Kommos ( Greek : Κομμός ) is an archaeological site in southern Crete . During the Minoan period , it served as a harbour town for nearby Phaistos and Hagia Triada . After the Bronze Age, a sanctuary was built over the ruins of the earlier town. It is notable for providing evidence about international trade and local daily life.
120-765: (Redirected from KOMO ) Komo or KOMO may refer to: Places [ edit ] Komo or Kommos (Crete) , an ancient seaport Komo (department) , a department of Estuaire Province in western Gabon Komo, Myanmar , a village in north-eastern Myanmar Komo (Fiji) , an island of the Lau Archipelago of Fiji Komo, Guinea-Bissau , a sector in Tombali Region Komo Rural LLG , Papua New Guinea Radio and TV stations [ edit ] KOMO-TV , Seattle, Washington television station KTTH , Seattle, Washington radio station, which held
240-655: A Hausa musical instrument of Niger and northern Nigeria See also [ edit ] Como (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Komo . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Komo&oldid=1221693472#Radio_and_TV_stations " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Broadcast call sign disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
360-645: A New Zealand Army officer, was appointed commander of the Allied forces on Crete (Creforce). He was Churchill's personal choice, as the British Prime Minister admired his loyalty and the bravery he had shown during the First World War. By May, the Greek forces consisted of approximately 9,000 troops: three battalions of the 5th Greek Division , which had been left behind when the rest of
480-476: A German convoy of about fifty ships and caïque s off Cape Spatha on Rodopou peninsula, western Crete, on the night of 22/23 May and then shell the Germans at Maleme. Kelvin and Jackal were diverted to another search while Mountbatten, with Kelly , Kashmir and Kipling , was to go to Alexandria. When rounding the western side of Crete, the three ships were attacked by 24 Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. Kashmir
600-625: A composite Australian artillery battery . On 4 May, Freyberg sent a message to the British commander in the Middle East, General Archibald Wavell , requesting the evacuation of about 10,000 unwanted personnel who did not have weapons and had "little or no employment other than getting into trouble with the civil population". As the weeks passed, some 3,200 British, 2,500 Australian and 1,300 New Zealander troops were evacuated to Egypt, but it became evident that it would not be possible to remove all
720-413: A counter-attack to retake Maleme Airfield during the night of 21/22 May. The 2/7th Battalion was to move 18 miles (29 km) north to relieve the 20th Battalion , which would participate in the attack. The 2/7th Battalion had no transport, and vehicles for the battalion were delayed by German aircraft. By the time the battalion moved north to relieve 20th Battalion for the counter-attack, it was 23:30, and
840-641: A deception, despite having no grounds for this, and on 3 May Churchill thought that the attack might be a decoy. The command in Crete had been informed on 18 April, despite the doubts, and Crete was added to a link from the GC & CS to Cairo, while on 16 and 21 April, intelligence that airborne operations were being prepared in Bulgaria was passed on. On 22 April, the HQ in Crete was ordered to burn all material received through
960-481: A defensive position on the road to Knossos . As night fell, none of the German objectives had been secured. Of 493 German transport aircraft used during the airdrop, seven were lost to anti-aircraft fire. The bold plan to attack in four places to maximise surprise, rather than concentrating on one, seemed to have failed, although the reasons were unknown to the Germans at the time. Among the paratroopers who landed on
1080-461: A further 700 men of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders , who had been transported from Alexandria to Tymbaki overnight by HMS Glengyle . On 25 April, Hitler signed Directive 28, ordering the invasion of Crete. The Royal Navy retained control of the waters around Crete, so an amphibious assault would have been a risky proposition. With German air superiority assured, an airborne invasion
1200-614: A less optimistic picture, but also underestimated the number of British Commonwealth forces and the number of Greek troops who had been evacuated from the mainland. General Alexander Löhr , the theatre commander, was convinced the island could be taken with two divisions, but decided to keep 6th Mountain Division in Athens as a reserve. The Germans used the new 7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 light gun (a recoilless rifle ). At 320 lb (150 kg), it weighed 1 ⁄ 10 as much as
1320-454: A natural harbor. The site has yielded many animal remains , a majority of which were excavated from archaic vessels and pottery. Excavations carried out between 1976 and 1985 yielded 9,400 large mammal bones, 150 Rodentia bones, 1,150 fish bones, and around 36,000 marine invertebrate . Of these samples a large number were attributed to pigs . Remains found revealed a variety of butchery methods performed, including partial opening of
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#17327903488431440-554: A postponement of the attack to 20 May. New airfields were built, and 280 long-range bombers, 150 dive-bombers, 90 Bf 109s, 90 Bf 110s and 40 reconnaissance aircraft of Fliegerkorps VIII were assembled, along with 530 Ju 52 transport aircraft and 100 gliders. The Bf 109s and Stuka dive-bombers were based on forward airfields at Molaoi, Melos and Karpathos (then Scarpanto), with Corinth and Argos as base airfields. The Bf 110s were based at airfields near Athens, Argos and Corinth, all within 200 mi (320 km) of Crete, and
1560-473: A pottery workshop including a kiln was built in the earlier court, which has provided archaeologists with crucial evidence regarding Minoan pottery production. The LMIIIA Building P has been described as "perhaps the most curious" building at the site. Consisting of six long narrow galleries, its layout resembles Minoan storerooms. However, the galleries were open on their western sides, suggesting that their contents were left unsecured. Particularly since
1680-517: A precedecessor. During MMIII, Building AA was replaced by the grandiose Building T , comparable in size to the palace at Phaistos , with a facade constructed from the largest ashlars used by the Minoans. After an earthquake, the area was left in ruins before being redeveloped in the LMIIIA2 period. Buildings from this phase include the court-centered Building N and Building P . In this period,
1800-491: A request from King to support the damaged Naiad. Force A1 headed east into the Kythera Channel, rendezvousing with Force C between 13:30 and 14:00. As the more senior admiral, King took command, with air attacks now inflicting damage on both forces. A bomb struck HMS Warspite and the destroyer HMS Greyhound was sunk. King sent HMS Kandahar and HMS Kingston to pick up survivors, while
