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second in the afternoon, were thrown in by a continuous stream of aircraft, utterly regardless of losses to men and machines. They were resolutely encountered on and near the airfield by a battalion of the 5th New Zealand Brigade, with the rest of the brigade in support to. the eastward.

Wherever our troops were noticed, they were subjected to tremendous bombardment, bombs of five hundred and even a thousand pounds being used in profusion. Counterattacks were impossible in daylight. A counter-attack with only two “I” tanks proved a failure. Gliders or troop-carriers landed or crashed on the beaches and in the scrub or on the fireswept airfield. In all, around and between Maleme and Canea over five thousand Germans reached the ground on the first day. They suffered very heavy losses from the fire and fierce hand-to-hand fighting of the New Zealanders. In our defended area practically all who alighted were accounted for, most being killed. At the end of the day we were still in possession of the airfield, but that evening the few who were left of the battalion fell back on its supports. Two companies sent up to reinforce were too late to make a counter-attack for the airfield, which was still, however, under our artillery fire.

Retimo and Heraklion were both treated to a heavy air bombardment on that morning, followed by parachute drops in the afternoon of two and four battalions respectively.

Heavy fighting followed, but at nightfall we remained in firm possession of both airfields. At Retimo and Heraklion there were also descents on a smaller scale, with hard fighting and heavy German casualties. The result of this first day’s fighting was, therefore, fairly satisfactory, except at Maleme; but in every sector bands of well-armed men were now at large. The strength of the attacks far exceeded the expectations of the British command, and the fury of our resistance astonished the enemy.

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This was the report we got:

General Freyberg

10 P.M. 20

to General Wavell

May 41

Today has been a hard one. We have been hard
pressed. So far, I believe, we hold aerodromes at
Retimo, Heraklion, and Maleme, and the two harbours.

Margin by which we hold them is a bare one, and it
would be wrong of me to paint optimistic picture.

Fighting has been heavy and we have killed large
numbers of Germans. Communications are most
difficult. Scale of air attacks upon Canea has been
severe. Everybody here realises vital issue and we will
fight it out.

The onslaught continued on the second day, when troop-carrying aircraft again appeared. Although Maleme airfield remained under our close artillery and mortar fire, troop-carriers continued to land upon it and in the rough ground to the west. The German High Command seemed indifferent to losses, and at least a hundred planes were wrecked by crash-landing in this area. Nevertheless, the build-up continued. A counter-attack made that night reached the edge of the airfield, but with daylight the German Air Force reappeared and the gains could not be held.

On the third day Maleme became an effective operational airfield for the enemy. Troop-carriers continued to arrive at a rate of more than twenty an hour. Even more decisive was the fact that they could also return for reinforcements.

Altogether it was estimated that in these and the ensuing days more than six hundred troop-carriers landed or crashed more or less successfully on the airfield. Under the increasing pressure of these growing forces the plan for a major counterattack had finally to be abandoned, and the 5th New Zealand Brigade gradually gave way until they were nearly ten miles from Maleme. At Canea and Suda

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there was no change, and at Retimo the situation was well in hand. At Heraklion the enemy were landing east of the airfield, and an effective hostile lodgment there began and grew. After the opening attacks on May 20 the German High Command switched off Retimo and Heraklion and concentrated mainly on the Suda Bay area.

Air reconnaissance having reported the presence of caiques in the Aegean, Admiral Cunningham had on the twentieth dispatched a light force to the northwest of Crete.

It consisted of the cruisers
Naiad
and
Perth,
and the destroyers
Kandahar, Nubian, Kingston,
and
Juno,
under the command of Rear-Admiral King.

A powerful force under Rear-Admiral Rawlings, consisting of the battleships
Warspite
and
Valiant,
screened by eight destroyers, lay to the west of Crete on the lookout for the expected intervention by the Italian Fleet. Throughout the twenty-first our ships were subjected to heavy air attacks.

The destroyer
Juno
was hit, and sank in two minutes with heavy loss of life. The cruisers
Ajax
and
Orion
were also damaged, but continued in action.

That night our weary troops saw to the northward the whole skyline alive with flashes and knew the Royal Navy was at work. The first German seaborne convoy had started on its desperate mission. In the afternoon groups of small craft were reported approaching Crete, and Admiral Cunningham ordered his light forces into the Aegean to prevent landings during the darkness. At 11.30 P.M., eighteen miles north of Canea, Rear-Admiral Glennie, with the cruisers
Dido, Orion,
and
Ajax
and four destroyers, caught the German troop convoy, composed chiefly of caiques escorted by torpedo boats. For two and a half

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hours the British ships hunted their prey, sinking not less than a dozen caiques and three steamers, all crowded with German troops. It was estimated that about four thousand men were drowned that night.

Meanwhile Rear-Admiral King, with the cruisers
Naiad,
Perth, Calcutta,
and
Carlisle
and three destroyers, spent the night of the twenty-first patrolling off Heraklion, and at daylight on the twenty-second began to sweep northward. A single caique loaded with troops was destroyed, and by ten o’clock the squadron was approaching the island of Melos.

A few minutes later an enemy destroyer with five small craft was sighted to the northward, and was at once engaged.

Another destroyer was then seen laying a smoke-screen, and behind the smoke were a large number of caiques. We had in fact intercepted another important convoy crammed with soldiers. Our air reconnaissance had reported this fact to Admiral Cunningham, but it took more than an hour for this news to be confirmed to Rear-Admiral King. His ships had been under incessant air attack since daylight, and although they had hitherto suffered no damage all were running short of A.A. ammunition. Their combine speed was also reduced, as the
Carlisle
could steam no more than twenty-one knots. The Rear-Admiral, not fully realising the prize which was almost within his grasp, felt that to go farther north would jeopardise his whole force, and ordered a withdrawal to the west. As soon as this signal was read by the Commander-in-Chief, he sent the following order: Stick it out. Keep in visual signalling touch. Must not let Army down in Crete. It is essential no seaborne enemy force land in Crete.

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It was now too late to destroy the convoy, which had turned back and scattered in all directions among the numerous islands. Thus at least five thousand German soldiers escaped the fate of their comrades. The audacity of the German authorities in ordering these practically defenceless convoys of troops across waters of which they did not possess the naval command as well as that of the air is a sample of what might have happened on a gigantic scale in the North Sea and the English Channel in September, 1940. It shows the German lack of comprehension of sea power against invading forces, and also the price which may be exacted in human life as the penalty for this kind of ignorance.

The Rear-Admiral’s retirement did not save his squadron from the air attack. He probably suffered as much loss in his withdrawal as he would have done in destroying the convoy. For the next three and a half hours his ships were bombed continuously. His flagship, the
Naiad,
and the
Carlisle,
whose commander, Captain T. C. Hampton, was killed, were both damaged. At 1.10 P.M. they were met by the battleships
Warspite
and
Valiant,
with the cruisers
Gloucester
and
Fiji
and seven destroyers under Rear-Admiral Rawlings, who were hastening through the Cythera Strait from the westward to support them. Almost at the moment when the
Warspite
arrived, she was hit by a bomb which wrecked her starboard four-inch and six-inch batteries and reduced her speed, and as the enemy had now escaped, the combined British squadrons drew off to the southwestward. Inflexibly resolved, whatever the cost,

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to destroy all seaborne invaders, Admiral Cunningham had indeed thrown everything into the scale. It is clear that throughout these operations he did not hesitate for this purpose to hazard not only his most precious ships, but the whole naval command of the Eastern Mediterranean. His conduct on this issue was highly approved by the Admiralty.