Six Hundred and Twenty-Six Occupied the Balkans

The situation of the Allied forces on Crete was actually very bad. The officers who insisted on commanding here stubbornly believed that the German airborne troops could not use the airport to transport more soldiers to Crete. Therefore, the three airports on the island were not destroyed in advance, but after a day of fierce fighting, the Allied forces found that the Germans controlled two of the three airports, and densely packed German planes were using these two airports to land in Kerry. Te Island.

Another tragic thing is that the weapons of the Allied guards on the island are really a headache

Soldiers of the Greek army are equipped with many kinds of rifles, including the 6.5mm Manlicia Schoenauer m1903 rifle and the 8mm Lee Enfield m1895 rifle made in Austria. About 1,000 Greek soldiers are in the Use the old m1874 rifles, most of these guns are products of the First World War era.

The defenders of Greece put their best weapons into the previous homeland defense battle. They wiped out their advanced equipment in Athens, but the losses in the homeland made their weapons for defending Crete even more pitiful. Now they only have 12 Saint-Etienne m1907 light machine guns to be discarded and 40 other light machine guns of various models.

What makes the Greek soldiers most desperate is that many of them are only equipped with less than 30 rounds of bullets. The messy weapon calibers prevent them from receiving supply ammunition from the British, because the British army (in fact, there is only one New Zealand infantry battalion) has the same bullet caliber as the They were not the same, which seriously affected the role that Greek soldiers could perform in the campaign.

What made the New Zealand commander even more speechless was that these Greeks concentrated their own small arms storage in the arsenal, and this arsenal was located in the east of Crete, because they estimated that the German army would not attack here—— It turns out that this ammunition depot now belongs to the German paratroopers.

However, these Greek defenders in Crete, who were short of ammunition, still showed admirable courage. They used everything they could find to fight back against the Germans and caused all kinds of trouble for the German paratroopers. German soldiers described Greek soldiers as "their battles were courageous and indomitable."

At the same time, the most elite New Zealand battalion fighting on the island is also very heroic. They have lost about 110 soldiers and still have not surrendered to the opposite German army. They are guarding the port on Crete to prevent the German army from using the port. Bring more soldiers ashore.

Height 107 is a strategic point guarding the only remaining Allied airfield, and the Greek troops were ordered to defend this position to the death. The German paratroopers also received an order to take this defensive core in the fastest time.

With a gunshot of "Boom!", another German attack was repulsed, and the positions of the Greek defenders were full of bomb craters and unextinguished flames. The German army has dropped 71 corpses in front of this position. If you count the number of nearby corpses, the German army has lost 130 soldiers nearby. However, the position is still in the hands of Greek soldiers and has never changed.

A Greek soldier looked at his rifle, expressionless on his muddy face. He had fired his last bullet in the battle just now, and now the only weapon he could use to fight was the bayonet stuck under the muzzle of his rifle. And around him, everyone was in the same situation, some had a few bullets left, and some had a grenade left.

The Heavy had been killed hours earlier, his machine gun had run out of ammunition first, and then the old machine gun was useless. As the battle progressed, the Germans used a variety of weapons to attack, including flamethrowers and 75mm recoilless guns.

However, although the number of Greek soldiers killed in battle was three times that of the German army, they still did not give up their positions. They were ordered to stand here, so they really gritted their teeth and persisted here. Germany is not the only country that produces dedicated soldiers. In fact, any country may have such a group of people. They are so stubborn that they are cute and so stubborn that they make people cry.

"Everyone put on bayonets! Fight the German devils!" A Greek battalion commander standing here had a bandage on his head. He looked at his subordinates calmly and said while inserting the bayonet into his rifle. : "When they come up, let's show them the real Greek warriors!"

Everyone was silent, and they held the steel guns in their hands tightly, as if they wanted to instill their last will into their weapons. They knew that after this battle, their homeland might no longer exist, so they decided to stick to it, even if it allowed the country of Greece to exist for a second longer, it would be good.

The battered Greek flag on the battlefield was still fluttering gently in the face of the majestic wind. Looking at this flag, everyone seemed to be filled with infinite strength. These soldiers leaned in the trenches and waited for the Germans, while the opposite The German paratroopers did not keep the Greeks waiting too long.