1920-475: A sea landing meant that a number of units that could have taken part in the attack were left in place, although this possibility was removed by the Royal Navy which arrived too late for the plans to be changed. The delayed counter-attack on the airfield came in daylight on 22 May, when the troops faced Stuka dive bombers, dug-in paratroops and mountain troops. The attack slowly petered out and failed to retake
2040-488: A second operation was discovered and that supplies (particularly of fuel), had to be delivered to Fliegerkorps XI by 5 May; a Luftwaffe message referring to Crete for the first time was decrypted on 26 April. The British Chiefs of Staff were apprehensive that the target could be changed to Cyprus or Syria as a route into Iraq during the Anglo-Iraqi War (2–31 May 1941) and suspected that references to Crete were
2160-402: A standard German 75 mm field gun , yet had 2 ⁄ 3 of its range. It fired a 13 lb (5.9 kg) shell more than 3 mi (4.8 km). A quarter of the German paratroops jumped with an MP 40 submachine gun , often carried with a bolt-action Karabiner 98k rifle and most German squads had an MG 34 machine gun . The Germans used colour-coded parachutes to distinguish
2280-615: A variety of local and international pottery, the archaeologists set aside a box labeled "The Strange and Wonderful" for stylistically unfamiliar finds. When colleagues from other digs toured the site, they were asked to look through the bin as their "entrance ticket". Joseph W. Shaw, Kommos: A Minoan Harbor Town and Greek Sanctuary in Southern Crete (ASCSA, 2006: ISBN 0-87661-659-7 ). Peter M. Day, Patrick S. Quinn, Jeremy B. Rutter, & Vassilis Kilikoglou. (2011). A WORLD OF GOODS: Transport Jars and Commodity Exchange at
2400-517: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Kommos (Crete) The partially excavated site is located 5 km north of Matala , adjacent to Kommos Beach. It is not open to the public, but is visible from the beach. Kommos is located on the coast of the Mesara Plain , one of the major population centers of the Minoan civilization. It
2520-451: Is near the Palace of Phaistos and the town of Hagia Triada , with whom it has been described as forming "a great Minoan triangle". The archaeological site is next to Kommos Beach, a popular swimming spot. In ancient times, Papadoplaka reef islet would have partly sheltered the town from waves and wind, though it has been substantially submerged by rising sea levels and German bombing during
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#17327903488432640-535: The 22nd Air Landing Division once the airfields were secure. The operation was scheduled for 16 May 1941, but was postponed to 20 May, with the 5th Mountain Division replacing the 22nd Air Landing Division. To support the German attack on Crete, eleven Italian submarines took post off Crete or the British bases of Sollum and Alexandria in Egypt. Major-General Kurt Student did not add an attack on Crete to Operation Marita until March 1941; supply difficulties delayed
2760-600: The Egyptian gods Sekhmet and Nefertum . This temple was abandoned around 600 BC, a time of reduced religious activity throughout Crete. The latest temple, Temple C , was built in the Classical era around 400 BC it remained in use until around 150 AD. A more ambitious construction, this building consisted of a single rectangular room and was typical of Cretan temples in its lack of exterior columns. The temple originally had two statues, though all that remains of them are
2880-452: The Gulf of Kissamos , where a landing beach had already been selected and marked out. Upon nearing the shore on 28 May, the lighter was positioned ahead of the tug and firmly beached. A party of engineers then blew the lighter's bow off using demolition charges and the two tanks rolled ashore. They were soon assigned to Advance Detachment Wittman , which had assembled near Prison Valley reservoir
3000-510: The Italian torpedo boat Lupo , tried to land German reinforcements near Maleme. Force D under Rear-Admiral Irvine Glennie , with three light cruisers and four destroyers, intercepted the convoy before midnight; the convoy turned back with the loss of more than half of its boats, despite Lupo 's defence. The attacking British force suffered only slight damage on cruiser HMS Orion caused by friendly fire. About 2 ⁄ 3 of
3120-522: The Kriegsmarine commander, Admiral Karlgeorg Schuster , wanted more emphasis on Maleme, to achieve overwhelming superiority of force. Student wanted to disperse the paratroops more, to maximise the effect of surprise. As the primary objective, Maleme offered several advantages: it was the largest airfield and big enough for heavy transport aircraft, it was close enough to the mainland for air cover from land-based Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and it
3240-613: The Kriegsmarine made another attempt to supply the invasion by sea. On 24 May Oberleutnant-zur-See Österlin, who had led the Maleme Flotilla, was given the task of transporting two Panzer II light tanks to Kastelli Kisamou. Österlin commandeered a small wooden lighter at Piraeus and arranged for the tanks to be lowered onto it. At dusk the next day, the lighter, towed by the small harbour tug Kentauros , left Piraeus and headed south towards Crete. Reports of British naval units operating nearby convinced Admiral Schuster to delay
3360-577: The Middle East Command in Alexandria. The staff felt the invasion was doomed now that it had been compromised and may have wanted the airfields intact for the RAF once the invasion was defeated. The Germans were able to land reinforcements without fully operational airfields. One transport pilot crash-landed on a beach, others landed in fields, discharged their cargo and took off again. With
3480-466: The Nazi occupation of Crete . The Minoan city was divided into two areas, demarcated by a broad road paved with stone slabs. The hilly northern sector was primarily a residential neighborhood, while civic buildings were constructed in the lower and flatter southern area. The site is stratigraphically complex, with remains from different periods often directly on top of each other. The southern edge of
3600-550: The Peloponnese had been transferred to Crete to replace the trained soldiers sent to fight on the mainland. These troops were already organised into numbered recruit training regiments, and it was decided to use this structure to organise the Greek troops, supplementing them with experienced men arriving from the mainland. The British Commonwealth contingent consisted of the original 14,000-man British garrison and another 25,000 British and Commonwealth troops evacuated from
