The Australians at Rethymno 20–29 May 1941

And so the Bren was relayed through the section until it almost reached the well in the hands of the last runner; and he too was killed as he went down kneeling over it, guarding it even in death.1

The German paratroopers came to Rethymno shortly after 4.00 pm on 20 May 1941. Along the coast, between the villages of Perivolia and Stavromenos, a distance of some 8 kilometres, 161 slow-moving Junkers JU-52 transports dropped 1500 men of Colonel Sturm’s 2nd Parachute Rifle Regiment from a height of 120 metres. Private Tom Halliday of the 2/1st Australian Machine Gun Battalion watched the Junkers fly down the coast as his Vickers heavy machine gun went into action:

Our positions were unknown to the Germans who flew along the beach at exactly the right height for our guns to do the most damage and they certainly did … several Junkers crashed, no troops jumped from others and few planes did not suffer some casualties. Many paratroopers landed in our gun position and were all killed. One by Ted Banfield with the spare barrel!2

At Rethymno the Germans fell to earth in an area where the defence was composed mainly of Australians – the 2/1st and 2/11th Battalions, supported by elements of the 2/3rd Field Regiment, the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion, a Greek battalion and about 800 ‘well-disciplined’ Cretan policemen. Lieutenant Colonel Ian Campbell of the 2/1st Battalion commanded the force and its task was simple: to deny the Germans the airfield at all costs.

A considerable number of paratroopers dropped straight on to one of the most vital points at Rethymno – Hill ‘A’, overlooking the eastern end of the airfield. As the paratroopers landed, the fighting on Hill ‘A’ turned into a series of isolated small actions fought by individuals to kill the Germans or drive them away from their positions. The gunners of the 2/3rd Field Regiment were virtually defenceless, as few of them had rifles or machine guns. Soon Germans were moving around looking for Australians to kill and one of them found three gunners hiding in a slit trench:

The machine-gunning had scarcely ceased … when a German appeared on his hands and knees at the edge of the trench … and facing me [Doug Morris]. He had a hand grenade in his mouth, a machine pistol in one hand, and an automatic pistol in the other. There was a split second’s shock delay during which time it came to me that he was too far away to grapple with – nevertheless I made a move towards him, but had scarcely risen when he fired … Fortunately he was a poor shot, or still shocked, since he merely hit my steel helmet … he then emptied his pistol into us at random and I received multiple wounds … I was in great pain but unable to get out of the trench.3

Fighting, severe at times, went on throughout the late afternoon and early evening at ‘Hill A’ as the Australians, and their Greek allies, fought to contain the German landings. Many paratroopers were killed in the air as they floated down near the positions of the 2/11th Battalion, further to the west at ‘Hill B’. Strong parties of Germans were seen moving west of Hill B towards the small village of Perivolia, and by nightfall significant areas of Hill A were in German hands. But the paratroopers had suffered heavy casualties, and the all-important airfield had not been captured.

On 21 May, the men of the 2/1st Battalion made a concerted effort to drive the enemy from Hill A. An initial early morning advance ran into difficulties, and when it looked as if the whole position might fall, Captain Orpen Boyd Moriarty telephoned Colonel Campbell at headquarters with the simple message that things were ‘very desperate’. Campbell personally led reinforcements to Moriarty’s position, and ordered that the Germans be driven from the hill as soon as possible. Moriarty organised his force into four groups and pushed forward vigorously, one group outflanking enemy positions by moving down a gully west of Hill A. The paratroopers were beaten off their positions, down on to the level country towards the sea, and then to the east. Here they fortified an olive oil factory close to the village of Stavromenos. Campbell later wrote that ‘the crisis on Hill A seemed to be over along with the immediate threat to the airstrip’.

For the next five days a battle raged at the olive oil factory as a combined Australian and Greek force tried to dislodge the Germans. The thick-walled buildings offered the paratroopers good cover, and an attack led by Captain Moriarty on the morning of 22 May, despite good artillery support from guns of the 2/3rd Field Regiment on Hill A, was aborted. While scouting ahead of his men, Moriarty was killed. Campbell planned an attack later that day but this too, despite a determined charge by men of the 2/1st Battalion, who ‘rushed forward with a yell’, was unsuccessful. It was clear the Australians were fighting an elite German force and Campbell later wrote that the paratroopers were:

… the finest looking group of young men I have ever met. Handpicked. The fought bravely and fairly. We had 500 of them as prisoners of war, so I saw a lot of them.

Despite these setbacks, Campbell’s force, by comparison with allied efforts on other parts of the island, was doing well and the allied commander, General Freyberg, congratulated them: ‘You have done magnificently’. The olive oil factory finally fell to the 2/1st on 26 May, ending any threat to Campbell’s force in the east.

Meanwhile, to the west closer to Rethymno, another fierce struggle developed. Here the 2/11th faced a strong group of paratroopers under Captain Weidermann. These men had been able to collect up their heavy weapons after landing and they attempted to take Rethymno itself, but were beaten off by the Cretan police. They then established themselves in Perivolia. Between 21 and 28 May, the 2/11th in a series of counter-attacks attempted to drive the Germans from the village.

