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Crete 1941: Germany's lightning airborne assault (Campaign)

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Osprey's Campaign #147, Crete 1941 by Peter D. Antill, summarizes the first division-size airborne operation in the Second World War. Operation "Mercury" - the German airborne attack on Crete - succeeded in defeating the Allied garrison and capturing the island, but at the cost of crippling losses. The German attack on Crete is also interesting for study because British access to German plans via Ultra code-breaking gave the Allies advance-warning of the attack. The author does a creditable job laying out these issues in the volume and his campaign narrative is sound, which should provide a decent introduction to this campaign for readers new to this campaign. However, with readers with more background on the Second World War or the Crete campaign, this volume appears as a synthesis product of other secondary sources and doesn't offer much new material, except for the detailed and colorful maps.

The author provides a rather lengthy introduction in which he appears to misrepresent German strategy in 1941. According to the author, Hitler decided to opt for a peripheral strategy" after the invasion of Britain was cancelled in September 1941, with "the aim of bringing Britain to the negotiating table." While Hitler did hope for a negotiated settlement with Britain, the planning documentation available today clearly shows that he was focused on destroying the USSR before embarking on "peripheral missions." Furthermore, Hitler's strategic planning was heavily based on gaining access to vital economic resources; the oil and minerals that Germany needed were in the USSR, not in the Mediterranean area. Antill's section on opposing commanders is fairly comprehensive, but the two best opening sections are opposing forces and opposing plans. Antill makes the crucial point that, "German intelligence badly underestimated the Allied strength on the island," presuming that there were only 10,000 Commonwealth troops instead of the actual 32,000. This failure of German intelligence analysis led to a flawed airborne plan, with the paratroops scattered too thinly to seize their objectives. In fact, it's not clear to me that General Student even identified a main effort in the initial plan; Maleme airfield only became the main effort once all the other attacks failed to seize their objectives. Antill does not mention that the staff of the German 7FJ Division was fairly junior and inexperienced, conducting a novel operation of unprecedented scale, which probably also contributed to the heavy losses.

The author's order of battle is decent, but he leaves out units like the 5th Company/31st Panzer that were shipped to Crete (he only mentions the 5th Panzer Division without identifying sub-units). The maps in the volume are excellent. The six 2-D maps are: the Balkans Campaign, April 1941; Crete; Souda Bay and Prison Valley; Rethymnon; Heraklion; and the German advance, 27-31 May. The 3-D maps are: Maleme, 20-22 May; the German advance on Platanias, 23 May; and the German advance on Galatos, 24-26 May. The three color battle scenes are: the Genz Glider detachment landing southwest of Canea, 20 May; the 2nd Battalion, 1st FJ landing west of Heraklion airfield, 20 May; and the Australian counterattack against the 1/141st Mountain Regiment, 27 May. The author probably should have provided a 2-D map detailing the air-sea actions around Crete, including all the RN warships sunk. As for the photographs in this volume, they are rather mundane, with far too many photos of ANZAC troops in transit camps or being evacuated.

The author's campaign narrative itself is crisp and clean, and he does a good job pointing out both the German mistakes (dropping single battalions, trying to seize too many objectives simultaneously) and the Allied mistakes (focused more on coast defense, failure to disable airfields, slowness to recognize German main effort and organize counterattack). The author also does an excellent job coordinating his narrative with the maps, enabling the reader to easily follow the flow of combat. He also adds interesting items, like the Germans surprising the Allies by introducing recoilless guns. The Battle of Crete essentially came down to the fight for Maleme airfield, and while Antill does a decent job outlining the course of fighting there, I'm not sure he strips away much of the uncertainty as to how and why the British defenders - who outnumbered the paratroopers - failed to hold the airfield. Antill runs down the standard reasons given - poor communications, fog of war, wounded leaders - but I'm not sure that this rote recitation really answers why the battle was won or lost.

I was also hoping that the author would incorporate some fresh research, particularly about German casualties, but he seems content to stick with the standard (and not very informative) numbers seen in other secondary sources. In sum, Peter Antill's Crete 1941 is a decent first effort, but lacks the original research or incisive analysis needed to make this more than a synthesis product.

