The Battle of Floria, Crete, 23 May 1941, the nazi atrocities and the monuments, then (1941) and now (2016)

On the morning of May 23, 1941 the Battle of Crete is raging.The Germans have put a firm foothold on the island, securing the vital airport at Maleme, after the New Zealanders who defended it withdrew, following the chaotic hours after the start of the invasion. This proved to be the turning point of the Battle, as the Germans managed to fly in reinforcements and material that helped them wipe out the Allied forces.

A small motorized German detachment (riding motorcycles with MG 34 machine guns on their sidecars) attempted to move through Floria village on 23 May 1941, aiming to reach and secure Paleochora is on its way to the southern coast of Crete, from where the Allied troops hoped to be evacuated to Egypt, on their long retreat through the mountains of Crete. 

When the nazis enter the village of Floria, they are met with fierce resistance by the local inhabitants. Some of them are armed with obsolete muskets, others with scythes, most of them with sticks and stones. 

Albeit untrained and insufficiently armed, local civilians spontaneously confronted and fought the German force in Floria. 

On the following day, the locals gathered in larger numbers and set an ambush for the advancing German troops of the 5th Gebirgs Division (elements of the 55 motorcycle Battalion and the 95 anti-tank Battalion), at Kandanos' gorge.

Despite their strong resistance on 24 and 25 May and their limited casualties, the locals were vastly outnumbered and were thus eventually forced to retreat in the mountains, letting the Germans advance towards Paleochora.

The repercussions of his largely forgotten incident are soon to be seen: While the Battle of Crete was still being fought, the Germans murdered unarmed civilians and when the Battle was over, by June 1st, they started murdering civilians and burning down villages on a large scale, with one of this mass murders immortalised through the photos of a German war correspondent who shot all the sequence of the mass execution at Kontomari village.

Soon after the Battle was over, the Germans erected a monument in Floria village, which remains as it nearly was in 1941 to this day and veterans and their families visit regularly to pay their respect to their fallen comrades.

Right opposite this German monument, another one can be seen: A monument in honour of the villagers of Floria who were murdered by the Germans during he nazi occupation of Crete, which proved to be as brutal and inhumane, as in almost every spot the Germans et their foot upon in Greece, an endless list of atrocities, mass killings, burnings of villages and other heinous acts, hat went largely unpunished after the war was over.

During the Battle of Crete, the invading German forces had suffered heavy losses. Furthermore, the unprecedented resistance from the local population exasperated their Prussian sense of military order according to which no one but professional warriors should be allowed to fight. 

Even before the end of the Battle, exaggerated stories had started to circulate, attributing the excessively high casualties to torture and mutilation of paratroopers by the Cretans. 

Such stories proved to be false later on, as more careful investigations could identify only a few cases of mutilation all over Crete, most of which had been inflicted after death.

Nevertheless, as a result of the above allegations and seeking to set an example, right after the surrender of Crete on 31 May, temporary commander General Kurt Student issued an order for launching a wave of brutal reprisals against the local population. 

The reprisals were to be carried out rapidly by the same units who had been confronted by the locals, omitting formalities.

On June 3, 1941, a day after murdering unarmed civilians in Kontomari, German troops from the III Battalion of the 1st Air Landing Assault Regiment (most probably led by Oberleutnant Horst Trebes) reached Kandanos, following Student's order for reprisals. 

A German soldier in front of one of the signs erected after the razing. The text reads: "Kandanos was destroyed in retaliation for the bestial ambush murder of a paratrooper platoon and a half-platoon of military engineers by armed men and women."

The Germans killed about 180 residents and slaughtered all livestock; all houses were torched and razed. 

Nearby villages such as Floria and Kakopetro met a similar fate. After its destruction, Kandanos was declared a 'dead zone' and its remaining population was forbidden to return to the village and rebuild it. 

Finally, inscriptions in German and Greek were erected on each entry of the village. One of them read: "Here stood Kandanos, destroyed in retribution for the murder of 25 German soldiers, never to be rebuilt again".

After the surrender of Germany, General Kurt Student was captured by the British. In May 1947, he came before a military tribunal to answer charges of mistreatment and murder of prisoners of war by his forces in Crete. 

Greece's demand to have Student extradited was declined. Student was found guilty of three out of eight charges and sentenced to five years in prison. However, he was given a medical discharge and was released in 1948. Student was never tried for crimes against civilians.

Today, Kandanos has been rebuilt and is the seat of the eponymous municipality. Reproductions of the sombre Wehrmacht signposts commemorating the destruction of the village are displayed on a local war memorial.

PHOTO SEQUENCE OF THE MASS MURDER IN KONTOMARI, CRETE

Following Student's order, the occupants of KonTomari were blamed for the death of a few German soldiers whose bodies had been found near the village. 

On 2 June 1941, four lorries full of German paratroopers from the III Battalion of Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1 under the command of Oberleutnant Horst Trebes surrounded Kondomari. 

Trebes, a former member of the Hitler Youth, was the highest-ranking officer of the Battalion to have survived the Battle unwounded. 

Men, women and children were forced to gather in the village square. Then, a number of hostages was selected among the men while women and children were released. The hostages were led to the surrounding olive groves and later fired upon.

The exact number of the victims is unclear. According to German records, a total of 23 men were killed but other sources raise the toll to about 60. 

The whole operation was captured on film by Franz-Peter Weixler, then serving as a war propaganda correspondent (kriegsberichter) for the Wehrmacht.

SOURCES: HERE AND HERE

The end of the Battle of Crete - 75th anniversary, 1941-2016

The Sun News-Pictorial

2 June 1941

British in Crete withdraw

15,000 troops reach Egypt: Big losses reported.

"After 12 days of undoubtedly the fiercest fighting in this war, it has been decided to withdraw our forces from Crete" the War Office announces.

