Page "Military history of New Zealand during World War II" Paragraph 13

Most of the New Zealand 2nd Division had evacuated to Crete from Greece — two out of three brigades ( the third and division headquarters to Alexandria ).

New Zealanders bolstered the Crete garrison to a total of 34, 000 British and Commonwealth soldiers ( 25, 000 evacuated from Greece ) alongside 9, 000 Greek troops ( see Crete order of battle for more detail ).

Evacuated to Crete on 28 April ( having disregarded an order to leave on 23 April ), the New Zealand General Freyberg became commander of the Allied forces on Crete on the 30th.

Ultra intercepts of German signals had already alerted Allied commanders to the German plans to invade Crete with Fallschirmjäger ( Luftwaffe paratroopers ).

With this knowledge of the plans General Freyberg began to prepare the island's defences, hampered by a lack of modern and heavy equipment as the troops from Greece had in most cases had to leave only with their personal weapons.

Although German plans had underestimated Greek, British and Commonwealth numbers, and incorrectly presumed that the Cretan population would welcome the invasion, Freyberg was still faced with the harsh prospect that even lightly equipped paratroopers could overwhelm the island's defences.