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Acclaimed historian and best-selling author Antony Beevor vividly brings to life the epic struggles that took place in Second World War Crete - reissued with a new introduction. 'The best book we have got on Crete' Observer The Germans expected their airborne attack on Crete in 1941 - a unique event in the history of warfare - to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. They had no idea that the British, using Ultra intercepts, knew their plans and had laid a carefully-planned trap. It should have been the first German defeat of the war, but a fatal misunderstanding turned the battle round. Nor did the conflict end there. Ferocious Cretan freedom fighters mounted a heroic resistance, aided by a dramatic cast of British officers from Special Operations Executive.
Confronting the might of the Luftwaffe! New Zealand soldiers arrived in Crete during early May 1941, short of equipment after a hasty evacuation from Greece. Three weeks later Germany invaded from the air, and the fate of New Zealand
Operation Mercury, the German airborne assault on the island of Crete in May 1941, was the first strategic use of airborne forces in history. The assault began on 20 May, with landings near the island's key airports, and reinforcements the next day allowed the German forces to capture one end of the runway at Maleme. By 24 May, the Germans were being reinforced by air on a huge scale and on 1 June Crete surrendered. This book describes how desperately close the battle had been and explains how German losses so shocked the Führer that he never again authorised a major airborne operation.
Following the successful German invasion of the Balkans and the capture of mainland Greece, the Axis powers' focussed their attentions upon the strategic island of Crete. The island was Britain's last foothold in the northeast Mediterranean and was perceived as being pivotal to the ongoing defence of the Middle East and the crucial sea-lanes leading to the Suez Canal. By early 1941 the British position in the Mediterranean was wavering; in North Africa Rommel's forces were sweeping towards Egypt, and the remaining British fortresses such as Malta were threatened. Against this background, German forces launched an airborne attack against Crete in late May 1941. Drawing upon an incredible selection of contemporary photographs, allied with first-hand recollections from those who fought,'Battle of Crete' examines one of the most bitterly contested engagements of the early war years. Uniquely recounted from the viewpoint of the individual fighting soldier, sailor and airman, this timely examination of an important but often overlooked battle will be essential reading for all historians of World War 2.
Between 20 May and 1 June 1941 the Second World War came to the Greek island of Crete. The Commonwealth defenders consisted of Australian, New Zealand and British refugees from the doomed Greek Campaign who had not recovered from defeat.
A highly intriguing and moving account of this significant and wasteful battle. The invasion of Crete in 1941 should have been a textbook battle for General Kurt Students German troops, a swift and decisive blitzkrieg based on technical surprise. In fact it was based on a series of misjudgements which resulted in large and bloody losses and Crete became the graveyard of the German parachute troops.
For ten dramatic and bitterly fought days in May, 1941, British Commonwealth and Greek soldiers fought with the valiant assistance of Cretan civilians -- men and women, young and old -- to hold their island against a Nazi onslaught. This is the documented story of the one of the most important yet least acknowledged battles of World War II.
The army and the navy of Venice and Ottoman Empire during the campaigns fought for the possession of the 'pearl of the Mediterranean'. The legendary Venetian resistance impressed the courts of whole Europe, transforming the conflict in the 'Campo di Marte' of the continent.
Creforce - the Anzacs and the Battle of Crete is the dramatic story of the second Anzacs and their role in one of the biggest battles in the military history of Australia, New Zealand and its Allied forces during World War II.The book is written for children 10 and up and explores the real-life `adventures' and misadventures of more than 14,500 young Australian and New Zealand soldiers who were sent to the Greek island of Crete - famous for myths, minotaurs and labyrinths - under the second formation of the Anzac Corps, to help defend it against Nazi Germany. The book includes never-before-told, first-hand accounts of those that lived through the battle, and weaves in the stories of real-life characters including Roald Dahl, the famous British novelist Roald Dahl, Horrie the Wog Dog, the little terrier who became an unofficial mascot, Charles Upham, known as the Lion of Crete, an educated sheep farmer turned valuer from New Zealand who was single-minded, perservering, swore a lot and hated injustice and the people of Crete who have been likened in the book to Ned Kelly for their outlaw-style tactics as part of the Cretan resistance. The most notable Cretan is the Cretan Runner George Psychoundakis, an uneducated, poor, young shepherd who became a decorated war hero for aiding British soldiers including author, scholar Patrick Leigh Fermor who has been described as a cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond.The book is on the Victorian and NSW Premier's Reading Challenge lists. It is only available for purchase at stelitsahome.bigcartel.com
A witty, thrilling, and “effortlessly poetic” account of the Cretan resistance during World War II—with a map and 32 black-and-white photographs (The Guardian) George Psychoundakis was a 21-one-year-old shepherd from the village of Asi Gonia when the battle of Crete began: “It was in May 1941 that, all of a sudden, high in the sky, we heard the drone of many aeroplanes growing steadily closer.” The German parachutists soon outnumbered the British troops who were forced first to retreat, then to evacuate, before Crete fell to the Germans. So began the Cretan Resistance and the young shepherd’s career as a wartime runner. In this unique account of the Resistance, Psychoundakis records the daily life of his fellow Cretans, his treacherous journeys on foot from the eastern White Mountains to the western slopes of Mount Ida to transmit messages and transport goods, and his enduring friendships with British officers (like his eventual translator Patrick Leigh Fermor) whose missions he helped to carry out with unflagging courage, energy, and good humor.