassinosmitsou3806 You clearly are a clueless child, go read a decent book moron.
That Ride of the Valkyries helicopter attack scene in Apocalypse Now was inspired by the Wochenschau newsreel of the Invasion of Crete
@Yours Truly Charlie don’t surf!
Tommy don’t surf
@@TheStratfish Nah, but Ozzies sure do!
Great episode! My great grandfather Gordon Hawkins was in the 16th Brigade of the 6th Australian Division, the 2/1st Battalion which was one of the first infantry battalions raised as part of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force at the start of World War II. He was captured and ended up in the real Stalag XIII
I cantwait for next week
Manolis Glezos, you will forever be remembered
Rest In Peace
As a Greek conscript Paratrooper, I had the honor to serve at the historical base of Maleme. The German cemetery is just above the airfield.
It seems like the Brits are very good at evacuations lol
At least we don’t surrender... 😄
Its pretty easy to evacuate people when you have alot of ships.
@@cobbler9113 Because you had places to run to...
They're so good that commando raids are a thing later 😄
The local populations hold off the Germans, while the Brits bravely run away.
Freyburg: “We have this under control. Time to go...”
The absolute mad men, launching a day time airborne invasion onto an island bristling with AA guns. Say what you like about the Fallschirmjäger they were not cowards.
It's hard to say if it falls left or right from the thin line between bravery amd stupidity
they did have bad intelligence. They thought it was lightly defended and they had the element of surprise.
Yes they were. Europe’s last good men. I was woken up by the call to prayer today. In England, yes England. Last week a teen girl was arrested for telling people about her sexual abuse at the hands of immigrant, thank god were not speaking German though! So glad they lost!
Josh ando shut the fuck up nazi
@@joshando4092 where the fk do you live in England , god is dead here
9:02 Oh yes , the Greeks!
Yes it is 😂
when you receive all the answers from your friends, yet still somehow manage to fail the test!
i am pretty sure I read somewhere, that the losses of german parachute troops in Crete lead Nazis to the decision never try large parachute drops again
(spoilers)
last week, rudolf hess started the second half of his life - as a prisoner
Nah, an elite SS regiment will bail him out in a stunning move. Well they might have if Hitler actually liked him at this point...
This week it is probably starting to dawn on him that he had made a big mistake.
@@stevekaczynski3793 prequel for the hangover
There is a book about his imprisonment (sorry I can't remember the title). He was REALLY stunned that he was going to be treated as a.. POW! He wore his best uniform endowed with his medals. Churchill ordered that they be apprehended including his Iron Cross which sent Hess into years long manic meltdown..
Moron thought British appeasement politics will continue after what Germans did, and planned what he will do after Britain will set him up as the head of German state. But the judge wont be as pro nazi as after the Munich Putsch.
Cause of the Battle of Crete , Germans will never use Paratroopers again
God the actions of that British commander are actually getting me pretty angry! Obviously hindsight is 20/20 but still this man really failed at the most basic parts of his job! How could u possible ignore a parachute invasion that's already happening that you were warned about and ignore your troops that are already fighting them!
Brilliantly told indy! I never knew much about Crete and looking forward to next weeks episode!
Will later on we get the reverse of british use of paratroopers against germans *cough* market garden *cough* it seems British have troubles understanding paratroopers in this war minus one exception of course
I was opening my window when I heard indy saying freyberg ordered a retreat... after he went to bed relieved... I just threw my hands up in disbelief and said why...
@@darak1455 Paratroopers and Glider-borne infantry worked well enough in Overlord. Market Garden suffered a great many issues on other fronts as well and it was mostly down to planning, so I think it has more to do with just how much was expected of paratroopers with too little time and too little proper intelligence.
@@darak1455 Everything is hard when you try it the first time.
This also shows the germans the weaknesses and risks with upscaled, unsupported airborne assaults. These paratroopers, the elite of their branch, are finding themselves in battles with tanks and caught out of cohesion by third-line troops and aren't actually doing too great against them.
What are you going to do as a falschirmjäger if you get into a fight with a Home Guard or partisan unit, or even a surplus tank comes rolling up.
