Operation Hannibal 1941

Discussions on all (non-biographical) aspects of the Freikorps, Reichswehr, Austrian Bundesheer, Heer, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Fallschirmjäger and the other Luftwaffe ground forces. Hosted by Christoph Awender.
User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#31

Post by Peter H » 24 Sep 2010, 07:52

Nasse records Schirmer stating that the "5. and 6.Geb Divs" were the first German ground forces to link up with FJR2.

This might mean in fact the 5.Pz and 6.Geb Divs.They "cleaned up the last remaining resistance pockets".

User avatar
tigre
Member
Posts: 10548
Joined: 20 Mar 2005, 12:48
Location: Argentina

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#32

Post by tigre » 30 Sep 2010, 23:43

Hello to all :D; last part.................

Paratroopers in the Balkans.

FJR 2 in action on the Corinth Canal.

The action cost the FJR 2 64 killed and 16 missing in action, including two paratroopers who drowned during the jump, while 158 were injured. In addition 10 were killed when it crashed a Ju-52.

Sources: Deutsche Fallschirmjäger im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Volkmar Kühn. Motorbuch Verlag.
Die Wehrmacht 1941.
Private Sales List-5.FJR 2 - CORINTH, KRETA, RUSSIA, NORWAY. 14 de Enero de 2010, 18:02:01
Die Bildchronik der Fallschirmtruppe 1935-45. Arnold v. Roon.
Greece and Crete 1941. Christopher Buckley

It's all folks. Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
Attachments
image002.jpg
Military Cemetery in Corinth.
image002.jpg (13.42 KiB) Viewed 3373 times


User avatar
CHARLEMAGNE 4
Member
Posts: 195
Joined: 12 Oct 2014, 12:09
Location: GREECE

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#33

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 14 Nov 2014, 18:43

At 1944 (October),German forces,just before retread from the area,''blocked'' the canal,by throwing railway vagons inside and finally by blowned up the bridge (rebuilted by them during the occupation).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItaSiIzaEUs

User avatar
CHARLEMAGNE 4
Member
Posts: 195
Joined: 12 Oct 2014, 12:09
Location: GREECE

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#34

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 14 Nov 2014, 18:53

Image

User avatar
CHARLEMAGNE 4
Member
Posts: 195
Joined: 12 Oct 2014, 12:09
Location: GREECE

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#35

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 14 Nov 2014, 18:59

Aerial recon Photos,taken by Luftwaffe over the Corinth canal.

Image

Image

User avatar
CHARLEMAGNE 4
Member
Posts: 195
Joined: 12 Oct 2014, 12:09
Location: GREECE

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#36

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 14 Nov 2014, 19:04

Bunkers of WWII right next to Corinth Canal.

Image

Image

User avatar
CHARLEMAGNE 4
Member
Posts: 195
Joined: 12 Oct 2014, 12:09
Location: GREECE

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#37

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 14 Nov 2014, 19:06

A view of the Corinth Canal taken by a Fallschirmjager in 1941

Image

User avatar
CHARLEMAGNE 4
Member
Posts: 195
Joined: 12 Oct 2014, 12:09
Location: GREECE

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#38

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 14 Nov 2014, 19:08

POW (Greeks & British) and captured weapons,after German forces overuned Corinth

Image

Image

Image

User avatar
CHARLEMAGNE 4
Member
Posts: 195
Joined: 12 Oct 2014, 12:09
Location: GREECE

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#39

Post by CHARLEMAGNE 4 » 21 Nov 2014, 09:09

German paratroopers relax after the assault on the Corinth Canal.
From : http://ww2today.com/26th-april-1941-the ... -in-greece


Image

Tom from Cornwall
Member
Posts: 3209
Joined: 01 May 2006, 20:52
Location: UK

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#40

Post by Tom from Cornwall » 12 Sep 2016, 18:00

I thought this account of the action at CORINTH CANAL by a British officer might be of interest: (WO201/2743):
THE EVENTS AT THE CORINTH CANAL 26 APRIL 1941

I reached the Canal at about noon on the 25 Apr. I had been on traffic control duty for two days and nights, spending the whole of my time on the road, but this last trip from NAPLION to the CANAL had been sufficient to convince me that movement in daylight on the road was no longer reasonable, owing to the intensity of the bombing and ground straffing.

