Battle of Crete 1941 - World War II DOCUMENTARY

Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on the Battle of Greece continues a video on the Battle of Crete during World War II, as Germany, who took over Greece in 1941, is now looking to invade Crete using its paratrooper troops and don't allow the Allies to use it as a naval and aerial base. Greek, British, Australian, and New Zealander troops led by Freyberg defend against the German and Italian troops of Student and Koch.

#Documentary #BattleOfCreete #BattleOfGreece

[KingsandGenerals]

See, we can finish series! Stop your libelslanderdefamation :-)
Now, 15 more :-) Yes, the next Winter War video is in the works!

[tomsemmens]

As a youngster backpacking my way around Europe in the early 1980s I went to Crete. Sitting on a wall in Heraklion I noticed an old woman dressed all in black looking hard at me for ages. She disappeared. Shortly thereafter she returned with a chap who turned out to be her son and he spoke English. He asked where i was from and I pointed at the flag on my backpack and said NZ. His mother was delighted, she told me (via her son) she hadn't forgotten how we had fought the Germans and insisted I go back with them to their house for dinner. It was an amazing privilege, and I remember it well even to this day. Cretans and Kiwis, we are tight!!!!

[FaithRox]

I remember going to Crete a few years back, and going into the interior villages.

Still remember seeing a house that had flower pots made of old airplane bomb casings from a Stuka bomber.

[billba]

I live in Australia and have Cretan background.
My Grandmother’s side hid an Australian from the Germans and my Grandfathers side hid a New Zealander from the Germans.

[Dourios_]

The Australians/New Zealand's soldiers defended our island like it was their own, HUGE RESPECT 🇦🇺🇳🇿♥️🇬🇷

[ThePalaeontologist]

Can't believe you didn't include Admiral Cunningham's famous quote (dismissing concerns the Royal Navy's losses were too great in the evacuation, speaking to the prestige and valour of the Royal Navy under fire):
"It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue."

[Giannio]

Everyone ho has fought alongside us has earned our eternal friendship and gratitude. Long live Greece, Australia and New Zealand.

[BoogieBubble]

The famous German writer Erhart Kästner acknowledged the following:

“In 1952 I visited Athens for the first time after the war. In the German Embassy, when they heard that I intended to go to Crete, they suggested to me that I pretend to be a Swiss, because it had only been a short time since the German Occupation and the wounds were still unhealed. But I knew the Cretans. From the very first moment I said I was a German and not only did I have a good time, but wherever I went, I experienced the legendary Cretan hospitality.

An afternoon, at sunset, I visited the German Cemetery in Maleme. It seemed like it was empty; only the last sun rays fell on it. But I was wrong. There was a living creature there. It was a Cretan woman dressed in black. To my greatest surprise I saw her lighting candles to the graves of the German soldiers, who died during the battle of Crete, and she was going methodically from the one grave to the other. I approached her... and I asked her:

- “Do you come from here?”

- “'Yes...” she replied.

- “And why are you doing this? Those men killed so many Cretans during the war...!”

The woman replied:

- “Son, your accent proves you to be a foreigner, therefore you probably do not know what happened here from 1941 to 1944. My husband was killed in the battle of Crete and I was left alone with my only son. Germans took him as a hostage in 1943 and he died in a concentration camp (KZ) in Sachsenhauzen. I do not know where my son has been buried. But I know that each of these men was son of a mother like me. And I light candles to their memory, because their mothers cannot come down here. I am sure that another mother lights the candle in memory of my son.”

And the German finished surprised: “Only in Greece such an answer could have been given!”

[gibraltersteamboatco]

As Winston  also said, “Hence, we will not say that the Greeks fight like heroes , but that heroes fight like Greeks .”
Adolf Hitler said: “The Greek soldier, above all, fought with the most courage.”

[lomax]

Following the fall of Greece and Crete, the British decided to send in agents to aid and co-ordinate local resistance groups. These men included the writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, and had some notable successes, including the kidnap of the German commandant of Crete, described in Leigh Fermor's book Ill-met by Moonlight.

The British agents got off to a bad start, however. Special Operations Executive needed men who spoke Greek, so recruited a number of Classical scholars. These men did indeed speak Greek - but the Greek of Homer and Thucydides. The locals found them incomprehensible...

[kaisahfx]

I have a cousin named Crete, Maori went home and named their children after battle's, Alamein is another popular name after the battle of El Alamein.
Ake Ake Kia Kaha E!

[justinbell]

I watch your videos frequently, I can not express the chills and the blood turning ice cold moment that I experienced while watching this particular one...

My Uncle, my Grandmothers Brother, was killed while serving aboard the HMS Valiant during this operation. He was one of the British sailors killed by the Luftwaffe bombing of the Valiant, the family was notified weeks later but not given much information beyond it occurring in the Mediterranean during a battle... chills... The loss of her brother devastated my grandmother, it was a wound she carried for the rest of her life.

She met my Grandfather years later when she was serving in British Army, he in the US Army Air Corp, while preparing for the Normandy Invasion in England.

[kevinschwager]

Been to Australia back in 2018. I visited some memorials in Sydney and Perth and showed the Anzac Troops the respect they earned throughout their history. I‘m a German myself but i mourn every loss of life. These fine men, which gave their lifes to protect other, will never be forgotten. May all of you live long, healthfull and happy lifes. Cheers 😊✌🏻

[omgpotatos]

The Australians and Kiwi's went above and beyond the call of duty

[CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Man Crete is very popular. Between Kings and Generals, Armchair Historian and WW2 week by week, it’ll have a hard time choosing a date.

[ElBandito]

Germans: Operation Mercury was such a disaster!
Americans and Brits: Hold my Market Garden.

[stretchedandy]

Lost 3 cousins in the Battle of Crete. My grandfather and a Great Uncle also fought there though the later was captured

[tsampa]

As a local and historian, I found 1-2 minor mistakes. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders landed at Tymbaki and then proceeded to Heraklio, not Chania. Also the 42nd street extended from the road between Souda and Chania to Tsikalaria, not the full length to Chania. Very hard to condence the battle in such a short video, but its actually a good one.

[Pantelis_Psaroudakis]

As a Cretan I thank you Kings and Generals for this video. I would like to give an idea since I haven't seen foreign youtube channels cover the Cretan war of 1648-1669 between Venetians, who occupied Crete since 1211 but generally had the support of the people in comparison to the alternative, and the Ottomans, with the besieged city of Chandakas ( Χάνδακας ) falling to the Ottomans in 1669 ( there's an Ephialtes moment in the story as well! )

[chromsh]

You really can see what high standard the Wehrmacht held back then, when they considered 23k enemy casualties and an accomplished objective a failure, because of 6k casualties on their side.