THis video unfairly blames Freyberg for the loss of Maleme. First off, Freyberg did want to sabotage the runway but was over ruled. Second, there was a Brigade defending Maleme, not a single battalion as this video states. It's commander (James HARGEST) had been given explict orders to counter-attack any German foot hold. It was Hargest who ignored requests from 22nd Battalion and also ignored 21st and 23rd Battalion that they were available to do counter-attacks. It was also Hargest who lied to Freyberg on the night of the 21st about the situation at Maleme and told him everything was secure (this was after permiting Col Andrews to withdrawal from Hill 107). It was Hargest who tried to push Freyberg under the bus in the subsequent inquiry into the loss of Crete. Fortunately, he also go himself captured in North Africa a few months later and we are all better off for it.
As a Kiwi I'm bitter that Freyburg cost us our greatest and potentially sole military victory. Brave resistance from Cretes people, impressive vs caliber of soldier they were up against
My great uncle fought in the battle of crete, he was captured and sent to a prison camp but was able to escape and swim around the island back to safety
His intro phone calls have developed so much over the years 🤣
Love this channel.
Glad you're doing better Indy!
Thanks! We love you too!
Eagerly anticipating that bio on New Zealand legend Charles Upham ... Love your work!
As a Greek all i know about the invasion of Crete is from sayings i have heard and these things are two:
1) When the invasion started many local farmers hid in trees with pitchforks waiting the incoming parachuters in order to impale them or at least wound them before they reached the ground and took their weapons which leads us to the second thing which is
2) an old saying which insist that if you take all the hidden weapons from Cretan villages like Sphakia (or in greek Σφακιά with emphasis put in -ia) you could arm entire batallions
Thank you so much to Indy and the team for covering such an important part of New Zealand history. Also glad my great grandfather's battalion, the 22nd, got a shotout. It would have been cool to mention Freyberg was a Kiwi but apart from that, loved the episode. Glad to hear you're doing an episode on Upham!
9:02 is a photo from 02/06/1941 from the village of Kontomari, near Chania. The local populace was accused of killing a german unit and executed the entire male population of the village (age 15 and above). It is the first large scale, state sanctioned, civilian massacre of ww2 in Europe.
There were several in Poland before this. In one, in December 1939 the Germans had even managed to kill two American citizens of Polish descent who had been visiting Poland and were stranded by the outbreak of war. It did not go down well in the USA but this week they sunk a US ship. Edging towards hostilities with the USA...
Sorry, but it wasn't. Massacre of civilians near village Sirig in Serbia/Yugoslavia by Hungarians happened on April 13 1941. German Wehrmacht killed dozen civilians in Alibunar (or Pancevo) around 23 April. Ustashe killlings of Serbs in Croatia begun around same time.
Ok, i will be more specific. This was the first civilian massacre the German Army commited, in an already occupied village, after the surunder of its defending army, with an order directly from a high profile German officer (Kurt Stundent) with the sole purpose of punishing thepopulation. I am not stating bombings of strategic targets nor some age long ethnic tensions. This village was exterminated just because there were Germans dead nearby and Germans were angry. And in this regard it was the first village to be destroyed in occupied Europe.
@@professornikos4905 as i said, Alibunar and/or Pancevo happened few weeks earlier. There is a footage of Wehrmacht shooting civiluans against wall and local Volksdeutche hanging civilians, after capitulation of Yugoslav Army
German paras had crappy equipment. Their chutes linked to the troopers' harness with one strap at the back, leaving the troopers dangling in the wind (see 11:00) with no steering or means to slow down. 10% of casualties came from landing accidents alone.
Without the means to slow down also means they could not carry, well, ANY equipment except a pistol or maybe an MP40 at best. Anything else were needed to be retrieved from separate ammo crates.
Compare that with British and American paras later in the war (spoilers) who had the chutes linked to the trooper's shoulders, they could carry bazookas, MGs, 300 rounds of ammo etc to help them last for a days independently before getting relieved.
Your comment should read 'German paras had crappy parachutes', the rest of their equipment was excellent and far superior to their adversaries until well into the war.
I'm glad these shows exist. Making history palatable and not sleepy is a difficult balance. You have done well ✌
This was a great episodes, i can't wait to see how y'all cover it when the war really heats up this year.