All was quiet at the CANAL BRIDGE and I started to look around for members of the Staff of Brigadier Lee, to whom to report, and found Major Cary of the 3 R.T.R. who gave me the following information:

“In addition to the A.A. gunners defending the Bridge there are in the area H.Q. and one Sqn 4 Hussars whose role is to defend the bridge, and a brigade or part of a brigade of Australians in the CORINTH area whose role is an anti-parachute one. A New Zealand Bde is to cross the CANAL tonight and possible another tomorrow night; part of the New Zealand Bde will relieve the Australians who are to proceed South to the beach. If the bridge is blown up, the personnel of the New Zealand Bdes are to get across the CANAL on pontoons and will be picked up by vehicles parked in concealment areas South of the bridge and taken to the beaches.”

I next found Lieut. J.T. Tyson, R.E., who had helped the N.Z.E. Section prepare the bridge for demolition. The only orders he had received were that the bridge would not fall into enemy hands; he expected that the N.Z. Engineers would do the actual demolition.

With him I carried out a recce of the CANAL, saw that the ferries had been demolished and that the pontoons were being prepared on the northern side. During this time the GERMANS carried out considerable aerial recce but did not bomb or machine gun to any extent. Later, I posted four C.M.P. on the bridge to control the traffic during the night and decided to have some sleep myself on this night.

At 2030 hrs that evening a very intense attack was carried out from the air. This I now know was a rehearsal for the next day. About 20 machines of a type larger than dive bombers came in from the NORTH at about 300 feet, bombing and machine gunning and soon both Hy and Lt A.A. guns stopped firing. The attack lasted about a quarter of an hour. Soon after the N.Z. Bde started to come across the bridge and I went to bed.

I awoke at ten to seven and woke Tyson, whose hole in the ground I had shared. We thought we heard planes and started to dress when at 0658 hrs the A.A. guns started firing and the GERMAN planes appeared. This attack was far more intense than any which had preceded it, being carried out by dive bombers and M.E.110 fighters; I estimated the number of machines as one hundred. As before the A.A. fire was silenced in a few minutes. The straffing went on for about half an hour, then the troop carriers started to arrive. They flew in groups of three, almost wing tip to wing tip, at a height of about three hundred feet. The speed at which they were able to fly was far slower than I had thought possible. Each of the outer two machines of each group dropped personnel, while the inner one dropped stores. Parachutists were dropped on each side of the CANAL and in CORINTH, and always where there were none of our troops. One machine landed on very rough ground beside the bridge, and troops walked out through the door; the size of this piece of ground was only about 400 yards by 200 yards.

In the areas in which the parachutists had landed all bombing and machine gunning from the air stopped, though this was not at once realised


owing to the fact …
Appendix.
Page 2.

owing to the act that the diving and roaring of planes overhead did not diminish. In the areas occupied by our own troops where parachutists had not been dropped the straffing continued.

All the parachutists were dropped by parachutes coloured white, but those by which the stores were dropped were coloured grey, black and red. The parachutists appeared to land wholly unarmed and as they were liable to land rather heavily and some distance from the stores, there seems to be a period of about ten minutes during which they are particularly vulnerable. Altogether between 600 and 800 appeared to be dropped in the area round the CANAL, all within the first half hour. A number of the parachutists carried flags approximately 3 ft square, coloured red, with a white circle in the centre and a black Swastika most central of all. These they spread on the bonnet of any vehicle they used. Each man had a silk handkerchief, blue and white spots which was waved at their aircraft and which seemed to give immunity from attack. They wore crash helmets, coats and smocks, grey in colour.

After landing they were prone to walk around, presumably collecting their stores, but went to ground and stayed there if fired on.

