Skip to content
WW2 Theatres Theatres of the Second World War
Home

World War II calendar

WWII On This Day: May 22

What happened on May 22 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1941, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1941
German paratroops descending over Crete, May 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 141-0864 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
The Balkans and Crete

What it cost the fleet

Operating in daylight within range of hundreds of dive bombers and without a single friendly fighter, the Mediterranean Fleet lost the cruisers Gloucester, Fiji and Calcutta and six destroyers, with the battleships Warspite and Barham and the carrier Formidable damaged. Around 2,000 sailors were killed. Cunningham, told the navy could not go on taking such losses, replied that it takes three years to build a ship and three hundred to build a tradition, and kept the ships at sea.

German paratroopers descending on Crete during Operation Merkur in May 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 141-0864 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Battle of Crete

The counterattack reaches Maleme after a critical delay

The main Creforce counterattack against Maleme was organised around the 20th and 28th New Zealand Battalions, but the movement of relieving Australian troops and confusion during the night delayed the assault by several hours. The attacking battalions began moving well after the time originally intended. New Zealand troops pushed through German positions and reached the eastern edge of the airfield around dawn. Daylight brought German air attack and continuing Ju 52 landings, while fresh mountain troops strengthened the defenders faster than the counterattack could clear the runway. The attack was…

Continue in Battle of Crete →
HMS Gloucester under air attack and sinking off Crete, 22 May 1941.
HMS Gloucester under air attack and sinking off Crete, 22 May 1941. German official photographer / Imperial War Museums, HU 1997E · Public domain Source
Battle of Crete

The Luftwaffe tears into the Mediterranean Fleet

Royal Navy forces remained around Crete after breaking the seaborne convoys and came under sustained German air attack during 22 May. The destroyer Greyhound was sunk, and the cruisers Gloucester and Fiji were lost during subsequent attacks while other ships were damaged and ammunition stocks fell. The fleet had stopped German reinforcement by sea, but that success could not protect the ships from land-based bombers once daylight exposed them north and west of Crete. Cunningham had to balance the need to cover the island against the accelerating damage to the…

Continue in Battle of Crete →