Part 65: Dramatis Personae

Historical Situation: Dramatis Personae

The invasion of Crete is one that had a literal deluge of interesting characters involved with it, but this LP will not go into too much detail in regards to most of the them, since it is a bit outside of the scope of the game. For those interested, some of the more interesting persons associated with the battle were the likes of John Pendlebury, a glass-eyed, sword-cane wielding archaeologist that was unfortunately captured and executed by the Germans near the start of the invasion. Patrick Leigh Fermor, part of Special Operations Executive, who helped the Cretan Resistance later on after the battle was over, was also present, along with Resistance figures such as George Psychoundakis, George Petrakogiorgis and Manolis Bandouvas. I am currently reading (as you might have guessed) Antony Beevor's Crete, which is somewhat more focused on the British aspect of the war, but does delve quite deeply in regards to Cretan resistance after the battle was over.

General Kurt Student



Kurt Student was the pioneer of German Airborne operations and was largely responsible for the formation of the Fallschirmjäger. He was an active proponent of airborne operations and commanded the German Parachute regiments for most of the war. Although he faced a lot of pushback from the Wehrmacht when initially the proposals for a Parachute division were raised, during Case Yellow, the lightning capture of Eben-Emael and the successful airborne operation against the Dutch seemed to prove to the German High Command and the world at large that Airborne troops were a valuable asset in war. During the invasion of Greece, General Student pushed for a purely airborne invasion of Crete: it was deemed an easy target since the Germans were convinced that it was just being used as a staging post for the evacuation, and therefore there weren't more than 5000 Allied soldiers on the island. This wasn't helped by aereal recon that seemed to showcase the same image, unaware of the well-camouflaged Allied positions.

Initial planning was to capture three airfields within the island, at Maleme, Rethymnon and Heraklion. This plan was a compromise between a even more widespread drop, and a concentrated drop just at Maleme. Even with the three drop approach, the chief plan was an initial drop to capture Maleme and Canea, an old Venitian town near Suda (and Suda Bay) in the morning of the 17th of May, and then in the afternoon, drops near Rethymnon and Heraklion would capture those airfields. Although the Germans did manage to capture Maleme, it was a close-run thing.

General Student was tried and convicted as a war criminal at the end of the war for his brutal reprisals against Cretan civilians during the German occupation of the island. He was incarcerated for five years, but was released in 1948 for medical reasons.

General Bernard Freyberg



General Freyberg was a General of another era, in more ways than one. His scar-riddled body attested to his incredible personal bravery, and he was one to lead by example. He had deep concern for his troops and was excellent at the preparation and training of troops. At divisional level, he had an innate sense of tactics and strategy. Unfortunately, when he led at Corps level or did not have a higher command in charge, he performed poorly, as could be attested both in the Battle of Crete and as well at Monte Cassino. He turned an opportunity for the Allies to severely cripple or outright destroy the German Parachutist Corps into yet another forced evacuation, one in a string of Allied defeats that included evacuations in France, Norway, Greece and now Crete.

General Freyberg was the end of a string of 7 different theater commanders that had been alloted to Crete. The island itself had calls from Churchill and Allied High Command to make it a "second scapa flow", centred around the protected bay of Suda. Little had been done to do so, and the island was unprepared for invasion. Even then, the island on the eve of the invasion had enough troops to defend it, and the Allies had extensive ULTRA intercepts that told them exactly when the Germans would strike, on the 17th of May (then delayed to the 20th of May due to weather). They knew that there would be a large airborne component to the invasion, but some misunderstandings in regards to which Mountain division was going to be sent to the invasion, and the fact that the ULTRA intercepts stated that there would be a naval component, led General Freyberg to believe that the invasion would largely be naval, and thus troop dispositions were prepared for a mainly naval invasion. Although German naval elements would be used during the invasion for resupply and some light reinforcements, both sides knew that it was not possible for the Germans to do a concerted amphibious invasion considering the Royal Navy ruled the seas. This was the first of many mistakes that General Freyberg would commit that would turn an almost certain victory into a defeat for the Allies.

General Freyberg continued his career after the Battle, performing well in the battles of El Alamain, with the only questionable decision happening at Monte Cassino, where he held some responsibility for the shelling of the Monastery, allowing the Germans to occupy the ruins and costing the lives of many Allied soldiers in the ensuing struggle.