Battle of 42nd Street

Battle of 42nd Street
	Part of World War II, Battle of Crete
	; Forty-Second street sign.
Date	27 May 1941
Location	South-east of Chania, Crete
Result	Allied victory; German advance halted
Belligerents
Australia; New Zealand	Germany
Units involved
2/7th Battalion; 2/8th Battalion; 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion; 19th Battalion; 21st Battalion; 22nd Battalion; 23rd Battalion; 28th (Maori) Battalion	1st Battalion of the 141st Gebirgsjäger Regiment from the 6th Mountain Division; Small groups of paratroopers
Strength
	Roughly 400 men
Casualties and losses
52 killed or wounded	Roughly 280 killed, 3 captured

35°28′55″N 24°03′21″E / 35.4819°N 24.0559°E / 35.4819; 24.0559

The Battle of 42nd Street (27 May 1941) was fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete between an attacking Anzac force and fleeing German troops. On 20 May, Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete. A week later, after the British and Commonwealth forces defending the island had been forced to withdraw towards Chania, a force of several understrength Australian and New Zealand infantry battalions established a defensive line along 42nd Street south-east of Chania, forming a rearguard for the withdrawing troops. On 27 May, as a German battalion advanced towards the road, the Anzac defenders carried out a bayonet charge that inflicted heavy casualties on the German attackers, which forced them to withdraw and briefly halted the German advance. Afterwards, the Anzac troops kept retreating towards the coast.

Background

Greece became a belligerent in World War II when it was invaded by Italy on 28 October 1940.^[1] A British and Commonwealth expeditionary force was sent to support the Greeks; this force eventually totalled more than 60,000 men.^[2] British forces also garrisoned Crete, enabling the Greek Fifth Cretan Division to reinforce the mainland campaign.^[3] This arrangement suited the British as Crete could provide the Royal Navy with harbours on its north coast.^[4]^[5] The Italians were repulsed by the Greeks without the aid of the expeditionary force.^[6] In April 1941, six months after the failed Italian invasion, a German attack overran mainland Greece and the expeditionary force was withdrawn.^[7] By the end of April, 57,000 Allied troops were evacuated by the Royal Navy. Some were sent to Crete to bolster its garrison, though most had lost their heavy equipment.^[8]

The German army high command (Oberkommando des Heeres) was preoccupied with the forthcoming Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, and was largely opposed to an attack on Crete.^[9] Adolf Hitler was concerned about attacks on the Romanian oil fields from Crete^[3] and Luftwaffe commanders were enthusiastic about the idea of seizing Crete by an airborne attack.^[10] In Führer Directive 28 Hitler ordered that Crete was to be invaded to use it "as an airbase against Britain in the Eastern Mediterranean".^[11] The directive also stated that the operation was to take place in May and must not interfere with the planned campaign against the Soviet Union.^[12]

Opposing forces

Allies

On 30 April 1941, Major-general Bernard Freyberg, who had been evacuated from mainland Greece with the 2nd New Zealand Division, was appointed commander-in-chief on Crete. He noted the acute lack of heavy weapons, equipment, supplies and communication facilities.^[13]^[14] This was because most troops were only lightly armed as the heavier equipment had been left in Greece during the evacuation.^[15] Equipment was scarce in the Mediterranean, particularly in the backwater of Crete. The British forces on Crete had seven commanders in seven months. By early April, airfields at Maleme and Heraklion and the landing strip at Rethymno, all on the north coast, were ready and another strip at Pediada-Kastelli was nearly finished.^[16]

Of the seven airstrips on Crete,^[17] the best equipped, and the only one with a concrete runway, was at Heraklion.^[18] It was also the only one with blast pens to protect aircraft on the ground. It was still improvised in nature; for example, the fuel store was located outside the airfield's defense positions.^[17] A radar station was established on Ames Ridge, a hill south east of Heraklion airfield, but it was outside the defensive perimeter and its communications were unreliable.^[19] By 29 April 47,000 Commonwealth troops of the defeated Allied expeditionary force were evacuated from mainland Greece.^[20] In the space of a week, 27,000 of these arrived on Crete from Greece;^[21] many lacked any equipment other than their personal weapons, and some lacked even those. Of these, 9,000 were further evacuated and 18,000 remained on Crete when the battle commenced.^[22] With the pre-existing garrison of 14,000, this gave the Allies a total of 32,000 Commonwealth troops to face the German attack, supplemented by 10,000 Greeks.^[23] The British Royal Navy had kept control of the sea after the initial German attack.^[24] The forces in the battle on the Allied side were the Australian 2/7th, 2/8th, and 2/1st Machine Gun Battalions, and New Zealand's 21st, 28th (Maori), 19th, 22nd and 23rd Battalions.^[25]^[26]

