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The Battle of Crete (German: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, Greek: Μάχη της Κρήτης), codenamed Operation Mercury (German: Unternehmen Merkur), was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, with multiple German airborne landings on Crete.
For the first time during World War II, attacking German forces faced in Crete a substantial resistance from the local population. In the Battle of Crete, Cretan civilians picked off paratroopers or attacked them with knives, axes, scythes, or even bare hands. As a result, many casualties were inflicted upon the invading German paratroopers ...
The German troops in southeastern Europe came under the 12th Army headed initially by Field Marshal Wilhelm List and later by General Alexander Löhr. In Greece, two separate commands were created: the Salonica-Aegean Military Command at Thessalonica and the Southern Greece Military Command at Athens, for the entire duration of the war under ...
The first German garrison unit was the 5th Mountain Division, which had seen combat during the capture of Crete.In late autumn 1941, the 5th Mountain Division was replaced by the 713th and 164th Infantry Divisions, which in early 1942 were reorganised as Fortress Division Crete (German: Festungs-Division Kreta - FDK).
The Balkans campaign of World War II began with the Italian invasion of Greece on 28 October 1940. In the early months of 1941, Italy's offensive had stalled and a Greek counter-offensive pushed into Albania. Germany sought to aid Italy by deploying troops to Romania and Bulgaria and attacking Greece from the east.
The museum's aim is to collect, preserve and exhibit relics from the period 1941–1945 in an appropriate manner, as well as to document and disseminate information on the people's struggle during the Battle of Crete and the subsequent German-Italian occupation. [1]
Crete becomes an autonomous state with a Greek prince as high commissioner. 30 May 1913 ( Treaty of London ): Following the First Balkan War , Greece secures much of Macedonia and Epirus , as well as Crete; the status of Northern Epirus and the islands of the eastern Aegean Sea , occupied by the Greek army, remain undetermined.
Crete was the centre of Europe's most ancient civilization, the Minoans. Tablets inscribed in Linear A have been found in numerous sites in Crete, and a few in the Aegean islands. The Minoans established themselves in many islands besides Ancient Crete : secure identifications of Minoan off-island sites include Kea , Kythera , Milos , Rhodes ...