Contents
Spotlight |
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The Battle of Crete: May 1941 |
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This May marks the 66th Anniversary of the Battle of Crete. As time has passed and more and more military documents from that period are released into the public domain, it seems that the Battle of Crete may have been critical in terms of the eventual outcome of the Second World War. After mainland Greece had fallen to Axis forces in late 1940, several battalions of Greek and Allied Commonwealth forces were transferred to Crete to reinforce military presence on the island. By the spring of 1941, whilst the Allies had naval supremacy— controlling many of the waters around Crete— the Germans were dominant in the air. In late April 1941, Hitler signed a directive ordering an airborne invasion. After a series of aerial bombardments, the actual invasion started on 20th May. The Germans attempted to land troops and weaponry using gliders and parachutists. The initial casualties of the invading forces were horrendous - many of those coming down from the skies being picked off at ease by ground forces and local inhabitants—many Cretans used pitchforks and other farming implements as makeshift weapons. As a result of the losses encountered by German forces on the first day, Crete was dubbed the Graveyard of German Parachutists, and Hitler banned any further airborne invasions of this nature. However, at some point during the initial assault, Maleme airfield (near Hania) was captured. According to military historians, it should have been relatively straightforward for Allied Forces to recapture the airfield, however, this didn’t happen. The explanations for this failure vary according to different sources. Some point to military incompetence, others (more controversially) say that deploying allied troops to recapture the airfield would have run the risk of revealing to the Germans that the Enigma code had been cracked. Whatever the reason, the taking of Maleme airfield marked a turning point in the Battle. The Axis forces were able to fly in reinforcements and, despite fierce resistance from the Greek Army, Allied Commonwealth Troops and local Cretans, they eventually took control of the island. Towards the end of May, Allied High Command in London decided that Crete was a lost cause, here again, the reasons for this decision are controversial, and Churchill ordered the withdrawal and evacuation of remaining forces by ship via Sfakia on the South Coast. Retreat for many involved an arduous and dangerous trek from the North of the island across the mountains. Furthermore, even for those who reached Sfakia safely, evacuation was by no means certain. Whilst an estimated 16,000 troops were ferried off the island to Egypt, a substantial minority were left stranded on Crete. Throughout the course of the occupation, many local inhabitants risked their lives in order to shelter those who had been left behind. |
Cretan Resistance: The Role of Preveli Monastery |
| Preveli monastery is on the South Coast, near Plakias, on a headland overlooking the Libyan Sea. Its unique geographical location, coupled with the extreme bravery of its monks made it a favoured hide-out for stranded allied soldiers waiting to escape to Egypt by boat. On several occasions, soldiers were spirited off the island from Limni, the natural harbour at Preveli. Eventually, the activity of the monks came to the attention of the Germans. The monastery was ransacked, several monks were detained and interrogated. However, this still did not deter the monks, who continued to help Allied soldiers throughout the duration of the war. As part of the 60th Anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Crete in 2001 an international peace memorial was inaugurated on land belonging to the monastery. The project was a long-standing ambition of Geoff Edwards, an Australian soldier who fought in the Battle of Crete, and who was sheltered by the monks at Preveli before escaping from the island on a British submarine. In the monastery museum you will find a display which gives a moving account of his time on Crete and subsequent escape, along with icons and religious artifacts. |
Historical Consequences |
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Some historians consider the Battle of Crete to have had important knock-on-effects that may have ultimately impacted on the outcome of the Second World War. The theories put forward by military strategists are obviously speculative, but make for interesting reading. For example, it is said that Hitler was totally unprepared for the initial level of local opposition to the airborne invasion, expecting German troops to be welcomed with open arms, and to be able to take Crete within one day. Given Crete’s history of resisting foreign occupiers over the centuries, this was a naïve assumption. The active local resistance throughout the remainder of the war resulted in a strong Axis presence on the island—tying up troops who could usefully have been deployed elsewhere. The difficulties involved in the taking of Crete are seen by some as delaying the German invasion of the Soviet Union by 5 months, forcing a calamitous Eastern Campaign in the depths of winter. Others have even suggested that the initial catastrophic losses suffered by German parachutists and glider pilots deterred Hitler from launching a similar airborne invasion of Britain. |
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| Pashmina Delafonte |
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