Kiwis in Crete 1941
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
- Kiwis in Crete 1941
Part of New Zealand at War Week on WW2TV
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The Battle for Crete was one of the most dramatic battles of the Second World War. Over 12 days in May 1941 a mixed force of New Zealanders, British, Australian and Greek troops desperately tried to fight off a huge German airborne assault. Despite suffering appalling casualties, the parachutists and glider-borne troops who led the invasion managed to secure a foothold on the island and eventually gained the upper hand. The battle ended with the evacuation to Egypt of the bulk of the Allied force. In today's show, Glyn Harper will explain the role of the New Zealand part of "Creforce".
Glyn Harper QSM is a New Zealand historian who specialises in the military history of the 20th century. He has published several books on New Zealand's participation in the First and Second World Wars. Before becoming a writer, he served for eight years in the Australian Army before transferring to the New Zealand Army. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in 2001 from the University of New England with a thesis on Howard Kippenberger, a New Zealand general of the Second World War. He then served as the official historian for New Zealand's military deployment to East Timor from 1999 to 2001. He retired from the New Zealand Army in 2001 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He became a lecturer at Massey University in Palmerston North, and was made an associate professor in military studies the following year. In 2003 he was appointed director of the Centre for Defence Studies. He is currently Professor of War Studies at Massey University, and supervises doctoral students.
We suggest watching Matthew Wright's show about the Creforce Leadership
General Freyberg and the 2nd New Zealand Division • General Freyberg and t...
and Greg Way's show about the German attack
Operation Mercury - The Invasion of Crete • Operation Mercury - Th...
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Kiwi here, My Great Grandfather was captured on Crete also. Spend the next years in Stalag 18A.
End of war and back to new zealand he brought a farm in quite country and hunted and flourished til '55 when he passed in an accident on tbe farm. Nana always said he never spoke much about the war just that he remembers the Train ride back through Greece in cattle crates, said he swore to her that he never fought or killed anyone but in his sleep he was very restless and said many things.
I've looked through his papers and and also done my study and tracked him from nz to stalag 18A. They were facing a vastly superior, well trained, and experienced army.
They did well, or boys they fought tooth and nail when allowed too and showed great courage and stubbornness.
He was in D company18th battalion 2ndNZEF
Thanks for sharing
My Koro (Māori word for Grandfather) was at Crete during the battle as a young naive 2nd Lieutenant in the 28th Māori Battalion as was his brother as a enlisted man...
I remember him as a child listening to him as he would walk around his house or yard singing Greek songs...
My Grandmother shared with me a little story about some of his experiences that he and his brother along with some of the other boys from our village that made it home had told her, and how he knew when he had hit German Fallschirmjäger Paratroopers as they were dropping down on top of his position because as he described it they turned into "out of control helicopter blades" as they spun uncontrollably down until crashing into the ground, and him and his boys rushing up on them as they were covered with their parachutes and finishing them off with either the butts of their weapons or in some case's he witnessed men using rocks and branches of olive trees that they used as clubs, absolutely brutal descriptions...
He and his men along with his brother, managed to keep it up until they essentially ran completely out of ammunition and had to resort to hand to hand fighting with the German Paratroopers until they were overwhelmed and had to escape through an olive grove, as they were withdrawing Koro got seperated from his brother in the heat of the fighting, he along with some of his men made it clear of the position and on realizing that his brother wasn't amongst them he began to ask his boys if any of them had seen his brother during the withdrawal. One of the lads had seen him get hit, but had lost sight of him after that but thought he might have survived the injury...
Koro sent the other surving lads in the group that made it out in the direction of the port where the allied forces were being evacuated and waited for the cover of darkness. He then crawled back into the German occupied area that they had lost earlier on that day and searched the olive grove for his brother, finding him hiding amongst the dead bodies of their mates that weren't so lucky, seriously wounded from a gunshot wound through his legs but well and truly alive...
He then spent that whole night dragging his brother back to safety, surrounded by the Germans until they got out of the area and to relative "safety" where some of the local Cretan Resistance found them both and volunteered to carry his brother down to the port to be evacuated so that he could continue fighting...
He then started to "grip" up stragglers from various allied countries from scattered/shattered units that were heading to the port who volunteered to stay behind with him to conduct small rearguard actions to disrupt enemy operations and to try and "buy time" for our allied troops to get out, in conjunction with the Local Cretan Resistance Fighters, until it got to the point that he and his band of "Guerrillas" had to "Bug Out" and bolt to the port before being left behind, managing to make it onto one of the last ships leaving to North Africa whilst being bombed and strafed by the German Luftwaffe Stukas most of the way there, where he was immediately promoted to a full Lieutenant and then proceeded to fight through that entire campaign, being involved directly in all the "Major Stunts and Shows" during the North African theatre that the Battalion was involved in, all the way into Italy through to Monte Cassino seeing that through to the rank of Captain until he contracted T.B at the completion of that Battle and then being evacuated back to New Zealand on one of the Hospital Ships...
