Battle of Crete | Greece, May 1941 

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I was stationed in Germany from 87-90. I met a German WW2 Paratrooper named Carlos. He rana tile business in Ortenberg. He spoke fluent English. I asked him how he came to speak such good English. He said,"2 years in a English POW camp." He participated in Crete. His Platoon machine gunner, Max Scheming, the heavyweight champion.

You really have raised the bar!

First of all, excellent videos of the battles you are covering. I've been to Souda/Chiana and to the allied cemetary in the area. Really enjoyed the time there as well as our time in Crete.

Lmao you uploaded a video on my birthday, nice. Finally something to watch while in quarantine, good job by the way

You should have mentioned the heroic battle of 42nd Street, the successful counterattacks at Rethynmio by the Australians and Iraklion by the British and Australians, and the heroic stand by the Greek 8th Regiment made of military cadets, in Prison Valley, that enabled the Allies to retreat to Sfakia. The Cretan resistance was one of the one successful and brutal of the war with the support of the British SOE and led to the kidnapping of General Kreipe.

Lived outside Chania. Cretans pronounced it as Hania no “c”. Absolutely great people and food.

Thank you for this post!

I think this is one of the most underrated/underappreciated history channels on RU-vid

We have some reports of Greek Farmers trying to stab the German Paratroooers as they decent with Pitchforks XD

if i remember correctly the evacuation of hrakleio was like second mini Dunkirk British forces managed to evacuate while some Greek unit defended them , just like the France forces in Dunkirk . Anyways this video possible the best one in youtube about the battle of Crete , this includes some greek documentaries about the battle

Please keep making videos. Your videos are by far THE BEST battle breakdown videos on youtube, as far as I can tell. Keep with it and the views will come. Post these to reddit -- your videos are legitimately the best format and I'd honestly pay 5 dollars for each video, that's how good they are. Make a patreon, I'll sign up.

Thanks for this great video on Unternehmen Merkur. The animations are good, keep up your good work.

Since you are using modern maps maybe try to exclude borders since they make everything more difficult

Amazing videos keep this up! Hoping you focus on Canadian engagements someday

Amazing video! Your videos are really good, keep up the good work and you will be rewarded for sure!

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but unlike Allied paratroopers the Germans dropped w/o their rifles/sub-machine guns. They had pods they had to get to, to arm up then form up.

Meanwhile, the Allies couldn’t seem to get everything right with their airborne invasion in 1944 and ‘45...

The British have always been masters of sea evacuation, from Corunna 1809, Dunkirk and now crete. and many more.

Great video with excellent graphics depicting the progress of the battle. I’d like to have seen more reference to how the Commonwealth defenders were provided detailed Ultra intelligence before the battle and also the mauling inflicted by the Luftwaffe on the Royal Navy.

This was the best layout of the battle, and the British led fuck up was well explained - it led to the loss the island while the Brits had overwhelming superior forces

Quality of this video is really good ! I hope your sub count will rise significantly !

Awesome video! You deserve more views!!!

Good work

Great video!

Im writing an essay on this at the moment. Thank you so much for this video

Great!Hope your channel can be better and better!

Even though my grandfather was Greek he fought in the German side as a volunteer in the battle of Crete he did it beacuse he was anti British that's what he told me but he doesn't talk much about it

Great content! Keep it comming!

Huge opportunity missed by the Allies!

Gallipoli was master example of British evacuation 8:43

Ein wahnsinnig guter Kanal !

also i have to thank you for making these ideos about the greek campaign

Narrator voice seems familiar...is it that guy from Simple History?

suggestion for the future greek and yugoslav resistance operation , the attack on gothic line and the invasion of the Manchuria in 1945 ( that is pretty much how north korea was born )

Can you make a playlist of these videos with historical time line?

“The word heroism I am afraid does not render the least of those acts of self-sacrifice of the Greeks, which were the defining factor in the victorious outcome of the common struggle of the nations, during WWII, for the human freedom and dignity. If it were not for the bravery of the Greeks and their courage, the outcome of WWII would be undetermined.” Winston Churchill's statement at the House of Commons

love your vids

One issue. Why do you use modern maps in WW2 video?

25K subscribers wil be sooner than you think.

