2 April 1941. Suda Bay, Crete.
The men of the 51st Bn RTR had been reunited after their various efforts partly in East Africa and recently at Giarabub. The A11 tanks had served the army well, but they had obviously been superseded by the Valiant I Infantry Tank. However, there were still enough to fully equip one Squadron, and the 51st Bn RTR had ‘acquired’ from 7th Armoured Division enough Mark VI Light Tanks, A9 and A10s, that weren’t completely ready for the knacker’s yard, to bring them up to strength. When 1st Armoured Brigade had sailed for Greece, there had been talk of sending the 51st Bn RTR to support the 2nd New Zealand Division, the work at Giarabub had cemented some ties between the two units. The problem was that, even although the tanks were still ‘runners’, they were getting close to being worn out, and there wasn’t a big stock of spare parts to keep them going.
When HMS York and the other ships in Suda Bay had been attacked on 26 March, some more thought had been given to increasing the protection of the island of Crete, and particularly of the new airfields being created. There was also the question of the planned attack on Rhodes, which would benefit from having some tanks as part of the invading force. Someone on Wavell’s Staff had the idea of sending the 51st Bn RTR to Crete, firstly to strengthen the garrison there, and have them prepared to take part in the invasion of Rhodes. When the idea had been discussed, General Wilson in Athens, when approached about it, had agreed that strengthening Crete was no bad thing.
The plan was for the Royal Marines Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation to be responsible for Suda Bay, and it was due to arrive in mid-April on the convoy coming from Britain. Until it did, it was clear from the Italian attack, that the defences of Suda Bay needed to be strengthened. Since the men and tanks of 51st Bn RTR were something of an oddity, sending them off to Crete would at least put them to some kind of use. Someone had suggested sending off a Squadron or even a couple of Troops to Cyprus, but this was quashed, but the idea would be revisited if the Germans invaded Turkey.
Getting the tanks from the ship on which they had been carried was originally planned to happen in the main port of Heraklion, but the commander of the 51st Bn RTR worried that all his tanks might not make it all the way to Suda Bay and the airfield at Maleme, a drive of the best part of 90 miles over poor roads. Instead, they had arrived in Suda Bay, where they were swung out onto a barge, then brought ashore. Once the last tank had reached dry land, the job wasn’t yet done. The Battalion’s Light Aid Detachment needed to be unloaded, with fuel, spares and ammunition.
Brigadier Ord Tidbury, in his dual role of Commander of CreForce, and Commanding Officer of 14th Infantry Brigade, (which made up the lions share of the army’s garrison on Crete), invited Lt-Col Eric Clarke, CO 51st Bn RTR, to come and have a chat about how best to make use of the tanks. Like most of the infantry formations in the Middle East, 14th Infantry Brigade were poorly supplied with Motor Transport. Three Battalions were far too few for the job of protecting the island, and without enough transport, and the unbelievably poor road network, each Battalion were guarding a particular area, but unable to support one another. When Lt-Col Clarke gave his new Commanding Officer his report on the condition of his Battalion, Tidbury was underwhelmed. His hope had been to have the tanks act as a mobile reserve, able to move from one threat to another, at least more rapidly than his infantry.
Clarke understood Tidbury’s frustration, but suggested that he could put together one Squadron of fifteen tanks, along with his HQ Squadron, that were the best runners. Tidbury could use this as the basis for a counterattacking force, if he got any more troops and transport these could be added to it. Clarke then suggested that each of the three airfields should have five of the A11s permanently on station. While their mobility was limited, if they were simply protecting a fixed installation, that wouldn’t handicap them too much. Lastly, the third Squadron could be broken up, with each Infantry Battalion having some tanks on hand in their immediate areas. Working with the Carrier Platoons, it would give each of the Battalion Commanders a decent mobile capacity within their sectors. Tidbury agreed that this would provide a good use for the tanks, all things considered. He noted that having tanks with their radios working would actually enhance the communications, something he was constantly worried about.
With this agreed, Clarke went back to his newly established HQ, and tried to sort out just how exactly they would sort out this plan. The idea of getting some of the tanks to Heraklion would be a difficult feat, unless they could be put back on the ship and sail up the coast. There was a reasonable commercial port there, which would cope with unloading the tanks. It would be inconvenient and time consuming, but that was why they’d been shipped to Suda Bay in the first place. Clarke was sorry that he hadn’t had his chat with Tidbury before the unloading had been finished. B Squadron’s OC was given the responsibility for all the tanks going back to Heraklion. A Squadron would take over the best of the A9 and A10 tanks and be based at CreForce HQ, while C Squadron’s OC, whose A11s would be split up between the airfields, would be based at Retimno, and have responsibility for all the tanks in that sector. It wasn’t a great plan, but it would have to do in the meantime.