Hey Indie, glad to see you're recovering from covid
This was filmed before that.
Seriously waiting for the Bio on Charles Upham. I remember when they screen an episode of This is Your Life here in New Zealand, They had to trick him into going to the Tv studio. A very quiet man. A great Kiwi
We've put him on the longlist. He wins his second VC in July 1942 so we might cover him then but we would have to see closer to the time.
One of my favourite TH-cam channels. Outstanding as usual carry on :)
Neidel keep well, i hope you completely recovered!
Keep it up! i'm from greece and this week is very interesting to me!
I hope you recover fast from covid Indy!
Had to double check to make sure I wasn't watching an episode of The Great War. Freyberg would fit right in with the 'brilliant' generals of that war.
There was never a failure as big as Crete or Singapore in WW1. But yeah shit on British generals in ww1. Lions led by Donkeys am I right?
Finally,an informal video about my island and my people! These are stories told by our grandparents! Thank you!
this is excellent work, World. Please do more.
My country is about to capitulate nooooo
Also how are you Indy
Οχιιιιιι τι θα κάνουμεεεε
When I saw that the Germans thought the Cretans would welcome them, I remembered my grandfather saying that, although he was only nine years old, he hated the British. They would get drunk and show their privates to the women and start fights with the locals. He was at Rethymno and recalls a local police squad also joining the fight.
Nice of you to change the camera angle feels more "spacious".
Been following you since 2016,keep up the great work!
Always good to hear from a longtime fan! Glad to hear you're happy with what we're doing.
A former friend of mine, Max Schmeling is the grandson of a Danish boxer, who faced off against the original Max Schmeling a few times, and became his friend, like Joe Louis. The family name was changed to honour him. He must have been a special kind of man.
I am lucky enough to own Christopher Buckley’s book on the Greece and Crete 1941 campaign.
The Battle of Crete was a much closer run thing than the Germans had ever suffered up to that point of the war. In fact, no mass drop of German paratroops ever was permitted again - not on this scale.
"The key to victory is the element of surprise" - Zap Brannigan
Wow what a great channel. Why did it take so long for me to discover this gem. Obviously now a subscriber
Welcome!
Love the set up, broadcast from the time...awesomely different!!
17 May 1941 , US , Arthur Compton and the United States National Academy of Sciences published a report noting the success rate of developing an atomic weapon was favorable. On the same day, Vannevar Bush created the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD)
17 May 1941 , Iraq , Sonderkommando Junck, a special formation of German Luftwaffe fighters, bombers and transports which had been hastily painted with Iraqi markings, commenced (with a dozen Bf 110 aircraft of 4./ZG 76) air attacks on British positions, especially those at Habbaniya, Iraq; or the next ten days the Bf 110 aircraft attacked, losing several aircraft in the process. Late in the evening, the British force from Palestine arrived at Habbaniya. After sundown, British and colonial troops crossed the Euphrates River toward Fallujah.
18 May 1941 , Iraq , British aircraft from RAF Habbaniya bombed Iraqi positions in Fallujah throughout the day. Meanwhile, Arab Legion troops loyal to Britain relieved the besieged RAF Habbaniyah which was defended only by out-of-date training aircraft.
18 May 1941 , Central Mediterranean , Italian cargo ship Giovinezza was was torpedoed and sunk off Benghazi by Royal Navy submarine HMS Tetrarch
19 May 1941 , Iraq , Iraqis surrender the town of Fallujah after it was subjected to aerial and artillery bombardment by the British; 300 Iraqi troops were taken prisoner. On the same day, German bombers attacked RAF Habbaniya in Iraq
19 May 1941 , Crete , Greece , German aircraft attacked British airfields on Crete, Greece. To prevent destruction, the British RAF evacuated all aircraft from Crete to Egypt.
19 May 1941 , Germany , "Guidelines for the behaviour of the troops in Russia" demanded that German troops use "ruthless and energetic action against Bolshevik agitators, guerrillas, saboteurs (and) Jews" and approved the complete liquidation of any "active or passive resistance".
