Download or read book The Battle For Heraklion Crete 1941 written by Yannis Prekatsounakis and published by Helion and Company. This book was released on 2017-02-22 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crete, 20 May 1941: the first campaign-sized airborne assault is launched. Many books have been written about this famous invasion, with the emphasis mainly on the battles for Maleme and Chania. The Battle for Heraklion - an epic struggle - remained largely forgotten and widely unstudied. Yet the desperate fight for Heraklion had everything: street-fighting in the town; heroic attacks against well-fortified positions and medieval walls; heavy losses on all sides; and tragic stories involving famous German aristocratic families like the von Blüchers and members of the Bismarck family. This book highlights personal stories and accounts - and the author’s access to records from all three sides allowed accounts to be placed in their correct place and time. Finally, the history of the battle is written with the added perspective of extensive Greek accounts and sources. In contrast, earlier books were based solely on British and German sources - totally ignoring the Greek side. Many of these accounts are from people who were fighting directly against each other - and some reveal what the enemies were discussing and thinking while they were shooting at or attacking each other. Some accounts are so accurate and detailed that we can even identify who killed whom. In addition, long-lost stories behind both well known and previously unpublished pictures are revealed. For the first time, 75 year-old mysteries are solved: what were the names of the paratroopers in the planes seen crashing in famous pictures? What was the fate of soldiers seen in pictures taken just before the battle? The author has studied the battlefield in every detail - thus giving the reader the opportunity to understand actions and incidents by examining what happened on the actual field of battle. For example, how was it possible for a whole platoon to be trapped and annihilated, as in the fate of Wolfgang Graf von Blücher? Such a question is not easily answered even by people with a military background. How was it possible for the paratroopers to fail in their attempt to occupy the town? The answers to questions like these became very clear when the author walked through the battlefields - following the accounts of the people from all sides who had fought there and which describe the same incidents. The author’s extensive research is vividly presented via detailed maps and photographs, both from the era of the battle and today; even battlefield archaeology plays a role in revealing what really happened on the battlefield. The author’s approach addresses two different types of readers: those who are largely unfamiliar with the battle - hence the emphasis on personal stories, accounts and pictures - and the researcher who wants a reliable source of firsthand material and perhaps a different point of view, such as is offered by Greek accounts and sources (and by the writer’s detailed analysis of the battle). This fresh account of one of the Second World War’s most memorable battles is given added authority by the writer’s military background, together with his deep knowledge of the battlefield and his access to Greek accounts and sources.
Download or read book The Struggle for Crete 20 May 1 June 1941 written by I. McD. G. Stewart and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1991 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing an account of the struggle for Crete during World War II, this book contains some of the author's own experiences as a Medical Officer at the time of the battle. The author describes the leadership, the geography, the communications problems and the delayed counter-attack.
Download or read book Crete 1941 written by Peter Antill and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Mercury, the German airborne assault on the island of Crete in May 1941, was the first strategic use of airborne forces in history. The assault began on 20 May, with landings near the island's key airports, and reinforcements the next day allowed the German forces to capture one end of the runway at Maleme. By 24 May, the Germans were being reinforced by air on a huge scale and on 1 June Crete surrendered. This book describes how desperately close the battle had been and explains how German losses so shocked the Führer that he never again authorised a major airborne operation.
Download or read book Crete written by Antony Beevor and published by John Murray. This book was released on 2011-10-13 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed historian and best-selling author Antony Beevor vividly brings to life the epic struggles that took place in Second World War Crete - reissued with a new introduction. 'The best book we have got on Crete' Observer The Germans expected their airborne attack on Crete in 1941 - a unique event in the history of warfare - to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. They had no idea that the British, using Ultra intercepts, knew their plans and had laid a carefully-planned trap. It should have been the first German defeat of the war, but a fatal misunderstanding turned the battle round. Nor did the conflict end there. Ferocious Cretan freedom fighters mounted a heroic resistance, aided by a dramatic cast of British officers from Special Operations Executive.
Download or read book The Lost Battle written by C. A. MacDonald and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A highly intriguing and moving account of this significant and wasteful battle. The invasion of Crete in 1941 should have been a textbook battle for General Kurt Students German troops, a swift and decisive blitzkrieg based on technical surprise. In fact it was based on a series of misjudgements which resulted in large and bloody losses and Crete became the graveyard of the German parachute troops.
Download or read book The Lost Battle Crete 1941 written by C. A. MacDonald and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relentless and stubborn German commander Kurt Student, to the British World War I hero Brigadier General Freyberg. He shows how misjudgments on both sides led simultaneously to British disaster and to a hollow victory for the Nazis. Despite their devastating losses, the Nazis nevertheless defeated the British forces on the island. Although their intelligence was strong, the British were militarily unprepared. Callum MacDonald tells this compelling story as a lesson.
Download or read book Ten Days to Destiny written by G. C. Kiriakopoulos and published by Holy Cross Orthodox Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For ten dramatic and bitterly fought days in May, 1941, British Commonwealth and Greek soldiers fought with the valiant assistance of Cretan civilians -- men and women, young and old -- to hold their island against a Nazi onslaught. This is the documented story of the one of the most important yet least acknowledged battles of World War II.
Download or read book Creforce written by Stella Tzobanakis and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first parachute drop of World War II, the Germans invaded Crete on 20 May, 1941. Australian, New Zealand and British troops, alongside Greek soldiers and the people of Crete, formed a crucial bond as they defended the tiny island.
