Part 68: The Second and Third Day

Historical Post: The 2nd and 3rd Day

One thing to make clear is that I pushed the 5th NZ Brigade a lot harder on the 21st than they were pushed historically. The withdrawal of the night of the 20th was one that was caused by a variety of factors. Although the blame could be squared at Lt Col Andrew, that was in charge of 21st Battalion, I think the heaviest share of the blame must inevitably fall on Brigadier Hargest and General Freyberg. Hargest was likely still under the assumption that German seaborne troops would come even though none appeared, and the holding back of 23rd Battalion that was meant to counter-attack the airfields as soon as possible did not materialise, as Hargest claimed that 23rd Battalion was fighting paratroopers that had dropped around them. Although there were paratroopers in the rear positions of the 5th Brigade, they were isolated pockets of resistance and not strong enough to prevent movement of the 23rd Battalion, unlike in our game, where a defence of Pirgos was able to significantly slow the Kiwi counterattack.

As such, Andrew, having lost contact with his companies on the western edge of Hill 107 and defending the western end of the airfield, pulled back from Hill 107, which forced his other companies to abandon the airfield, which was taken by the few Germans remaining. The airfield runway, although mined and set to be cratered, was not touched, since the RAF had requested for the airfield to be spared since they were planning to return once the battle was over. No real counterattack happened during the 21st, but in the afternoon the Allies realised that fresh Germans troops were arriving by being air-landed on the airfield, as the 5th Mountain Division deplaned and set up defensive positions. Spurred into action, the 5th Brigade counter-attacked on the night of the 21st, but the attempt was abortive. On the 22nd, with some assistance from elements of the 4th Brigade, another counter-attack occured, and this one almost reached the edges of the runway before being called off. In the game, my main thrust was on the 21st instead, but I likely pushed the 5th Brigade too hard, which has lead to this debacle and the virtual destruction of the entire Brigade thanks to the blocking elements of the Pioneers and Ramcke group. Something similar would happen in the next few days in real life, with the Kiwis being squeezed by attacks from KG Ramcke, the GJR 100 trying to envelop from the south, and 3 FJR trying to cut the road, but although diminished, 5th Brigade was able to escape and help with the defence of Canea that would be the centre of the battle going forward.

As for the other sectors, Rethymnon saw much heavier fighting between the Greeks and German forces to capture the city itself, but even these were largely unsuccessful and the fighting started to become less intense as a small stalemate occured, although many Germans were captured during this time. As for Heraklion, the fighting in and around the city turned in a stalemate that lasted pretty much for the entire battle, which is similar to what has happened in our game so far.