20 May 1941 , Operation Merkur , German invasion of Crete, Greece began with an airborne assault at 0800 hours, to capture Maleme airfield on the northern coast , Cania port and Akrotiri peninsula. Sturm regiment of 7th Airborne Division capture high ground around Malame airfield at the cost of very heavy casaulties under New Zealand defensive fire. All German paratroopers who land around Akrotiri were killed. Around Canea German paratroopers who survived from Australian and British fire began to organise in small groups. At 1615 hours and 1730 hours, the second airborne assault was conducted at Rethimnon and Heraklion, respectively; 1,856 German airborne troopers were killed during the second attack wave. At Suda Bay, Crete, German bombers sank British minesweeper HMS Widnes. After sundown, destroyers HMS Jervis, HMAS Nizam, and HMS Ilex bombarded the German-controlled airfield on the Greek island of Karpathos
20 May 1941 , Gulf of Athens , Greece , Italian destroyer Curtatone struck a mine and sunk with most of her crew
21 May 1941 Moscow , USSR , At a meeting of the Central Committee War Section in Moscow, Russia, the intelligence reports, provided by Communist sympathisers in Germany, that an attack on the Soviet Union was imminent was greeted with much apprehension. Stalin however still refused to accept the intelligence, believing that the reports must be either deliberate provocation of misinformation by the British to get the Soviet Union involved in the war.
21 May 1941 , Crete , In the early hours of the day, three British cruisers and four destroyers from Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet intercepted a German convoy of caiques bringing reinforcements asnd suppliers to Crete. British ships sank 19 small Axis vessels, killing 398 Germans. However due to a misunderstanding in orders , New Zealand troops evacuate Malame airfield and let German Sturm regiment capture it. In the morning, 650 men of the German 5. Gebirsgäger Division landed on Malame airfield just in time to support the paratroopers already in position against a British counter attack at Maleme airfield. Many of the German transport aircraft that delivered the troops would be damaged or destroyed on the airfield before they could take off. New Zealand General Freyberg held back his reserves despite German presence at Maleme, believing that the main German invasion was still to come at the beaches.
21 May 1941 , East Mediterranean , Italian dive bombers sunk British destroyer HMS Juno
21 May 1941 , Malta , Mediterranean , Total 48 RAF Hurricane fighters took off from Royal Navy carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Argus and land on Malta
21 May 1941 , Central Mediterranean , Italian cargo ship Zeffiro bound for Tripoli , struck a mine and sunk off Cape Bon Tunisia
21 May 1941 German submarine U-69 sank unarmed American freighter Robin Moor by torpedo and gunfire 800 miles off the coast of British West Africa at 0525 hours; Robin Moor was the first American merchantman to be sunk by a German submarine in WW2. All 46 aboard survived. US President Roosevelt protested the sinking and unsuccessfully demanded compensation from Germany. At midnight at the very end of the day, U-69 struck again, sinking British ship Tewkesbury; all 42 aboard survived.
To be fair, the good people at TimeGhost can't cover everything that happens.
That last paragraph contains the curtain-raiser on the Holocaust.
The NZ 22nd Battalion was one NZ Battalion...there was also the 28th (Maori) Battalion. They formed the rearguard on the retreat to Sfakia and at one place (42nd Street) drove the Germans back over 600m with a very frightening bayonet charge in which they reawakened their warrior spirit complete with traditional war dance and chant (haka) ....The 28th fought on in North Africa and Italy and desereved more than the one VC they got (Ngarimu)
I was recently at Sfakia and saw with sadness a memorial placed by the NZ army to the local men and boys who were executed by the Germans for assisting the NZers to escape. Crete was the first place the Germans experienced local resistance and they never gave up until the Germans left four years later. many NZers were left on the island and many fought on with the locals. there remains a strong bond between NZ and Crete.
Welcome back, Indy! Lookin’ good. 👍🏻
08:57 The Spirit of King Minos and the Ancient Minoans is not dead.... love the resistance.
My grandfather fought in Crete. Wouldn't speak of his experiences tho.
I was hoping you would throw the Italian navy a little credit by mentioning the heroic effort of the torpedo boat Lupo and their one sided battle against the RN when the convoy they were protecting came under attack.
