
Drawing on original sources and the experiences of key participants, this book recounts the fall of Greece in World War II, the Battle of Crete and the resistance from beginning to end. The invasion of Crete totally from the air, unique in the history of warfare, turned into one of the closest-run battles of the war. The slaughter of German paratroopers on the first day by New Zealand, Australian and British troops was so great that if just one Allied platoon had still been in place at the key position of Maleme airfield the next morning, the Germans would have been forced to admit defeat. It was in the battle for Crete that Ultra intelligence played a key role for the first time. How General Freyburg, Churchill's favourite hero from World War I, handled that information and the battle itself remains controversial. This book shows how Freyburg misread an Ultra signal at the crucial moment...
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Återigen är Beevor mycket grundlig i sin genomgång av det som ledde fram till kriget mellan just Tyskland och Grekland samt ockupationen av grekiska fastlandet. Tyngdpunkten ligger på den tyska invasionen av ön men även ockupationen av ön och krigsslutet gås igenom.
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