Tyson began to talk of blowing the bridge. I did not see that he had a chance of reaching the fuse which was not more than fifteen feet from the plane which had landed. Further, I was expecting to see the New Zealand Bde start its counter-attack, and shortly after we saw troops advancing in extended order from the direction of CORINTH, but through our glasses we soon saw they were GERMAN. Again Tyson wanted to try to reach the bridge, and again I was sure the attempt was beyond any hope of success. He then suggested that as the demolition had been prepared with gelignite a shot would probably be enough to set it off, and this we decided to try. I climbed up on a bank and took a shot at the packet of explosive I could see strapped on to the side of the structure, using a rifle. The shot was a bad one and before I could reload I was fired on, the fire coming from a Tommy Gun, I believe, as it was even more inaccurate than my own shot. I jumped off the bank and readjusted the sights, climbed up again at a spot ten yards away, and scored a bull, and the bridge blew up. At least a dozen GERMANS blew up with it. Almost immediately a white Verey light was fired over us, and aircraft dived and appeared to be searching us out. We started to work our way S.E. towards the sea, collecting on our way 26 men of the 102 Lt. A.A. and 16 Hy. A.A. Btys. Tyson fired on parachutists with a Bren we found, and they immediately went to ground and we saw no more movement from that particular group of them. We found the haversack ration of one of them, which, augmented by a little Greek bread and cheese we were given, was sufficient to provide a snack for us and our 26 men.

The total weight was probably between 5 and 7 pounds, and the haversack ration was made up of:

A big sausage wrapped in cellophane,
Compressed bacon similarly packed,
Eight small sausages,
Eight packets of chocolate,
A small loaf of bread,
A number of tablets marked “Energen” which tasted like icing sugar,
A small tin of lemonade powder or sherbet,
Two packets of dried fruits.

J.F. Phillips,
Captain,
The Devon Regt.

4th May 1941.
I guess this was the first direct British experience of a German airborne attack. It would be interesting to compare the technique of landing that he described to the way that the Germans record they did it.

It looks like the German paratroopers were not that keen on a vegetarian diet! 8O

Regards

Tom

User avatar
Pips
Member
Posts: 1280
Joined: 26 Jun 2005, 09:44
Location: Country NSW, Australia

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#41

Post by Pips » 13 Sep 2016, 01:37

That ration pack also goes a long way to explain why the Tommy's referred to Germans as 'sausage eaters'. :lol: In any national stereotype there is a grain of truth!

Thanks for posting that article Tom, makes for fascinating reading.

Dili
Member
Posts: 2201
Joined: 24 Jun 2007, 23:54
Location: Lusitania

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#42

Post by Dili » 14 Sep 2016, 00:23

Photo of Corinth Rail Bridge done by Italian Railway Engineers(Genio ferroviari)

http://www.angetitalia.it/Storia%20Ferrovieri.htm

antwony
Member
Posts: 226
Joined: 30 Jun 2016, 10:14
Location: Not at that place

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#43

Post by antwony » 14 Sep 2016, 10:17

Tom from Cornwall wrote:A number of tablets marked “Energen” which tasted like icing sugar,
:lol: :lol: :lol:

That's made my morning.

Have read some accounts of the, slightly, later fighting in Crete that mentioned syringes and vials of amphetamines were "standard issue" for the German paratroops.

Always suspected it might have been one of those stories historians like to tell that aren't, entirely, 100% factually accurate.

User avatar
Urmel
Member
Posts: 4896
Joined: 25 Aug 2008, 10:34
Location: The late JBond

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#44

Post by Urmel » 14 Sep 2016, 12:33

German drug use for combat troops has been discussed on this forum.

http://forum.axishistory.com/search.php ... n&start=45

Pervitin was e.g. issued in emergency packs for aircraft operating in the desert (see Toppe's report)

The 'Energen' is Dextro Energen, concentrated grape sugar. The brand exists today:

http://www.dextro-energy.com/
The enemy had superiority in numbers, his tanks were more heavily armoured, they had larger calibre guns with nearly twice the effective range of ours, and their telescopes were superior. 5 RTR 19/11/41

The CRUSADER Project - The Winter Battle 1941/42

Tom from Cornwall
Member
Posts: 3209
Joined: 01 May 2006, 20:52
Location: UK

Re: Operation Hannibal 1941

#45

Post by Tom from Cornwall » 14 Sep 2016, 14:48

Has anyone found reports of the Germans finding similar products on British prisoners and wondering whether this was a super-weapon?

http://www.mintcake.co.uk/?products=130 ... travel-tin

Regards

Tom

Post Reply

Return to “Heer, Waffen-SS & Fallschirmjäger”