The battle of Crete
Until April 1941, Germans had easily conquered Greece, except for the Island of Crete. Germans had great military power –soldiers and equipment-, so Greeks hadn’t had any hope to maintain their freedom. The Germans' next step was the seizure of Crete, because Crete is the closest island in North Africa, so they could use it to conquer it. Crete was very important to the Allies too, as this place was the last free part of Greece that they could keep their task force there. Besides, there was the shelter of the exiled Greek government and King Georges’ too.
The decision of “Operation Ermis”, as they called it, was made on 25 April 1941. Since the Allies surpassed Germans in land and sea, Germans preferred to attack by air. They used 1190 airplanes, 29.000 German parachutists and 3000 Italian soldiers. Kurt Arthur Benno, a German veteran of World War 1, was in charge. The Germans' advantage was the modern and immense task force, in contrast with Crete which was disarmed because of Metaxas’ dictatorship. The only task force that had the island came from the Greek and the Allies army. Bernard Cyril Freyberg was in charge of the Greeks and the Allies. The Allies knew many details about the Germans’ operation, but they were very late because of bad coordination.
The operation began on 20 May 1941. Firstly, German airplanes bombarded some areas and then they threw parachutists. First of all, the Germans wanted to conquer Maleme airport and the area of Chania. Non-combatants fought with soldiers. Eye witnesses speak about men and women that they killed German parachutists in every way, using knives, stones, agricultural tools etc. The same day, in the evening, parachutists landed at Rethimno and Iraklio but they couldn’t survive.
21 of May was the most important day for the seizure of Crete. Germans conquered Maleme airport. Now they could easily transfer soldiers and military equipment. On 28 of May the Allies understood that they couldn’t do anything else to save the island so they departed. On 1 of June the seizure of Crete was completed.
This battle that lasted many days left behind thousands of dead and missing persons. But the most tragic moments followed in the next few months. Germans, in an attempt to get revenge, killed hundred non-combatants to make an example. The most famous massacre was at Kontomari. Until today we don’t know how many people lost their lives there.
