Greece & Crete 1941

Discussion in 'North Africa & the Med' started by spider, Feb 8, 2009.

  1. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    J Section was on Kokoda with the 16 Bde, Later members of the 6th Div Sigs were at Sanunanda after relieving the 7th Div Cav Signals.
     
  2. Oggie2620

    Oggie2620 Senior Member

  3. WhiskeyGolf

    WhiskeyGolf Senior Member

    20 May - 70th Anniversary of The Battle of Crete. Thank you to all those who served. :poppy:
     
  4. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    J Section was on Kokoda with the 16 Bde, Later members of the 6th Div Sigs were at Sanunanda after relieving the 7th Div Cav Signals.

    Further to my last, I am currently overseas and will go through my 6th Div Sigs records on my return re: New Guinea
     
  5. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    Sept 42, 16 Bde and Sigs (J Sec) Kokoda, Gona, Buna
    Jan 43 17 Bde and Sigs ( K Sec) Wau
    Dec 42 Part of B and D Sec to Sanunanda (attatched to 7 Div Cav)
    Nov 44 6th Div to Aitape, Wewak

    Unless you can ascertain which Company he was in, it is hard to narrow down the Section.

    The 6th Div Sigs Diaries are at the AWM Canberra.

    Th majority of the 6th Div Sigs were evacuataed from Crete prior to the German Invasion as the majority of the sig equipment was left in Greece.
     
  6. Ray Hanson

    Ray Hanson Member

    Only slightly 'off thread' but I wonder if anyone can help. My uncle served with 2nd Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment. He was evacuated from Crete on HMS Dido and was seriously wounded either on Crete before evacuation or when HMS Dido was bombed and badly damaged. He was reported missing presumed dead to his family but turned up several months later, when his memory returned, convalescing with a South African family on the Veldt. I know that HMS Dido put into Simonstown in SA for temporary repairs but my question is this, how did he get from the Med to SA, presumably as an unknown. Would the HMS Dido really have kept a badly wounded soldier on board and if not what other route might he have followed?
     
  7. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    20 May - 70th Anniversary of The Battle of Crete. Thank you to all those who served. :poppy:
    Hear hear :poppy:
     
  8. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    Shop | Australian War Memorial

    Greece and Crete: Australians in World War II

    Department of Veterans' Affairs

    Greece and Crete is the first title in a new DVA series, Australians in World War II.

    When German forces invaded Greece in April 1941 they faced poorly equipped Greek, British, Australian and New Zealand troops who conducted a fighting withdrawal. Many were evacuated to Crete, where Commonwealth forces faced a German airborne invasion. More than 600 Australians lost their lives in the Battle for Greece and Crete while some 5,000 became prisoners of war.

    Greece and Crete offers a concise and authoritative account of the fighting and is packed with archival photographs, many from the Memorial’s collection.

    Soft cover, photographs, 220 pages.
    [​IMG]
     
  9. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    [​IMG]
    Published by Department of Veterans' Affairs, May 2001. Online version available at:
    'A Great Risk'
     
  10. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    Shop | Australian War Memorial

    Greece and Crete: Australians in World War II

    Department of Veterans' Affairs

    Go this in the mail from the AWM, browsing through looks like a good read and lots of photos.

    This is also a re-issue of 'A Great Risk in a good cause' Australians in Greece and Crete April—May 1941
     
  11. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    http://cas.awm.gov.au/screen_img/007783

    1941-06-01. ALEXANDRIA. THE MAORI FRIGHTENED BLAZES OUTA THE HUN WITH THEIR BAYONET CHARGES ........ THIS ONE "GOT HIS MAN" AND ALSO A DECENT SOUVENIR, A GERMAN IRON CROSS.
     
  12. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    Canea (Hania), Crete. 1941-04-29. Members of the 6th Division Signals relaxing on the side of a street while visiting the town. All the men are holding loaves of bread. http://cas.awm.gov.au/screen_img/P02053.007

    Managed to have a look at a better copy of this image, and WX1988 Sig H Warnes is the 2nd from the left.

    WX1988 Sig H Warnes is my Father, and I have ordered a copy of the image.
     