It is one of amazing Battles and this battle teached in military schools as a plan to avoid.....Greeks tought the art of War again.

Do operation grapeshot spring offensive in Italy 1945 ww2

Crete indeed proved to be crucial as a defensible position. The Balkans were far more favorable for the possible invasion by the allies in the future. Instead, the allies got stuck in the narrow front in Italy, without a major breakthrough toward the Reich until the end of war.

Great video but I think that you could say something about the significant participation of the local population in the battles...

The Battle of Crete it may be argued that it was a very shallow, pyrrhic victory. Over 6,000 Germans were killed or wounded and the overall casualties they suffered were over 25% of the forces they committed. This was the highest percentage casualties suffered by the German Army in a single action up to that point in the war. The Allied troops had little heavy equipment and the Germans had complete air superiority. “In some ways, the fate of Crete was decided before the battle began.The air assets available to the Luftwaffe *gave the Germans a thirty-to-one numerical superiority in aircraft over the Allies…* *….Instead of a quick, decisive battle, the Germans were locked into a ferocious fight for the island. Allied units performed heroically given their strength in numbers but inferiority in equipment. The Allies succeeded in inflicting heavy casualties on the Luftwaffe despite the fact that the Germans had the initiative, used elite troops, and possessed air superiority.“* Battle of Crete: Hitler’s Airborne Gamble. Biank, A. Maria Major The Germans were on the verge of pulling out. The paratroopers were literally being shot up. Freyberg and a New Zealand unit were supposed to be protecting an airfield but took a wrong turn as they were more worried about Germans coming from the sea not the air. This allowed the Germans to capture the airfield and land more troops. Psychologically it was a Nazi defeat: The Germans who fought in Crete or were engaged in its planning were totally demoralized. They were instructed by their superiors not to discuss the battle with other units in the future. Significantly, the Battle of Crete totally altered the course of future battle plans in the Eastern Mediterranean. Hitler was so stunned by the losses that he chose not to use the Herman Goering Division as a parachute unit again. Not having this division available as a parachute weapon would turn out to be devastating for Germany’s war efforts in the Middle East. General Kurt Student would dub Crete "the graveyard of the German paratroopers" and a "disastrous victory." Hitler, believing airborne forces to be a weapon of surprise which had now lost that advantage, concluded that the days of the airborne corps were over and directed that paratroopers should be employed as ground-based troops in subsequent operations in the Soviet Union.

Why were modern maps used?

Are u the same dude who runs that animated history channel?

Make videos about Battle for Hungary 1945

It is amazing how many battles the Englanders lost in WW2 and seems that they could never take on the Germans until the American arrived

your chart at 2:55 n is incorrect. the germans landed by sea tanks as well as the italians landed tanks by sea. also you show 42000 allies, while that number is on the 1st of may. british troops were still being evacuated . so on the 20th there was only 28000 troops. and only 18000 of them in organised and armed units. sort of paints a different picture!

Nothing about the cretan civilians who asked for weapons from the english, got nothing and fought with knifes and stones. Those ppl where the heroes

Imagine if there was game that was so realistic like this that you have to watch your logistics and u can naval invade and u have to send air support and u can zoom in to see like the divisions and such like ur edit

A Victory throw away, by Freyburg.

You earned a sub from me

British forces had zero fighter planes, half a dozen tanks and the two battered infantry divisions minus most of their equipment. Kasserine Pass 1942. American troops were fully equipped, had plenty of tanks, and air cover. They had better intel than Freyberg. But the Yanks had their arses handed to them on s plate by German and ITALIAN forces. Freyberg was Napoleon compared to the American commanders.

Why not Battle of Berlin today? But good work☺️

make more videos

Italian strategy was stupid They moved soldiers on low coastal.roads and got ambushed Italian generals told Mussolini that Greeks had.been bribed not to fight. In the end it was a standoff Both sides ran out of supplies

Like Norway, HOW did the Germans win this one?

17000 prisoners... Taken by the Germans?

O

: )

The initial analysis of the topography favoring the attack is such obvious nonsense that you probably shouldn’t bother with the rest of it. Also terrible voice over.

Lol talk about revisionist history 😂😂😂