Evening star., 1941-05-22


rerday that the Germans tuere
establishing themselves at a te10
points on the island. British feet
reported to hare entered the bat
tie yesterday.
BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, May 22.-German
troops pouring from the sky on
the third day of a mass aerial
invasion of Crete have Wrested
two footholds from the Greek
islands British and Greek de-
tenders, the British acknowl-
edged today.
A New Zealand division, a scat
tering of Australians and Greek
land forces apparently had been
left to defend Crete against the Ger
mans vertical development as
best they could without the aid OF
r. A. F. fighter planes.
An official statement here ad-
nitted that the R. A. F, fighting
force was withdrawn from Crete
as soon as the attack started Tues
dav because of the pronounced dis
advantage" of operating from the
limited airdromes of the island. The
defenders. of course, still had strong
naval protection.
Analogy to Britain Denied.
ITO do otherwise would have been
a waste of the air forces involved,
said a statement, which warned
against considering an invasion OF
Crete analogous to what Britain
might expect.
The distance of Crete from our
airdromes in Egypt is such as to
preclude any possibility OF strong
air support by the R. A. F. from our
bases there" the statement said.
The defense operation at Crete, it
said, must be regarded as one IN
which, on our side, naval and land
forces primarily are employed. Oh
fensive air operations are, however,
being carried out by our bomber
units in Egypt against alrdromes
from which the enemy are oper-
sting in their attacks on Crete"
In New York, the German
radio was heard broadcasting
that Stuka bombers had sunk
British cruiser off Crete and had
severely damaged two others.
CAuthorized sources in Berlin,
however, listed only one cruiser
damaged in addition to the one
said to have been sunk and To-
Gated the scene of the attack
merely as the Eastern Mediter-
ranean.
This was in addition to the
attack yesterday. in which to-
days Nazi high command COM
munique said a British battle
ship, six cruisers and a destroyer
were hit by air bombs in the
Mediterranean
Nazis Take Town of Gambia.
Prime Minister Churchill informed
the House of Commons that Nazi
parachutists had taken the town of
Gambia. but that British troops still
held the airport there.
The Near East command in Cairo
acknowledged that the town of Ma
lemi was in Nazi hands.
Both reports, however, called the
German gains only isolated sue
cesses in the fierce, guerrilla like
warfare against German soldiers
dropping from the skies in trans
ports and floating down by glider
and parachute.
Both also said that attempts by
the Germans to put supporting
forces ashore from the sea had been
frustrated
Nazis Paying Heavily.
From these accounts, the Ger
mans appeared to be paying heavily,
both at sea and ashore. to estab-
lish themselves on the island, which
the British have said they will de-
fend ito the death"
Middle East headquarters said
German casualties yesterday were
higher even than on the first day Of
the assault, when the skies began
raining down Nazis before dawn.
Although he prefaced his report
as only provisional" the Prime
Minister declared the Germans had
paid dearly for their local successes.
At the outset of an attempt in
force to get German troops to Crete
by water, he said one Nazi destroyer
and at least two Greek boats, both
probably containing troops, had been
sunk.
Mr.. Churchill declared the situa-
ton remained in hand generally, but
he said "the fighting is continuing
with intensity. The Germans
are using large numbers of air-borne
and parachutist troops and these
are being increased daily
"At Malemi Airdrome, 10 miles
southwest of Canea," the Prime
Minister disclosed, lit appears that
the enemy are now in occupation OF
the airdrome and of the area to the
west of it, but the airdrome is still
under our fire"
The Cairo war bulletin said "op-
erations to deal with this situation
are now III pAOeASSS'
Convoy Intercepted.
In greater detail, Mr.. Churchll
told Parliament:
Last night the enemy began to
try sea-borne landings.
"A convoy making for Crete was
irtercented by our naval forces. Two
transports and number OF caiques
Greek boats-which probably con-
tanned troops intended for land
ing operations were sunk ana an
enemy destroyer also was sunk' ou.
during the course of today very very
much larger attempts have been
made by the enemy to carry a an army. army
into Crete and a convoy OF 80 vessels
1See CRETE, Page A-3o