Maleme, May 1941, more info on my grandfather

So, I have a post about my grandfather earning an Iron Cross. Because of something else, I got a bit more curious on what happened on Crete. The problem is I have no access to any official records, so piecing things together is a bit challenging.

What I know for sure of his time on Crete:

• He was part of the 5th Gebirgsjäger Division and remained assigned as a pionere.

• He arrived by Ju-52 at Maleme with his unit.

• Allied forces surrender on May 2.

• He captured “a couple dozen prisoners” at some point. “Later on” was all he said of the timing.

• He left Crete in June.

…not a ton to go on, but…

The 5th Mountain only had one pionere unit. That was the 95th Gebirgspionere (Mountain Assault Engineers), so that would’ve had to be his unit.

The 95th was involved in at least two serious combats near Maleme. The first was being part of the repulse of the last New Zealand counter-attack against the airfield and trying to retake Hill 107. The second was three days later, west of Maleme with the assault on Kastelli (Kissamou). The battle for Hill 107 resulted in quite a few casualties though the only totals I saw were for the Fallschirmjägers and for the 5th’s subordinate 100th Regiment. The fight for Kastelli was led by the 95th which was cited for its role in the successful attack on the small town–but history from the other side suggests that by that point on May 24, the defenders were almost out of ammunition and were an ad-hoc mixed force of New Zealanders and Greek militia/infantry.

After the victory at Kastelli, the western portion of Crete was secured for the Wehrmacht and resistance then declined (partisans/guerillas remained throughout the war). So if we take my grandfather’s ‘later on’ comment regarding the POWs, that would mean at some point after May 24. As part of the story, he talked about being out fishing or hunting near the shoreline when it happened–that he fired his rifle at a goat and then *voila* two dozen men popped up from behind trees in a grove and surrendered (thinking he’d been firing a warning shot/knew they were there). If this is true, I’m guessing it took place about 4km north of Kastelli on Crete’s westernmost peninsula, most likely on May 28? May 29?

This is my guess but I think it makes logical sense as well–defenders withdrawing from Kastelli would have been pushed west. If they had already been low on ammunition and supplies, they would have had little with them–and the northwestern peninsula is primarily a big rocky slope. There’s no clean water available. Those men would likely have been trying to figure out how to escape then realized with the shot that it was less dangerous to surrender, especially to a single soldier–there’d be no prisoner executions one-on-twenty.

There’s one last Crete story–but I have to go look it up because I’m fuzzy on what my grandfather recalled–regarding partisans…and eating snails/escargot.

After that…there’ll be stuff to piece together.

The 5th Gebirgsjäger doesn’t leave Crete until much later rather than in June. That suggests a transfer to me. Maybe? The 5th goes on to fight in northern Russia–which is where he is sent next, but they do not deploy until April, 1942, which is after he is done fighting on the Russian Front, so he clearly wasn’t with the division at that point any more…making the summer transfer look more plausible.

The question then becomes–which unit does he transfer to before heading to the Russian Front?