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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 ...
The Battle of Crete began on 20 May 1941 with a large-scale airborne invasion aimed to capture the island's strategic locations. As was proven in practice, one of the most important locations was the Maleme airstrip and its surrounding region.
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]
The Italians were repulsed without the aid of the expeditionary force. A German invasion in April 1941 overran mainland Greece and the expeditionary force was withdrawn. By the end of the month, 57,000 Allied troops were evacuated by the Royal Navy. Some were sent to Crete to bolster its garrison, although most had lost their heavy equipment. [5]
German paratroopers land in Crete. On 25 April 1941, King George II and his government left the Greek mainland for Crete, which was attacked by Nazi forces on 20 May 1941. [168] The Germans employed parachute forces in a massive airborne invasion and attacked the three main airfields of the island in Maleme, Rethymno and Heraklion.
Carried out 6 April 1941) Operation Merkur (invasion of Crete. Carried out 20 May 1941.) Operation Sonnenblume (Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps reinforcing the Axis defenses of Cyrenaica in 1941) Erwin Rommel mandate of 10 April 1941 (German attempted invasion of Egypt to conquer Egypt and occupy the Suez Canal) [21]
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]
The Battle of Crete began on 20 May 1941, with the airborne invasion of the island of Crete by German forces. Greek and Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. Only a few weeks before the invasion, New Zealand officer Major General Bernard Freyberg VC has been appointed commander of the Allied forces on Crete.