3720-570: The Ultra link, but Churchill ruled that the information must still be provided. When Freyberg took over on 30 April, the information was disguised as information from a spy in Athens. Remaining doubts about an attack on Crete were removed on 1 May, when the Luftwaffe was ordered to stop bombing airfields on the island and mining Souda Bay and to photograph all of the island. By 5 May it was clear that
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3840-578: The skull assumedly for consumption of the brain . Further animal remains, such as cows and deer were also found around the site. Very few human remains have been uncovered from the site, with the only human remain being an adult mandible . Bird remains have also been found. Eggshells and avian bones from the site were identified by Dr. George E. Watson, Curator of Birds at the Smithsonian Institution . The usage for birds varied from domestication to consumption. Avian bones found at
3960-419: The "absolute and immediate need" for "reinforcement by sea shipment of heavy weaponry if the operation is to get ahead at all." Awful news from Crete. We are scuppered there, and I'm afraid the morale and material effects will be serious. Certainly the Germans are past-masters in the art of war—and great warriors. If we beat them, we shall have worked a miracle. Schuster issued Österlin new orders to sail for
4080-432: The 100th Regiment landed from the caïque that arrived in Crete. The defending force organised for a night counter-attack on Maleme by two New Zealand battalions, the 20th Battalion of the 4th Brigade and the 28th Maori Battalion of the 5th Brigade. A New Zealand officer present at the battle claimed a long delay ordering the planned counter-attack turned a night attack into a day attack, which led to its failure. Fears of
4200-467: The 1st Greek Regiment. The Greeks put up determined resistance but, with only 600 rifles and a few thousand rounds of ammunition available for 1,000 ill-trained men, they were unable to repel the German advance. Fighting by the remnants of the 1st Greek Regiment continued in the Kastelli area until 26 May, hampering German efforts to land reinforcements. Despite the dangers posed by British naval forces,
4320-451: The 20th Battalion took three hours to reach the staging area, with its first elements arriving around 02:45. The counter-attack began at 03:30 but failed because of German daylight air support. (Brigadier George Alan Vasey and Lieutenant-Colonel William Cremor have criticised Freyberg for not properly defending Maleme Airfield.) Hargest also blamed Freyberg for the loss of the airfield. An Axis convoy of around 20 caïques , escorted by
4440-520: The 8th Regiment held on until 27 May, when the Germans made a combined arms assault by Luftwaffe aircraft and mountain troops. The Greek stand helped to protect the retreat of the Commonwealth forces, who were evacuated at Sfakia . Beevor and McDougal Stewart write that the defence of Alikianos gained at least 24 more hours for the completion of the final leg of the evacuation behind Layforce . The troops who were protected as they withdrew had begun
4560-625: The Aegean islands, Egypt, and the Anatolian coast confirms the importance of international trade to the Late Minoan coastal city of Kommos. Kommos first attracted the attention of archaeologists in 1924, when Arthur Evans visited the site. Though he did not excavate, he studied surface remains and proposed that the site had been a Minoan port. Though this conclusion later proved accurate, most of his specific interpretations were not. For instance,
4680-544: The Balkans. On 30 March, Detachment Süssmann , part of the 7th Fliegerdivision , was identified at Plovdiv. Notice of the target of these units did not arrive, but on 18 April it was found that 250 Ju 52s had been withdrawn from routine operations, and on 24 April it became known that Göring had reserved them for a special operation. The operation turned out to be a descent on the Corinth Canal on 26 April, but then
4800-424: The British, who had no stocks in the correct calibres. Those with insufficient ammunition were posted to the eastern sector of Crete, where the Germans were not expected in force. The 8th Greek Regiment was under strength and many soldiers were poorly trained and poorly equipped. The unit was attached to 10th New Zealand Infantry Brigade ( Brigadier Howard Kippenberger ), who placed it in a defensive position around
4920-576: The Chiefs of Staff demurred. German search-and-rescue aircraft and Italian motor torpedo boats spotted and rescued the 262 survivors from the German light convoy sunk off Cape Spatha. After air attacks on Allied positions in Kastelli on 24 May, the 95th Gebirgs Pioneer Battalion advanced on the town. These air attacks enabled the escape of German paratroopers captured on 20 May; the escapees killed or captured several New Zealand officers assigned to lead
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5040-613: The Garrison Battalion. The Germans pierced the defensive cordon around Heraklion on the first day, seizing the Greek barracks on the west edge of the town and capturing the docks; the Greeks counter-attacked and recaptured both points. The Germans dropped leaflets threatening dire consequences if the Allies did not surrender immediately. The next day, Heraklion was heavily bombed and the depleted Greek units were relieved and assumed
5160-492: The German force of more than 2,000 men was saved by the Italian naval commander, Francesco Mimbelli , against an overwhelmingly superior Allied naval force. A total of 297 German soldiers, two Italian seamen and two British sailors on Orion were killed. Eight caiques were caught and sunk, while at least another six managed to get away, along with three Italian escorting motor-sailing boats. Only one caïque and one cutter from
5280-504: The German troop transports, had succeeded in forcing the Axis to abort the landing by their mere presence at sea. During the search and withdrawal from the area, Force C suffered many losses to German bombers. Naiad was damaged by near misses and the cruiser HMS Carlisle was hit. Cunningham later criticised King, saying that the safest place during the air attack was amongst the flotilla of caïque s. While Force C made its attack on
5400-716: The Germans slowly pushed the New Zealanders back from Hill 107, which overlooked the airfield. Greek police and cadets took part, with the 1st Greek Regiment (Provisional) combining with armed civilians to rout a detachment of German paratroopers dropped at Kastelli . The 8th Greek Regiment and elements of the Cretan forces severely hampered movement by the 95th Reconnaissance Battalion on Kolimbari and Paleochora , where Allied reinforcements from North Africa could be landed. A second wave of German transports supported by Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica attack aircraft, arrived in
