Now only Li Mo has three established paratrooper divisions. Although the German Command retains the numbers of four paratrooper divisions, they no longer regard them as paratroopers, but are used as elite infantry. This is the most tragic part of the Battle of Crete.

In fact, Li Mo still admired the grandsons of the command headquarters. Even though there were all kinds of disadvantages, the performance of the German command headquarters was still remarkable throughout the Battle of Crete. The situation at the beginning of the war on the 4th was extremely unfavorable to the German army. Many airborne points were unexpectedly subjected to fierce ground air defense firepower and tenacious resistance. The planned out-of-sight turned into a strong attack, which was completely different from the combat nature of the German airborne troops before this.

At the same time, the commander of the Central Brigade died in an accident before he arrived in Crete. However, the troops were still insisting on fighting as planned and using the inadequate ammunition and light weapons in their hands to fight against the British army, which was well-behaved. This has a lot to do with the outstanding performance of the front-line substitute commander. At the same time, the excellent tactical qualities and good psychological qualities of the combat troops are also very important.

Some transport troops responsible for air transport obviously lacked the experience of organizing large-scale air transport (the German army performed relatively best under the technical conditions at that time), and the chaos of the air transport troops also increased the difficulty of the attack to some extent. The disadvantage of German fighter jets' short range was once again exposed in this battle, so they could not provide full-range air support for the landing troops, so they had to rely on increasing the number of dispatches to make up for it.

In the air-to-sea battle, the German Air Force undoubtedly controlled absolute air supremacy and severely damaged the Royal Navy. However, if large surface ships cooperated to consolidate the results, the German Air Force would leave from the sky, and the transport fleet would have to risk being discovered by the Royal Navy and carefully "lived" it.

On the other hand, the British army, with its efficient intelligence agencies, had fully grasped the German combat intentions before the war started and made targeted deployments, which did cause great trouble for the attacking side in the subsequent battles. As a master of laying positions and an expert in camouflaging, the British army also had a good idea of ​​the deployment of defensive positions in Crete. The positions were not only cleverly set up, and the firepower was reasonable. The excellent camouflage hidden its own strength, but also successfully deceived German reconnaissance aircraft. It was not until the German paratroopers landed on Crete that they found themselves in a deep siege.

Compared with the above advantages, the British army's combat capabilities are not worth boasting at all. The island guards have a total of 42,640 soldiers. Even if the 10,258 Greek soldiers with low morale are not counted, there are still 32,382 British troops, which is not counted as the troops that have been supported one after the war. There are only 22,000 German troops against it, and there are no heavy weapons such as tanks.

With this advantage, the British army would only defend passively and hide in positions and wait for the German army to attack. On the 22nd, the British army launched a slightly decent counterattack in the Iraqi region, and the result was only to cut off the central German brigade from here. The split central brigade was still fighting later, and even the German army in the weaker areas held its position.

Before this, when the German army had not yet gained a foothold, the British army did not take advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack, which was the biggest mistake. The loss of Malim Airport was the turning point of the Battle of Crete. After the garrison troops lost contact, the will of commander Lieutenant Colonel Andrew began to shake, and finally gave up the position that night. In addition, the British communication and command system was also an obvious weakness. When Fleberg received the news that the loss of the Highlands of 107, the situation at Malim Airport had reached an irreversible level.

It should also be mentioned that the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom adhered to the rules of construction, had a lot of backward combat thinking, and did not pay enough attention to aircraft carriers. In memory, the only case in which the Royal Navy successfully used aircraft carriers during World War II was the surprise attack on Taranto under Cunningham.

During the Battle of Crete, the Royal Navy participated in the war in a total of more than 40 large and medium-sized surface ships of the naval fleet, but the aircraft carrier only had one "Qaowei", and only four aircraft could be launched at any time! The effect was negligible. The direct consequence of this was that although the British army had only a powerful fleet, they could only be the "Silence Lambs" when encountering the fierce offensive of the Luftwaffe.

However, the organizational capabilities of the Royal Navy are still impressive. From Greece to the island of Crete this time, there will always be a large number of troops that can withdraw from the sea, leaving valuable vitality for future battles. In any case, this will also give the British a little comfort after every failure.

It is also worth noting that the importance of naval and air force coordinating the same combat. A fleet without air supremacy, no matter how powerful your fleet is, will still be buried at the bottom of the sea. Similarly, relying solely on air superiority can only gain local advantages in a specific environment, but cannot transform local advantages into comprehensive victory.

In this battle between Germany and Britain and the sea, although the German Air Force achieved air superiority and suppressed the daytime operations of the British fleet, as long as the German plane left, the Royal Navy was still the master of the sea. In the end, the German army was unable to make full use of the maritime transportation line to transport large quantities of reinforcements and heavy weapons, greatly increasing the difficulty of winning.

Although the British navy suffered heavy losses, its performance still proved its existence significance, especially its final successful withdrawal, which can be said to be the only highlight of the Royal Navy in this battle. Although the German army was powerful, it lacked a powerful navy and was a lame giant. Success seemed to be a step away, but it was out of reach. The multi-line battle soon destined that the German army would be exhausted from then on and could not escape the fate of the tragic hero.

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

"The Battle of Crete proves that the era of paratroopers is over. Paratroopers are a military that relies entirely on suddenness, but now this sudden factor no longer exists."

Hitler's pessimistic judgment drove German paratroopers into the cold palace, ruining the continued development of this new tactic in the German army. Hitler really had an unshirkable responsibility for this, and this was actually the most direct loss caused to the German army by the Battle of Crete. As the calmest bystander in this battle, the United States actually learned the most from this battle.

Major Bonafers, the US military attaché in Egypt, made a perfect summary of the German war in Crete with the most wonderful description at the beginning of his famous report on the Battle of Crete.

"The dramatic Cretan battles wrote an epic of war. The combat ideas were bold and novel, with high imagination. The troops set out from Central Europe and drove accurately into the funnel-shaped Greece. Here, they changed their form, coordinated their strength, and gave them wings.

…” (To be continued, please search for astronomy, novels are better, updated and faster!

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