Paratrooper Document Group. Corinth Bridge (Canal) (!)

A group of documents from the possessions of the Gefreiten Heinrich Schmiese. Schmiesse was a Fallschirmpionier and took part in the very first attack on the bridge. All the documents in a good, used condition with some signs of use and age. Comprised of documents for:

– Paratrooper Badge, size A-4.
– Iron Cross 1st Class 1939. Uncommon pre-printed A-4 Type with original signature Oberst Sturm, who commanded the operation.
– Iron Cross 2nd Class 1939 with original signature Major Ernst Liebach, Kommandeur Fallschirm-Pionier-Bataillon 1. Dated after the award of the Iron Cross 2nd Class, it seems that it was overseen that Schmiesse did not have the 2nd Class already.
– Silver Wound Badge, uncommon A4 pre-Printed type. Given for the first but heavy wound, he was hit by a bullet in the head.
– A field post letter from his Dr. to his wife giving the details of the wound.
– A typewritten copy of the letter.

An extremely difficult to find group of documents from this battle for the bridge, in which only 54 paratroop pioneers took part, of which most were killed.

The German attack on the Corinth Canal was given the name Operation Hannibal with the main target of the operation being the Corinth Canal Bridge. The German forces considered that if the bridge could be captured and held, the planned Allied evacuation to either Crete or Egypt would be delayed if not stopped entirely. The bridge itself however was held and defended by British and Australian troops, and had been wired for demolition in order to block the canal. The defenders were also equipped with eight 3.7-inch and eight 3-inch AA batteries along with 16 Bofors guns.

The attack plan would consist of German Fallschirmjäger assault engineers seizing both ends of the canal in a surprise glider assault while both battalions of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment were to parachute to the north and south of the bridge in order to neutralize any stationed Allied forces at the canal.

The air assault forces consisted of:

80–100 Bf-110s
unknown number of Ju-88s
15 Ju-52s
20–30 Ju-87s
2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment under command of Lt. Teussen
6th Company under command of Hauptmann Gerhart Schirmer
230 gliders under command of Lt. Wilhelm Fulda
52 Fallschirmpionere (paratrooper pioneers) under command of Lt. Häffer
German soldiers complement: about 800 to 2,000

The Battle Edit
In the morning hours of 26 April 1941, the defending Allied forces at the Canal bridge were submitted to a surprise attack in the form of machine gun fire and a high altitude bombing of the Canal Zone from German dive bombers which were escorted by Bf-110 heavy fighters. The attacks main objective was to eliminate all anti-aircraft weapons that were stationed near the canal in order to ensure the safety of the incoming attack force.

This attack force took off in gliders at 5 am along with five assault groups of three Ju-52s each following them in a „V“ formation. They arrived at their destination at 7.25 am and aided by clear and bright skies, the gliders began their descent. Suddenly the gliders were under enemy fire as it seemed that two enemy anti-aircraft batteries had survived the earlier bombing and were still stationed along the southern end of the bridge. One of the gliders was hit and fell from a height of about 8 meters.

Despite the resistance of the British troops, a group of 54 paratrooper engineers managed to land near the canal and both battalions of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment reached their intended positions at the north and south ends of the bridge. Their arrival was immediately met with Allied machine gun and rifle fire as the German troops had landed several hundred meters away from the bridge in a valley, which forced them to take cover after freeing themselves from their parachutes.

The paratroopers under the command of lieutenant Teussen stormed the two still functioning AA batteries at the South end of the bridge, while the German engineers had reached the North end of the bridge and began to remove the beforehand planted explosive charges. The assault on the bridge was over and North of the Isthmus of Corinth, the paratroopers managed to capture the field with the defending Allied forces being either killed or captured. By this time General Alfred Sturm ordered Hauptmann Gerhart Schirmer to pursuethe enemy and conquer the nearby towns of Argos and Nauplia which were defended by British troops from the Isthmus Force consisting of 4th Hussars with three light tanks, a New Zealand company and the New Zealander cavalry squadron. They were however no match against their attackers and the towns soon fell into German hands.

After their attack on the AA batteries, Lieutenant Teussens Platoon used British military vehicles which were left behind by the retreating British to capture the town of Corinth. Shortly after the paratroopers entered the town, the civil and military authorities surrendered in order to insure the well-being of the civilians. After capturing Corinth, Hauptmann Schirmer ordered Lieutenant Teussen to act as an advance guard and to press ahead with his platoon towards Nauplia. The Canal itself fell into German hands shortly after noon.

In the meantime, the German paratroopers had removed the Allied demolition charges and had piled all of them in the middle of the bridge in order to be disabled later. When suddenly an explosion rocked through the Canal as the bridge collapsed into it. A stray round set off the pile of charges and blew the center out of the bridge, dragging down the engineers and any paratroopers who were still on her. War reporter Sonderführer Ernest von der Heyden was also killed in the explosion, his camera was recovered afterwards from one of the Canal banks. The bridges destruction allowed the Allies to escape without a German pursuit, but they were forced to abandon valuable equipment during their retreat.