The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement

Resistance movement

A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...

 against Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 by the residents of the Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 island of Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Part of the larger Greek Resistance

Greek Resistance

The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...

, it lasted from May 20, 1941, when the German Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

 invaded the island in the Battle of Crete

Battle of Crete

The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...

, until the fall of 1945 when they surrendered to the British. Prior to the German invasion, British agent John Pendlebury

John Pendlebury

John Devitt Stringfellow Pendlebury was a British archaeologist who worked for British intelligence during World War II. He was killed during the Battle of Crete.-Early life:...

 was instrumental in mobilizing and preparing the local clan chiefs. Chase Brandon, who worked for over 25 years in the CIA's Elite Clandestine Service as an undercover covert operations officer, said of the Cretan Resistance movement "they left in the annals of military history as the most consequential and successful military insurgency ever".

For the first time during World War II, attacking German forces faced in Crete a valiant resistance from the local population. Cretan civilians picked off paratroopers

Fallschirmjäger

are German paratroopers. Together with the Gebirgsjäger they are perceived as the elite infantry units of the German Army....

 or attacked them with knives, axes, scythes or even bare hands. As a result, great casualties were inflicted upon the invaders that made Crete the swansong of German paratroopers. Very soon after the capitulation of Crete, several local guerrilla groups and intelligence networks started to be organized. Aside from the local branch of the mainland's communist-controlled National Liberation Front, the other local organizations banded together in the National Organization of Crete

National Organization of Crete

The National Organization of Crete was an organization established in Crete by British Intelligence during the Axis occupation of Greecein World War II. EOK, predominantly Venizelist in sympathy and with members ranging from centre-left to right-wing, was meant to act as a counterweight to the...

 (EOK).

Resistance in Crete involved figures such as Patrick Leigh Fermor

Patrick Leigh Fermor

Sir Patrick "Paddy" Michael Leigh Fermor, DSO, OBE was a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Cretan resistance during World War II. He was widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer", with books including his classic A Time of...

, George Psychoundakis

George Psychoundakis

George Psychoundakis was a Greek Resistance fighter on Crete during the Second World War. He was a shepherd, a war hero and an author. He served as dispatch runner between Petro Petrakas and Papadakis behind the German lines for the Cretan resistance Movement and later, from 1941 to 1945, for the...

, George Petrakogiorgis, Manolis Bandouvas, Antonis Grigorakis, Kostis Petrakis, John Lewis, Tom Dunbabin

Thomas James Dunbabin

Thomas James Dunbabin DSO , was an Australian classicist scholar and archaeologist of Tasmanian origin. His father was , a distinguished journalist. Dunbabin studied at the University of Sydney and then moved to Corpus Christi College, Oxford...

, Dudley Perkins, Sandy Rendel, John Houseman, Xan Fielding

Xan Fielding

Xan Fielding, born Alexander Wallace Fielding DSO , was a British soldier and writer, noted for his English translations of Planet of the Apes and The Bridge on the River Kwai, both by Pierre Boulle....

, Dennis Ciclitira

Dennis Ciclitira

Dennis Ciclitira was a British soldier and businessman of Greek descent. He was born in Patras, Greece but was raised in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, after his father Demosthenes emigrated to the UK and set up a business importing dried fruit....

, Ralph Stockbridge and Bill Stanley Moss

W. Stanley Moss

Ivan William "Billy" Stanley Moss MC , was a British army officer in World War II, and later a successful writer, broadcaster, journalist and traveller. He served with the Coldstream Guards and the Special Operations Executive . He was a best-selling author in the 1950s, based both on his novels...

. Some of the movement's most famous moments included the abduction of General Heinrich Kreipe

Kidnap of General Kreipe

The Kidnap of General Kreipe was a Second World War operation by the Special Operations Executive, an organisation of the United Kingdom. The mission took place on the German occupied island of Crete in May 1944....

 led by Leigh Fermor and Moss, the battle of Trahili, the sabotage of Damasta

Damasta sabotage

The Damasta sabotage was an attack by Cretan resistance fighters led by British Special Operations Executive officer Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC against German occupation forces in World War II...

 led by Moss and the airfield sabotages of Heraklion and Kastelli.

The Cretan population paid a high price for its involvement and support of the resistance.
In reprisal

Reprisal

In international law, a reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them. Reprisals in the laws of war are extremely limited, as they commonly breached the rights of civilians, an action outlawed by the Geneva...

, the German occupation forces proceeded to numerous brutal attacks against local civilians. Standing out among the list of atrocities, are the holocausts of Viannos

Holocaust of Viannos

The Holocaust of Viannos refers to a mass extermination campaign launched by Nazi forces against the civilian residents of around 20 villages located in the areas of east Viannos and west Ierapetra provinces on the Greek island of Crete during World War II. The killings, with a death toll in...

 and Kedros

Holocaust of Kedros

The Holocaust of Kedros , also known as the Holocaust of Amari , refers to an operation mounted by Nazi German forces against the civilian residents of nine villages located in the Amari Valley on the Greek island of Crete during its occupation by the Axis in World War II...

 in Amari

Amari Valley

The Amari Valley is a fertile valley on the foothills of Mount Ida and Mount Kedros in Crete. The valley was known as a center of resistance to the Germans during the Battle of Crete and the German occupation...

, the destruction of Anogia and Kandanos

Razing of Kandanos

The Razing of Kandanos or the Holocaust of Kandanos refers to the complete destruction of the village of Kandanos in Western Crete and the killing of about 180 of its inhabitants on 3 June 1941 by German occupying forces during World War II...

 and the massacre of Kondomari

Massacre of Kondomari

The Massacre of Kondomari refers to the execution of male civilians from the village of Kondomari in Crete by an ad hoc firing squad consisting of German paratroopers on 2 June 1941 during World War II. The shooting was the first of a long series of mass reprisals in Crete and was also the first...

. In several documented reprisal executions carried out during the occupation, 3.471 Cretans lost their lives.

In 2005, a documentary was released titled The 11th Day: Crete 1941

The 11th Day: Crete 1941

The 11th Day: Crete 1941 is a 2005 documentary film featuring eyewitness accounts from survivors of the Battle for Crete during World War II. The film was created by producer-director Christos Epperson and writer-producer Michael Epperson, and funded by Alex Spanos. Among the eyewitnesses are...

, which relates events of the Cretan resistance through various eyewitnesses.

External links

• German occupation of Crete (in German -- translate)
• German war crimes in Crete (in German -- translate)