The Cretin Connection

The attack on convoy HX-126 started at 02:50 GMT on 20th May 1941. As the light came up at 06:20 GMT, and the escort Aurania noticed that the Harpagus had dropped out of the convoy (to rescue the crew of the Norman Monach) 3,200 miles away German paratroops were dropping on Maleme airfield to start the battle of Crete.

The paratroops dropped all along the North coast but the defences of the Maleme airfield were not properly reinforced and the Germans eventually captured it, the decisive breakthrough that won the battle.