PROLOGUE
The Battle for Crete, May 20-June 1941, was one of the most significant, if subsequently underreported battles of World War II. This last battle for the defense of Greece against the Nazis was critical in leading to the ultimate defeat of Hitler. This battle also emphasized the sacrifice, through selfless bravery, that the people of Crete were willing to pay to defend their freedom.
The brutal Nazi war machine had already invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Romania and The Netherlands. Hitler was busy planning operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. In April 1941, after over six months of successfully fighting Mussolini's armies, the heroic Greek army was defeated by the combined forces of Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy. The Greek government fled to Crete, the last bastion of Greek freedom. The capital of Crete, Hania, became the capital of free Greece.
Some 19,000 British Commonwealth troops (Apprx. 5,299 English, 6,451 Australian, 7,100 New Zealander, plus 200 Jewish Palestinians) were hurriedly evacuated, leaving much of their armament behind, from mainland Greece to Crete, joining the small Commonwealth force already there and the Cretan army units, which had been previously stripped of much manpower and armament. (An additional 28,510 Commonwealth troops bypassed Crete and were evacuated from mainland Greece to Egypt instead).