5520-607: The Germans to land reinforcements and overwhelm the defensive positions on the north of the island. Allied forces withdrew to the south coast. More than half were evacuated by the British Royal Navy and the remainder surrendered or joined the Cretan resistance . The defence of Crete evolved into a costly naval engagement; by the end of the campaign the Royal Navy's eastern Mediterranean strength had been reduced to only two battleships and three cruisers. The Battle of Crete
5640-472: The Germans willing to sacrifice some transport aircraft to win the battle, it is not clear whether a decision to destroy the airfields would have made any difference, particularly given the number of troops delivered by expendable gliders. At 08:00 on 20 May 1941, German paratroopers, jumping out of dozens of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft, landed near Maleme Airfield and the town of Chania . The 21st , 22nd and 23rd New Zealand battalions held Maleme Airfield and
5760-654: The Greek government to employ the Fifth Cretan Division in the mainland campaign. This arrangement suited the British: Crete could provide the Royal Navy with excellent harbours in the eastern Mediterranean , from which it could threaten the Axis south-eastern flank, and the Ploiești oil fields in Romania would be within range of British bombers based on the island. The Italians were repulsed, but
5880-637: The Imperial General Staff , General Sir John Dill : "To lose Crete because we had not sufficient bulk of forces there would be a crime." The German Army High Command ( Oberkommando des Heeres , OKH) was preoccupied with Operation Barbarossa , the invasion of the Soviet Union, and was largely opposed to a German attack on Crete. However, Hitler remained concerned about attacks in other theatres, in particular on his Romanian fuel supply, and Luftwaffe commanders were enthusiastic about
6000-534: The KOMO call sign during part of 1926 KNWN (AM) , Seattle, Washington radio station, which held the KOMO call sign from 1926 until 2022 KNWN-FM , Oakville, Washington radio station (97.7 FM), known as KOMO-FM from 2009 until 2022 Other uses [ edit ] Komo people , an ethnic group who live along the Sudanese-Ethiopian border Komo language , a Nilo-Saharan language Komo (lute) ,
6120-603: The Late Bronze Age Harbor of Kommos, Crete. Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 80(4), 511–558. Battle of Crete 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 The Battle of Crete ( German : Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta , Greek : Μάχη της Κρήτης ), codenamed Operation Mercury ( German : Unternehmen Merkur ), was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture
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#17327903488436240-575: The Late Bronze Age Southern Aegean is the transport stirrup-jar , which looks like a larger false-necked amphora. It has a wide-mouth rim with two vertical handles on the shoulders that connect to the neck of the vessel. At the beginning of the 14th century BC, a variation of the Minoan oval-mouthed amphora started making an appearance in Kommos. Dubbed the short-neck amphora, this vessel had two cylindrical handles attached at
6360-675: The Late Minoan city of Kommos. Transport stirrup jars have not only been found on Crete but also in vast quantities on the Greek mainland , throughout the Aegean Islands , and along the western Anatolian coast. The Cretan vessels have been found in the Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna , Cyprus, and the Levant , and the results of petrographic and trace element analysis determine that the majority of these transport stirrup jars originated in
6480-521: The MMIII/LMI period, the site was rebuilt on a larger scale, perhaps 3.5 ha. Archaeologists have noted that during the early LMIII period, residents' living standards fell even as commercial activity reached its all time peak. The site was abandoned after LMIIIB around 1200 BC and was never reoccupied on the same scale, though it served as a sanctuary until the Hellenistic era . The Minoan name of
6600-465: The New Zealand and Greek defenders almost annihilated the glider troops who landed safely. Some paratroopers and gliders missed their objectives near both airfields and set up defensive positions to the west of Maleme Airfield and in "Prison Valley" near Chania. Both forces were contained and failed to take the airfields, but the defenders had to deploy to face them. Towards the evening of 20 May,
6720-483: The advantage of surprise, Adolf Hitler became reluctant to authorise further large airborne operations, preferring instead to employ paratroopers as ground troops. In contrast, the Allies were impressed by the potential of paratroopers and started to form airborne-assault and airfield-defence regiments . British forces had initially garrisoned Crete when the Italians attacked Greece on 28 October 1940, enabling
6840-494: The afternoon, dropping more paratroopers and gliders containing assault troops. One group attacked at Rethymno at 16:15 and another attacked at Heraklion at 17:30, where the defenders were waiting for them and inflicted many casualties. The Rethymno–Heraklion sector was defended by the British 14th Brigade, as well as the 2/4th Australian Infantry Battalion and the Greek 3rd, 7th and "Garrison" (ex-5th Crete Division) battalions. The Greeks lacked equipment and supplies, particularly
6960-407: The air attacks. The transports were defended by a torpedo charge by Sagittario , which also laid a smoke screen and traded fire with the British force, trying to lure them to a different direction. Indeed, King was unaware that a major enemy convoy was ahead of his force until 11:00. Eventually, the convoy and its escort managed to slip away undamaged. King's ships, despite their failure to destroy
7080-639: The aircraft at low altitude. This was a flaw that left the paratroopers armed only with knives, pistols and grenades in the first few minutes after landing. Poor design of German parachutes compounded the problem; the standard German harness had only one riser to the canopy and could not be steered. Even the 25 percent of paratroops armed with sub-machine guns were at a disadvantage, given the weapon's limited range. Many Fallschirmjäger were shot before they reached weapons canisters. Greek troops were armed with Mannlicher–Schönauer 6.5 mm mountain carbines or ex-Austrian 8x56R Steyr-Mannlicher M1895 rifles,
7200-407: The aircraft, and barrels full of petrol were kept ready to be ignited by machine-gun fire. Around each ground, a few field guns, anti-aircraft guns, two infantry tanks and two or three light tanks were sited. The three areas were made into independent sectors, but there were only eight QF 3-inch and twenty Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. On 30 April 1941, Major-general Bernard Freyberg VC
