"[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.

Known by the Greeks as ‘Megalónisos,’ or the ‘Great Island,’ the island of Crete has a long and varied history. Steeped in historical and cultural heritage, Crete is the most visited of the Greek islands. It has also been of paramount strategic importance for thousands of years, thanks to its location close to the junction of three continents and at the heart of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. For much of its long history, the island has been ruled by foreign invaders. Under the rule of the Mycenaeans, Dorians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Venetians, Ottoman Turks and, briefly, the Third Reich, Cretans, who are fierce lovers of freedom, have adapted to living with their conquerors and to the influence of foreign rule on their culture. In a dazzling contrast to these three thousand years of domination, we see two periods of the island’s independence: the vibrant apogee of the Minoan civilization and the brief period of autonomy before union with Greece at the beginning of the twentieth century. To guide us through this spectacular history, Chris Moorey, who has lived in Crete for over twenty years, provides an engaging and lively account of the island spanning from the Stone Age to the present day. A History of Crete steps in to fill a gap in scholarship on this fascinating island, providing the first complete history of Crete to be published for over twenty years, and the first ever that is written with a wide readership in mind.

The extraordinary story of the kidnapping of a Nazi general in World War II by Patrick Leigh Fermor and the SOE, and its consequences for the inhabitants of Crete, by the author of The Phantom Army of Alamein.

This is the story of a forgotten epic. It is the story of Greece's defiance of the Axis powers in 1940-41 by opposing Mussolini's mighty forces with a comparatively small army, yet with fierce determination worthy of the classical Greek tradition. The book is an anthology of oral and written testimonies of survivors supported by diaries, poems, photos, sketches and authentic material.