The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)

Operation Mercury © Tom Barker

"But glory is the sodger's prize,
The sodger's wealth is honour:"
Robert Burns

Crete was the focus of Hitler’s latest venture on this date and although he was confident of the outcome, a lot of German Generals had their fingers crossed at the time. It was also the largest German airborne operation of WW2 and the first time in history where an island had been taken by airborne assault.

Later, it was to be dubbed the graveyard of the “Fallshirmjager” (Paratroop Hunter), and casualties were high.
Almost two thousand Officers and men were killed.
One thousand seven hundred and sixty were missing.
One thousand six hundred and thirty odd were wounded.

Some of us Brits debated Hitler’s obsession with Crete but with no end result. We did however all agree that, the strutting sausage stewing wino, was a few Pfennigs short of a Deutsch Mark. The only solution we could dream up was, “Crete could remain as a jumping off point later on for the Allies", until someone pointed out that the Rumanian oil fields were not that far away from Crete and Hitler had his eye on them and was aware that the Allies also could be interested in the Ploesti oil, if only to deprive Hitler of it.

Indeed a plot was hatched in a German P.O.W. Camp at that time and it was suggested that it only needed a small group of us to escape and make for the oil fields and set fire to them. It was suggested that perhaps if a team of Free French saboteurs could get to it and blow it up, the problem would be solved, but that idea was negated on both counts when it was realized that the oil would still be there and any damage could be eventually repaired by the Germans, so it was not worth risking so many lives on such a temporary venture.

Germany’s aircraft were operating on a synthetic fuel, whereas British Tanks and aircraft were using high-octane fuel that gave them the edge in a dog fight.

Also the People of Crete did not take kindly to people, and especially Krauts, landing on their soil without so much as a, “Bitte darfe ich heir pauzer machen fur ein par minuten?” (Please may I rest here for a few moments?)

The first parachute drop by the Germans was a cats after me, or cat’s trophy, take your pick! Because, as soon as a J.U. 52 flew over and all the bodies began to eject from what looked like a flying cludgie, it seemed to attract all the attention from the ground as indeed a cludgie attracts flies, and the Para’s who, having had been struggling to steer their chutes, would suddenly jerk double then hang limp and on hitting the ground remain still.

Some German Pilots flew lower so as to evade the flack or were perhaps cajoled by their mates who were waiting to jump and they argued that the Tommies on the ground would have less time to aim and shoot at them if they fell a shorter distance. However, in any event, the jumpers did not have the required height and the luckless Paratroopers hit the ground at excessive speed before their chute canopy was fully deployed to slow them down.

The odd one or two survived with broken bodies, but they died at the hands of the Partisans. Some of the Germans were descending with stick grenades stuck in their half boots and in their belts. In some cases these were being hit by the hostile reception committee who were on the ground and they would see a blinding flash as the bloke disappeared in a cloud of smoke and bits of whirling body parts.

Any Germans still alive on landing were a tad surprised at the Partisan activity they encountered, but it was all too brief, and they too soon joined their mates in Valhalla. No German survived that first Paratroop drop onto Crete.

J.U. 52 aircraft with a single broad wing and a radial engine in the nose of the aircraft and another radial engine mounted on each wing, was a very stable and reliable work horse which had stood the test of time.

This aircraft with it’s corrugated body panels could easily be mistaken for a mobile tin lavatory when parked in a grass field, and it did not escape our notice that Hitler often used a J.U. 52 to promote himself to the German people. But the Junkers 52 was robust and could carry heavy loads and it wasn’t long before some bright lad in Germany came up with the idea that it was the three motors that did the pulling, but it was the air that did the lifting.

Hitler made good use of this info when it finally stopped bouncing off the four sharp corners of his loaf and as one bit of info on hitting the wall rebounded and went straight into his left lug ‘ole and permeated what was even then considered a dried up walnut, it wasn’t long before the sky over Crete was humming with gliders being towed by the lumbering Junker 52’s like flies milling over a newly laid green cow pat.

By the way!

Hans Sack was a Gefreiter (Corporal) with Fifeteen Kompanie, LL. St. Regiment who jumped near the airfield at Maleme on May the 20th 1941. Once he landed he took cover and soon heard the sound of a sub-machine gun close by. He thought that his comrades were attacking British troops near Hill 107. He broke cover and was suddenly hit by sub-machine gun fire. He learned later that a quick thinking British Tommy had discovered a dropped weapons container and removing a Schmeisser from it, had opened fire on the Germans with it. Hans Sack was seriously wounded and in a bad way, but another Tommy found him and dressed his wounds thus saving his life. The Tommy then found some wine in a farmhouse where Hans was resting. They drank wine together and then making sure the German was comfortable, the Tommy left. Two days later Hans was found by some Gebirgsjager (Mountain Hunters) and was evacuated by air to a hospital in Athens. Hans Sack, if still with us, will be 82 years old this year 2003, and agrees he owes his life to the unknown Tommy.

Tom Barker 1st A&SH. On Crete May 17th 1941 to the beginning of June, was hit on the head, and while knocked out, the Regiment evacuated Crete. We that were left on Crete, waited to be rescued by Submarine, but none came. The Germans did, and we ended up being taken P.O.W. by the Germans and shipped to Salonika on the main land of Greece in a fishing boat.

There we were loaded onto cattle wagons on the Railway and transported to Stammlager Luckenwald in Germany. All the Tommy P.O.W. were issued with four slices of bread each to last the proposed four days on the long P.O.W. cattle truck train going to Germany. There was an armed Guard sitting on the front of each wagon. The train stopped at Belgrade, and there we were lined up and meandered in single file past a Guard who was dishing out a thin potato soup from a metal container. Meanwhile, the platform was alive with Guards with sub machine pistols, and it was obvious they were taking no chances with the, “Englander Tommy”

Once past the Guard, we were steered back to our wagon and locked in again, and after a long wait we set off. Days later, we finally arrived at Stammlager Luckenwald in Germany. But the Germans who were supposedly sticklers for efficiency did not take into account the hold ups caused by enemy actions, plus the hours we spent sidetracked to allow the more important troop and munitions rail transports to get to their destination unhindered.

The result was that many of our blokes, especially those who were wounded, died during that eight-day journey from Salonika in Greece to Luckenwald in Germany, merely due to the lack of attention and possibly the lack of food and water.