  13. fredleander

    fredleander Senior Member

    In my recent book on Operation Sea Lion - River wide, Ocean Deep - I comment, in the final appendix (G), on earlier books/authors writing about this planned operation. One of these is the well-known Peter Fleming, brother of Ian, the James Bond author. The subject is how he sees the German fallschirmjäger, based on the Crete campaign. My wording goes like this:

    He (Fleming - my rmk.) is missing the mark even more when he evaluates the effort of the German paratrooper units at Crete. This is unfortunate since that operation is the best one to judge their combat potential. Fleming served in Crete, so he should know better. First, he gives the number of paratroops to be dropped on the first day of Sea Lion as 15,000. This is realistic. That is, if he defines the 22nd Air Landing division as paratroopers, which they were not. As a reference on the bottom of the page, he writes: “In 1941 a German airborne force just over twice this size narrowly succeeded in capturing Crete, which was held by a weak garrison with virtually no air support.”


    How would you guys characterize Fleming's description? I shall revert with my own after having seen yours....:)...
     
  14. phylo_roadking

    phylo_roadking Very Senior Member

    How would you guys characterize Fleming's description? I shall revert with my own after having seen yours....

    In 1941 a German airborne force just over twice this size narrowly succeeded in capturing Crete, which was held by a weak garrison with virtually no air support.”


    He got one thing wrong - the word "virtually" :lol: IIRC the air defence of the island comprised a flight of Buffaloes with broken interupter gear, and a squadron of Hurricanes that had ferried in two weeks before, got chopped up a bit before landing, then lost half their remaining number over the next three days. By the time of the invasion, AOC ME had long since withdrawn their remains to the Delta :huh:

    As for THIS bit...

    In 1941 a German airborne force just over twice this size narrowly succeeded in capturing Crete


    The FJ were pinned down for three days, half their number dead or ineffective. Locally there were hotspots of activity with the front line moving back and forth, like Galatas - but the tide did NOT really begin to turn until Ringel took over command and forced the GBJ into Maleme, taking the pressure off the FJ and allowing them to regroup and fly in reinforcements of their own.

    He's technically correct however in that the vast majority of the German forces in the island arrived by air in one way or the other :lol: The "third" (hastily cobbled together reserve) seagoing flotilla only managed to arrive in the west of the island in that last 36 hours of the events.

    I wouldn't however call the garrison "weak" - over 20,000 men? Yes, many of the units that withdrew from Greece to there were short of equipment, including automatic weapons - but some of the gaps were kindly made up locally courtesy of the Germans on the first morning of the invasion!...

    But certainly "weak" in terms of how they were used - for best results combine Alan Clark's PRE-ULTRA discussion of Commonwealth command defects both at the local and overall command levels...with Freyberg retaining (for whatever reasons) at least half his force to withstand an ampbious invasion that never came.

    Most modern authors regard Clark as "outdated" because his study predates the awareness of ULTRA and how it affected the battle....but as a result, he looked FAR more critically as the events, good and bad that WERE known about when he was writing; and for those of you that have read him, you'll know that there were a LOT of mistakes made :(
     
  15. jerry o

    jerry o Junior Member

    anyone know how to research private Kenneth Parker royal welsh reg he was captured in 1941 in Crete and marched back to Germany. He was my father in law but passed away in the 70s, my wife would like to visit Crete and see some of the places her dad had been thanks jerry o
     
  16. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    anyone know how to research private Kenneth Parker royal welsh reg he was captured in 1941 in Crete and marched back to Germany. He was my father in law but passed away in the 70s, my wife would like to visit Crete and see some of the places her dad had been thanks jerry o

    Probably refering to the 1Batt/Welch Regiment were at Canea, Crete (not Royal Welsh Reg which began in 2006)

    If not already obtained get his service records and then check the Battalion Diary
     
  17. Jack Bolton

    Jack Bolton Member

    Hi all,

    I know I’m a little late to the party, but I just wanted to say that these are some amazing photographs! I’m trying to uncover pictures of the 4th Hussars in Greece and 3rd Hussars on Crete; both had Vickers light tanks, and I don’t suppose anyone’s seen/ got any relevant pics? If so, I’d be beyond grateful if I could see them. I know of Lt Roy Farran’s tank in Galatas and have seen it from many angles, but would greatly appreciate anything people can come up with.

    Thanks very much.

    Best,

    Jack
     

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