by David Row
Relations between Vichy France and the United States degenerated sharply as the Senate passed a bill empowering the government to seize foreign shipping in US harbours. Under the Ship Seizure Bill the US can take over vessels "by purchase, charter, requisition" or may take them "into protective custody." Although not specifically aimed at Vichy, the measure is a clear response to Petain's decision to collaborate more closely with Germany. Armed guards have already been placed on board all French ships in US ports, including the liner Normandie. Other French merchant ships will be put in "protective custody" as they arrive.
16th May
At dawn, the men of the 7th Armoured blocking the way to Bone saw a group of German officers approaching under a white flag. Trapped between them and the French and British armour pressing forward from the east, and fast running out of fuel and ammunition (the remaining tanks of the division were by now virtually immobile), and having lost their commander, the divisional commander felt he had no choice but to surrender for the sake of his men. The surrender was quickly accepted, and messages sent to the pursuing troops to inform them. The 21st Panzer thus achieved the distinction of being the first German division to surrender to the Allies in WW2.
The Ariete division arrives in Algiers. The mood in the city is poor; indeed the troops are the subject of jeering crowds as they make their way into the city. The local French police don't seem very interested in doing anything to disperse the crowds, the reason for which becomes obvious once the division commander meets with the local commander - Algeria is now in all but open revolt. The orders to attack French troops entering the country have apparently been too much for anyone but the most dedicated Vichy supporters. The only place still under control is Algiers, due to the support troops stationed there, and in fact they are most relieved to see the arrival of the Ariete division. Their leaders are less relieved when they find out about the losses the division has taken - their commander informs them bluntly that if the Allies make a determined attack he cannot stop them.
17th May.
The carriers arrive back at Alexandria, and are hurriedly refuelled; intelligence is indicating they will be needed very soon. They also fly off some of their TBR aircraft in exchange for more fighters. To supplement the naval Goshawks, a squadron of Sparrowhawks have been refitted with arrestor hooks at the base workshops, and volunteer RAF pilots given a crash course on basic carrier landing and takeoff. Since the expectation is of an airborne invasion of Crete, it is hoped that they won't have to worry about bad weather (for which they are certainly not trained up for), as the Luftwaffe will not be trying to land troops in bad weather. There is also an additional RAAF squadron available who have already had similar training, and these two squadrons allow Cunningham to have some 100 fighters available to him. The rest of the Mediterranean fleet is on alert, and a cruiser/destroyer force is already at sea between Egypt and Crete.
Due to increasing Luftwaffe bombing on the island, General Freiburg has asked that the last of the RAF aircraft be withdrawn to Egypt; the air attacks are simply too heavy to allow them to remain. It is hoped that the carriers, operating south of the island, can supply him with the necessary air defence, although Cunningham has warned that their endurance may be limited.
Hitler hears about the surrender of the 21st Panzer and flies into a rage. When he calms down, he asks if implementing Operation Anton immediately will affect Barbarossa. He is told that it will not; the invasion of Russia is ready, and just waiting for the roads to dry out. He orders it to be implemented as soon as possible - the loss of the 21st Panzer would never have happened if it wasn't for the French stabbing them in the back. (Hitler's view of the situation is, it must be said, somewhat biased).
In Algeria, the British have stopped their advance on the border (apart from the force already near Bone), allowing the French to move forward to take the city. Given the surrender of the 21st and the overwhelming allied force heading west, the supply and maintenance troops in the city have surrendered without a fight. The French column has halted outside the city, where its leaders are having (highly unofficial) talks with a number of local French military commanders who have arrived quietly.
18th May
While O'Connor and the French have been holding and defeating the incursion into Tunisia, preparations have been going on at a furious rate for the defence of Crete. In fact, this was actually the higher priority in the mind of Wavell at the moment, as it wasn't considered likely that, no matter how well they did, the Afrika Korps could get further than Tripoli before Crete was all over.