7320-609: The airfield, which forced the defenders into withdrawals to the eastern end of the island, to avoid being out-flanked. Admiral Andrew Cunningham sent Force C (three cruisers and four destroyers, commanded by Rear Admiral Edward Leigh Stuart King ) into the Aegean Sea through the Kasos Strait, to attack a second flotilla of transports, escorted by the Italian torpedo boat Sagittario . The force sank an isolated caïque at 08:30, saving itself from an air attack that struck
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#17327903488437440-479: The assembly of Fliegerkorps XI and its 500 Ju 52s, then more delays forced a postponement until 20 May 1941. The War Cabinet in Britain had expected the Germans to use paratroops in the Balkans, and on 25 March, British decrypts of Luftwaffe Enigma wireless traffic revealed that Fliegerkorps XI was assembling Ju 52s for glider-towing, and British Military Intelligence reported that 250 aircraft were already in
7560-486: The attack on Crete, which had to begin soon or would be cancelled. Planning was rushed and much of Unternehmen Merkur was improvised, including the use of troops who were not trained for airborne assaults. The Germans planned to capture Maleme , but there was debate over the concentration of forces there and the number to be deployed against other objectives, such as the smaller airfields at Heraklion and Rethymno. The Luftwaffe commander, Colonel General Alexander Löhr, and
7680-573: The attack was not imminent and, next day, 17 May was revealed as the expected day for the completion of preparations, along with the operation orders for the plan from the D-day landings in the vicinity of Maleme and Chania, Heraklion, and Rethymno. Admiral Wilhelm Canaris , chief of the Abwehr , originally reported 5,000 British troops on Crete and no Greek forces. It is not clear whether Canaris, who had an extensive intelligence network at his disposal,
7800-413: The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Andrew VC, who was on the eastern side of the airfield. The lack of communication was assumed to mean that the battalion had been overrun in the west. With the weakened state of the eastern elements of the battalion and believing the western elements to have been overrun, Andrew requested reinforcement by the 23rd Battalion. Brigadier James Hargest denied
7920-448: The battle with more and better equipment than the 8th Greek Regiment. British and Commonwealth troops used the standard Lee–Enfield rifle, Bren light machine gun and Vickers medium machine gun . The British had about 85 artillery pieces of various calibres, many of them captured Italian weapons without sights. Anti-aircraft defences consisted of one light anti-aircraft battery equipped with 20 mm automatic cannon, split between
8040-535: The battleship HMS Valiant and another hit Fiji , disabling her at 18:45. A Junkers Ju 88 flown by Lieutenant Gerhard Brenner dropped three bombs on Fiji , sinking her at 20:15. Five hundred survivors were rescued by Kandahar and Kingston that night. The Royal Navy had lost two cruisers and a destroyer but had managed to force the invasion fleet to turn round. Royal Navy AA gunners shot down five Junkers Ju 87s and five Ju 88s and damaged sixteen more, some of which crash-landed upon their return to base on
8160-403: The bomber or reconnaissance machines were accommodated at Athens, Salonica and a detachment on Rhodes, along with bases in Bulgaria at Sofia and Plovdiv, ten of the airfields being all-weather and 200–250 miles (320–400 km) from Crete. The transport aircraft flew from bases near Athens and southern Greece, including Eleusis, Tatoi, Megara and Corinth. British night bombers attacked the areas in
8280-422: The bridge in gliders, while parachute infantry attacked the perimeter defence. The bridge was damaged in the fighting, which slowed the German advance and gave the Allies time to evacuate 18,000 troops to Crete and 23,000 to Egypt, albeit with the loss of most of their heavy equipment. In May, Fliegerkorps XI moved from Germany to the Athens area, but the destruction wrought during the invasion of Greece forced
8400-593: The building as well as a comparable structure at Knossos 's port of Katsamba. Building P was built over the ruins of Building T's eastern wing. It is the largest known Minoan building from the LMIIIA era and easily distinguishable at the site today. It is also notable for being the location where the vast majority of "short necked amphoras" were found. Later ruins at the site include a sequence of temples , which were excavated along with copious votives and evidence of ritual feasting. The earliest of them, Temple A ,
8520-615: The building he identified as a customs house turned out to be an ordinary residence, and a feature he interpreted as a Minoan road was in fact a later fortification wall. Excavations at the site began in 1976 under the direction of Joseph Shaw from the University of Toronto , who specialized in ancient Mediterranean harbours. Over the previous decade, Shaw had surveyed a number of coastal sites in Mesara , concluding from surface pottery that Kommos alone showed evidence of Minoan presence. At
8640-533: The canisters carrying rifles, ammunition, crew-served weapons and other supplies. Heavy equipment like the Leichtgeschütz 40 were dropped with a special triple-parachute harness to bear the extra weight. The troops also carried special strips of cloth to unfurl in patterns to signal to low-flying fighters, to co-ordinate air support and for supply drops. The German procedure was for individual weapons to be dropped in canisters, due to their practice of exiting
8760-506: The convoy reached Crete. The caïque landed 3 officers and 110 German soldiers near Cape Spatha, while the cutter arrived safely in Akrotiri , where her crew was engaged by a British Army patrol and took heavy casualties. Of the German soldiers who landed at Akrotiri, only one managed to get through the British lines and join the German paratroopers already fighting for Chania. According to other authors, only one German officer and 35 men from
8880-771: The convoy, Force A1 (Rear Admiral H B Rawlings ), Force B (Captain Henry A Rowley) and Glennie's Force D converged west of Antikythera . Concerned about the level of anti-aircraft ammunition available following repeated air attacks, the combined force was ordered to report on their stock of high-angle ammunition at 09:31. Of the cruisers, HMS Ajax had 40 per cent, Orion 38 per cent, Fiji 30 per cent, HMS Dido 25 per cent and Gloucester only 18 per cent. Ajax , Orion and Dido were ordered to return to Alexandria with Glennie's Force D to rearm but Gloucester and Fiji remained with Rawlings' Force A1. At 12:25 Force A1, stationed 20 to 30 miles west of Antikythera, received
9000-403: The cruiser HMS Naiad as the German pilots tried to avoid killing their troops in the water. The British squadron was under constant air attack and, short of anti-aircraft ammunition, steamed on toward Milos, sighting Sagittario at 10:00. King made the "difficult" decision not to press the attack, despite his overpowering advantage, because of the shortage of ammunition and the severity of
