Damasta sabotage
Encyclopedia
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
. The attack occurred on 8 August 1944 near the village of Damasta and was aimed to prevent the Germans from assaulting the village of Anogia.
Josef Olenhauer (known to the locals as "Sifis", the local diminutive for his name, quite widespread in Crete) and ten men of the German garrison based in Yeni Gave went up to the village of Anogia in search of concentration camp
labourers. Olenhauer ordered his men to round up selected males in order to force them to march towards Rethymno
. The villagers refused to come and so in retaliation, fifty hostages were taken. On leaving, the Germans were surrounded by local andartes, who attacked the detachment, freeing the hostages and killing all the Germans. Despite the success of their move, the villagers of Anogia feared that reprisals from the Germans were imminent and therefore took to the mountains and the local resistance
.
officer Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC
consisting of eight Cretans from Anogia organized into EOK
and six escaped Russian soldiers, marched to the main road connecting Rethymno and Heraklion
.
They chose an ambush site by a bridge in the Damastos location, one kilometer west of the village of Damasta and mined it with Hawkins grenade
s, preparing themselves for the German reaction. After destroying various passing vehicles, among which was a lorry carrying military mail to Chania
, the German force targeting Anogia finally appeared. It consisted of a truck of infantrymen backed up by an armoured car. The partisans attacked the German troops and Moss destroyed the armoured car by dropping a grenade into the hatch. In total 40 to 50 Germans and one Russian partisan were killed in the clash that followed. Cretan partisan Manolis Spithouris (Ntampakomanolis) was seriously wounded in the abdomen.
The operation is described in full in Moss's book A War of Shadows
and commemorated at Damasta and the Historical Museum of Crete
.
, the German commander in Crete, would not let Anogia go unpunished and had further strategic reasons for reprisals and terror across Crete
in order to assist the German planned evacuation from much of the island to Chania. Anogia dwellers had been actively involved in, and given refuge to, the resistance
for many years, had killed the Sergeant Commander Olenhauer and the garrison from Yeni-Gave and had also provided shelter to the abductors of General Heinrich Kreipe
. His Order reads:-
Thus, Müller ordered that Anogia should be razed to the ground and every male inhabitant found in the village executed. As a result, about 50 residents of Anogia were shot, the village was systematically pillaged and eventually destroyed.
On August 21, the Germans executed 30 men from the village of Damasta after accusing them as accomplices for not having given warning about the ambush and swept their village away.
Müller
was convicted for this and other war crimes. He was sentenced to death on 9 December 1946 and executed by firing squad 20 May 1947.
Cretan resistance
The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement against Nazi Germany by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek Resistance, it lasted from May 20, 1941, when the German Wehrmacht invaded the island in the Battle of Crete, until the fall of 1945 when...
fighters led by British Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
officer Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC
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...
against German occupation forces in 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...
. The attack occurred on 8 August 1944 near the village of Damasta and was aimed to prevent the Germans from assaulting the village of Anogia.
Background
On 7 August 1944, FeldwebelFeldwebel
Feldwebel is a German military rank which has existed since at least the 18th century with usage as a title dating to the Middle Ages. The word Feldwebel is usually translated as sergeant being rated OR-6 in the NATO rank comparison scale, equivalent to the British Army Sergeant and the US Army...
Josef Olenhauer (known to the locals as "Sifis", the local diminutive for his name, quite widespread in Crete) and ten men of the German garrison based in Yeni Gave went up to the village of Anogia in search of concentration camp
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
labourers. Olenhauer ordered his men to round up selected males in order to force them to march towards Rethymno
Rethymno
Rethymno is a city of approximately 40,000 people in Greece, the capital of Rethymno peripheral unit in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity , even though was never a competitive Minoan centre...
. The villagers refused to come and so in retaliation, fifty hostages were taken. On leaving, the Germans were surrounded by local andartes, who attacked the detachment, freeing the hostages and killing all the Germans. Despite the success of their move, the villagers of Anogia feared that reprisals from the Germans were imminent and therefore took to the mountains and the local resistance
Cretan resistance
The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement against Nazi Germany by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek Resistance, it lasted from May 20, 1941, when the German Wehrmacht invaded the island in the Battle of Crete, until the fall of 1945 when...
.
Ambush
On the following day, August 8th, a resistance group commanded by the British Special Operations ExecutiveSpecial Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
officer Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC
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...
consisting of eight Cretans from Anogia organized into EOK
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...
and six escaped Russian soldiers, marched to the main road connecting Rethymno and Heraklion
Heraklion
Heraklion, or Heraclion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is the 4th largest city in Greece....
.
They chose an ambush site by a bridge in the Damastos location, one kilometer west of the village of Damasta and mined it with Hawkins grenade
Hawkins grenade
The Grenade, Hand, Anti-tank, No. 75, also known as the Hawkins grenade was a British anti-tank hand grenade used during World War II. It was one of a number of grenades developed for use by the British Army and Home Guard in the aftermath of the Dunkirk evacuation...
s, preparing themselves for the German reaction. After destroying various passing vehicles, among which was a lorry carrying military mail to Chania
Chania
Chaniá , , also transliterated Chania, Hania, and Xania, older form Chanea and Venetian Canea, Ottoman Turkish خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania peripheral unit...
, the German force targeting Anogia finally appeared. It consisted of a truck of infantrymen backed up by an armoured car. The partisans attacked the German troops and Moss destroyed the armoured car by dropping a grenade into the hatch. In total 40 to 50 Germans and one Russian partisan were killed in the clash that followed. Cretan partisan Manolis Spithouris (Ntampakomanolis) was seriously wounded in the abdomen.
The operation is described in full in Moss's book A War of Shadows
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...
and commemorated at Damasta and the Historical Museum of Crete
Historical Museum of Crete
The Historical Museum of Crete is a museum in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. The Museum presents a comprehensive view of Cretan history from early Christian times to the present day. It was founded in 1953 by the Society of Cretan Historical Studies, which had been established two years earlier...
.
Aftermath
The expediency of the ambush in Damasta has been strongly disputed. Whilst Moss had hoped that it might have saved Anogia, Friedrich-Wilhelm MüllerFriedrich-Wilhelm Müller
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was a General in the German army in World War II. He is notorious for having been the most brutal commander of occupied Crete, where he earned the nickname "The Butcher of Crete." After the war, he was tried by a Greek military court for war crimes, convicted and...
, the German commander in Crete, would not let Anogia go unpunished and had further strategic reasons for reprisals and terror across Crete
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 order to assist the German planned evacuation from much of the island to Chania. Anogia dwellers had been actively involved in, and given refuge to, the resistance
Cretan resistance
The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement against Nazi Germany by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek Resistance, it lasted from May 20, 1941, when the German Wehrmacht invaded the island in the Battle of Crete, until the fall of 1945 when...
for many years, had killed the Sergeant Commander Olenhauer and the garrison from Yeni-Gave and had also provided shelter to the abductors 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....
. His Order reads:-
Thus, Müller ordered that Anogia should be razed to the ground and every male inhabitant found in the village executed. As a result, about 50 residents of Anogia were shot, the village was systematically pillaged and eventually destroyed.
On August 21, the Germans executed 30 men from the village of Damasta after accusing them as accomplices for not having given warning about the ambush and swept their village away.
Müller
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was a General in the German army in World War II. He is notorious for having been the most brutal commander of occupied Crete, where he earned the nickname "The Butcher of Crete." After the war, he was tried by a Greek military court for war crimes, convicted and...
was convicted for this and other war crimes. He was sentenced to death on 9 December 1946 and executed by firing squad 20 May 1947.