Crete was defended mainly by the 1st New Zealand division. Having been diverted there instead of Greece when it became obvious to General Blamey that Greece was going to fall, the division is fully equipped. This is helpful as the road and communications network on Crete was very poor, and moving troops around without transport was going to be time-consuming, The division had spent its time on Crete preparing defensive works; little had been done during the time Greece was at war with Italy. The invasion was expected to be in two parts; an airborne attack, followed by a seaborne landing. The Allies had considerable information as to the nature of the invasion from their Ultra intercepts, but to preserve the security of these the New Zealanders had only been given partial information. Also a number of additional units had been sent to bolster the division. AA units from the newly-arrived 50th British division were shipped to increased the defences (it was considered likely that the Luftwaffe would be able to make the airfields untenable for defending fighters before the invasion, as was in fact the case), along with one infantry brigade, and a dozen infantry tanks sent to make life difficult for any airborne troops
There were also a substantial number of Greek troops on the island, making up about a brigade of armed and ready troops. There were also some 35,000 men evacuated from Greece, some with the British but mainly on small craft and fishing vessels. As a result they had very little equipment. Initially it had been hoped to equip at least some of the Greek troops with British weapons - they were experienced, and once recovered from their evacuation ordeal, would help to defend the island. The British had their own shortages, and did not have sufficient weapons to outfit any large number of men. While the discussions over this had been going on, one nameless staff officer had pointed out that they had warehouses "stuffed to the rafters with captured Italian weapons and ammunition", and while Italian equipment wasn't the best, it was a lot better than nothing. Accordingly enough small arms and a few other weapons such a mortars, plus ammunition, had been shipped on to the island. As it was simply impossible to provide transport, light weapons only were sent, as the men would have to fight and move on foot. Three brigades were formed using this equipment, and another two from the existing defenders.
The Royal Navy had promised that they would prevent any seaborne invasion, and as far as possible interfere with any transport planes used, but pointed out that the carriers simply couldn't be risked north of the island, and so they could not provide a constant air presence. Light forces of cruisers and destroyers would be covered by the FAA in order to sink any ships trying to get to Crete from the north.
19th May
The largest Italian army still fighting in Ethiopia formally surrendered today. 18,000 Italian and colonial troops have marched out and into prison camps. Few Italian troops now remain to be dealt with in Ethiopia.
The Duke of Aosta also surrenders with 7,000 more Italian troops. Of the 230,000 Italians that started this campaign in East Africa only 80,000 remain.
By the morning of the 19th, Axis forces had completed their preparations for Anton, the complete occupation of France, which had been anticipated for some time. The German First Army advanced from the Atlantic coast, parallel to the Spanish border, while the German Seventh Army advanced from central France towards Vichy and Toulon. The Italian 4th Army occupied the French Riviera and an Italian division landed on Corsica to capture the island. By the evening of the 20th, German tanks had reached t
he Mediterranean coast.
Vichy France limited its active resistance to radio broadcasts objecting to the violation of the armistice. The 50,000-strong Vichy French Army initially took defensive positions around Toulon, but when confronted by German demands to disband, they lacked the military capability to resist the Axis forces.
The Germans had formulated Operation Lila with the aim of capturing intact the demobilised French fleet at Toulon. French naval commanders managed to delay the Germans by negotiation and subterfuge long enough to scuttle their ships, before the Germans could seize them, preventing the fleet from falling into the hands of the Axis. This was just as well, as the RN had plans ready to attack and sink the ships with a carrier strike if the Germans had gained control of them.
Chapter 15 - Crete
20th May
During the previous evening and night, the demolition of the airfield runways had gone ahead as planned by General Freyberg. This proved to be none too soon, as at 0800 the first German paratroops were dropping on the airfield around Maleme airfield and the town of Chania. The drop, while nominally successful, suffered terribly at the hands of the Greek and New Zealand defenders, who did especial damage to the gliders that landed with the paratroops - almost all of them were wiped out by mortar fire on landing, and the rifles of the defenders. Indeed the only surviving units were those who had landed off course, and while some of these managed to prepare temporary positions, others were engaged by the Greek infantry. The more mobile New Zealanders were busy engaging and trying to contain the force that had landed at the airfield.
