Editing Battle of Crete (section)

===Casualties===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-166-0527-22, Kreta, toter Fallschirmjäger.jpg|thumb|A dead German paratrooper May 1941; picture by Propaganda Kompanie 690]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 141-0848, Kreta, Soldatengräber.jpg|thumb|German soldiers pause before the graves of their comrades]]
[[File:Maleme airfield after the Battle of Crete.jpg|thumb|Damaged and destroyed [[Junkers Ju 52]]s at [[Maleme Airfield]]]]
[[File:Suda Bay War Cemetery.JPG|thumb|[[Souda Bay Allied War Cemetery]]]]
[[File:Hellenic Australian Memorial Rethymno.jpg|thumb|Memorial for Greek and Australian soldiers in the centre of [[Rethymno]]]]
Official German casualty figures are contradictory due to minor variations in documents produced by German commands on various dates. Davin estimated 6,698 losses, based upon an examination of various sources.<ref name="Davin, pp. 486-488">{{harvnb|Davin|1953|pp=486–488}}.</ref> <!--, which are summarized as follows:
new table to come:[''table of German casualty source documents to come''] !--> Davin wrote that his estimate might exclude lightly wounded soldiers.<ref>{{harvnb|Davin|1953|p=488}}.</ref>

{{blockquote|Reports of German casualties in British reports are in almost all cases exaggerated and are not accepted against the official contemporary German returns, prepared for normal purposes and not for propaganda.|Davin<ref>{{harvnb|Davin|1953|p=486}}.</ref>}}

In 1956, Playfair and the other British official historians, gave figures of 1,990 Germans killed, 2,131 wounded, 1,995 missing, a total of 6,116 men "compiled from what appear to be the most reliable German records".{{sfn|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Toomer|1956|p=147}}

Exaggerated reports of German casualties began to appear after the battle had ended. In New Zealand, ''[[The Press (Christchurch)|The Press]]'' on 12 June 1941 reported that
{{blockquote|The Germans lost at least 12,000 killed and wounded, and about 5,000 drowned.|Taylor{{sfn|Taylor|1986|p=299}}}}

Churchill claimed that the Germans must have suffered well over 15,000 casualties. Buckley, based on British intelligence assumptions of two enemies wounded for every one killed, gave an estimate of 16,800 casualties. The [[United States Army Center of Military History]], citing a report of the Historical Branch of the British [[Cabinet Office]], concluded that military historians accept estimates from 6,000 to 7,000 German casualties.{{sfn|Anon|1952|pp=139–141}} The Australian Graves Commission counted about 4,000 German graves in the Maleme–Souda Bay area, and about 1,000 more at Rethymno and Heraklion, that would have included deaths during the German occupation due to sickness, accidents, or fighting with partisan forces.<ref>{{harvnb|Davin|1953|pp=486–487}}.</ref>

The official historians recorded 147 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed and 64 damaged beyond repair by enemy action, with 73 destroyed due to extensive non-combat damage, for a total of 284 aircraft. Another 84 planes had repairable non-combat damage. In 1987, Shores, Cull, and Malizia recorded losses of 220 aircraft destroyed and 64 written off due to damage, a total of 284 aircraft between 13 May and 1 June: 147 in combat, 73 non-combat, 64 written-off, and 125 damaged but repairable.{{sfn|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Toomer|1956|p=147}}<ref name=shores403>{{harvnb|Shores|Cull|Malizia|1987|p=403}}</ref> A total of 311 Luftwaffe aircrew were listed as killed or missing and 127 were wounded.<ref name=shores403/> In a 1948 RAF staff publication, Luftwaffe losses were given as about 4,500 parachute and glider troop casualties and about 170 Ju 52s lost or severely damaged; losses in fighter and bomber units were small due to the lack of air opposition.{{sfn|Air|2001|p=125}}

The British lost 1,742 killed, 1,737 wounded, and 11,835 taken prisoner from a garrison of slightly more than 32,000 men; and there were 1,828 dead and 183 wounded Royal Navy personnel.{{sfn|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Toomer|1956|p=147}} Of a force of more than 10,000 men, 5,255 Greek troops were captured.<ref>{{harvnb|Long|1953|p=316}}.</ref> After the war, the Allied graves from the four burial grounds that had been established by the Germans were moved to Souda Bay War Cemetery. A large number of civilians were killed in the crossfire or died fighting as [[Partisan (military)|partisans]]. Many Cretan civilians were shot by the Germans in reprisal during the battle and in the occupation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patris.gr/articles/133978/ |title=Οι ωμότητες των Γερμανών στην Κρήτη |website=www.patris.gr |access-date=10 April 2009 |archive-date=19 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719060125/http://www.patris.gr/articles/133978/ |url-status=live}}</ref> One Cretan source puts the number of Cretans killed by Germans at 6,593 men, 1,113 women, and 869 children. German records put the number of Cretans executed by firing squad as 3,474 and at least 1,000 civilians were killed in massacres late in 1944.<ref>{{harvnb|MacDonald|1995|p=303}}.</ref>

