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By June 1, the last of some 20,000 surviving Allied troops had escaped, and Crete fell to the Axis.after 11 days of battling a successful German parachute invasion of the island of Crete. Crete is now Axis-occupied territory.
By the night of the May 31 the last of the Allies that would make it out had left the seaport of Sphakia; 5,000 men would be left behind in the hands of the Germans. The total loss of Allied land soldiers in the Cretan engagements was 1,742; a further 2,265 sailors were lost at sea. Three cruisers and six destroyers had been sunk. The Germans suffered a loss of about 4,000 men.
Hitler, despite the victory, considered his “losses” too great to pursue further gains in the Mediterranean and finally drive Great Britain out of the area because, also, German forces took control of the Greek island of Crete after facing fierce resistance from the local population. Even the most elderly villagers had armed themselves with pitchforks, kitchen utensils and virtually any other tool they could find to fend off the Nazi invaders.
Thousands of Germans lost their lives in the early days of the battle — many even before they hit the ground as locals shot them out of the sky or killed them as they dangled from olive trees in their parachutes.
The Cretan resistance caused the Germans to suffer more casualties than in any previous campaign up to that point in the war. And it took them mor ten day to capture Crete.
Just two days before the Allies surrendered, Adolf Hitler sent a cable to his general on the ground asking “France fell in eight days, why is Crete still free?”
By the night of the May 31 the last of the Allies that would make it out had left the seaport of Sphakia; 5,000 men would be left behind in the hands of the Germans. The total loss of Allied land soldiers in the Cretan engagements was 1,742; a further 2,265 sailors were lost at sea. Three cruisers and six destroyers had been sunk. The Germans suffered a loss of about 4,000 men.
Hitler, despite the victory, considered his “losses” too great to pursue further gains in the Mediterranean and finally drive Great Britain out of the area because, also, German forces took control of the Greek island of Crete after facing fierce resistance from the local population. Even the most elderly villagers had armed themselves with pitchforks, kitchen utensils and virtually any other tool they could find to fend off the Nazi invaders.
Thousands of Germans lost their lives in the early days of the battle — many even before they hit the ground as locals shot them out of the sky or killed them as they dangled from olive trees in their parachutes.
The Cretan resistance caused the Germans to suffer more casualties than in any previous campaign up to that point in the war. And it took them mor ten day to capture Crete.
Just two days before the Allies surrendered, Adolf Hitler sent a cable to his general on the ground asking “France fell in eight days, why is Crete still free?”