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The Battle of Crete was the first occasion where Fallschirmjäger (German paratroops) were used en masse, the first mainly airborne invasion in military history, the first time the Allies made significant use of intelligence from decrypted German messages from the Enigma machine, [13] [14] and the first time German troops encountered mass ...
In July 1941, Horst Trebes was awarded the Knight's Cross for his leadership during the assault against Crete. Three years later (1944), he was killed in action in Normandy. [5] After the surrender of Germany, Kurt Student was captured by the British. In May 1947, he came before a military tribunal to answer charges of mistreatment and murder ...
The Battle of Crete began on 20 May 1941 with a large-scale airborne invasion planned to capture the island's strategic locations. Kandanos is located on the road from Chania on the north coast to Paleochora in the south, which was a candidate landing point for potential Allied reinforcements from North Africa.
Massacre of civilians in Kondomari by German paratroopers in 1941. The Cretan resistance ( Greek : Κρητική Αντίσταση , Kritiki Antistasi ) was a resistance movement against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II . [ 1 ]
On May 20, 1941, thousands of elite German paratroopers, the Fallschirmjäger, assaulted the island of Crete. [2] It was the beginning of one of the largest paratrooper assaults in modern history, ultimately involving 22,040 German soldiers. [3] It was also the first time German troops faced a unified resistance from a civilian populace. [4]
Allied positions and German drop zones. In late May 1941, Crete was the theatre of Operation Mercury, the first large-scale airborne invasion in military history. The German offensive had three primary targets on the island, namely the Maleme airfield and the port of Souda, the Pigi airstrip east of Rethymno, and the Heraklion airfield. [4]
The Battle of Heraklion was part of the Battle of Crete, fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete between 20 and 30 May 1941. British, Australian and Greek forces of 14th Infantry Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Brian Chappel, defended Heraklion port and airfield against a German paratrooper attack by the 1st Parachute Regiment of the 7th Air Division, commanded by Colonel Bruno ...
The invasion of Crete in May 1941 was the first major airborne assault in history. Despite their victory, the elite German paratroopers suffered such heavy losses that Adolf Hitler forbade further airborne operations of such large scale for the rest of the war. The memorial was erected at the end of a stone staircase leading to the top of a ...