Capture of Crete: about the reasons for the serious losses of the Wehrmacht during the largest airborne operation in history

On May 20, 1941, the largest stories airborne operation called "Mercury", during which the Wehrmacht troops captured the island of Crete, which was considered by the leadership of the Third Reich to be a strategically important territory.

After all, the occupation of the island by the Germans did not allow the British to continue to carry out air strikes on the Romanian oil fields, which provided the Wehrmacht with fuel during the Nazi offensive on the Soviet Union.

It is worth noting that the Wehrmacht operation seemed to be a stunning success for the leadership of the USSR and the allied countries. At the same time, Hitler called the "Mercury" a disaster and a "bloody failure" due to the colossal losses. Even though they turned out to be smaller than those of the superior British and Greeks.

In total, more than 3600 Nazis were killed during the largest airborne operation, and about 2,5 thousand more were injured.

At the same time, the Wehrmacht suffered the greatest losses on the first day of the operation. And there were good reasons for that.

First, the leadership of the operation underestimated the strength of the defenders. According to a German intelligence report, there were about 5 English and Greek soldiers on the island. In addition, the population of Crete supposedly had to meet the Germans with "bread and salt" and not resist.

In fact, intelligence was grossly mistaken, unless, of course, Wilhelm Canaris (the head of the Abwehr) did not try to sabotage the operation. After all, the number of troops defending the island reached 40 thousand people, and the locals put up serious opposition to the invaders.

But that's not all. The second reason for the "bloody failure" was the equipment of the German paratroopers. When landing, the Wehrmacht used a parachute of an unsuccessful design, in which the parachutist's body in the jump was tilted by 40 degrees, and there were no lines controlling the orientation of the parachute at all, which led to serious rotation and the inability to calculate the landing site.

Moreover, the paratroopers had to land on all fours at a speed of 21,6 km / h with a simultaneous blow to the ground with their elbows and knees.

To avoid critical injuries, paratroopers used elbow and knee pads, and also abandoned rifles, which were heavy and could cause injury upon landing.

As a result, some of the paratroopers were armed with pistols, and some with submachine guns. They had to get to the cache with rifles after landing, but this could only be done with a surprise attack.

And this is the third reason for the heavy losses of the Wehrmacht - the Germans were expected. In this case, British intelligence worked well. As a result, practically unarmed paratroopers on rotating parachutes were simply shot from pre-prepared positions.

Comments

[parusnik]

It is worth noting that the Wehrmacht operation seemed to be a stunning success for the leadership of the USSR and the allied countries.

Naturally, since the official German propaganda presented the capture of Crete as another successful operation. So far, they figured it out, but there was no longer up to Crete.

[Cartalon]

And here is propaganda, Crete was captured in an unexpected way and with smaller forces, naturally the operation was considered incredibly successful, the losses were large by the standards of the Wehrmacht of 40-41, if the Allies had carried out such an operation, the losses would have been considered minimal compared to the result.

[Kronos]

So it was a brilliant success, just considerable as the Germans considered the price.

[ism_ek]

I think that Hitler viewed the capture of Crete as a rehearsal for an invasion of England. Still, to capture the small island, which was primarily defended by the fleet, a squadron of more than 700 aircraft was assembled. A third of the aircraft was lost, a significant part of which were expensive transport aircraft. The defenders of the island would have had enough heavy weapons, tanks ... The Germans would have had significantly more problems, because. by plane, the tank cannot be delivered to the island.
It was probably at that moment that he finally decided to attack the USSR, and not England.

[Doctor]

In total, more than 3600 Nazis were killed during the largest airborne operation, and about 2,5 thousand more were injured.

At the same time, they captured an entire island with an area of ​​\u8b\u000bmore than 40 square kilometers, with a garrison of 000 and 35 with their own forces.

Serious losses, of course.

[Kronos]

The losses were powerful among the Luftwaffe, for example, 147 aircraft and the German paratroopers suffered irreparable losses.

[ism_ek]

Quote: Kronos

Losses were heavy among the Luftwaffe

Aviation fought with the fleet.
The loss of 147 German aircraft against three cruisers, six destroyers, 10 auxiliary vessels and more than 10 transports and merchant ships from the Allies is a drop in the mole.
Three battleships, an aircraft carrier, six cruisers, and seven destroyers were also damaged. About 7 thousand English sailors died.

[Altmann]

Despite the strategic importance of Crete, all actions smacked of a Pyrrhic victory for the German paratroopers. As a result of the poor assessment of intelligence, the Germans faced unexpectedly stiff resistance, and only the military prowess of the paratroopers and the tactical mistakes of the allies averted disaster. The losses of the 7th Parachute Division still reached over 4000 killed, missing and wounded, which led the German command to the conclusion that the next time they could not afford landings of this magnitude.
Interestingly, the paratroopers were armed with Czechoslovak carbines of the 1935 model, which proved their quality in the next stage of the German deployment.

[the same doctor]

The capture of Crete was carried out only thanks to the grossest mistakes of the British officers. He showed that paratroopers will never be able to capture a correctly defended object.