One of the most determined of the Australian attacks on Perivolia was made at dawn on 27 May. Before the infantrymen of the 2/11th could advance, supported by two tanks, a particularly threatening enemy machine-gun and observation post in the tower of the nearby St George’s Church had to be removed. This task fell to the 2/3rd Field Regiment:

We felt our way around the dark deserted group of houses and selected the kitchen of a house which had a window facing Perivolia. The gun squeezed into the room and the long barrel poked out the window … At first light we trained the gun on the dominant steeple of St George’s. We observed through our binoculars and could see movement in the three small windows of the steeple. The gun was loaded and we aimed at the top of the window. The recoil was like the kick of a dozen mules and the bark was deep and metallic. We were using armour piercing shot and we followed the track of the tracer. It curved in a flat trajectory and the shot was a bullseye. It punched a hole clear through the back wall of the steeple. In quick succession direct hits were scored on the other two windows … There was no further movement from the steeple.4

After the destruction of the German position in St George’s, the tanks advanced. However, they did not get far. One was hit by a shell and caught fire. The other, not realising that the 2/11th infantrymen had crawled to a ditch straight in front of them, opened fire and hit two of their own men. The tank went another 30 metres before it struck a mine, lurched a few metres further and then bogged in sand. In the first tank was Gunner George Eldridge, 2/3rd Field Regiment, who recalled the moments after the shell hit:

I was dazed and almost suffocated by the cordite fumes. When I looked down I saw my legs were almost pulp. Using my arms, I yanked myself back into the main compartment. Ian McNeilage was slumped over the breech of the two pounder. I sensed he was dead. The blast from the shell had almost cut him in half … Something told me I had to get out of the tank … The tank was still in motion. It had been left in gear when the driver jumped out … Suddenly the bullets stopped hitting the tank. I ducked my head up and saw a building was between me and the Germans. Knowing it was now or never, I heaved myself up and rolled down the back of the tank. I don’t remember hitting the road. I just kept rolling until I fell into a gutter. My last view of the tank was it lurching along the road to Rethymno.5

At this point, Captain Ralph Honner, 2/11th Battalion, thought that it would be pointless to press the attack without tank cover. Then he heard that one of his forward platoons might have broken through the German line into Perivolia and Honner felt he must go forward to support this platoon. As nine men led by Corporal Tom Willoughby went forward to give cover to the advance with their Bren gun, there occurred one of the tragedies of the 2/11th’s war on Crete. Honner ordered them to make for a stone wall around a well about 20 metres from the German line:

As the rest of the company opened rapid fire on the trenches and the houses to quieten the enemy’s guns Willoughby’s gallant team leaped from the ditch and started racing along a low hedge leading past the disabled tank to the well. Willoughby was nearly there before he fell. Behind him the Bren-gunner went down. The next rifleman caught up the gun in passing and went on until he was killed, and so the bren was relayed through the section until it almost reached the well in the hands of the last runner; and he too was killed as he went down kneeling over it, guarding it even in death. Eight brave men were lost there.6

Despite further efforts, the 2/11th were unable to break into Perivolia.

By 28 May, the British main force on Crete at Hania was in full retreat towards Sfakia and evacuation. Unfortunately, messages to Colonel Campbell telling him of the situation never reached Rethymno. One of these was in a code no German would have been able to decipher:

Waratahs Bulli Puckapunyals St Kilda Gropers Albany Bogin Hopit.7

Loosely translated this indicated that New South Welshmen (Waratahs), Puckapunyals (Victorians) and Gropers (Sandgropers – West Australians) should all make for the south coast, indicated by the placenames Bulli, St Kilda and Albany. ‘Bogin hopit’, according to Gavin Long in the official history, meant ‘Fight your way; get moving’. However, by 29 May strong German forces stood between Rethymno and the road south to Sfakia. The Rethymno force was trapped and their ultimate position hopeless. While they had not been able to drive the Germans from Perivolia, Campbell’s men had denied the paratroopers the airfield, contained them to a small village, killed more than 500 of them and taken 500 prisoners.

On 29 May, Colonel Campbell decided on surrender. The commander of the 2/11th, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Sandover, gave his men the option of either surrendering or, after destroying their weapons, taking to the mountains and trying to escape from Crete in any way possible. White flags were now hung out around the Australian positions and Campbell led his men into captivity. It was a moment brilliantly captured by Captain Cliff Mott, 2/3rd Field Regiment:

I recall the march down the road at the end. Out front was that grand man, Lieutenant Colonel IR Campbell and with him, carrying a white flag, the commanding officer’s quartermaster. Our Battery Commander, Major Ian Bessell-Browne and I came next and behind us the troops – our troops, the Gunners. How, I wondered, were they reacting to capitulation? Angry? Surly? Complaining? Resentful? Noisy? I felt that I should not look round and kept ‘eyes front’ myself. But it seemed important to know and at last … I turned my head … What did I find? Every gunner was in step, every man erect, every man looking his own height and straight to the front. Not a word was spoken, not an eye twitched. Never, I felt, would 6 Battery be defeated. And never, I knew, would 6 Battery be humiliated.8

• 1. Captain Ralph Honner, quoted in The 2/11th (City of Perth) Australian Infantry Battalion, 1939–1945, Perth, 1984, pp. 112–113 (hereafter The 2/11th)
• 2. Halliday, quoted in Philip Hocking, The long carry: A history of the 2/1st Australian Machine Gun Battalion, 1939–1946, Melbourne, 1997, p. 88
• 3. Morris, quoted in Bishop, Thunder of the guns, p. 336
• 4. Lew Lind, quoted in Bishop, Thunder of the guns, pp. 334–335
• 5. Eldridge, quoted in Bishop, Thunder of the guns, p. 336
• 6. Honner, quoted in The 2/11th, pp. 112–113
• 7. Quoted in Long, Greece, Crete and Syria, p. 272
• 8. Mott, quoted in Bishop, Thunder of the guns, p. 342