The British (and Commonwealth forces), Italians and Germans all deployed tanks to Crete in 1941. The British tanks played the largest role in the battle, though this was limited by the terrain, poor tactics, and inexperienced crews. The German and Italian tanks arrived late in the battle, and had few chances to participate.

The British had two armoured units on the island during the battle; B Squadron, 7th Royal Tank Regiment, with Matilda tanks, and 3rd (The King's Own) Hussars, with Mark VI Light tanks. 7 RTR had nine Matildas on the island. Five were deployed around Heraklion, with two each at Maleme and Retimo. The 3rd Hussars had sixteen light tanks, with ten at Heraklion and five at Maleme. The Matildas were heavy tanks, poorly suited to the rocky terrain of the island. They also suffered from reliability issues, and were frequently used as mobile pillboxes. On the evening of the 20th May, two Matildas supported a counterattack against Maleme airfield. One tank withdrew, suffering from a lack of ammunition and mechanical issues with its turret. The other continued the attack, but bogged down on a boulder, and was abandoned. At Heraklion, they were used to better effect, along with the lights of the 3rd Hussars. The light tanks were more suited to the terrain. However, they were poorly armed - just a single machine gun - and poorly armoured. They were often used in counterattacks, but were easily destroyed by the hand weapons available to the German parachutists. On the 25th May, Lieutenant Roy Farran deployed his troop of two tanks in support of an attack on Galatas by the New Zealand troops of the 23rd Battalion. His tanks reconnoitred the village before the attack, with one suffering damage from an AT rifle, injuring two of the crewmembers. These were replaced with inexperienced infantrymen, and the tanks were used to lead the attack. Farran's tank was, almost immediately, knocked out by an anti-tank grenade. The other tank, with its rookie crew, attempted to withdraw, though they were forced back into the battle by the commander of one of the New Zealand companies involved. The village was secured, but the British withdrew to limit casualties. This was a pretty typical example of an engagement for 3rd Hussars during the battle.

The Germans earmarked a company of light tanks from 5th Panzer Division for the invasion of Crete. As the Germans did not have any way to transport tanks by air, they had to transport them by sea. This imposed two limitations on their use. Firstly, they could not be transported to the island until control of the seas were achieved. The Royal Navy operated in force in the waters north of Crete during the 20th - 23rd May. During this time they turned away or destroyed three attempts by Italian and German forces to transport troops to Crete. However, Axis control of the air forced the RN to withdraw as they ran low on AA ammunition, and started to incur heavy losses. Following this, the RN confined its activities to resupplying and evacuating the Allied forces on Crete. This cleared the way for the Axis to transport tanks to the island. A second concern was the need to secure landing sites for the tanks. The available transports were not suitable for a D-Day style assault landing; instead, they needed to land their tanks on a beach that was already secured. The most suitable such site available was the town of Kastelli Kissamou, which was only captured on the 24th. However, resistance by Greek partisans delayed any landing attempt for several more days. Two Panzer IIs were landed on the 28th. These were used to round up Allied troops in the immediate area, before moving to pursue the retreating British. No other German tanks reached the island before the British completed the evacuation The Italians also deployed a company of light tanks. In this case, the tanks were thirteen L13/35 tanks. They were landed at Sitia on the 28th, but played little part in the battle.