Battle of 42nd Street

35°28′55″N 24°03′21″E / 35.4819°N 24.0559°E / 35.4819; 24.0559

Battle of 42nd Street
Part of the Battle of Crete of World War II
Forty-Second street sign.
Date 27 May 1941 Location South-east of Chania, Crete Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Australia New Zealand	Germany
Units involved
2/7th Battalion 2/8th Battalion 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion 19th Battalion 21st Battalion 22nd Battalion 23rd Battalion 28th (Maori) Battalion	1st Battalion of the 141st Gebirgsjäger Regiment from the 6th Mountain Division Small groups of paratroopers
Strength
	Roughly 400 men
Casualties and losses
52 killed or wounded	Roughly 280 killed, 3 captured

The Battle of 42nd Street (27 May 1941) was fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete between an attacking Anzac force and fleeing German troops. On 20 May, Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete. A week later, after the British and Commonwealth forces defending the island had been forced to withdraw towards Chania, a force of several understrength Australian and New Zealand infantry battalions established a defensive line along 42nd Street south-east of Chania, forming a rearguard for the withdrawing troops. On 27 May, as a German battalion advanced towards the road, the Anzac defenders carried out a bayonet charge that inflicted heavy casualties on the German attackers, which forced them to withdraw and briefly halted the German advance. Afterwards, the Anzac troops kept retreating towards the coast.

Greece became a belligerent in World War II when it was invaded by Italy on 28 October 1940.^[1] A British and Commonwealth expeditionary force was sent to support the Greeks; this force eventually totalled more than 60,000 men.^[2] British forces also garrisoned Crete, enabling the Greek Fifth Cretan Division to reinforce the mainland campaign instead of helping defend Crete.^[3] This arrangement suited the British as Crete could provide the Royal Navy with harbours on its north coast.^[4][5] The Italians were repulsed by the Greeks without the aid of the expeditionary force.^[6] In April 1941, six months after the failed Italian invasion, a German attack overran mainland Greece and the expeditionary force was withdrawn.^[7] By the end of April, over 50,000 Allied troops were evacuated by the Royal Navy. Some were sent to Crete to bolster its garrison, though most had lost their heavy equipment.^[8]

The German army high command was preoccupied with their forthcoming invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, and was largely opposed to an attack on Crete.^[9] However, Adolf Hitler was concerned about attacks on the Romanian oil fields from Crete. Additionally, the Oberkommando der Marine thought that having the island under their control would be essential to defeating the Allies in the Mediterranean. Occupying Crete would allow the Luftwaffe to operate from the island's airfields, and halt British shipments through the nearby Suez Canal. Control of Crete could also support the Axis in the North African campaign as it was taking place nearby.^[10]

Prior to the Battle of Crete, Axis victories in Greece had given the Germans aerodromes that were roughly arranged in a semi-circle 60 miles (97 km) north of Crete. These gave them air supremacy over the island, as their airplanes could operate from 60 miles (97 km) away, whilst the nearest British airbases were in Egypt, 400 miles (640 km) away. This made it so that the Royal Navy could not operate except for fast ships operating in the dark. British troops began arriving on Crete on 1 November 1940, after departing from Alexandria in Egypt. They began Operation Scorcher. Winston Churchill ordered three new airfield to be created on Crete, and they were ready by February 1941, as were additional coastal defense guns and anti-air units. Using the Ultra decryption system, on 26 April, the British discovered the German plan to invade Crete.^[11] On 29 April 1941, Major-general Bernard Freyberg, who had been evacuated from mainland Greece with the 2nd New Zealand Division on the HMS Ajax arrived on Crete, was appointed commander-in-chief of the island the next day by General Archibald Wavell. He noted the acute lack of heavy weapons, equipment, supplies and communication facilities.^[12][13] Equipment was scarce in the Mediterranean, particularly in the isolated areas of Crete. The British forces on Crete had seven commanders in seven months. By early April, airfields at Maleme and Heraklion and the landing strip at Rethymno, all on the north coast, were ready and another strip at Pediada-Kastelli was nearly finished.^[14]

