Hargest and his brigade took part in the subsequent Battle of Crete in May. The 2nd New Zealand Division was under the command of Brigadier Edward Puttick due to Freyberg taking command of "Creforce", which consisted of all the Allied troops on Crete. Puttick gave Hargest's brigade the task of defending the airfield at Maleme and its easterly approaches. The 22nd Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Andrew, guarded the airfield itself and a neighbouring hill, Point 107, with the other two battalions of the brigade positioned further east while Hargest situated his headquarters at some distance from the airfield. Within days of arriving on Crete, the Allied positions began to be the subject of strafing and bombing attacks by German planes as a precursor to an airborne invasion mounted by German paratroopers of the 1st Parachute Division. The bombing triggered in Hargest an occurrence of his shell shock, rendering him lethargic and confused.