Download or read book Crete 1941 the Battle at Sea written by David Arthur Thomas and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sky Men written by Robert Kershaw and published by Hodder & Stoughton. This book was released on 2010-07-22 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventy years ago the army’s elite air assault force, the Parachute Regiment was formed, tough and well-trained, designed to fight hazardous operations behind enemy lines, with little or no backup. These are the ‘Sky Men’. Any army’s mavericks. Trained to operate independently in testing conditions. Dropping into the middle of enemy territory, these tough British, American, German and Russian soldiers engage in gruelling combat the most dangerous conflict zones in the world. Robert Kershaw, an ex-Parachute Regiment officer, reveals the history of these airborne forces, and their important role during the most dramatic battles of the twentieth century. He finds out what makes them tick, what drives a ‘Sky Man’ to take these extraordinary risks, what marks these sky warriors out from ordinary soldiers? Based on exclusive interviews with soldiers from around the world, as well as letters and diaries, Sky Men is full of vivid personalities, and nail-biting action. It is the story of the army’s biggest risk-takers, The Paras.
Download or read book Crete 1941 written by Antony Beevor and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-06-24 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling author of The Battle of Arnhem and D-Day vividly reconstructs the epic WWII struggle for Crete – reissued with a new introduction Nazi Germany expected its airborne attack on Crete in 1941 to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. Little did they know that the British, using Ultra intercepts, had already laid a careful trap. It should have been the first German defeat of the war when a fatal misunderstanding turned the battle around. Prize-winning historian and bestselling author Antony Beevor lends his gift for storytelling to this important conflict, showing not only how the situation turned bad for Allied forces, but also how ferocious Cretan freedom fighters mounted a heroic resistance. Originally published in 1991, Crete 1941 is a breathtaking account of a momentous battle of World War II.
Download or read book Airborne Invasion Of Crete 1941 written by Anon and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating story of the first major airborne operation in history, the swift, bloody tale of the Fallschirmjäger of the German Wehrmacht as they battled and won the battles to capture the island of Crete. The drama of Crete marks an epic in warfare. The concept of the operation was highly imaginative, daringly new. Combat elements drawn from Central Europe moved with precision into funnel shaped Greece. Here they re-formed, took shape as a balanced force, were given wings. The operation had the movement, rhythm, harmony of a master’s organ composition. On 20 May and succeeding days this force soared through space; its elements broke over Crete in thundering crescendos - all stops out. For the first time .in history airborne troops, supplied and supported, by air, landed in the face of an enemy, defeated him. For the first time an air force defeated a first-rate Navy, inflicted such staggering losses that the fleet was ordered back to Alexandria three days after the battle started.
Download or read book Crete 1941 the battle at sea written by David Arthur Thomas and published by Efstathiadis Group/Bay Foreing Langua. This book was released on 1980 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A blow-by-blow account of the Royal Navy's part in the battle for Crete in 1941, especially its role in the evacuations of the commonwealth expeditionary force from Crete in the face of the German Blitzkrieg.
Download or read book Battle Of Crete Hitler s Airborne Gamble written by Major Maria A. Biank and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Adolf Hitler conquered most of the European continent in 1939-1941, the small island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea became vital to future operations in the Mediterranean region for both the Axis and Allied powers. If the Allies controlled Crete, their air and sea superiority would not allow the Germans a strategic military foothold in the region. For the Germans, Crete would secure the Aegean Sea for Axis shipping, loosen Great Britain’s grasp in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and provide air bases to launch offensives against British forces in Egypt. Therefore, the central research question is: Did the results of the German campaign in Crete justify its execution? The operational results of the German campaign in Crete and the strategic advantages gained from its success did not justify the execution of the battle. Although Germany’s conquest of Crete achieved all of the strategic advantages, Hitler did not accomplish the strategic objectives set forth at the beginning of the campaign. Crete was not used as a staging base from which to engage the British in offensive operations against the Suez Canal or North Africa. German losses to the highly trained air corps were staggering and Hitler never again employed parachutists on a large-scale airborne operation. Future war efforts were deprived of this elite, highly mobile striking force. Hitler did not capitalize on the hard fought victory in Crete by using the island as a stepping-stone, ultimately controlling the eastern Mediterranean region because he was hypnotized by the invasion of Russia.
Download or read book Crete 1941 Eyewitnessed written by Costas N. Hadjipateras and published by Efstathiadis Group/Bay Foreing Langua. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[This] is the story of all those Greeks, Allies and Germans who lived and witnessed every moment of the eleven-day battle of Crete, the one and only air-borne invasion in history. Combined with the six-month Greek epic on Mainland Greece this epoch-making campaign greatly contributed in turning the tide of World War II in favour of the Allies. This book is an anthology of authentic testimonies. Supported by letters, diaries, poems, photographs, sketches, it recaptures ... the 'feel' of this fateful battle"--P. [4] of cover.
Download or read book Operation Mercury written by John Sadler and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2007-07-01 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlike the few other books written on the catastrophic fall of Crete in May 1941, this book concentrates on the military actions between the first German paratroop landing on 20 May and the final defeat and evacuation on 30 May. As well as studying the strengths, tactics, leadership and weapons of both sides, the book contains numerous graphic personal anecdotes by participants, be they German, Allied or Cretan. While the battle was a decisive defeat for the Allies, the Germans made a disastrous start. How they recovered from this so spectacularly is well covered.This is a worthy addition to the Battleground series being both a fine study of the conflict and an invaluable guide. The Author has visited Crete on many occasions and knows the ground well.
Download or read book The Battle for Crete written by S. W. C. Pack and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