Of the airstrips on Crete, the only one with a concrete runway, was at Heraklion.^[15] A radar station was established on Ames Ridge, a hill south east of Heraklion airfield, but it was outside the defensive perimeter and its communications were unreliable.^[16] By 29 April, over 80,000 Commonwealth troops of the defeated Allied expeditionary force were evacuated from mainland Greece.^[17] In the space of a week, 27,000 of these arrived on Crete from Greece;^[18] many lacked any equipment other than their personal weapons, and some lacked even those. Of these, 9,000 were further evacuated and 18,000 remained on Crete when the battle commenced.^[19][20] With the pre-existing garrison of 14,000, this gave the Allies a total of 32,000 Commonwealth troops to face the German attack, supplemented by 10,000 Greeks.^[21] On 6 May, Freyberg received a message called "Secret and Most Immediate" from the Middle East Command Headquarters saying that the Germans would attack on 17 May, the Ultra system then updated him on the date, first moving it to the 19th and then to the 20th. Using the info from Ultra, he split his forces into four semi-independent sectors. The four sectors were: Chania and Souda Bay with 15,227 troops, Maleme with 11,859 men, Central with 6,730, and Heraklion with 8,024 defenders. The British originally had airplanes defending the island. However, by 19 May, the Luftwaffe had destroyed all but seven fighter aircraft, which were ordered to return to Egypt for safety.^[22] The British Royal Navy had kept control of the sea after the initial German attack.^[23] The forces in the battle on the Allied side were the Australian 2/7th, 2/8th, and 2/1st Machine Gun Battalions, and New Zealand's 21st, 28th (Maori), 19th, 22nd and 23rd Battalions.^[24][25]

The German assault on Crete was code-named "Operation Mercury" (Unternehmen Merkur). It was ordered on 25 April 1941 by Hitler's Directive 28 despite the Germans not knowing the Allied forces, and underestimating them at 5,000 men. The directive also stated that the operation was to take place in May and must not interfere with the planned campaign against the Soviet Union. The attack was to have three parts, Group West focusing on Maleme airfield, Group Central on Chania, Souda Bay, and Rethymno airfields, and Group East on the airfield of Heraklion. It was controlled by the 12th Army and commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm List. The German 8th Air Corps (VIII Fliegerkorps) provided close air support; it was equipped with 570 combat aircraft. The infantry available for the assault were the German 7th Air Division, with the Air-landing Assault Regiment (Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment) attached, and the 5th Mountain Division. They totalled 22,000 men grouped under the 11th Air Corps (XI Fliegerkorps) which was commanded by Lieutenant-general Kurt Student, who was in operational control of the attack. Over 500 Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft were assembled to carry them. Student planned a series of four parachute assaults against Allied facilities on the north coast of Crete by the 7th Air Division, which would then be reinforced by the 5th Mountain Division, part transported by air and part by sea; the latter would also ferry much of the heavy equipment.^[26][27][28] On 21 May the first landings began, concentrated around four points: Maleme, Chania, Retimo and Heraklion.^[29] The troops in the battle on the German side were the 1st Battalion of the 141st Gebirgsjäger Regiment from the 6th Mountain Division, who were commanded by Major Hans Forster,^[30][31] and some paratroopers who were left from the original landings.^[29]

During the initial stages of the fighting on Crete, the Australians defending Heraklion managed to defeat the attack there and the troops at Rethymno were able to blunt the attack, holding it for more than a week; however at Maleme the Germans managed to wrest control of a vital airfield, and as a result began flying in reinforcements of airborne and mountain troops. As the Germans began moving inland to outflank the defenders' positions, the Australian, New Zealand and British forces were forced back towards the city of Chania,^[32] which came under heavy air attack by German bombers.^[33] By 27 May, the weakened Australian 2/7th and 2/8th Battalions, supported by the New Zealand 21st, 28th (Maori), 19th, 22nd and 23rd Battalions, had taken up positions along 42nd Street,^[24] south-east of Chania, where they formed a rearguard to protect the rest of the Commonwealth forces that were being pushed south. The Anzac units were manned at less than 50 percent of their normal strength, having suffered heavy casualties earlier in the fighting.^[29]

