| Original Caption: “A blazing German troop-carrier (JU-52), hit by machine-gun fire from an entrenchment adjacent to the bombed area during the invasion of Crete, May 1941. Parachute troops and equipment are seen descending.” On May 20, 1941, the air attack on Crete began at 1600 Hours. With no more than 20 fighters and light bombers, it was a desultory affair. A few of the Greek recruits at Rethymno panicked, but a handful of Australian non-commissioned officers sent across by Lieutenant Colonel Ian R. Campbell’s (March 23, 1900 – October 31, 1997) from 2nd/3rd Battalion soon brought them back into line. At 1615 Hours the troop carriers appeared over the sea. They then swung in from the Heraklion side and began to drop their paratroopers at between 700 feet. At 1600 Hours, German bombers arrived in large numbers, and a few minutes later the warning “Super Red” arrived from the radar station on the ridge 2 kilometers (1 and quarter miles) to the south-east of the airfield. Stuka dive-bombers began to attack at 1612 Hours; and at 1634 Hours, according to the Black Watch war diary, twin-engined Messerschmitt 110s started strafing. Casualties were few. The positions were well camouflaged, as captured maps and aerial reconnaissance photographs later proved. And soldiers, in a measure designed mainly to conserve ammunition, were forbidden to open fire on aircraft with small arms. (Later in the battle this order was rescinded in the interests of morale.) More importantly, the anti-aircraft guns around the airfield perimeter – a dozen 40 millimeter Bofors manned by Australian and British gunners, and a Royal Marine battery of 3 inch (75 millimeter) guns and 40 millimeter pom-poms – had remained silent, unlike at Maleme. Chappel’s ruse managed to convince the Germans that their previous raids on the gun emplacements had put them out of action. After less than half an hour, the Stukas returned to their base on the island of Skarpanto to the east of Crete and the Messerschmitts turned back over the Aegean; neither could wait for the long-delayed Junkers Ju-52 troop carriers. Those British officers away from their units, whether on official or unofficial business, breathed a sigh of relief that this had been just another air raid. But shortly before 1730 Hours, the company commander of the Leicesters out with his platoon commanders was horrified to hear a bugler in the distance sound “general alarm.” This was the signal for an imminent parachute attack: by wireless or field line, the code was “Air Raid Purple.” His dismay was greatly increased by the fact that United Kingdom Royal Army Brigadier General Brian Chappel (November 25, 1895 – November 14, 1964) General Officer Commanding the 14th Brigade had given the Leicesters the task of immediately mounting any counter-attack that might be required. The slow rumble of the approaching wave of Junkers increased to an oppressive roar as the specks out over the sea grew to recognizable silhouettes. In their flat “V” formations of 3, the troop carriers banked to turn for their run along the coast, spilling out long dark streaks which, with a sudden jerk, blossomed into canopies. The gasps of astonishment at the sight were no different from those round Canea earlier in the day. Rifle fire broke out from all the concealed positions along several miles of coast. To the east of Heraklion on the airfield side, Captain Walter Burckhardt’s (???? – ????) 2nd Battalion dropped more or less following the line of the coast road. They jumped from around level with the quarry containing 14th Brigade headquarters. Their drop zone spread across almost every British and Dominion regiment in the garrison – over part of the 7th Medium Regiment, over part of the Leicesters, over part of the 2nd/4th Australian Battalion, and then the bulk fell on the Black Watch, the largest battalion and the 1 responsible for the airfield. Anti-aircraft guns suddenly opened fire on the slow-moving targets. Paratroopers tried to jump from 1 Junkers 52, which had caught fire, but their canopies never opened. The Australian infantrymen on ‘the Charlies’ – 2 supposedly breast-shaped peaks of jagged rock overlooking the west end of the airfield – were firing almost horizontally at the tri-motors as they flew past. The white faces of the crew were clearly visible. “They looked so close, it felt as if you could almost touch them” was a common remark afterwards. The Australians had stretched a strand of barbed wire between the summits of the 2 hills, and although several aircraft came close, none became snagged. In this extraordinary fusillade, many opened fire wildly at 1st, but then, with a feverish self-control, soldiers selected their targets, whose gentle swaying camouflaged the speed of their descent. They fired, reloaded and fired again at paratroopers who may already have been dead. Unlike the terrain round Maleme and Prison Valley, there were few trees or telegraph poles to snag chutes, but there was little cover. Germans were riddled as they struggled free of their harnesses. The battle was of course not restricted to front-line sections and platoons. Paratroopers were just as likely to come down on top of a company or battalion headquarters, where officers used rifles as well as service revolvers. For