Review of
History of the Second World War, part 18:
How Crete Was Lost, edited by Barrie Pitt
Five out of five stars
History of a semi-decisive battle
With millions
of men and women under arms and nearly six years long in Europe, the Second
World War had many phases. One smaller battle that had decisive consequences
that are not often appreciated was the battle for the Greek island of Crete. While
the end result of a German victory was never in doubt due to total air
domination by Germany, it had repercussions shortly afterward.
Despite putting
together their defensive forces on a shoestring, the Allied forces made up of
Greeks, British and Commonwealth troops put up a superb resistance. Short of time
due to the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union, the German high command
wanted to move as quickly as possible. Therefore, they relied on airborne units
as the first wave on the island. The losses of these troops were so high that
the Germans never again mounted a major airborne assault. Their later action
was generally as ground forces.
This magazine
is a history of that brief conflict from the perspective of both sides, where
the goal of the Allied forces was to keep the fight going as long as possible,
followed by evacuating as many as possible from Crete when their position became
untenable. In that context, they were successful, keeping major German combat forces
tied down. The invasion of the Soviet Union was delayed by a few weeks due to
the operations in Greece and it can be strongly argued that the delay kept the
Germans from reaching and taking Moscow.
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