Although the carriers south of the island were trying to mount a CAP over the airfields, the distance meant they could only manage intermittent cover, and sadly were not present when the first wave of the German attack began. They had more luck that afternoon, when a second wave of paratroops and gliders attacked Rethimnon and Heraklion. Twelve Goshawks intercepted the drop at Heraklion, and slaughtered the vulnerable transport aircraft. They destroyed at least 20 planes, and it is estimated that half of the attacking force never made it to the ground. Heraklion was defended by a British and a Greek brigade, and with the losses and disruption of the fighter interception the German force had no choice but to form a defensive perimeter and try and hold until reinforcements arrived.
The most progress made by the attackers was at Maleme, where they gradually extended their perimeter, although not without heavy losses at the hands of the defenders. It was decided that the main reinforcement would go into Maleme tomorrow, as that assault seemed to have made the best progress. So far the Luftwaffe has lost some 40 Ju52 aircraft, more than expected, and mainly due to the unexpected interception by the FAA. The Luftwaffe started the operation with some 450 transport planes, so the losses, while annoying, are not considered a problem - yet.
21st May
The Royal Navy decides to try a different tactic to keep air cover going over the island. They lost five planes yesterday to Me109's flying from Greece, so realise that there is no point in patrolling in small numbers. So instead they mount a covering force of sixteen fighters. Since this means they won't have much available to defend themselves in case of attack, the air defence for the carriers themselves is taken over by Sparrowhawks, flying out of Egypt with auxiliary fuel tanks. This is a risky tactic, as the RAF planes are not used to defending the carriers, but it is felt that unless a heavy raid is mounted on them it will prove sufficient. In addition, the two squadrons of Beaufighters that had later been amusing the Afrika Korps have moved back east, and will be mounting patrols over the island from dawn - they have the range to do this from their bases in Egypt, although there is some worry about their chances against Me109's.
The cruiser minelayer HMS Abdiel lays mines off the west coast of Greece, which sink an Italian destroyer and two transports. However the destroyer Juno is sunk and the cruiser Ajax damaged as they withdraw southwest of Crete.
Given the poor results yesterday, Student decides to concentrate today's landings on the Maleme area. This decision was helped by the fact that overnight the paratroops had pushed the New Zealand forces back from Hill 107, which dominated the airfield. With this in their hands they expected fewer problems in landing reinforcements.
During the morning, more transports and gliders land troops at Maleme. However the New Zealanders AA defences are still unsuppressed, and a number of fighter sweeps by the FAA and the RAF catch the transports and the gliders, leading to heavy casualties among them. The paratroops are forced to enter combat almost as soon as they have left their aircraft, suffering more casualties to rifle and machine gun fire. By the evening, they had managed to control the airfield sufficiently to allow Ju52's to start flying in the 5th Mountain Division. While delivering a considerable number of troops, losses to the planes were heavy. The runways had been damaged two days ago by the defenders, and as a result planes were lost as they crashed on landing, often killing their occupants. The Allies artillery still dominated the airfield, and the last wave of transports were unfortunate enough to land as the Beaufighter sweep was about to head for home. The fighters expended their ammunition on the helpless transports, destroying 16 on the ground.
The actions at the other two airfields were not going well for the Germans. Using the tactics of holding the paratroops with the Greek units while the more mobile Allied force made attacks was whittling down the German numbers steadily, and their position was not helped by the two dive bombing raids in support that the fleet carriers launched. While the navy pilots were not really trained to attack ground targets, they did considerable damage and disruption to the paratroops. By night, it was looking like both these bridgeheads would be eliminated by morning.