There was an unsealed road that ran from Chania to Tsikalaria lined with olive trees, and running south from the main coastal road from Chania to Souda Bay. The road was lower than the surrounding land and had a raised embankment on its western side that provided cover for defending troops and formed a natural defensive line. The road was nicknamed 42nd Street, after the 42nd Field Company of the Royal Engineers, who had previously been camped there, and the film, 42nd Street (but it was known locally as Tsivalarion Road).^[30][34][35] Early in the morning of 27 May, Lieutenant-Colonel George Dittmer, commander of the Maori Battalion, called a meeting with Lieutenant-Colonels Theodore Walker of the 2/7th and John Manchester Allen of the 21st and they decided that if the Germans approached their battalions, they would engage them and charge.^[30]

At roughly 11:00 am, the German 1st Battalion were seen approaching 42nd Street.^[30] Advancing along the road to Souda, they were estimated by the Australian and New Zealand defenders as numbering about 400 men, and were attempting to raid an abandoned supply depot under the cover of mortar and machine-gun fire. Major Walter Miller commanded Lieutenant Beverley McGeoch to lead a patrol to observe them, while he planned an attack.^[36][37] He then told Captain Elmo Dudley Nelson to join in on the attack, and sent a runner to Walker with the same message, At the start of the attack, two companies of the Australian 2/7th Battalion – the C and D companies – charged the Germans on their flank,^[37][30] attacking with Pattern 1907 bayonets^[38] and small arms; heavy close quarters fighting ensued. Nelson was shot in the shoulder while waving his unit to advance. Lieutenant Bernard then took over his company, and kept leading even after being injured as well. Sergeant Frank Arnold Reiter's platoon drove the Germans out of the cover of the supply depot. He continued leading his men even after getting a head injury. After performing a haka,^[37][30] the Maori Battalion also joined the charge,^[25] followed by the other battalions and supported by machine guns of the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion.^[25]

During the charge, some mortar teams tried to fight back but they were overrun and killed. The retreating Germans who tried to hide were bayoneted. The charge resulted in the Germans retreating over 1,500 metres (1,600 yd). The pursuit stopped and the Anzacs decided to return to 42nd Street after an air attack from the Germans.^[30] Over 280 Germans were killed and three taken prisoner; 10 Australians from the 2/7th were killed and 28 wounded, while the Maori Battalion suffered a further 14 casualties.^[25]

The action halted the German 5th Alpine Division for the remainder of the day.^[29] That afternoon, the Anzacs spotted German forces moving to the south-west on the flanks of the mountains, trying to encircle them. The Anzac troops withdrew, joining the columns retreating south.^[29][30] A short time later, the British high command authorised the evacuation of Crete, ordering a withdrawal across the White Mountains to Sfakia in the south where the troops could be taken off the island by the Royal Navy.^[39][40] The 2/7th subsequently took part in further rearguard actions and although it had planned to evacuate. It was the last Allied unit to be withdrawn,^[41] and when the evacuation of Commonwealth troops ceased on 1 June due to heavy losses at sea,^[42] the battalion was left behind.^[43] The 2/7th was the only unit that took place in the battle not to be evacuated.^[30] Still on Crete, the battalion surrendered, having helped to delay the German advance long enough to allow 12,000 troops to be withdrawn.^[29][30] The battalion was later rebuilt from the small cadre that managed to avoid capture, and later fought in the Pacific against the Japanese.^[44]

After the war, the Germans reported that war crime charges had been committed by the Anzacs due to the ferocity of the fighting. 121 men from 1st Battalion 141st Gebirgsjager Regiment were found dead by the Germans, after being bayoneted and clubbed to death by the Second Australian Imperial Force and the Maoris. In comparison, the 20 Commonwealth dead left behind on the battlefield had no bayonet wounds, and only 3 (wounded) Germans were taken prisoner. Due to this, the Germans assumed they took no prisoners of war.^[45] German accounts claimed that the Anzacs had killed men who were attempting to surrender, and this claim was supported by a German investigation finding it "suspicious" that the many of the German dead had stab wounds and broken skulls. However, this claim was refuted by the Australian official historian Gavin Long, in his book Greece, Crete and Syria. He accepted that in the midst of the battle that soldiers were clubbed and bayoneted. However, he denied that Anzacs had killed the surrendering Germans. Walker also refuted that Germans had been killed illegally. Reg Saunders described the battle as "a short range very bloody action" and said, "Certainly skulls were broken and men stabbed ... it was hand-to-hand combat, and that's what happens."^[46]