The Luftwaffe sank the cruisers {{HMS|Gloucester|62|6}}, {{HMS|Fiji|58|6}}, and {{HMS|Calcutta|D82|6}} and the destroyers ''Kelly'', ''Greyhound'' and ''Kashmir'' from 22 May – 1 June. Italian bombers from 41° Gruppo sank the destroyer {{HMS|Juno|F46|6}} on 21 May and on 28 May damaged another destroyer, {{HMS|Imperial|D09|6}}, beyond repair.<ref>{{harvnb|Higham|2006|p=166}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Cloutier|2013|p=71}}</ref> The British also lost the destroyer {{HMS|Hereward|H93|6}} on 29 May, when she was attacked by German [[Junkers Ju 87]] "Stuka" dive-bombers.<ref>{{harvnb|English|1993|p=107}}</ref>

Damage to the [[aircraft carrier]] {{HMS|Formidable|67|6}}, the battleships {{HMS|Warspite|03|6}} and {{HMS|Barham|04|6}}, the cruisers {{HMS|Ajax|22|6}}, {{HMS|Dido|37|6}}, {{HMS|Orion|85|6}}, and {{HMAS|Perth|D29|6}}, the submarine {{HMS|Rover|N62|6}}, the destroyers {{HMS|Kelvin|F37|6}} and {{HMS|Nubian|F36|6}}, kept them out of action for months. At anchor in [[Souda Bay]], northern Crete, the heavy cruiser {{HMS|York|90|6}} was disabled by Italian explosive motor boats and beached on 26 March; and was later wrecked by demolition charges when Crete was evacuated in May.<ref>{{harvnb|Whitley|1999|p=94}}.</ref> By 1 June, the eastern Mediterranean strength of the Royal Navy had been reduced to two battleships and three cruisers, against four battleships and eleven cruisers of the Italian Navy.<ref name="Pack 1973 91"/> For the British, the Battle of Crete was the costliest naval engagement of the entire war.<ref name="thenationalherald.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.thenationalherald.com/5641/how-british-bungling-lost-the-battle-for-crete-in-wwii/ |title=How British Bungling Lost the Battle for Crete in WWII |website=www.thenationalherald.com |access-date=2 March 2018 |archive-date=2 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302163938/https://www.thenationalherald.com/5641/how-british-bungling-lost-the-battle-for-crete-in-wwii/ }}</ref>

Royal Navy shipborne anti-aircraft gun claims for the period of 15–27 May amounted to: "Twenty enemy aircraft&nbsp;... shot down for certain, with 11 probables. At least 15 aircraft appeared to have been damaged&nbsp;..."; from 28 May – 1 June, another two aircraft were claimed shot down and six more damaged, for a total of 22 claimed destroyed, 11 probably destroyed and 21 damaged.<ref>Cunningham, Paragraph 78 and Paragraphs 1–54 of the last section</ref>

{|class="wikitable"
|-
! style="width:22%;"|Crete Military Casualties{{ref label|Note|f|f}}
! style="width:13%;"|[[Killed in Action|Killed]]
! style="width:13%;"|[[Missing in action|Missing]] <br />(presumed dead)
! style="width:13%;"|Total [[Killed in Action|Killed]] and [[Missing in action|Missing]]
! style="width:13%;"|[[Wounded in action|Wounded]]
! style="width:13%;"|[[Prisoner of war|Captured]]
! style="width:13%;"|Total
|-
|align="left"|[[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]]
|{{right|3,579}}<ref>Davin, p. 486 and Playfair, p.147, for RN Casualties. This number includes those missing in action.</ref>
|align="right"|
|{{right|3,579}}<ref name="Davin, p p.147">Davin, p. 486 and Playfair, p.147, for RN Casualties.</ref>
|{{right|1,918}}<ref name="Davin, p p.147"/>
|{{right|12,254}}<ref>Davin, p. 486. The total number excludes several hundred RN PoWs.</ref>
|{{right|17,754}}<ref>Davin, p. 486 and Playfair, p.147, for RN Casualties. The total number excludes several hundred RN PoWs.</ref>
|-
|align="left"|German<ref name="auto1"/>
|{{right|1,353}}
|{{right|2,421}}
|{{right|3,774}}
|{{right|2,120}}
|
|{{right|5,894}}
|-
|align="left"|Greek<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
|{{right|426}}
|{{right|118}}
|{{right|544}}
|
|{{right|5,225}}
|{{right|5,769}}
|}