Wednesday, December 13, 2023

The situation at Retimo as of 29 May

 As of 29 May at Retimo, they only had a day of food left. Campbell had men patrolling the geach at night. The patrol was to signal the letter A, presumably in Morse code. This was to get the attention of any British ships. So far, they had never gotten a reply. In the morning, Honner reported that he could hear many motorcycles "warming up" past Perivolia. The ridge where Honner's company was located was taking mortar and artillery fire. At 9:30, they saw three tanks with about thirty motorcycles behind them. This group had some light field guns with them. Later, Campbell was told that there were German tanks in back of the 2/11th Battalion. There were also German tanks "in the valley behind Hill D."

Campbell decided that given what was happening, they would only be able to protect the Retimo airfield for another hour. Campbell thought that since the navy Lt. Haig was ordered to Sfalia, that Sfakia must be where they would be evacuated. It would take three days to reach Sfakia. The men at Retimo could not travel to Sfakia. They could not just move into the mountains and expect Crete villagers to feed them. 

Campbell decided that they should surrender. Campbell called Sandover and told him what he thought. Sandover did not want to surrender. He would tell his men to destroy theie weapons and take to the hills.

This is based on the account in "Greece, Crete, and Syria" by Gavin Long

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