I recall the day a letter arrived on an anniversary of the Battle from some government "Heavy" (who in actual fact was a lovely Greek man from the Embassy with a awesome friendly smile) in a suit who hand delivered him a beautiful envelope, and inside it was an immaculately hand written and personally signed letter from the Greek King himself, thanking him for what he had done in the defence of Crete during the Battle...
He never once spoke about any of it...
My Grandmother framed the letter, and it still hangs on the wall beside a photo of him in his uniform in the family homestead living room...
The Guy was an absolute Legend.
The german commander in Greece was living in the house of a french woman, a family friend in Kifisia, close to Athens. He told her that Germans were massacred in Crete. The Cretans I met in 1966 were highly appreciative of the bravery of the New Zealanders and their excellent physical condition. Their negative remark was only for their commander who did not attack the very first night the Germans who survived. The shotguns of the women and the older men who remained on the island were almost as good as rifles at night. After the war, close friendships remained between the ex soldiers and their Greeks who assisted them. Even German occupiers came back as tourists. I met only one person who did not like them and his reason was that many Italians were executed by them on the island of Cephalonia, after the italian surrender and their refusal to continue helping the Germans. All my information totally agrees with the presentation.
My father and his cousins were here One was left behind after the evacuation. Spent the war is jail. My father's brother joined him in Egypt. One uncle was KIA at Casino.
Very good lecture. I didn't know that a couple of battlions didn't cover themselves with glory in Greece. We were all brought up on the myth of the ANZAC soldier being the best. They're only humans after all, except for Charles Upham, who won his first VC on Crete.
Both my Grandfather & Great grandfather were in 19th Armored & Infantry Regiment were in Greece & Crete a Private Richard Ensor & the Commanding Officer Charles Darcy Blackburn Richard captured in Crete and Charles managed to get evacuated to Egypt then posted back to New Zealand to help create the NZ Armored Corps. Charles earned a MiD on Crete
Richard escaped from German POW camps in Italy 3 times recaptured twice the third time he was shot in his ass he used to say it helped him escape as it made him run faster recuperated with italian partisans fought with them until liberated by the Americans who he fought with for 6 weeks before being escorted back to London by 2 MPs 🤣
harold Addis was there- he was our neighbour on highway 50.
Kiwi here. The NZ command failures are embarrassing. Far out. Great lecture-it’s refreshing to have an experienced lecturer on rather than someone who wrote a book speaking off the cuff.
Personally I rather enjoy the unscripted chats
we are only recently teaching this NZ history content to high school students, it is becoming an increasingly popular subject
That's great to hear
One of the reasons for the massive German losses was the parachute design had the parachuter spinning in the air as they came down as the connection to the harness was on the back between the shoulder blades , so they could not fire their weapons effectively in defence as they came down . I visited Suda Bay war cemmetry in 2020 and was sad and heartend to see it after reading so much about it , sad that so many kiwis from places i new died on the other side of the world , and happy that with the people of Crete and the war graves commission have kept the cemmetry immaculate . I also put a small NZ flag in the ground in front of our brave soldiers graves . LEST WE FORGET .
They never carried weapons when parachuting.
Weapons were dropped in pods.
Yes they were you are right , i was nervous when i wrote my comment and they were silver in colour if im not mistaken , thanks for correcting me .@@greggiles7309
Regarding the question towards the end, I've heard that New Zealand was actually the only Empire and Commonwealth nation to have conscription throughout the war (the UK as a whole didn't because there was no conscription in Northern Ireland)
My parents married in Aug 1940 and my father was conscripted in Feb 1941, arriving in Nth Africa as part of the 7th NZ Reinforcements and joining the 21st NZ Battalion, part of 5 Inf Brigade in Sept 1941 - he served one week short of 4 years oversea - Nth Africa and Italy, returning late Sept 1945 - picked up his life with mum and lived to be 88 - passing in 2004.
It does not matter how good or bad leadership is , if your troops have limited food , water and ammo they will either surrender or evacuate within a certain time frame . So if they had good leadership and short supply of ammo but plenty of food and water then the outcomes will probably be surrender. If you are thirsty but have lots of ammo time will be against you ,you can't fight on an empty/thirsty stomach. The plan should of been a quick scorch earth (airfield) . Someone with WW1 experience should of known that communication is no. 1 priority.
I really appreciate an expert who knows his subject, knows what he wants to impart to his audience, and then cracks right along in telling the story! I can imagine that Lt. Colonel (Retired) Glyn Harper had the respect and affection of his subordinate officers and soldiers. He seems the patient type that began his counseling sessions with " Well Lieutenant.....have you thought about it in this way?" I would have enjoyed serving with this man. Thank you for an informative and enjoyable lecture professor.
Thank you Glyn and Paul, a great presentation, great to hear about the NZ forces. Bring back Glyn again Paul
Thanks for a really excellent talk. The Germans did make use of airborne troops on another Greek island, Leros, in September 1943, part of the campaign in the Dodecanese. It would make a great subject for another talk.
