Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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]
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 ...
British wounded evacuated to Alexandria. On the morning of 20 May 1941, Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete, under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur (Operation Mercury). Despite initial heavy casualties, [50] Maleme airfield in western Crete fell to the Germans and enabled them to fly in heavy reinforcements and overwhelm the ...
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 during the battle. For their resistance to the Germans, the Cretan people paid a heavy toll in the form of reprisals.
The Raid on Alexandria (Operazione EA 3) was carried out on 19 December 1941 by Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) divers of the Decima Flottiglia MAS (Decima Flottiglia Motoscafi Armati Siluranti), who attacked and sank two Royal Navy battleships at their moorings and damaged an oil tanker and a destroyer in the harbour of Alexandria, Egypt, using Siluro Lenta Corsa manned torpedoes.
On 23 November, she was deployed with Force B [note 8] to cover a convoy to Crete and to support air attacks on Tripoli from Eagle. [2] Ajax bombards Bardia in Libya in December 1941. Ajax participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan and was hit by bombs from Ju 87s on 21 May 1941. She evacuated many troops from Crete up until 29 May. [24]
The Battle of Maleme was one of three main battles that occurred in the Battle of Crete against the Fallschirmjäger, in the Nazi German Mediterranean campaign in 1941. The overall plan was to conquer Crete as part of Operation Merkur, with German Paratroopers landing in three main areas, Heraklion, Maleme and Rethymno.
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 ...