While there were between 27,000 and 28,000 troops on Crete to defend it – under the command of New Zealander Major General Bernard Freyberg[1] – most were only lightly armed because the heavier equipment had been left in Greece during the evacuation.

The German plan – codenamed Unternehmen Merkur (Operation Mercury) – was to use paratroopers and gliders to send forces down by air, and on 20/21 May the first landings began,[3] concentrated around four points: Maleme, Chania, Retimo and Heraklion.

[4] During the initial stages of the fighting on Crete, the Australians defending Heraklion managed to defeat the attack there and blunt the attack at Retimo, holding it for more than a week; however, at Maleme the Germans managed to wrest control of a vital airfield, and as a result began flying in reinforcements of airborne and mountain troops.

The road was lower than the surrounding land and had a raised embankment on its western side that provided cover for defending troops and formed a natural defensive line.

[8] Advancing along the Souda road, they were estimated by the Australian and New Zealand defenders as numbering about 400 men, and were attempting to raid an abandoned supply depot under the cover of mortar and machine-gun fire.

[4][8] A short time later, the British high command authorised the evacuation of Crete, ordering a withdrawal across the White Mountains to Sfakia in the south where the troops could be taken off the island by the Royal Navy.