Crete 1941 is another solid edition in the Osprey military history series. I bought this one since I am very interested in military airborne operations. The author does a fine job of setting the stage with background material about the campaign, its participants, and the opposing strategies. Then he takes the reader through this interesting operation detailing the various battles that ensued after the initial airborne assault onto the island of Crete.

I rather enjoyed this book for a few reasons. First, as others have mentioned, the maps and graphics are top-notch. The photos in this book are actually pretty good as well. Secondly, I think the author's analysis about this important and somewhat unique operation is on target. The Allies could have held with more timely decision making. Lastly, the book is about the right length. While other battles, such as the Battle of the Bulge, deserve a much longer treatment - this one can be covered in about 100 pages.

If you are interested in WWII history, especially Airborne warfare (in this case the paratroopers are German) then you will find this book interesting, and I recommend it.

"Crete 1941" is one the Osprey Publishing's Campaign series. As such, it's profusely illustrated with good photographs, 3D computer generated maps, and paintings. The maps are outstanding, showing how terrain shaped the battle. The units are captioned to show the battle's flow and clearly describe the German plan, and the Commonwealth defenses. However, the narration is entirely conventional, with very little of the latest research on this near-disaster apparent. The best section is probably the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing forces; as good as in any more in-depth work. Ultimately I would suggest Anthony Beevor's excellent "Crete The Battle and The Resistance" for the battle's analysis, and this book for supporting illustrations.

Nearly all Osprey books start out with some perspective on the relevant battle. This includes some discussion as to how the battle fits into the overall strategic picture in terms of the war, in general, and a particular theater. This book contains no such discussion. There is no mention as to why it was of such importance to the German High Command to expend such resources in such a high risk venture. The book also has little discussion as to what exactly the German strategy was to capture Crete (although the British strategy is discussed).

The book has a fairly good discussion of the leadership of both sides but is weak in its discussion of the training and general condition of the British side although its coverage of the German side is good. The book is also weak as to coverage of weapons each side used, illustration of infantrymen and weapons.

On the positive side, the maps are good, most of the pictures are very relevant to the text and the description of how the battle played out are good.

"Crete 1941: Germany's lightning airborne assault" is Osprey's take in telling the story of the battle of Crete. With about 100 pages and many illustrations taking up space, the book's purpose is to give a summary of the battle to the casual reader which is Osprey's main target group. It's not expected from it to provide new facts, especially since the battle has been covered pretty extensively in many sources in the past decades. With that in mind, the book does its job adequately, though with faults.

The strong points of the volume are the nice maps, the abundance of photographs and an engaging narrative. The author is competent with writing, and the text flows easily, easier than many other osprey books. Combined with the generally helpful maps, the reader keeps track of the developing situation easily, without having to go back to re-read often.

The main weak points are the lack of figures (strenghts, casualties) and the complete absence of a Greek prespective, as well as other minor things.
Let me clarify:
1)By not mentioning figures the author relies completely on the limited power of words to make the reader appreciate the intesity of the figting and how the ballance of forces began and changed. Expressions such as "elements" or even "battalion" don't mean much when a battalion's strentgh could vary from 350 to 750 men.
2)The Greek units are largely ignored -they appear and disappear in the text without us knowing what eventually happened of them. It's unfair because among the Allies the Greek component was the second largest one and the second most engaged one in the battle, as evidenced by the casualtiy figures, which the author readily bypasses by stating that we'll never know them, apparently without caring to research the issue. The Greeks are nameless and faceless -they appear in no depiction, drawing or photograph, in the entire volume. Their organisation and equipment completely unmentioned. Occasionally Greek units are even ommited from the maps: the author mentions that the 42nd route line on 27th May was held by the 2nd Greek Regiment, the 19th Australian Brigade and the 5th New Zealand Brigade, but on the map "The Germand advance and Allied retreat, Hania to Sphakion, 27-31 May" on page 74, only the 19th and 5th brigades appear. What happened of the 2nd Greek regiment is left a mystery... The official Greek history of the battle was published in the 1960s, and in 2001 the english-translated version! The Greek account is based largely on the British official histories, adding all those details that the author blatantly ommits.
3)Minor mistakes occur throughout the book, such as the Greek names: "Galatos" is in fact "Galatas", "Lerapetra" is "Ierapetra", "Sphakion" is "Hora Sphakion" or simply "Sphakia". Moreover, German casualties in the Balkans campaign were not 11,000 (this claim is left unsubstanciated), and the Greek prisoners in Crete were about 5,000 -not the stated 10,000, as most Greek soldiers mingled in the population.
4)While the 3D maps are beautiful as drawings, there's a finite amount of number-indicators one can put on it. When there are some 30-35 identical number indicators, representing units from company to regiment (!) it becomes tiresome to read the map and comprehend the comparative sizes of forces. There is a reason symbols are used in maps. There were moments I prefered they had ditched the 3D map in favor of the "simple" 2D map with symbols instead of the numerical indicators and an index on the side.

