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 Review from Amazon.com:
Clarity brought to a Complex Story
This is a splendidly-written account of the British Campaign in Greece and Crete in 1941, and
to a lesser extent, of the resistance to the Germans during the occupation. The account of the defense against
the German airborne invasion is masterly, and though many units are involved, the writer has the knack of
keeping them distinct in the reader's mind such that there is no difficulty in following the actions at four
separate but simultaneous landing points. Stories of heroism and of initiative, and also sadly of failure of
will, abound on all sides. The aspect of the knife-edge that separated success and failure is very well
conveyed. Bernard Freyberg emerges as a tragic figure, a man of magnificent personal courage and a Homeric hero
of an earlier war, and in the same general theatre, but sadly out of his depth in the Cretan operation. One is
reminded poignantly of the merciless revelation of John Bell Hood's weakness as a commander during his invasion
of Tennessee in late 1864. The only fault I found with the Resistance part of the book was that it was too
short, and I would have enjoyed a more extended account of individual actions. Inspired by this, I am now keen
to locate "The Cretan Runner", so favourably mentioned by the author. Given the prominent role played
in the Resistance story by Patrick Leigh-Fermor, those who enjoy this book will be entranced by his two books
detailing a foot journey he made as a youth from Hook of Holland to Istanbul in 1934. In Crete, he and small
band of heroes, British, Commonwealth and Greek, faced terrifying consequences for any failure when they faced a
ruthless and merciless foe. This book underlines how high was the price paid for freedom in the 1940's, and how
dreadful were the consequences of disarmament and pacifism in the democracies in the two previous decades - a
lesson we forget at our peril. |
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Titles you can find in the Cretan
"History" section include:
The Fall of Crete
Daedalus Returned
The Cretan Runner: The Story of the German Occupation
Perilous Commitments: The Battle for Greece and Crete 1940-1941
Phoenix: The Find of a Lifetime: Sir Arthur Evans and the Discovery of
Knossos
OPERATION MERCURY: The Fall of Crete 1941
Australia in the War of 1939-1945 (Series One, Army, Volume 2, Greece,
Crete and Syria)
Cretan Quests: British Explorers, Excavators and Historians
Discoveries in Crete And Their Bearing on the History of Ancient
Civilization
and
many more...
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|
 From Booklist
In 1941, Hitler faced the prospect of a two-front war; thus he agreed to a bold strategy to attack the
British Empire at its pivot point by seizing the Mediterranean island of Crete. For Hitler and his innovative
commander, General Kurt Student, the attack was a test case for the effectiveness of a massive airborne
invasion. For Churchill and the British, it was a chance to puncture the myth of German invincibility. Macdonald
relates with eloquence and thoroughness the savage nature of the conflict in which combatants and especially the
civilian population suffered immensely. Like all fine military histories, Macdonald's chronicle consistently
maintains touch with the human drama that lies behind the larger strategic picture. Both the general reader and
aficionados of military history will find this work highly readable and valuable. Jay Freeman |