With the rumbling sound, four German paratrooper assault vehicles appeared on the front of the Greek soldiers. It seems that the Germans did not realize that the last warriors of Greece burst out their brilliance. They did not fight the Greeks at all. According to the plan, these experienced German soldiers intend to use the weapons in their hands to crush their stubborn opponents to death.

There are many cloth pockets on the front of the German paratrooper tank, and these pockets were air-dropped to Crete along with the paratrooper tank. The paratroopers filled their pockets with sand and soil, and then fixed them on the front armor of the paratrooper combat vehicle-this is a way to increase the protection. The most important thing is that these weights can be obtained locally, without taking up the precious carrying capacity of the aircraft ability.

The tracks of the paratrooper chariots rolled forward little by little, bringing up the soil and falling aside. There was a machine gun in front of these paratrooper chariots, and it was easy to deal with Greek soldiers. Several Greek soldiers jumped out of the trenches, and they had to approach these As the German paratroopers kept advancing, they were quickly hit by bullets and fell into the soil they guarded.

"Boom!" A Greek soldier with only one bullet left in the gun pulled the trigger on the paratrooper chariot. The bullet hit the sandbag and splashed a piece of black soil, but the paratrooper chariot was still there. Moving forward, so it is obvious that his bullet did not penetrate the opponent's front armor plate.

A large group of German soldiers followed behind these paratrooper chariots. They carried their mp-44 assault rifles and g43 semi-automatic rifles, lowered their bodies and followed the ruts of the tanks and slowly advanced. They knew that there was also a group of ruthless people on the other side, so they approached their target more cautiously.

"Don't show your head! Wait for their tanks to drive past!" The Greek battalion commander warned his soldiers loudly. But before he finished shouting, the German army even jumped over their paratrooper chariot because the distance was close enough, and threw a row of grenades over by projectile method. Suddenly, the position of the Greek defenders exploded, kicking up countless dust.

And with the dust raised by these grenades, the German grenadiers rushed out from the two wings of the tank. They used their superior firepower to shoot wildly at the Greek defenders in the trenches, preventing them from rushing out of the trenches to fight themselves. Start hand-to-hand combat.

The German bullets swept across the entire position like a dense storm. One Greek soldier after another was shot down in his trench, and some rushed out of the trench and fell a few steps away from the German army. The German army was not without casualties. After all, some Greek soldiers still had residual bullets, so some German soldiers fell into a pool of blood following the gunshots. Neither side had the intention of retreating. The final contest started here.

When the battalion commander of the Greek garrison rushed out of the trench with his rifle in his hand, there was a German soldier in front of him. He picked up his rifle. It was like a battle of the Eight-Power Allied Forces invading China. In the end, the person who shot the gun won, while the person holding the bayonet could only fall down in grief.

The most tragic battle on Crete began on the 107th Heights and ended on the 107th Heights. The German army killed 143 soldiers here, while the soldiers of the Greek defenders, battalions and companies, were wiped out here. A full 670 cold corpses were taken away.

The German soldiers did not have the joy of victory, because they had spent too much time and too many troops here. When they reached the top of the highland, they saw a fire on the airport on the other side, and the retreating Greeks Fired up the airfield and blew up what little jet fuel was left.

However, the German offensive did not stop. After a few hours, the airport was still in the pocket of the German army. The German army erected a national flag here, proving that a tragic battle broke out here. But soon the good news came. A battalion of soldiers defeated the New Zealand troops, rushed through the defense line and rushed into the port from the front. The surrounded British and New Zealand troops finally surrendered, and the Germans occupied the crucial port.

After the defenders lost all the airports and important ports, the situation took a turn for the worse. A German infantry regiment landed at the port, and the German army's shortage of troops on Crete was quickly made up for. A few hours later, the defenders on Crete were divided and surrounded by German troops. Although the resistance was still going on, it had lost effective organization and mobilization.

On September 1st, Germany officially announced its permanent occupation of Crete. In his statement, Akado solemnly announced to the world: "Crete has become the sacred territory of the Third Reich, and Germany will have permanent power in the Balkan Peninsula. Turkey and Italy on the Balkan Peninsula must provide the necessary convenience for the establishment of material delivery pipelines in the world.”

Amidst applause from representatives of Italy and Turkey, the official battle in the Balkans came to an end. The German army turned its attention to the distant North Africa, and Rommel once again became the focus of the world.