Corinth Canal German Methods

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ClintHardware
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Corinth Canal German Methods

#1

Post by ClintHardware » 15 Dec 2017, 11:44

The War Diary of the 1st RNF within Tobruk has some fascinating observations witnessed by them and also gathered from other sources (flame-throwers and stationary pantsers etc) :

I am not sure what the origins of the following were, perhaps others can comment.

"GERMAN parachute attack on the bridge at CORINTH (GREECE) :
The following is an account of the said attack and will be given the widest possible circulation :

"About 0615hrs 26 April 41 an intensive low-level bombing attack began over an area about two miles circumference on either side of the Bridge. About 0650hrs this was accompanied by attacks with small cannon and M Gs from fighter aircraft? During this later period about 2000 parachutists were dropped into the centre of the area, some actually falling into the canal itself. They were dropped from a height of about 200 ft, the parachute appearing to have some special device for making it open rapidly as small puffs of smoke or white powder were seen above the top of each parachute as it opened. In most cases each parachutist had one or two parachutes accompanying him carrying machine guns and ammunition. The enemy were therefore able to produce intensive MG fire within about 2 minutes after the parachutists had been dropped. Hitherto most of us had expected our anti-parachute detachments would be able to shoot up parachutists at leisure as they dropped from a height, but GERMAN technique at CORINTH did not make this possible." "
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Tom from Cornwall
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Re: Corinth Canal German Methods

#2

Post by Tom from Cornwall » 15 Dec 2017, 22:08

Hi,

The troops evacuated from Greece provided several accounts of the German attack on Corinth (in particular I've seen a report by an AA gunner officer which I'll trial to find over the weekend). In the meantime, I found this in WO106/3133:

281A
SECRET CIPHER TELEGRAM

From: C.-in-C. Middle East.
D. 0315 7/6.
R. 1105 7/6
To: The War Office.
G.O.C. Palestine and Transjordan.
G.O.C. in C. Egypt.
C. in C. India.
Governor and C. in C. Malta.
Governor and C. in C. Gibraltar.

IMMEDIATE.
TNG/70792 Cipher 6/6.

Further to my TNG/69664 [Crete Ops] of 2 June (to troopers only). Following information of German attacks at Corinth and in Crete.

PART 1. CORINTH.

(1) About 0615 hrs 26 April intensive low level bombing attack began over area about two miles circumference either side Bridge. About 0650 hrs this accompanied by attacks with small cannon and M.G’s from fighter aircraft. During latter period about 2000 parachutists dropped into centre of area from height about 300 to 400 ft. Troop carriers arrived in threes at very slow speed. Air attack in landing area stopped but continued all round. Parachutes were coloured white for personnel and grey black and red for stores. Parachutes appeared to have special device for rapid opening. Some parachutists carried red flags with Swastika in white circle for putting on bonnets of captured vehicles. Enemy able produce intensive small arm and mortar fire within ten minutes after parachutes.

[...]

I also found the following report in General Wilson's post campaign report (WO201/2743):

Appendix L

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 tine of lemonade powder or sherbet,
Two packets of dried fruits.

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

4th May 1941.

Regards

Tom


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ClintHardware
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Re: Corinth Canal German Methods

#3

Post by ClintHardware » 16 Dec 2017, 13:55

Fascinating details Tom. Thanks for posting.
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rossvolos
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Re: Corinth Canal German Methods

#4

Post by rossvolos » 09 Feb 2024, 22:52

Tom from Cornwall: I was wondering where you got Capt. Philips' account from - is WO201/2743 a Kew archives reference?

ClintHardware: I was also wondering about the source of your post.

Many thanks.

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Re: Corinth Canal German Methods

#5

Post by Tom from Cornwall » 10 Feb 2024, 01:13

rossvolos wrote:
09 Feb 2024, 22:52
Tom from Cornwall: I was wondering where you got Capt. Philips' account from - is WO201/2743 a Kew archives reference?
Hi,

Yes, that’s the file reference at the UK National Archives in Kew. I’ve got quite a lot of UK documents for the British Commonwealth effort in Greece in 1941 - is there something in particular you are interested in?

Regards

Tom

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Re: Corinth Canal German Methods

#6

Post by Pips » 10 Feb 2024, 03:58

Tom from Cornwall wrote:
15 Dec 2017, 22:08

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.
Is landing without arms S.O.P.? Makes the parachutists very vunerable, until they can access their kit.

And did the Germans employ the same process with the jump on Crete? Or did they learn from Greece that parachutists should cary some form of armament?

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Re: Corinth Canal German Methods

#7

Post by jwsleser » 10 Feb 2024, 07:32

Pips wrote:
10 Feb 2024, 03:58
Is landing without arms S.O.P.? Makes the parachutists very vunerable, until they can access their kit.
Jumping with only pistols was SOP for most armies early in the war. Safety was the main issue to prevent injury during landing while carrying long arms. The development of the PLF (parachute landing fall) minimized risk. The Italian paracadutisti were jumping with their weapons in early 1941.
Pips wrote:
10 Feb 2024, 03:58
And did the Germans employ the same process with the jump on Crete? Or did they learn from Greece that parachutists should cary some form of armament?
The current understanding is that the Germans still jumped with only pistols at Crete. There has been some discussion that several units did jump with their rifles and MP40s. Crew served weapons were still dropped using containers.

The German parachutes didn't have any special device for rapid opening. They use a bag deployment design and the white puffs/smoke was likely the deployment bag being pulled from the pack tray before the chute deployed. Both the German RZ series and the Italian IF41/SP could be jumped at very low altitudes, with the Italian chute used between 90 to 100 meters AGL.

Pista! Jeff
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Re: Corinth Canal German Methods

#8

Post by Pips » 11 Feb 2024, 02:54

Thanks Jeff.
No wonder both the Australian and New Zealand troops on Crete considered the Germans sitting ducks when dropping from the sky. They had bugger all to shoot back with.

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