Crete: The Battle and the Resistance. Antony Beevor

A fascinating battle that pit the German paratrooper division against elite British units and Crete militias resutling in the destruction of the German paratroop division. This was a division that had been used in the battle for France and the low countries, commanded by Karl Student, but it was so destroyed on Crete, losing 2000 or more out of its 8000 men killed and many more wounded. This was a poetic battle, a shakespearen drama of Greek proportions starring Victoria Cross winners from the Great War, the British nazy, Maori warriors. A brilliant work, done by one of the only great military writers of our time. I purchased this book in Iraklion, Crete and decided to read it over a fortnight while I journeyed around Crete. it lived up to itself. A very well written account the book begins with the fall of Greece and the British decision to intervene to help on the mainland and the final retreat back to Crete. Even though British troops had been on Crete for months nothing was done, or almost nothing, to defend the island. The New Zealand General in charge had access to the Ultra intercepts about German intentions but he did not put them to use for fear it would 'let the Germans know' that he knew about their secret codes. Thus the British were ill prepared and ill warned when the paratroops started falling out of the sky in May of 1941. For ten days the British fought and died alongside their Greek and Australian and New Zealand allies. Eventually they fled to the south when it was apparent the Germans had not only won Malame airfield but were on the verge of taking Chania. The British fled but many remained to organize the resistance. With the Crete Division having surrendered on the mainland there were not a great number of local Crete men of youthful age but the Cretans distinguished themselves by killing more men than the 30,000 British troops could. Beevor chronicles the four year brutal German occupation in which many Cretan villages were destroyed including the Amari valley villages and Anogia (where the women wear black to this day and the men wear fatigues in honor of their fallen). Beevor also chronicles the exploits of the resistance such as the abduction of General Kriepe, a major Allied victory for irregular warfare. In the end the Cretans were some of the greatest resistors against Nazism (seeThe Cretan Runner: The Story of the German Occupation). A wonderful and quick read which also tells a great deal about the German plans and German soldiers such as General Student. Seth J. Frantzman Seth J. Frantzman

Again, a book about a comparatively unknown episode during the second world war. The fight for Crete can be summarized as one long series of mistakes, by both sides, and it was the Greek civilians that were left to pay. The Germans plan was overambitious in the extreme, especially considering their limited transportation resources. The British were so extremely arrogant and clumsy that they turned victory into defeat. The surviving German paratroopers describe Crete as hell on Earth, and the author really manage to describe the nightmarish fighting. I like a lot that the author does not end his narrative with the British defeat. Because of the disastrous losses of the German paratroopers the isalnd lost its importance as a spring board to Egypt. However, the fighting continued as a fierce guerilla war, where neither side showed any mercy. Again, Beevor reminds us that war involves civilians, and even though the guns are silenced the wounds remain.

The great Anthony Beevor does it again with his detailed account of the seldom examined battle of Crete. Although it reads like a somewhat dry history book, the narrative tends to flow fairly well.Beevor gives context to the story by discussing the strategic importance of the battle and giving a decent overview of the battles in the Balkans and Greece, as well as some idea of events in north Africa and elsewhere in the Mediterranean theater. From the broad strategic scope he "zooms in" to focus on several key sectors on the island itself as the battle unfolds: Maleme, Suda Bay, and Rethymno. He also adds a personal flavor to it by following the exploits of several individual officers and soldiers. Also, he provides an objective analysis of some critical tactical decisions which cost the British the battle.To sum it all up, this book is a valuable addition to the library of anyone who fancies himself a student of WW2. No historian's perspective on the war would be complete without understanding what happened at Crete and why. Beevor's book offers a fine opportunity to get familiar with the subject on a reasonably detailed level.

This is the only book I've read to focus on the Battle of Crete. It was interesting and informative. For the historian, there is a lot of detail, such as disposition of units, resistance leaders' names and locations of operations, etc. For the casual reader, this detail does not bog the reader down, generally, and events are presented clearly. A certain amount of knowledge of the course of WWII is assumed, but I doubt someone unfamiliar with the course of the war would be interesting in this book anyways.As mentioned in another review, it is a little dry at times, but this is not a large flaw. The main problem is the focus on the British and Commenwealth troops. Presumably they kept better records, but surely a few more anecdotes could have been presented regarding the plight of the common Cretan resistance fighter.The invasion of Crete should be a fertile ground for all those "What if ...." alternate history authors. If the British had held the island, its long-range bombers (developed later in the war) would have had a base from where they could strike the Ploesti oil fields, and possible greatly affected the outcome of the war. Alternatively, a resounding German victory may have brought on an airborne invasion of England. As it turned out, the Germans won a victory, but destroyed their paratroops in the process. These issues add an interesting side-story to the drama, and Beevor introduces these ideas to put the battle in context. Oddly enough, he generally dismisses the idea that Crete's fate had a significant effect on the overall outcome of the war, but he has planted the seeds of doubt in my mind, at least.All in all, it's an interesting book, well focussed on the battle and resistance on the isle of Crete.

This is a splendidly-written account of the British Campaign in Greece and Crete in 1941, and to a lesser extent, of the resistance to the Germans during the occupation. The account of the defence against the German airborne invasion is masterly, and though many units are involved, the writer has the knack of keeping them distinct in the reader's mind such that there is no difficulty in following the actions at four separate but simultaneous landing points. Stories of heroism and of initiative, and also sadly of failure of will, abound on all sides. The aspect of the knife-edge that separated success and failure is very well conveyed. Bernard Freyberg emerges as a tragic figure, a man of magnificent personal courage and a Homeric hero of an earlier war, and in the same general theatre, but sadly out of his depth in the Cretan operation. One is reminded poignantly of the merciless revelation of John Bell Hood's weakness as a commander during his invasion of Tennessee in late 1864. The only fault I found with the Resistance part of the book was that it was too short, and I would have enjoyed a more extended account of individual actions. Inspired by this, I am now keen to locate "The Cretan Runner", so favourably mentioned by the author. Given the prominent role played in the Resistance story by Patrick Leigh-Fermor, those who enjoy this book will be entranced by his two books detailing a foot journey he made as a youth from Hook of Holland to Istanbul in 1934. In Crete, he and small band of heroes, British, Commonwealth and Greek, faced terrifying consequences for any failure when they faced a ruthless and merciless foe. This book underlines how high was the price paid for freedom in the 1940's, and how dreadful were the consequences of disarmament and pacifism in the democracies in the two previous decades - a lesson we forget at our peril.