officers and soldiers alike it offered a perfect opportunity for laconic humor in the thick of a fight. When 1 Black Watch command post at last received official notification of the parachute attack, the “signaller said solemnly to Captain Gerald Barry (December 18, 1896 – February 21, 1977), who had just killed three Germans with a Lieutenant: ‘Air-raid warning Purple, sir.’” Because of the delays that disrupted take-off from the mainland, the drop continued for 2 hours. Without Messerschmitts and Stukas to worry about, the Bofors gun crews traversed on to the lumbering Junkers 52 troop-carriers with grim glee. The Black Watch war diary recorded at 1907 Hours that 8 of them could be seen going down in flames at the same time: but since the Germans lost a total of 15 aircraft in 2 hours, this figure is probably more enthusiastic than reliable. Yet even 15 aircraft lost to ground fire in 1 action must still have been a record. It was more than double the combined total of those shot down at Maleme, Suda and Galatas. Burckhardt’s paratroopers who fell in the open spaces round the Heraklion Aerodrome, such as a turnip field, had to run for their weapon containers in full view. Those who fell into low cover, such as the field of barley near the runway, survived a little longer. Movements in the corn and frantic animal rustlings indicated their positions, and soon incendiaries were used to flush them out like rabbits at harvest time. A company with Bren gun carriers went hunting in a vineyard, but the Germans there were able to stalk them in return and lob grenades. At 1815 Hours, Brigadier Chappel told the Leicesters to send fighting patrols to comb “Buttercup Field” east of the quarry. Out of Captain Werner Dunz’s (March 2, 1912 – May 20, 1941) reinforced company, only 5 survivors managed to escape. Throwing themselves into the sea, they shed their kit and swam round to rejoin Major Walther’s I Battalion 8 kilometres further east along the coast at Gournes, where it had been dropped to capture a wireless station. But the fighting towards the airfield was not a complete walkover. Chappel had made a mistake similar to Lieutenant Colonel Sir Howard Karl Kippenberger’s (January 1897 – May 5, 1957) failure to occupy the prison in Ayia Valley. Chappel had not put troops into buildings on either side of the coast road, including an abandoned barracks and a slaughterhouse. These soon provided shelter and defence for a few groups of survivors who needed winkling out later. On the other hand, Chappel’s forces wasted no time in counterattacking. The 2 Matilda II tanks of the Royal Tank Regiment and the 6 Vickers Armstrong Mark VIB light tanks of the 3rd Hussars, were unleashed almost immediately; the Germans never had a chance to recover. Lieutenant William D Petherick (???? – August 22, 1988), the troop leader of the 3rd Hussars at Heraklion, claimed that at least 30 paratroopers had been dealt with at close quarters “by the revolvers of his tank commanders, and many others were killed by running over them.” Neither Campbell at Rethymno nor the 14th Infantry Brigade at Heraklion suffered from that fateful indecision over the commitment of reserves which was so disastrous at both Maleme and Galatas. Chappel saw that the outcome of the battle would be decided in the 1st couple of hours and sent in his reserve battalion 75 minutes after the 1st troop-carriers were sighted. Greek resistance leader Christos Bantouvas (???? – ????) later recalled, “As we were about to leave Aghia Ekaterini square at Heraklion, we heard shouting: ‘The parachutists have dropped.’” “‘Where have they dropped?’ we said. ‘Outside Chanioporta (‘Chania Gate’).’ We ran to the warehouse next door to Chanioporta where the guns were stored, broke down the door, took the weapons and stood guard outside, waiting for the aircraft. Upon their arrival we opened fire.” “The Germans who dropped down onto this area, were too numerous to mention and they fired continuously at us daily. We, of course, killed as many as possible…We just shot them as they came down from the sky. The local police were also there, led by their Captain, Kalaphotakis. The battle was being fought on three fronts; by the civilians, by the police and by the military. The Army was well organized, but eventually split up into groups and fought as best and wherever they could.” “When the word got round that we were fighting along with many others, our numbers increased as people left their villages to join us.” “The women brought us food and water and fought along with us. We were not very organized naturally but followed anyone who showed more courage and zeal than the rest. The battle lasted six days. Heraklion surrendered on the eighth day.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0690.jpg |
| Image Size | 364.15 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2222 x 1678 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Royal Navy official photographer |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 20, 1941 |
| Location | |
| City | Heraklion |
| State or Province | Crete |
| Country | Greece |
| Archive | Imperial War Museum |
| Record Number | A 4154 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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