Early on 21 May unarmed men were moving to the east, moving through the New Zealand battalions. Some o the men wereRoyal Air Force some were anti-aircraft gunners without guns. Others were from Royal Marine artillery. During 21 May the 5th New Zealand Brigade was under attack from the air. German ground forces were also pressing the brigade. The mortars and machine guns kept firing on German aircraft until they ran out of ammunition. In a meeting at the 23rd Battalion headquarters, they decided that the 23rd Battalion should attack with the goal being to recapture lost ground.
German transport aircraft were now able to land, unload and take off from Maleme. They were able to do that while under artillery and machine gun fire. After a while, transport aircraft were landing and taking off from the west end of the field at Maleme. By 4pm there was a steady traffic of transport aircraft arriving at Maleme. They had not taken secure control of the airfield. To the east, New Zealanf forces were in a stronger position. At about 3:40pm, many German paratroops had landed near the Maori battalion. The Maori's were able to clear most of the paratroops, except near the New Zealand engineers.
Thisis based on theaccount in "Greece, Crete, and Syria" by Gavin Long.
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