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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1313.PDF
JUNE I2TH, 1941. F LIG H Wffr'/ff Greece and Crete : U.S.A. Bombers in the Middle East • Iraqi Rebels Quelled UNSOCIAL CALL : This American-built Martin Maryland is being got ready by her indefatigable attendants to pay a flying visit to enemy territory in Africa, but as she won't be a welcome visitor she'll just leave her card and come right home again! IN Crete, as in Greece, as in France,as in Norway, a British land forcehas suffered from lack of air sup- port, and particularly from lack of fighter protection. Officers from Crete "ho have reached Egypt have ex- pressed the confident opinion that the British troops were sufficient to hold the island, and would have done so if they had not been overwhelmed by the masses of German dive-bombers. There were no R.A.F. fighters, or any other British aircraft, left on the island, and the long-range fighters which flew over from the bases in Africa (Blenheim fighters and Hurri- canes fitted with extra fuel tanks) could do all too little to stop the work of the Stukas. Heavy bombers also attacked the German aircraft on the island aerodromes, but produced little effect. A Middle East communique re- corded that on the night of May 31 the heavy bombers (presumably Wel- lingtons) destroyed four enemy aircraft on the ground at Maleme and believed that they destroyed a number of others at Armyro. To the Luftwaffe such losses were a mere fieabite. Taking the circumstances as they were at the time, there was nothing to be done but to withdraw the British squadrons from Crete before the enemy attack developed. Had they remained on the island they would certainly have been lost to no good purpose. Well-organised and properly defended aerodromes cannot be put out of action by bombing; that has been proved by the cases of Stavanger, Malta and many aerodromes in South East England. But improvised landing grounds can very rapidly be made un- inhabitable and inoperative by, con- sistent bombing. That lesson was first learnt on the frozen lakes of Norway, and it has been confirmed elsewhere. What the British public would like to know is why the aerodromes in Greece and Crete had been left in such an in- defensible condition. It was in Novem- ber last that the Italians invaded Greece, and Crete at once became an outpost of first-rate importance to our Fleet and our Air Force. We rejoiced openly at the folly of Mussolini in making it possible for us to secure such a valuable position. At first it was un- certain whether Hitler would come to the rescue of the Italians, but once he began to move into Rumania not much doubt was left in anyone's mind as to his intentions. There was then time to have taken steps to fortify our aero- dromes in Crete, and also to make pro- vision in Greece to provide adequate air support for the army which we de- cided to land there. Yet when the Germans advanced it at once became evident that we had not enough air- craft on the mainland to give the troops that support which they had a right to expect, and soon it appeared that we could not hold the aerodromes which had been allotted to us by the Greeks. There may be various reasons for that last failure, and perhaps the British authorities were not altogether to blame. Even so, it is still a mystery why Crete had not in the meantime been made tenable. The coming de- bate in Parliament may elucidate the mystery. Military writers have raised the question as to whether it would not have been better to postpone the con- quest of Cyrtnaica (which it has
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