9120-477: The cruisers Fiji and Gloucester were ordered respectively at 14:02 and 14:07 to provide anti-aircraft support. Writing in despatches after the battle, Cunningham stated that King was unaware of the shortage of anti-aircraft ammunition in Gloucester and Fiji . At 14:13 King and Rawlings exchanged messages about the shortage of ammunition within both Force C and Force A1, with Rawlings expressing concern about
9240-481: The day before. This ad hoc group was composed of a motorcycle battalion, the Reconnaissance Battalion, an anti-tank unit, a motorised artillery troop, and some engineers. General Ringel gave orders for Wittmann to "strike out from Platanos at 03:00 on 28 May in pursuit of the British 'main' via the coastal highway to Rethymno" and thence towards Heraklion. Although they did not play a decisive role,
9360-411: The engines were worn and could not be overhauled on Crete. Most tanks were used as mobile pillboxes to be brought up and dug in at strategic points. One Matilda had a damaged turret crank that allowed it to turn clockwise only. Many British tanks broke down in the rough terrain, not in combat. The British and their allies did not possess sufficient Universal Carriers or trucks, which would have provided
9480-399: The first day was former world heavyweight champion boxer Max Schmeling , who held the rank of Gefreiter at the time. Schmeling survived the battle and the war. Overnight, the 22nd New Zealand Infantry Battalion withdrew from Hill 107, leaving Maleme Airfield undefended. During the previous day, the Germans had cut communications between the two westernmost companies of the battalion and
9600-587: The idea of seizing Crete by a daring airborne attack. The desire to regain prestige after their defeat by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Battle of Britain the year before, may also have played a role in their thinking, especially before the advent of the much more important invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler was won over by the audacious proposal and in Directive 31 he asserted that "Crete... will be
9720-471: The invasion. The largest proportion of the forces were in Group West. German airborne theory was based on parachuting a small force onto enemy airfields. The force would capture the perimeter and local anti-aircraft guns, allowing a much larger force to land by glider. Freyberg knew this after studying earlier German operations and decided to make the airfields unusable for landing, but was countermanded by
9840-504: The island of Crete . It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, with multiple German airborne landings on Crete. Greek and other Allied forces , along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. After only one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered heavy casualties and the Allied troops were confident that they would defeat the invasion. The next day, through communication failures, Allied tactical hesitation, and German offensive operations, Maleme Airfield in western Crete fell, enabling
9960-438: The island, preparatory to their relief by fresh troops from Egypt. The navy tried to deliver 27,000 long tons (27,000 t) of supplies from 1–20 May 1941, but Luftwaffe attacks forced most ships to turn back, and only 2,700 long tons (2,700 t) were delivered. Only about 3,500 trained British and Greek soldiers were on the island, and the defence devolved to the shaken and poorly equipped troops from Greece, assisted by
10080-417: The last few nights before the invasion, and Luftwaffe aircraft eliminated the British aircraft on Crete. The Germans planned to use Fallschirmjäger to capture important points on the island, including airfields that could then be used to fly in supplies and reinforcements. Fliegerkorps XI was to co-ordinate the attack by the 7th Flieger Division , which would land by parachute and glider, followed by
10200-618: The last fighters of 33 , 80 and 112 squadrons and a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm , once the Blenheims were ordered back to Egypt. In mid-May, the four squadrons had about two dozen aircraft, of which only about twelve were serviceable due to a lack of tools and spares. The unfinished ground at Pediada-Kastelli was blocked with trenches and heaps of soil and all but narrow flight paths were blocked at Heraklion and Rethymno by barrels full of earth. At Maleme, blast pens were built for
10320-411: The late republican prime minister of Greece, had been a Cretan and support for his ideas was strong on the island, the Germans seriously underestimated Cretan loyalty. King George and his entourage escaped from Greece via Crete with the help of Greek and Commonwealth soldiers, Cretan civilians, and even a band of prisoners who had been released from captivity by the Germans. 12th Army Intelligence painted
10440-414: The latter a part of post- World War I reparations ; about 1,000 Greeks carried antique Fusil Gras mle 1874 rifles. The garrison had been stripped of its best crew-served weapons , which were sent to the mainland; there were twelve obsolescent St. Étienne Mle 1907 light machine-guns and forty miscellaneous LMGs. Many Greek soldiers had fewer than thirty rounds of ammunition but could not be supplied by
10560-533: The mainland. These evacuees were a combination of intact units, composite units improvised locally, stragglers from every type of army unit, and deserters ; most of them lacked heavy equipment. The main formed units were the 2nd New Zealand Division , less the 6th Brigade and division headquarters; the 19th Australian Brigade Group ; and the 14th Infantry Brigade of the British 6th Division . There were about 15,000 front-line Commonwealth infantry, augmented by about 5,000 non-infantry personnel equipped as infantry and
10680-417: The mobility and firepower needed for rapid counter-attacks before the invaders could consolidate. Hitler authorised Unternehmen Merkur (named after the swift Roman god Mercury ) with Directive 28; the forces used were to come from airborne and air units already in the area and units intended for Unternehmen Barbarossa were to conclude operations before the end of May, Barbarossa was not to be delayed by
10800-471: The night of 21/22 May. Fighting against fresh German troops, the Allies retreated southward. The 5th Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of HMS Kelly , HMS Kipling , HMS Kelvin , HMS Jackal and HMS Kashmir ( Captain , Lord Louis Mountbatten ), was ordered to leave Malta on 21 May, to join the fleet off Crete, and arrived after Gloucester and Fiji were sunk. They were sent to pick up survivors and then diverted to attack
