Editing Battle of Crete (section)

===21 May===
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 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/meda/sound/donald-haddon-interview |title=Haddon Donald describes defending Maleme airfield, Crete |first1=Haddon |last1=Donald |first2=Megan |last2=Hutching |year=2000 |publisher=New Zealand History online |access-date=3 June 2012 |archive-date=20 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820040929/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/meda/sound/donald-haddon-interview |url-status=live}}</ref> Brigadier [[James Hargest]] denied 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.<ref name=crete1-2-3>{{cite web |title=The battle: days 1–3 – The Battle for Crete |url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/the-battle-for-crete/the-battle-day-1-3 |publisher=New Zealand History online |year=2011 |access-date=3 June 2012 |archive-date=2 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202070009/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/the-battle-for-crete/the-battle-day-1-3 |url-status=live}}</ref> Captain Campbell, commanding the westernmost company of the 22nd Battalion, out of contact with Andrew, did not learn of the withdrawal of the 22nd Battalion until early in the morning, at which point he also withdrew from the west of the airfield.<ref name=ch11>{{harvnb|Long|1953|pp=221–255}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |degree=Master |last=Πέπονας |first=Εμμανουήλ |date=2019 |script-title=el:Η μάχη της Κρήτης (1941) |url=https://olympias.lib.uoi.gr/jspui/handle/123456789/29749 |doi=10.26268/heal.uoi.9746 |publisher=University of Ioannina |language=el}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The controversies – The Battle for Crete |website=NZHistory |url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/the-battle-for-crete/the-controversies |access-date=24 November 2015 |archive-date=16 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216071441/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/the-battle-for-crete/the-controversies |url-status=live}}</ref> In Athens, Student decided to concentrate on Maleme on 21 May, as this was the area where the most progress had been made and because an early morning reconnaissance flight over Maleme Airfield was unopposed.<ref name=crete1-2-3/><ref name=tdono>{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5003191/Officer-breaks-rank-over-the-Battle-of-Crete |first=Tim |last=Donoghue |title=Officer breaks rank over the Battle of Crete |year=2011 |publisher=stuff.co.nz |access-date=27 April 2012 |archive-date=2 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702093913/http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5003191/Officer-breaks-rank-over-the-Battle-of-Crete |url-status=live}}</ref> 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 {{nobr|Ju 52s}} flew in units of the 5th Mountain Division at night.<ref name=ch11/>

====Maleme Airfield counter-attack====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-166-0508-31, Kreta, Vormarsch deutscher Fallschirmjäger.jpg|thumb|right|Attacking ''[[Fallschirmjäger (World War II)|Fallschirmjäger]]'']]
In the afternoon of 21 May 1941, Freyberg ordered a counter-attack to retake Maleme Airfield during the night of 21/22 May. The 2/7th Battalion was to move {{convert|18|mi|km}} north to relieve the [[20th Battalion (New Zealand)|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 the 20th Battalion took three hours to reach the staging area, with its first elements arriving around 02:45.<ref name=ch11/> The counter-attack began at 03:30 but failed because of German daylight air support.<ref name=crete1-2-3/> (Brigadier [[George Alan Vasey]] and Lieutenant-Colonel [[William Cremor]] have criticised Freyberg for not properly defending Maleme Airfield.)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/Battle-of-Crete-Dr-Maria-Hill-Diggers-and-Greeks |title=Battle of Crete: Greece sacrificed much for the greater good – Neos Kosmos |date=30 May 2010 |access-date=15 March 2015 |archive-date=15 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315051311/http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/Battle-of-Crete-Dr-Maria-Hill-Diggers-and-Greeks |url-status=live}}</ref> Hargest also blamed Freyberg for the loss of the airfield.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lawrencewattskiwiwarhistory.wordpress.com/tag/battle-of-crete/ |title=Battle of Crete |website=www.lawrencewattskiwiwarhistory.wordpress.com |access-date=15 March 2015 |archive-date=15 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315055949/https://lawrencewattskiwiwarhistory.wordpress.com/tag/battle-of-crete/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

====Axis landing attempt, 21/22 May====
[[File:Francesco Mimbelli.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Captain Francesco Mimbelli]]An Axis convoy of around 20 [[caïque]]s, escorted by the {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Lupo}}, tried to land German reinforcements near Maleme. [[Crete order of battle#Force D|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''<nowiki/>'s defence.{{sfn|Pack|1973|p=32}} The attacking British force suffered only slight damage on cruiser {{HMS|Orion|85|6}} caused by friendly fire.{{sfn|Roskill|1957|p=441}} About {{frac|2|3}} of 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<ref>{{harvnb|Greene|Massignani|1998|p=170}}.</ref> and two British sailors on ''Orion'' were killed.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Bilalis |first=Aris |date=2019 |title=The German convoys to Crete |url=https://www.academia.edu/43672983 |journal=Naftiki Ellas |via=Academia.edu |access-date=2 November 2021 |archive-date=5 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105122356/https://www.academia.edu/43672983/The_German_convoys_to_Crete |url-status=live}}</ref> Eight caiques were caught and sunk, while at least another six managed to get away,<ref>{{harvnb|O'Hara|2009|pp=119}}</ref> along with three Italian escorting motor-sailing boats.<ref name=":1" /> Only one caïque and one cutter from the convoy reached Crete. The caïque landed 3 officers and 110 German soldiers near Cape Spatha, while the cutter arrived safely in [[Akrotiri, Crete|Akrotiri]], where her crew was engaged by a British Army patrol<ref>{{harvnb|Beevor|1991|p = 164}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Shores|Cull|Malizia|1987|pp=357}}</ref> According to other authors, only one German officer and 35 men from the 100th Regiment landed from the caïque that arrived in Crete.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=Ian McDougall Guthrie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1fhmAAAAMAAJ&q=ca%C3%AFque+%22Cape+Spatha%22+1941 |title=The Struggle for Crete, 10 May--1 June 1941 |date=1966 |publisher=Oxford U.P. |isbn=978-0-608-13736-0 |page=281 |language=en |access-date=15 November 2021 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416193558/https://books.google.com/books?id=1fhmAAAAMAAJ&q=ca%C3%AFque+%22Cape+Spatha%22+1941 |url-status=live}}</ref>