Truly unique and enthralling video footage not only of the military operation....but also of the tactical and strategic background of the battle.....superb !!
Fascinating,another Gem for posterity Frederick,Having spent 2 weeks on Crete 25 years ago and visited Suda Bay in particular,very rugged terrain for combat,any detonations spreading rock shrapnel as well as steel i read.this was a treat for me.Two Narratives side by side contextualised it very well.Thanks as ever for you work scouring Europe for your archives.Really do think that a lot of this material could of been lost in time. Thank you!
I read a bit about this, freiberg wasn't a great general, he was convinced that the German's would come from the sea. Despite a fair amount of evidence to the contrary. He was late to respond. Once the paras appeared. Some units ignored him which is why the German's suffered initially. Interesting film thanks Frederick.
Great Stuff. The Contemporary stile of reporting, combined with its totally factual nature, makes such documents invaluable. It is made clear that, through great determination and skill, the Germans were able to convert what looked like an initial disaster into a success that was unique. However their heavy losses, which the document makes clear, shocked Hitler who decided that, since the paratroops had now lost the advantage of surprise, forbid any future large scale airborne operations - A quite different opinion was reached by the allies, who proceeded to build up their airborne forces!
Thought provoking discussion about (1) the quality of Allied Intelligence collection about the German planning and execution of Operation MERCURY; and, (2) what sources of information would have afforded such a degree of insight, and which the Allies would have been willing to use for such a purpose, if the use might risk compromise of the source.
Props to the Americans for a factual, well detailed report. That they used actual German military tunes and not some evil sounding, sinister music (as was often used in typical propaganda movies) was a nice detail.
The British and Commonwealth units as well as those early partisan units that could be armed did fight on Crete tbh. Thanks to code breaking the Allies knew where and when to deploy their ships and men where they could fight with best effect. The Royal Navy broke up the Italian portion of the (sea) invasion while the German Falschirmjaeger took very heavy losses in securing the airfields so that the 5th Mountain Div, with their heavy weapons could in be could flown in only after the German Paratroopers had secured the two main airfields, Meleme and Heraklion. It was After that the ability to secure the rest of the island followed in quick order as the Germans repaired and utilized the captured airfield for their own uses.
Most likely because this was a factual, lessons learned type debrief and not a propaganda piece made for the masses. The truth is not held back at the higher echelons, no matter how ugly it may be.
The British and Commonwealth units as well as all of the Allied units that could and did fight on Crete TBH, knew and were deployed where the airlandings and sealandings could be be best rtesisterd/were to take place. The Royal Navy broke up the Italian portion of the (sea) invasion while the German took very heavy losses in securing the airfields so that the 5th Mountain Div, with their heavy weapons could in only after the German Paratroopers had secured the
Bravo Germany... Bravo Great Britain And now look at Great Britain and Germany today. We will soon be strangers in our own country. An infinite amount of things were done wrong back then.