The German Airborne landings happened a number of times after crete in fact (Sicily, Operation achse, Ardennes, Leningrad, Leros as you mentioned), they weren’t abandoned as often thought
@@MAAAAAAAAAA123 our neighbour had a pile off photos he took off germen paras he personnaly killed in italy. Do not know where they are today, but his house is still on highway 50 in new zealand.
Great viewing thank you Glyn and Paul, very interesting to hear the kiwis point of view of this battle 🇳🇿
Into the archive for me tonight... really interesting presentation from Prof. Harper.
Great show! Thank you Woody and Dr. Harper!
An outstanding presentation on the Kiwis in the Mediterranean theater. I am sorry that their story is not better known in the US.
More good info on Crete. Thank-you Dr Glyn & Woody.
A very interesting presentation, thank you Dr Harper and Woody. I’m looking forward to the El Alamein story of 2nd NZ Division.
May I recommend Glynn Harper ‘s “Dark Journey” covering 1NZ Division in 1917.
Yes it's a great book proud to have it my bookshelf.
Great interview - Great to see you again Glynn regards Larnie (NZ Army - MSI)
Excellent presentation by Glyn. Many thanks. Look forward to Glyn's next presentation
It's very interesting to me that NZ raised a completely 'fresh' army for the war... and This would effect 'the character' of 'the average' New Zealand Soldier... ie they would not carry a lot of 'military baggage' as would be the case with Long establish regiments.
Excellent work thank you!
Greetings from a rainy New Jersey.
Fantastic to hear from the fellow ANZACS. 👍
Paul - Loved this one, Glyn was knowledgeable, good presentation. I have much of the NZ histories and it’s great to get an account that summarizes parts of it. Will dig out the show from a year ago on Crete. Great show!
Glyn is on again tomorrow talking about the NZ division in North Africa
Can’t watch it live - work and I’m in NYC. Hopefully he will talk about Charles Upham and his two VCs. Keep up the great work.
@@timborchers6303 I'm not sure he will actually. He's going to focus more on the operational level. But a show on Upham one day would be very cool
My understanding of the ULTRA issue with regards to Crete is that Freyberg was given access to it (the only man on Crete given this)…but that he was told not to change his dispositions after the ULTRA info was given as the Germans would know their codes had been broken (TIK History has covered this several times).
It may have been a defeat but it's a bit harsh to blame Fryberg and others when he had nothing to defend with. For the British to pitchfork NZ into unwinnable situations Greece and Crete were just the beginning.
Bernard Freyburg did the best he could in a bad situation
Woody/Glyn, Thank you for such an interesting presentation! New Zealand does not get the attention that it deserves and this show goes towards putting it right! Thanks,. Regards, Bob
We come from Motiti island and Whakatane.
Sir, you've made videos on Kiwis, Aussies, Yanks, and even Jews but you haven't made a video on us the Indians! We too contributed in war effort man and material both🥲. And 15% Victoria Crosses awarded were to Indians 🙃
Before you leap to criticise, you should have checked our playlists. We have one on India in WWII czcams.com/play/PLDG3XyxGI5lCwYvsF5k-t6ZHMkAvFfNU2.html
Check out the videos on the Indian Navy, Indian Airforce, Indian Recce Regiments in Italy, Indian troops at Dunkirk etc. We absolutely have covered India in WWII and will do so again.
Churchill was after the greek merchant marine to replace the sunken british ships-in this he succeeded however at dreadful cost to the rn and the allied soldiers
It hardly matters whether these land battles were won or not, the fall of Crete was going to be inevitable as long as the Allies surrendered control of the skies to the Axis air forces. In addition to much greater air assets to draw on, the Axis also had a significant geographical advantage in that Crete could be attacked and/or supplied (by air and sea) much more readily from the Greek mainland than it could from Egypt to the south or other parts of the Allied-held Mediterranean. It would have been extremely difficult and expensive for the Allies to hold on to Crete early in the war even under the best of circumstances, and they probably would have still lost given the geographic and logistical difficulties, so perhaps it is better that they their attempts to retain it were relatively short-lived.
Should have a Chat about the LRDG
Yep I am struggling with LRDG guests, the NZ expert seems to not want to respond to me and I'm not sure where else to look
Why was there no naval gunfire support? The Germans arrived at the appointed places at the appointed times. 4 destroyers and a cruiser couldn't be found? It seems that early in the war there was too much emphasis by the Brits on token this and token that, wasteful...
Because the Germans had complete air supremacy, any Royal navel ships off the coast in daylight were immediately sunk ( refer losses of cruisers HMS Fiji and Gloucester).
Why not you talk about the otago that had the heaviest losses in the second World War.
Harper although accurate in his timelines, his personal summations are not fully reflective of all views of the battle. A very tedious and boring account of an otherwise eye opening and enthralling battle.
I disagree, Glyn always delivers good solid history