All in all, the book left me with mixed feelings. Despite its annoying shortcomings however, it fullfils its task, albeit basically.

This is the second campaign of Mr Antill that I've read and it seems apparent the author reads a lot of secondary sources but does little research into primary documents before writing these campaigns. His Stalingrad coverage was disappointing but with the scale of the Crete invasion being smaller and the requirements less demanding, he has done a better job with Crete. Perhaps I'm too lenient when rating Osprey titles but I do believe authors of most of these campaigns are working under a handicap from a page limiitation and do not expect comprehensive coverage. Overall the author has given a credible story, enough to give a new reader a good understanding of the campaign and can make a determination as to if the reader wants to research the events further.

The introduction was good for the most part, giving Hitler's reasons for invading the Balkans. The key reasons were Stalin's aggressive nature against Rumania and Mussolini's continued attempt at being a conqueror but failing. With Hitler intent on invading Russia, he needed a stable Balkan flank and needed to vanquish the British from stirring up trouble in Greece and Crete. He needed to control the area to prevent further communist spread and protect the oil fields of Rumania. The author stating a primary reason for the invasion was to bring the British to the negotiating table was in error. It may have been a secondary issue but clearly not the primary concern. The reasons for the invasion were brief but adequate to get a base understanding.

The three page chronology was very good covering from Oct 1940 when Italy attacked Greece to June 1941 when the Allies evacuated Crete.
The Opposing Commanders chapter was excellent, giving coverage to a wide array of key people on both sides. I thought it was one of the best "Opposing Commanders" chapters in all the Osprey books. Opposing Forces was good, including the participation of all involved countries and Opposing Plans was pretty good but wished for a little greater detail.
Mr Antill devotes 50 pages to the actual invasion and the coverage was good here as well, giving daily coverage of the nearly two week campaign. The coverage at the four main landing sites for the first few days when the action was the hottest and the outcome still in doubt was very good. The naval engagements were mentioned as well but could have been expanded; the author had room for it. (The key landing sites were Maleme, Souda Bay / Prison Valley, Keraklion and Rethymnon.)

The author provides excellent maps. There were six 2-D maps. The first covers the German Balkan campaign that included Yugoslavia and Greece. He then focuses his attention on Crete with a map of the entire island then drills down to maps that cover Souda Bay and Prison Valley, Rethymnon, Heraklion and the Allied retreat to Sphakion.
There were three 3-D maps that included the fighting at Maleme, Platanios and Galatos. All the maps were very good and the 3-D maps included helpful comments.
In Aftermath, the authors summarizes the costs and ramifications of this costly battle to both sides and for the future war effort. It had a particularly negative impact on Hitler and his Operation Barbarossa. The battle also proved that the Germans were over confident and planned poorly and it cost them dearly.
Overall this campaign has merit and for anybody looking for an overview of this under rated campaign should consider this book. The Bibliography has some commendable choices if further reading is desired.

I bought this book as part of my research into a presentation on "The Role of the Glider in WW II", and found it to be well written and not only an excellent historical record of the German assault on Crete, but also providing much descriptive contextual material, and is well illustrated. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a detailed analysis of WW II events, as well as those enjoying war stories as a good read.

great detail, well written with excellent supporting pictures and diagrams. If you're interested in military history, this is a good book to read.