So this was not your grandfather’s Operation Mercury. Germans battalions, landing father from their objectives, would soon reform and begin their advance on the ground as largely intact units. They had naval gun support, just enough air support to tussle with the RAF and achieve parity over the island, and they had 5th Mountain Division landing intact over the first two or three days of the operation, with no real attempt by the Royal Navy to intervene. That is what the presence of the Bismarck, Friedrich de Gross, Prinz Heinrich, Kaiser Wilhelm and the Goeben did for the operation, it gave the Germans control of the sea north of the island from day one.
Yet it is said that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and that was to be the case near Maleme. First off, Major General Heidrich and his headquarters staff landing west of Kissamos found that the British had posted a small garrison there near an air strip they had been working on, and it had been bolstered with sandbagged positions. He had to send in his HQ company, and then ordered the 7th Pioneer Pathfinder Battalion to attack those positions, which meant that several of the beaches would not be cleared and marked at dawn.
Then, when 1st Battalion of the 1st Falschirmjaeger Regiment landed in an area well south of Maleme, they were again surprised to find a Carpathian motorcycle company posted in the small hamlet of Voukolies. That would hold up the entire battalion as they deployed to surround and clear that town, and this would leave only two battalions left to make the initial attack towards Maleme, instead of the full regiment as planned. As they advanced, they soon encountered a solid defensive line put up by the 3rd Carpathian Brigade. The fight for Maleme, though not so bloody at the outset, soon promised to be very difficult.
At Rethymnon, the Sturm Regiment landed much closer to the town, which was held only by local Military Police Companies and the 2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highland Battalion. The problem there was that the port and airfield were widely separated, about 10 kilometers apart. The Germans seemed to make good progress against the port, but two Greek Regiments were sitting on either side of the airfield.
The Allied side was not without equal problems, and chief among them was the order sendt through Alexander’s HQ by Alanbrooke that every effort was to be made to withdraw units safely to ports on the south coast of the island to be taken off by the Royal Navy. The Greeks didn’t like those orders, and a few feisty Majors said they would flat out refuse to carry them out. As an example of the chaos this caused, Major Serhos of the 5th Greek Regiment obeyed the order and started his men marching south over Hill B near Rethymnon. Major Tryfon’s 4th Regiment, also at that same airfield, did nothing, staying put in their positions and deciding to fight when the first German units made contact.
A similar situation played out near Chania, with Captain Wolner’s 2nd Greek Regiment obeying the order and heading for the hills to the south, while Colonel Gregorio’s 6th Greek Regiment decided to simply sit and do nothing until runners could make contact with the British at Chania and sort the matter out. When the runner reached the city, he was surprised to see the British had no problems carrying out their orders.
The Welsh Fusiliers were already in column of march, abandoning Chania and heading south. Supplies that could not be carried were being burned or thrown into the sea at the harbor. Stevedores finished with that sad task were looking to quickly follow that infantry, and all of this was happening under the whine of Stukas coming in at dawn to bomb the whole area. Fires started by the naval bombardment of the harbor burned in the warehouses and dock yard, and a pall of heavy smoke hung over the entire scene. Chaos was not half a word for what was happening. Even the Greek King in exile, George II, found his entourage strafed by German planes as the 2nd Royal Engineers from Suda Bay tried to hustle him to safety. He had stubbornly refused to leave the Island after the Germans took the mainland, but now he had no recourse.
As soon as the British regulars marched off, the dock workers from Palestine and other Arab countries quickly followed them. Only the fixed shore batteries, and all the AA gun crews would bravely man their weapons, hoping to fend off the German air attacks on the long column now heading south.
Shame played a part in what was happening. Those two Greek regiments that did withdraw as ordered soon met the scornful rebuke of the local citizenry as they marched into the highlands. There, men were gathering in bands, armed with whatever they could find, a pistol, and old shotgun or hunting rifle, and planning to mount a guerilla style defense. With both their honor and manhood impugned, many of the Greek regulars were so ashamed that they simply broke from their march column and joined the guerillas. Down on the coast, Colonel Gregorio’s 6th Greek saw the British march off, was utterly outraged, and then simply ordered his men to attack the German companies advancing on Suda Bay.
But one force held its ground, intending to fight to the last—Brigadier Kopanski’s Carpathians at Maleme. He had held the line against the first German assaults, and now he was pulling in his companies to form a tighter perimeter. The Polish artillery fired incessantly, churning up the fields and forcing the German paras to go to ground. At the moment, they could only answer with small mortars and one battery of four 75mm guns.
East of this fight, the 7th Pioneers had finally overwhelmed the enemy detachment near Kissamos, and now the 5th Mountain Division was able to land its recon and pioneer battalions, and 1st Battalion of the 85th Regiment. They were all on the road heading east towards Maleme Airfield, a much needed reinforcement. In the old history, without those seaborne landings, the Germans had to fight for Hill 107 and Maleme Airfield at great cost so they could land fresh troops to move west to Chania. This time the original plan was on track, and Ringel’s mountain troops were on the way.
By the end of that day, the German paras were already starting to run low on supplies and ammo, resting exhausted companies and sending in fresh men from the rear. They were waiting for the Luftwaffe to make a scheduled air drop the morning of the 21st, and took heart as they watched the Luftwaffe swoop and dive on the enemy strong points. The RAF had been ordered back to Alexandria, the planes abandoning Kastelli, Butterfield, and all the main fields near the key towns. A few planes still operated from Timbakion in the south to cover the relief convoy that was scheduled to arrive after dark on the 22nd. As for Raeder’s task force, it was moving east, bound for the Aegean, its work accomplished in successfully covering the landing of 5th Mountain Division.
Late on the 21st of February, the first columns began to arrive along the south coast. The next day, British would evacuate the 2nd Royal Leicester Battalion, 2nd Black Watch, 2nd Yorcs & Lancs, KRRC Rangers, Welsh Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Engineer Battalion, and 2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. It was a full Brigade, and would be most welcome at Alexandria, where General Alexander could put it to good use on his Syrian Front. All the stevedores and dock workers that had followed them were routed further west on the coast to Ay Roumelis, and some went very resentfully when a British Sergeant bawled at them to move on, saying the main road was for British regulars only.