Maybe if the italian navy earned any credit they'd get some?
kanedakrsa does this count? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_torpedo_boat_Lupo
@@MyLateralThawts No, anybody can make a wikipedia page. Doesn't assign merit to anything.
kanedakrsa Okay, show us the alternative narrative from another website regarding this action.
they metioned it on insatgram
Among the informative presentation there is also time for a little humour...just an amazing channel... Max Schmeling and you sharing a birthday no less!...both giants in their field.
Could you please remember to put a VC at the end on Leslie Andrew's name please. Winning a VC is something that should never be forgotten.
While I do agree in theory, if we did that we'd also have to make sure to not forget all the Germans who won their major awards like the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, and the Soviets, and the Japanese, and the Chinese, and everybody, and some of those are really hard to get data on.
Freyberg apparently carried Foch's WWI sentiment to WWII, " It takes 15,000 casualties to train a Major General."
british intel: they´re coming by air,prepare yourselves!
freyberg: do you mean.... by sea?
british intel:air,they´re coming by air
freyberg: so cool i get the chance to prepare a naval attack!
british intel: no- what?-
British Intel said the invasion was by air (12,000 troops) and by sea (10,000 troops). So Freyberg deploys his available troops accordingly. It was never guaranteed that the Royal Navy would be able to intercept the seaborne invasion at night
Honestly its a running theme throughout this channel that i feel the saddest about the deaths of good soldiers who are sent in horrible offensives where they have a 1% chance to survive and the mission is a failure they just don't know it yet. with the possible exception of the Holodomor episode things like the air troops just having to drop in the ocean and drown tangled in their parachutes after all that training and seemingly no chance to win even if they followed their plan just gets me.
Brilliant Indy...Thank you.
This is an unfortunate hatchet job on Freyberg who was told that the intelligence came from a spy in Athens. He was also ordered by his British superiors not to sabotage any airstrips who also at various times had disputed the validity of the intelligence. One minute Freyberg was told it was incorrect, the next it was rock solid.
In the end the adage "He who defends everything defends nothing" applied to Churchill's strategy around the Mediterranean in 1941 and it is easy to see why the Australian government and military had lost all faith in his judgement and that of the British high command by early 1942.
YES! ^this^
The Chinese factions are more busy hating each other than fighting against the Japanese aggressors.
Can you imagine what the history of the Pacific theater would have looked like if they'd been able to cooperate and work together against the Japanese? They might have been able to completely tie up the Japanese army to the point where they'd not even consider attacking the U.S. in 1941. They might have also been in a position to send aid to the south and help countries and colonies down there push back against those invasions. Japan didn't have the manpower or resources to fight both an organized Chinese army and push out into the Pacific as far south as the Solomons.
@@Raskolnikov70 China was a drain on the Japanese in spite of Chinese deficiencies. It could have been even more of a problem for them than it actually was.
dragosstanciu much like the French resistance, too busy fighting each other over the scraps.
For the Communists especially, they were more happy for the Japanese to rule China than the Nationalists.
@@Septimus_ii The communists are a really small faction at this time. They're a remnant hiding up in the mountains.
Oooh Upham.
I'm unbelievably excited for that one!
Brilliant video, can't wait for next week.
10:01 - A relatively large "bag" of German POWs, considering it was the early war years and it was usually the Germans taking lots of prisoners.
When you are so early that invasion of crete hasnt began yet)
Thank for the the mention of Charles Upham's first VC.
excelent video, as always
Max Smelling never fired a shot. He said he had hurt himself on landing. His colleagues thought otherwise.
I read a quite different version of the fatal retreat. The officer on the ground whilst taking casulties was in a vital position. He just didn't realize how vital. His superior was holding onto reserves waiting for the sea borne attack which did come. The officer on the ground asked to withdraw. His boss believing it to be a minor alteration to the lines agreed. Once they withdrew the Germans could and did reinforce their forces. So poor communication. Largely by arrogant staff officers who failed to keep their subordinates properly informed. It could have gone either way.
An interesting point. A single Bofors crew shot down well over a dozen JU 52s. Kept changing position and firing at aircraft landing or on the ground.
It was the single worse day for German casualties of the war to that date.
German news announcer: "Good news, we have defeated those cretins in Britain...oh wait, it was those Britons in Crete."
“He is taken into custody immediately” idk why but I laughed so hard when I heard that