10920-806: The northern part of Central Crete. While the transport stirrup jar was frequently used in Crete to ferry their goods, the Canaanite jar was the preferred container throughout the Levant. Evidence of the Canaanite jar has been found at Kommos in the form of 60 fragmentary to fully restorable containers. The final type of vessel identified is the Egyptian jar. Kommos has been the only Aegean site where this Late Bronze Age undecorated pottery has been recovered. The styles of pottery range from closed shapes to amphoras, flasks, and necked jars, and most likely transported wine . The presence of Canaanite jars and Egyptian jars at Kommos and Cretan transport stirrup jars found throughout
11040-423: The open side faces the sea, the building is standardly interpreted as an early example of a ship shed. However, unlike Classical-era buildings of this sort, Building P was not on the shoreline and lacked a slipway . Thus, archaeologists hypothesize that the building was used for longer term storage than later examples. This interpretation is bolstered by the discovery of residue from hematite anti-fouling paint in
11160-605: The operation and he ordered Österlin to make for a small harbour on the German-occupied island of Kithira . At a meeting in Athens on 27 May, Luftwaffe Generals Richthofen, Jeschonnek, and Löhr pressed Schuster to get the tanks delivered somehow before "... the Englander claws himself erect again". One of Richthofen's liaison officers had returned from the island on 26 May; the paratroopers were in poor condition, lacking in discipline, and "at loose ends". He stressed
11280-862: The operational base from which to carry on the air war in the Eastern Mediterranean, in co-ordination with the situation in North Africa." The directive also stated that the operation was to be in May and must not be allowed to interfere with the planned campaign against the Soviet Union. Before the invasion, the Germans conducted a bombing campaign to establish air superiority and forced the RAF to move its remaining aeroplanes to Alexandria in Egypt . No RAF units were based permanently at Crete until April 1941, but airfield construction had begun, radar sites had been built and stores delivered. Equipment
11400-485: The orders given to Gloucester and Fiji . Following this communication, King issued an order to recall both Gloucester and Fiji at 14:57. Between 15:30 and 15:50, while attempting to rejoin Force A1, Gloucester was hit by several bombs and had to be left behind due to the air attacks; the ship was sunk and 22 officers and 700 ratings were killed. The air attacks on Force A1 and Force C continued; two bombs hit
11520-450: The palaces? Perhaps they were not so rare nor served such large regions as is generally supposed. Or perhaps in T we see an adaptation of the palace form for commercial purposes. The palatial complex was rebuilt several times. The earliest known palatial building, Building AA , was constructed shortly after the first palace at Phaistos during MMII . However, an earlier walkway excavated under AA's central court suggests that it may have had
11640-466: The request on the mistaken grounds that the 23rd Battalion was busy repulsing parachutists in its sector. After a failed counter-attack late in the day on 20 May, with the eastern elements of his battalion, Andrew withdrew under cover of darkness to regroup, with the consent of Hargest. Captain Campbell, commanding the westernmost company of the 22nd Battalion, out of contact with Andrew, did not learn of
11760-510: The shoulder, a stunted neck, and a round mouth. On the Syro-Palestinian coast, the Canaanite jar was the preferred transport jar; it was widely exported to Cyprus and Lower Egypt , where they eventually adopted and imitated the shoulder-handled vessel. The variations of the Canaanite jar created in Egypt can easily be identified by the diversities in material and surface treatment. Thousands of ceramic sherds have been recovered from
11880-529: The site include Woodpigeon , Rock Dove , Turtle Dove, Scopoli's Shearwater , and Chukar Partridge . Kommos has yielded more evidence for intercultural trade in the form of imported ceramics than any other Bronze Age site in the Aegean . Archaeologists have found Egyptian figurines and transport jars, Canaanite jars , and jars that originated from the Nile Delta . The typical transport vessel found in
12000-516: The site is notable for its architectural parallels with Minoan palaces . Like the palaces, this area had a paved rectangular court surrounded by monumental wings . Because Kommos is thought to have been politically dependent on Phaistos and Hagia Triada , the presence of palatial architecture is a puzzle. In the words of excavator Joseph Shaw: Could a relatively small and architecturally unpretentious town such as Kommos have promoted and maintained such an enormous structure, or have we misunderstood
12120-410: The site was archaeologically viable. Initial excavations turned up not only the expected Minoan remains, but also Greco-Roman roof tiles, something not expected based on surface pottery. Excavations used then-novel methodologies, attending to topography, geology, land use, and evidence of daily life at the site rather than simply elite material culture. Anticipating that an international port would contain
12240-533: The statue bases and one eye, leaving the identity of the gods worshipped there uncertain. The site was first settled in the Late Neolithic , but only expanded into a major settlement during the Middle Minoan period. In this era, the site expanded to cover an area of roughly 1.5 ha, and monumental buildings were built for the first time in the flat southern part of the site. After an earthquake in
12360-513: The subsequent German invasion of April 1941 ( Operation Marita ), succeeded in overrunning mainland Greece. At the end of the month, 57,000 Allied troops were evacuated by the Royal Navy. Some were sent to Crete to bolster its garrison until fresh forces could be organised, although most had lost their heavy equipment. Winston Churchill , the British prime minister , sent a telegram to the Chief of
12480-405: The time, the site was covered by a layer of sand that was four meters deep in some areas. This sand had to be cleared by a front loader before the earth layer below could be excavated. This process was complicated by the site having been a former Nazi minefield which was not entirely mineswept after the war. Excavations began after a ceremony from a local priest, and quickly confirmed that
12600-532: The town is unknown, but it has been argued that the site corresponds to Classical Era Amyklaion ( Greek : Αμύκλαιον ), which would reflect a link with Amyclae . Robin Lane Fox speculates that it is referred to in Odyssey 3.296: "a small rock holds back the great waves." That small rock is likely to have been the natural reef of Papadoplaka and a submerged sandy shore stretching to the coast would have formed