Germans

The German assault on Crete was code-named "Operation Mercury" (Unternehmen Merkur) and was controlled by the 12th Army, commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm List. The German 8th Air Corps (VIII Fliegerkorps) provided close air support; it was equipped with 570 combat aircraft. The infantry available for the assault were the German 7th Air Division, with the Air-landing Assault Regiment (Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment) attached, and the 5th Mountain Division. They totalled 22,000 men grouped under the 11th Air Corps (XI Fliegerkorps) which was commanded by Lieutenant-general Kurt Student, who was in operational control of the attack. Over 500 Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft were assembled to carry them. Student planned a series of four parachute assaults against Allied facilities on the north coast of Crete by the 7th Air Division, which would then be reinforced by the 5th Mountain Division, part transported by air and part by sea; the latter would also ferry much of the heavy equipment.^[27] The Germans were able to dominate the skies due to their superior airpower.^[24] On 20 and 21 May the first landings began,^[24] concentrated around four points: Maleme, Chania, Retimo and Heraklion.^[28] The troops in the battle on the German side were the 1st Battalion of the 141st Gebirgsjäger Regiment from the 6th Mountain Division^[29] and some paratroopers who were left from the original landings.^[28]

Battle

During the initial stages of the fighting on Crete, the Australians defending Heraklion managed to defeat the attack there and the troops at Rethymno were able to blunt the attack there, holding it for more than a week; however, at Maleme the Germans managed to wrest control of a vital airfield, and as a result began flying in reinforcements of airborne and mountain troops. As the Germans began moving inland to outflank the defenders' positions, the Australian, New Zealand and British forces were forced back towards Chania,^[30] which came under heavy air attack by German bombers.^[31] By 27 May, the weakened Australian 2/7th and 2/8th Battalions, supported by the New Zealand 21st, 28th (Maori), 19th, 22nd and 23rd Battalions, had taken up positions along 42nd Street,^[25] south-east of Chania where they formed a rearguard to protect the rest of the Commonwealth forces that were being pushed south. The Anzac units were manned at less than 50 percent of their normal strength, having suffered heavy casualties earlier in the fighting.^[28]

There was an unsealed road that ran from Chania to Tsikalaria lined with olive trees, and running south from the main coastal road from Chania to Souda Bay. The road was lower than the surrounding land and had a raised embankment on its western side that provided cover for defending troops and formed a natural defensive line. The road was nicknamed 42nd Street, after the 42nd Field Company of the Royal Engineers, who had previously been camped there; but it was known locally as Tsivalarion Road.^[29]^[32]^[a] Early in the morning of 27 May, Lieutenant-Colonel George Dittmer, commander of the Maori Battalion, called a meeting with Lieutenant-Colonels Theodore Walker of the 2/7th and John Manchester Allen of the 21st and they decided that if the Germans came near to their battalions, they would engage them and charge.^[29]

At roughly 11:00 am, the German 1st Battalion were seen approaching 42nd Street.^[29] Advancing along the road to Souda, they were estimated by the Australian and New Zealand defenders as numbering about 400 men, and were attempting to raid an abandoned supply depot under the cover of mortar and machine-gun fire.^[33]^[34] In response, two companies of the Australian 2/7th Battalion – 'C' and 'D' Companies – charged the Germans, on their flank attacking with bayonets and small arms, and heavy close quarters fighting ensued. The Maori Battalion also joined in the charge,^[26] after performing a haka,^[29] followed by the other battalions, and supported by machine guns of the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion.^[26] During the charge, some mortar teams tried to fight back but they were overrun and killed. The retreating Germans who tried to hide were bayoneted. The charge resulted in the Germans retreating over 1,500 metres (1,600 yd). The pursuit stopped and the Anzacs decided to return to 42nd Street after an air attack from the Germans.^[29] Over 280 Germans were killed and three taken prisoner; 10 Australians from the 2/7th were killed and 28 wounded, while the Maori Battalion suffered a further 14 casualties.^[26]

