Editing Battle of Crete (section)

===23–27 May===
[[File:Smoke hanging over the habour in Suda Bay.jpg|thumb|Aftermath of a German air attack on [[Souda Bay]]]]
Fighting against fresh German troops, the Allies retreated southward. The 5th Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of {{HMS|Kelly|F01|6}}, {{HMS|Kipling|F91|6}}, {{HMS|Kelvin|F37|6}}, {{HMS|Jackal|F22|6}} and {{HMS|Kashmir|F12|6}} ([[Captain (Royal Navy)|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 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.{{sfn|Roskill|1957|p=443}}

When rounding the western side of Crete, the three ships were attacked by 24 Ju 87 ''Stuka'' dive bombers. ''Kashmir'' 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Shores|Cull|Malizia|1987|p=358}}.</ref> ''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.)<ref>{{harvnb|Beevor|1991|pp=170–171}}.</ref> 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 the Chiefs of Staff demurred.{{sfn|Roskill|1957|pp=443–444}} 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, Heraklion|Kastelli]] on 24 May, the 95th ''Gebirgs'' Pioneer Battalion advanced on the town.<ref>{{harvnb|Davin|1953|pp=289–292}}.</ref> 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 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Davin|1953|pp=71–72}}</ref> 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, 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-Kissamou|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 the operation and he ordered Österlin to make for a small harbour on the German-occupied island of [[Kithira]].<ref name=Ansel401-402>{{harvnb|Ansel|1972|pp=401–402}}.</ref><ref name=Schenk25>Schenk, p.25</ref> At a meeting in Athens on 27 May, Luftwaffe Generals Richthofen, Jeschonnek, and Löhr pressed Schuster to get the tanks delivered somehow before "...&nbsp;the Englander claws himself erect again".<ref name="Ansel 1972 401–402">{{harvnb|Ansel|1972|pp=401–402}}</ref> 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 the "absolute and immediate need" for "reinforcement by sea shipment of heavy weaponry if the operation is to get ahead at all."<ref name="Ansel 1972 401–402"/>
{{quote|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.|''[[Alexander Cadogan]], Diary, 27 May 1941<ref>Cadogan, Alexander (1972). ''The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan 1938–1945: Edited by David Dilks'', G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. Page 381.</ref>''}}

Schuster issued Österlin new orders to sail for 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 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.<ref name=Ansel401-402/> Although they did not play a decisive role, the panzers were useful in helping round up British troops in the [[Kissamos]] area, before speeding eastward in support of the German pursuit column.<ref name=Ansel401-402/>

On the night of 26/27 May, a detachment of some 800 men from [[No. 7 Commando|No. 7]] and [[No. 50/52 Commando]]s, as part of Layforce, landed at Souda Bay (Colonel [[Robert Laycock]]).<ref name=Saunders55>{{harvnb|Saunders|1959|p=55}}</ref> Laycock had tried to land the force on 25 May, but had turned back due to bad weather.<ref name=Saunders55/> Although armed mainly with only rifles and a small number of machine guns, they were to carry out rearguard actions in order to buy the garrison enough time to carry out an evacuation.<ref name=Saunders55/>

Troops of the German 141st Mountain Regiment blocked a section of the road between Souda and Chania. On the morning of 27 May, the New Zealand [[Māori Battalion|28th (Māori) Battalion]], the [[2/7th Australian Infantry Battalion|Australian 2/7th Battalion]] and the [[2/8th Australian Infantry Battalion|Australian 2/8th Battalion]] cleared the road by a [[Bayonet|bayonet charge]] (the "[[Battle of 42nd Street]]").<ref>{{harvnb|Davin|1953|pp=377–379}}</ref> Command in London decided the cause was hopeless after General Wavell informed the Prime Minister at 0842, 27 May, that the battle was lost, and ordered an evacuation.<ref name="Forty, George 2001, P.129">Forty, George, ''The Battle of Crete'' Ian Allan, London, 2001, p. 129</ref> Freyberg concurrently ordered his troops to withdraw to the south coast to be evacuated.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

====Italian landing at Sitia====
[[File:Sitia 1941.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|left|An Italian marines' machine gun team takes position after landing at [[Sitia]].]]
On 26 May, in the face of the stalled German advance, senior Wehrmacht officers requested Mussolini to send Italian Army units to Crete in order to help the German forces fighting there.<ref>Germany and the Second World War, Volume 3, Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, p. 549, Oxford University Press, 1995</ref>{{request quotation|date=May 2022}} On the afternoon of 27 May, an Italian convoy departed from [[Rhodes]] with the intention of landing a brigade from the [[50th Infantry Division Regina]], supported by 13 [[L3/35]] light tanks.<ref name=hunter/> Italian participation in the battle of Crete was limited and finally on 28 May, when the campaign was already decided in the Germans' favour and Allied evacuation had begun, an Italian landing force approached the east coast of the island, off Sitia.<ref>{{cite book |title=Airborne Invasion Of Crete, 1941 |date=15 August 2014 |publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing |isbn=978-1-78289-318-9 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jAlvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT77 |access-date=20 May 2022 |language=en |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416193558/https://books.google.com/books?id=jAlvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT77 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Palazzo |first1=Albert |title=The Battle of Crete |date=1 July 2010 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-921941-24-5 |page=76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MqbuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT131 |language=en |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416193606/https://books.google.com/books?id=MqbuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT131 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |title=World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes]: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection |date=6 September 2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-969-6 |page=477 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wm_YDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA477 |language=en |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416193559/https://books.google.com/books?id=wm_YDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA477 |url-status=live}}</ref>

At 13:30 on 28 May, the Italians believed that three cruisers and six destroyers of the Royal Navy were steaming up towards the northern coast of Crete in support of Allied troops, but the Royal Navy was fully occupied evacuating the Crete garrison.<ref name="Forty, George 2001, P.129"/><ref name=hunter/> The Italians assumed that the Royal Navy force would be off [[Sitia]], the planned landing site, by 17:00, and the commander decided that the slowest ship of the convoy would be taken in tow by ''Lince'' to increase speed and ''Crispi'' was detached to shell the lighthouse at Cape [[Sideros]]. The 3,000 men of the division and their equipment were on shore by 17:20 and advanced west mostly unopposed, rendezvousing with the Germans at [[Ierapetra]]. The Italian troops later moved their headquarters from Sitia to [[Agios Nikolaos, Crete|Agios Nikolaos]].<ref name=hunter>Cocchia, Aldo (1980). ''The Hunters and the Hunted''. Naval Institute Press, pp. 59–69. {{ISBN|978-0-405-13030-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dodecaneso.org/creta41.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203210702/http://www.dodecaneso.org/creta41.htm |title=''Egeo in Guerra – Lo sbarco italiano a Creta del maggio 1941'' |archive-date=3 February 2011 |access-date=6 January 2021}}</ref>