Now only Li Mo still has three formed paratrooper divisions in his hands, and although the German high command retains the number of four paratrooper divisions, it no longer uses them as paratroopers, but as elite infantry, which is the most tragic part of the Cretan campaign.

In fact, Li Mo still admires the grandsons of the high command, even if there are all kinds of disadvantages, but throughout the battle of Crete, the performance of the German high command is still remarkable. At the beginning of the war on the 4th, the situation was already extremely unfavorable for the German army, and many airborne landing points were subjected to unexpectedly heavy ground anti-aircraft fire and stubborn resistance, and the planned outwitting completely turned into a strong attack, which was completely different from the nature of the operation of the German airborne troops before that.

At the same time, the commander of the Central Brigade died in an accident before he reached Crete. However, the troops still insisted on fighting according to plan, using the ammunition and light weapons that were not abundant in their hands to confront the British troops who were on the alert, and this had a lot to do with the outstanding performance of the replacement commanders at the front. At the same time, it is also very important for combat units to have excellent tactical attainment and good psychological quality.

The part of the transport unit responsible for the airlift obviously lacked experience in organizing large-scale airlift (the Germans were still relatively best in the technical situation at the time), and the confusion of the air transport force also made the offensive to some extent more difficult. The disadvantage of the German fighters' short range was once again exposed in this battle, so that they could not provide the landing force with full air support, and had to make up for it by increasing the number of sorties.

In air-to-sea operations, the Luftwaffe undoubtedly mastered absolute air supremacy, inflicting heavy losses on the British Royal Navy. However, in the absence of large surface ships to consolidate the results of the war, as soon as the Luftwaffe left the sky, the transport fleet had to risk being discovered by the Royal Navy, and carefully "survived".

On the other hand, the British army, with its efficient intelligence agencies, fully grasped the German army's combat intentions before the start of the war and made targeted deployments, which did cause great trouble to the attacking side in the subsequent battles. The British army, as a master of the layout of positions and experts in camouflage, was also quite remarkable in the layout of the defensive positions in Crete, and the positions were not only cleverly set. The combination of firepower is reasonable. The excellent camouflage concealed its strength, and at the same time succeeded in deceiving the German reconnaissance plane, until the German paratroopers landed on the island of Crete, only to find themselves in a deep siege.

Compared to the above advantages. The combat capability of the British army has nothing to boast about. There are a total of 42,640 soldiers defending the island. Even if you don't count the 10,258 Greek soldiers who were demoralized, there were still 32,382 British troops, not counting the troops that came back after the start of the war. The Germans were only 22,000 men. And there are no heavy weapons such as tanks.

In this advantage, the British army would only be passively defensive, hiding in positions and waiting for the Germans to attack. Only on the 22nd did the British launch a slightly more modest counterattack in the Iracolin area, which only resulted in the cutting off of the German Central Brigade, and the divided Central Brigade continued to fight, holding its ground even in the weaker part of the German army.

Before that, when the German army had not yet gained a foothold, the British did not take advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack was the biggest mistake. The loss of Malim airfield was a turning point in the battle for Crete, and after the garrison lost contact, the commander Lieutenant Colonel Andrew began to waver, and finally abandoned his position that night. In addition, the British army's communications and command system was also an obvious weakness, and the situation at Malim Airport was irreparably difficult by the time Freiburg received the news of the loss of Heights 107.

It should also be mentioned that the British Royal Navy, the construction is conformist, the operational thinking is greatly backward, and the attention to aircraft carriers is not enough, and in the memory of the successful use of aircraft carriers by the Royal Navy in the entire World War II, there is only the surprise attack Taranto commanded by Cunningham.

In the Battle of Crete, the British Royal Navy participated in the battle of more than 40 large and medium-sized surface ships of the naval fleet, but the aircraft carrier was only one "Dreadnought", and only 4 aircraft could be lifted into the air at any time! The effect is simply negligible. The direct consequence of this was that although the British army had a powerful fleet, it could only be a "silent lamb" in the face of the fierce offensive of the Luftwaffe.

However, the organization of the Royal Navy was impressive, and from Greece to Crete this time, there were always large numbers of troops that could be withdrawn from the sea, leaving a valuable force for future battles, and in any case it gave the British a little comfort after each defeat.

It should also be noted that the navy and air force are united in operations. A fleet without air supremacy, no matter how powerful your fleet is, will also die at the bottom of the sea. In the same way, relying solely on air superiority can only achieve local superiority in a specific environment, but cannot turn local superiority into total victory.

In the German-British air-sea battle in this battle, although the Luftwaffe achieved excellent air supremacy and suppressed the daytime operations of the British fleet, as long as the German planes left, the Royal Navy was still the master of the sea, and the Germans were ultimately unable to make full use of the sea lines of communication to transport a large number of reinforcements and heavy weapons, which greatly increased the difficulty of victory.

Despite the heavy losses of the British Navy, its performance proved its relevance, especially the successful withdrawal in the end, which was arguably the only bright spot of the Royal Navy in the campaign. Although the German army was strong, it lacked a strong navy, it was a lame giant, and success seemed like one step away, but it was out of reach. Soon after, the multi-front battle doomed the German army to be exhausted and unable to escape the fate of tragic heroes.

On January 17, 1940, at the award reception for the Battle of Crete, Hitler said to Student:

"The battle of Crete proves that the era of paratroopers is over. The paratroopers are a branch of the army that relies entirely on suddenness, but this factor of suddenness no longer exists. ”

Hitler's pessimistic judgment put the German paratroopers in the cold and cut off the continued development of this new method of warfare in the German army, for which Hitler really had an unshirkable responsibility, and this was actually the most direct loss to the German army caused by the Battle of Crete. The United States, as the most dispassionate spectator of this battle, actually drew the greatest inspiration from this battle.

U.S. military attache to Egypt Bonna? Major Ferrers, at the beginning of his famous report on the Battle of Crete, summed up the Battle of Crete of the Germans with the most wonderful description.

"The dramatic battle of Crete composed an epic of war. The operational thinking is bold and novel, and it has a high degree of imagination. The troops proceeded from Central Europe and drove accurately into funnel-shaped Greece. Here they change form, coordinate forces, put on wings.

......" (To be continued......)

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