Aftermath

The action halted the German 5th Alpine Division for the remainder of the day.^[28] That afternoon though, German forces were seen moving to the south-west on the flanks of the mountains trying to encircle the Anzacs. The Anzac troops withdrew joining the columns retreating south.^[28]^[29] A short time later, the British high command authorised the evacuation of Crete, ordering a withdrawal across the White Mountains to Sfakia in the south where the troops could be taken off the island by the Royal Navy.^[35]^[36] The 2/7th subsequently took part in further rearguard actions and although it was planned to evacuate. It was the last Allied unit to be withdrawn,^[37] and when the evacuation of Commonwealth troops ceased on 1 June due to heavy losses at sea,^[38] the battalion was left behind.^[39] The 2/7th was the only unit that took place in the battle not to be evacuated.^[29] Still on Crete, the battalion surrendered, having helped to delay the German advance long enough to allow 12,000 troops to be withdrawn.^[28]^[29] The battalion was later rebuilt from the small cadre that managed to avoid capture, and later fought in the Pacific against the Japanese.^[40] Later, the Germans moved to bring war crime charges due to the ferocity of the fighting, 121 men from 1st Battalion 141st Gebirgsjager Regiment were found dead, bayoneted and clubbed to death by the AIF and Maoris, while the 20 Commonwealth dead left behind on the battlefield had no bayonet wounds, only 3 (wounded) Germans were taken prisoner, the Germans assumed the allies took no prisoners of war,^[41] claiming that the Australians and New Zealanders had killed men who were attempting to surrender, but the claim has since been refuted.^[42]

References and notes

Notes

^ Throughout the rest of the article, the street will be referred to as 42nd Street.

Citations

^ Long 1953, p. 1.
^ Long 1953, pp. 182–183.
^ ^a ^b Beevor 1991, p. 11.
^ Walker 1962, p. 273.
^ Gill 1957, p. 339.
^ Gilbert 1989, p. 143.
^ Gilbert 1989, pp. 170, 175.
^ Long 1953, p. 205.
^ Pack 1973, p. 21.
^ Spencer 1962, p. 95.
^ Admiralty Historical Section 2002, p. 102.
^ Vogel 1995, pp. 530–531.
^ Prekatsounakis 2017, p. ix.
^ Falvey 1993, p. 119.
^ Bassett 1948.
^ Richards 1974, pp. 324–325.
^ ^a ^b MacDonald 1995, p. 124.
^ MacDonald 1995, p. 151.
^ Stubbs 2017, p. 54.
^ Long 1953, p. 181.
^ Beevor 1991, pp. 32, 50–51.
^ MacDonald 1995, p. 147.
^ Davin 1953, p. 480.
^ ^a ^b ^c Coulthard-Clark 1998, p. 189.
^ ^a ^b Bell 1991.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Thompson 2010, p. 357.
^ Beevor 1991, pp. 41–42.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Battle of 42nd Street". Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 30 April 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Power, Graham. "Anzacs at 42nd Street: A Book by Graham Power". Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
^ Coulthard-Clark 1998, pp. 189–190.
^ Moorehead 2009, pp. 164–165.
^ Thompson 2010, p. 354.
^ Thompson 2010, p. 355.
^ Long 1953, p. 251.
^ Thompson 2010, p. 358.
^ Moorehead 2009, p. 166.
^ Clark 2000, pp. 170–172.
^ Moorehead 2009, pp. 166–167.
^ "2/7th Australian Infantry Battalion". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
^ "2/7th Battalion". Second World War, 1939–1945 units. Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
^ "The Battle of 42nd Street, Crete, and Captain Reg Saunders". Saturday Extra, Presented by Geraldine Doogue. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 28 May 2011. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
^ Stanley, Peter. "42nd Street". Crete and El Alamein: IWM/AWM Study Tour 2002. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.

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