12720-654: The two airfields. The guns were camouflaged, often in nearby olive groves, and some were ordered to hold their fire during the initial assault to mask their positions from German fighters and dive-bombers . The British had nine Matilda II A infantry tanks of "B" Squadron, 7th Royal Tank Regiment (7th RTR) and sixteen Light Tanks Mark VIB from "C" Squadron, 3rd King's Own Hussars . The Matildas had 40 mm Ordnance QF 2 pounder guns, which only fired armour-piercing rounds – not effective anti-personnel weapons. (High explosive rounds in small calibres were considered impractical). The tanks were in poor mechanical condition, as
12840-646: The unit had been transferred to the mainland against the German invasion; the Cretan Gendarmerie (2,500 men); the Heraklion Garrison Battalion, a defence unit made up mostly of transport and supply personnel; and remnants of the 12th and 20th Greek divisions, which had also escaped from the mainland to Crete and were organised under British command. Cadets from the Gendarmerie academy and recruits from Greek training centres in
12960-506: The unwanted troops. Between the night of 15 May and morning of 16 May, the allied forces were reinforced by the 2nd Battalion of the Leicester Regiment , which had been transported from Alexandria to Heraklion by HMS Gloucester and HMS Fiji . On 17 May, the garrison on Crete included about 15,000 Britons, 7,750 New Zealanders, 6,500 Australians and 10,200 Greeks. On the morning of 19 May, these were augmented by
13080-500: The vicinity. The Germans suffered many casualties in the first hours of the invasion: a company of III Battalion, 1st Assault Regiment lost 112 killed out of 126 men, and 400 of 600 men in III Battalion were killed on the first day. Most of the parachutists were engaged by New Zealanders defending the airfield and by Greek forces near Chania. Many gliders following the paratroops were hit by mortar fire seconds after landing, and
13200-525: The village of Alikianos where, with local civilian volunteers, they held out against the German 7th Engineer Battalion. Though Kippenberger had referred to them as "...nothing more than malaria-ridden little chaps...with only four weeks of service," the Greek troops repulsed German attacks until they ran out of ammunition, whereupon they began charging with fixed bayonets, overrunning German positions and capturing rifles and ammunition. The engineers had to be reinforced by two battalions of German paratroops, yet
13320-413: The withdrawal of the 22nd Battalion until early in the morning, at which point he also withdrew from the west of the airfield. This misunderstanding, representative of the failings of communication and co-ordination in the defence of Crete, cost the Allies the airfield and allowed the Germans to reinforce their invasion force unopposed. In Athens, Student decided to concentrate on Maleme on 21 May, as this
13440-523: Was a simple rural shrine built in the Subminoan period around 1020 BC at the then-abandoned site. It was replaced by Temple B in the Archaic era around 800 BC. At this point in time, Kommos was once again a stopping point for sailors, and finds from Temple B attest to its international connections. The temple included a Phoenician tripillar shrine around which were found imported faience figurines of
13560-476: Was appointed Senior Air Officer, Crete, taking over from a flight-lieutenant whose duties and instructions had been only vaguely defined. Beamish was ordered to prepare the reception of the Bristol Blenheim bombers of 30 and 203 squadrons from Egypt and the remaining fighter aircraft from Greece, to cover the evacuation of W Force, which enabled the transfer of 25,000 British and Dominion troops to
13680-621: Was chosen. This was to be the first big airborne invasion, although the Germans had made smaller parachute and glider -borne assaults in the invasions of Denmark and Norway , Belgium , the Netherlands , France and mainland Greece . In Greece, Fallschirmjäger had been dispatched to capture the bridge over the Corinth Canal , which was being readied for demolition by the Royal Engineers . German engineers landed near
13800-532: Was hit and sank in two minutes, and Kelly was hit and turned turtle soon after and later sank. Kelly shot down a Stuka before sinking and another was badly damaged and crashed upon returning to base. Kipling survived 83 bombs, while 279 survivors were rescued from the ships. (The Noël Coward film In Which We Serve was based on this action.) The Royal Navy had suffered so many losses from air attacks that on 23 May Admiral Cunningham signalled his superiors that daylight operations could no longer continue, but
13920-445: Was misinformed or was attempting to sabotage Hitler's plans (Canaris was killed much later in the war for supposedly participating in the 20 July Plot ). Abwehr also predicted the Cretan population would welcome the Germans as liberators, due to their strong republican and anti- monarchist feelings and would want to receive the "... favourable terms which had been arranged on the mainland ..." While Eleftherios Venizelos ,
14040-520: Was near the north coast, so seaborne reinforcements could be brought up quickly. A compromise plan by Hermann Göring was agreed, and in the final draft, Maleme was to be captured first, while not ignoring the other objectives. The invasion force was divided into Kampfgruppen (battlegroups), Centre, West and East, each with a code name following the classical theme established by Mercury; 750 glider-borne troops, 10,000 paratroops, 5,000 airlifted mountain soldiers and 7,000 seaborne troops were allocated to
14160-612: Was scarce in the Mediterranean and in the backwater of Crete. The British forces had seven commanders in seven months. In early April, airfields at Maleme and Heraklion and the landing strip at Rethymno on the north coast were ready and another strip at Pediada-Kastelli was nearly finished. After the German invasion of Greece, the role of the Crete garrison changed from the defence of a naval anchorage to preparing to repel an invasion. On 17 April, Group Captain George Beamish
14280-434: Was the area where the most progress had been made and because an early morning reconnaissance flight over Maleme Airfield was unopposed. The Germans quickly exploited the withdrawal from Hill 107 to take control of Maleme Airfield, just as a sea landing took place nearby. The Allies continued to bombard the area as Ju 52s flew in units of the 5th Mountain Division at night. In the afternoon of 21 May 1941, Freyberg ordered
14400-493: Was the first occasion where Fallschirmjäger (German paratroops) were used en masse , the first mainly airborne invasion in military history, the first time the Allies made significant use of intelligence from decrypted German messages from the Enigma machine , and the first time German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population. Due to the number of casualties and the belief that airborne forces no longer had
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