At sea, the Germans attempted to land the first of their invasion convoys. The result was a disaster. Force D, consisting of three light cruisers and four destroyers intercepted the caiques and their single escort at midnight, and despite aggressive action by the Italian ship overwhelmed it and sank most of the transport craft before withdrawing. It is estimated that some 1200 German soldiers and Italian sailors were killed, for the loss of two British seamen. Force D then retired under the carriers' protection by daybreak.
In Algeria, the 'secret' talks between the Free French and the local commanders have borne fruit, aided by the full invasion of France by the Germans. Leaving the British to guard their backs, a strong Free French force heads slowly east to Algiers, joined by a number of the local French units in passing. By nightfall, it halts outside the city, and an officer is sent in under a flag of truce to talk to the Vichy commander there. While this has been going on, the situation in the rest of the country is tense; many of the local forces have put some of their more Vichy-friendly commanders under arrest (usually peacefully, but a number of people have been killed during these operations). It is now an open secret that, no matter how denied by Vichy, Algeria will very soon be a part of the growing Free French forces.
22nd May
Freyberg realises that Hill 107 is the key to using his artillery to suppress the airfield, and orders at attack soon after dawn to recover it. This is supported by all 40 of the carriers available divebombers and a full squadron of Beaufighters. They are escorted by the FAA Goshawks, and as a result are uninterrupted in the loving attention they give the hill. As the dust and smoke slowly clears, the ground attack come in, the men advancing with fixed bayonets. In fact, they are hardly needed, the ferocity of the air attack has stunned the defenders, and inside 30 minutes the hill is back under allied control, and artillery fire is again making the German position uncomfortable. The allies had destroyed some 70 aircraft the previous day, 50 of them Ju52 transports, and although the Luftwaffe continues to fly in planes and gliders through the day, another 45 are lost, often to ground fire after they are unable to take off immediately from the damaged runway. The Luftwaffe has now lost well over a hundred of them, as well as Ju87's which have been the preferred target of the British fighters - indeed, Squadron Leader Pattle claimed his
50th German plane during the day as he led his squadron of Sparrowhawks off HMS Illustrious. The Beaufighters are proving to be a dangerous ground attack aircraft; although not really a match for the Me109, it can hold its own or better against any of the other Axis aircraft.
A force of cruisers and destroyers are spotted north of the island by the Luftwaffe as they move south to get under their air cover. Caught before this is possible (due to the fighters supporting the attack on Hill 107), the cruisers HMS Naiad and HMS Carlisle are damaged before the FAA fighters arrive. The Luftwaffe is still conducting sweeps around the island, and later that day HMS Warspite is hit by a bomb, without serious damage. HMS Gloucester and HMS Greyhound are attacked, but this time the Goshawks shoot down three Ju87's and drive the rest off. HMS Fiji is not so lucky, struck that afternoon a number of times and left powerless. Fortunately she is south of Crete and an escort of RAF fighters keeps her company until she can be towed slowly back to Alexandria.
General Freyberg signals to Admiral Cunningham that he thinks his men can defeat the airborne troops as long as they do not get any substantial support from seaborne landings. Cunningham replies that as long any of his ships remain afloat the Germans will not get through by sea. A second attempt to land troops is made that day; a number of the caiques were sunk by gunfire, although the lack of sufficient air cover north of the island had led to losses for the Royal Navy. However the ships had forced the German force to retreat.
As predicted, the lack of reinforcements and constant attacks, especially by the Greek troops, has finally reduced the landings at Rethimnon and Heraklion. The only remaining German bridgehead is at Maleme airfield, and despite the men being flown in, is not making any progress. The commander begs for support, particularly heavy weapons and, if possible, tanks - the few British tanks, invulnerable to the paratroops light weapons, and being used as mobile machine gun posts and causing considerable losses. He is informed that a new landing attempt will be made tomorrow.
