Hitler, do not boast you stepped on Crete ( subbed cretan greek song)

This is a cretan song about the battle of Crete. Its a metaphorical reminder to Hitler that he should not boast about the fact that the Nazis stepped on Crete. And this because not only was the Cretan Division not in Crete , but also because there were only few modern weapons and ammunition in Crete.
Despite this, many Cretan civilians fought in the battle assisting the Allied/Greek troops. And the Germans has overall huge casualties.

The Battle of Crete (German: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, also Unternehmen Merkur, "Operation Mercury", Greek: Μάχη της Κρήτης) was fought during the Second World War on the Greek island of Crete.
It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany began an airborne invasion of Crete. Greek and other Allied forces, along with Cretan Greek civilians, defended the island.
The German Paratroopers were regarded as the best assault infantry of Nazi Germany.

Crete was in Mai 1941 the only area of Greece that was still free and it was protected by 20,000 British troops, 12.000 Australian / New zeeland troops and 10,000 Greek troops. Many local Greek civilians of Crete (most of them veterans of 1912-1922) fought feroicously together with the Greek and allied troops against the Germans, despite the lack of modern weapons and ammunition. There was in 1941 in Crete still a vivid tradition of armed resistance against invaders. This tradition was deriving from the frequent cretan revolts against ottoman occupation in the 19. century.

The defenders (Allies and Greeks-soldiers and civilians alike) put a stubborn and ferocious defense and they won in 2 of the three sectors fo the battle .
The British, the Australians and the New Zeeland troops (among them the Maori troops) fought for Greece/Crete as it was their own homeland.


But , the Germans who also fought ferociously and who also had absolute air supremacy could take the airfeld of Maleme in western Crete and from this point they brought reinforcements (and also the 5.Gebirgsjaeger Division) and could finally capture the island.
One of the disadavantages of the Allies/Greeks was also the lack of communication between their forces.


The Cretan Division was not in Crete as it stuck still in northwest Greece and in the chaos of the greek capitulation , it was not possible to transfer to Cretan Division back in Crete.
The Cretan Division (almost 20,000 men) was regarded as one the finest divisions of the Greek Army and it fought in very important battles in the greek-italian war during the Winter and the Italian Spring Offensive of 1941.

After the battle, the Germans (and the German paratroopers specifically) did many massacres and crimes against the greek population, because the Germans did not accept civilians participating in the battle and because of the large german casualties.

Though it was a tactical victory, Crete was an important strategic loss for Germany as many of the best german troops (almost 40 % of the German Paratroopers ) were annihilated just three weeks prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union.
No large air assault operations were attempted by the Germans in Operation Barbarossa or later in the war.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...

Music :
ΧΙΤΛΕΡ ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΤΟ ΚΑΥΧΗΘΕΙΣ - ΒΑΣΙΛΗΣ ΣΚΟΥΛΑΣ ΜΕ ΧΟΡΩΔΙΑ | Official Audio Release © 1991
HITLER NA MIN TO KAFHITHEIS - VASILIS SKOULAS WITH CHORUS | Official Audio Release © 1991

Video :    • The Battle of Crete 1941(Operation Me...  

The pictures I used are online available. I do not own any of the pictures.


#Hitler #Crete #Greece #Fallschirmjaeger