Bestiality knew no bounds

prepping the public opinion for the loss of Crete

not that much of a "military expert"

The Fallschirmjäger memorial in Crete, then (1941) and now (2016)

Then... (1941)

...and now (2016)

The Fallschirmjäger memorial (German: Fallschirmjäger-Denkmal) is a German war memorial for German parachutists who fell during the ten-day Battle of Crete in World War II. 

The memorial, known to Cretans as the German bird (Greek: Γερμανικό πουλί, Germaniko pouli) or the Evil bird (Greek: Κακό πουλί, Kako pouli), was erected in 1941 by the occupation forces and is located about 3 kilometers west of Chania on the road to Agii Apostoli.

 The invasion of Crete in May 1941 was the first major airborne assault in history. Despite their victory, the elite German paratroopers suffered such heavy losses that Adolf Hitler forbade further airborne operations of such large scale for the rest of the war.

The memorial was erected at the end of a stone staircase leading to the top of a small hill. It consisted of a tall pedestal built from stone blocks, atop which stood a concrete diving eagle gripping a swastika in its talons. 

The eagle's posture was that of the paratrooper insignia. The latter was a badge awarded to soldiers of the Luftwaffe after completion of parachute training and the required number of jumps.

Originally in the countryside, Germaniko pouli is today encompassed by dense urban buildings and has lent its name to the surrounding area. 

Apart from the swastika which was covered with cement soon after the liberation of Crete, the memorial stood more or less intact until the early 2000s. 

In the winter of 2001, a storm demolished most of the eagle's body and parts of it are kept in a construction materials site, according to locals.

Today, the pedestal and its inscription are in a derelict state and mostly covered with graffiti. There have been some discussions and controversy whether it should be restored or demolished.  

The Paratrooper-Cenotaph was built near the former capital Chania after the victorious end of the internecine battle during May 20 to 28 in 1941. It is dedicated to the dead soldiers of the II. Batalion of the „Sturmregiment“.

The commander of this Batalion, Maj. Stenzler, formed the inscription of the cenotaph:

1. Batalion ”Sturmregiment“

In the battle of Crete May 20 – 28 in 1941,

To you belongs our gratitude, the dead soldiers

Who far from home

In faith to your oath of allegiance

Gave your lives

To our great Germany

SOURCE OF INFO

PHOTOS COLLECTED FROM THE INTERNET

PART TWO: Rod Pearce and his Odyssey in Papua New Guinea for WW2 Wrecks and their MIA crews

Rod Pearce has dedicated his time and efforts finding underwater aircraft wrecks and seeking closure to the families of hundreds -if not thousands- of Missing in Action (MIA) airmen from all nations that fought during World War Two.

READ THE FIRST PART HERE

Here is the second part of his very interesting interview:

When you manage to find an aircraft wreck and identify it, possibly finding out who the pilot was, do you feel like bringing closure to the members of his family?

Oh yes, definitely. Whether it be Japanese, Australian or American it is always a feeling of closure for the family and myself, especially if the aircraft is Australian as I am Australian by birth.

How important is it to preserve those relics for generations to come?

Unfortunately, aircraft in the sea will gradually deteriorate through corrosion, coverage by sand, coral and here in Rabaul volcanic ash, but above all, through human damage, whether it be divers or a ship's anchor.

I would like to see them preserved in some way, even brought up, restored and displayed however the cost of doing this is beyond anyone's dreams.

Because in the next hundred years or so, these will have gone forever or a great majority of them.

The war time ship wrecks are beginning to fall apart through rust and that's only in 70 years.

Having said this, I would like to stress that I am appalled by the practice some (affluent) individuals within the private collector communities employs, by backhanding money to corrupt officials and conning local communities (who often don't know any better) for illegal salvage deals of in-situ aircraft - especially when this is done for personal gain to private collections.

Any such salvage or recovery operation, the way I see it, detracts and contributes to the vanishing heritage of World War II.

In my opinion, aircraft - if salvaged and restored - should be in museums for all to see, and not in some private person's collection.

Do you believe you are raising public awareness to a long gone and perhaps forgotten part of your country's history by finding aircraft wrecks?

Certainly, by raising awareness to the plight of MIA's - that someone actually cares. 

Two cases come to mind VH-CIJ with 19 MIA's found recently in Papua New Guinea and another C47 yet to be found VH-CIZ 22 MIAs, hopefully the awareness will motivate
the authorities into perhaps looking for VH-CIZ. 

The latter one I am beginning to get a feel for but the cost of even mounting a first survey search would be well beyond my means.

Very few people get the opportunity to research, search, find, document and recover those Missing In Action, and to see a project through to completion as in A9-217 was a very rewarding experience, not only for me but for the whole team that worked on the recovery, and of course their families.

Not a lot of people get to experience this sort of feeling of completeness of a job well done.

This by the way is done in conjunction with the authorities and not by me alone.

How many wrecks did you find until now?

This is a very difficult question to answer, due to the fact that I have found aircraft pieces scattered over the bottom - not knowing the type or country it's from.

And these were just pieces, not a complete aircraft. These have obviously blown up in the air, and have been scattered over a wide area.

There are also aircraft I have been looking for but did not find, where I then passed on all the info for others to find, which they have.

For the number of ship wrecks, I'd say four or five,  for smaller boats and barges and such, i haven't even bothered to count there's been so many... 

In one days searching for VH-CIJ we found 15 barges, sunken vessels of all types and over a period of a month while looking for VH-CIJ we found to many to count.

For aircraft wrecks alone, I would have to say 20 to 25 complete aircraft - not counting all the scattered wreckage and debris I have come across - that I could identify as Japanese or Australian: Not all of these wrecks had MIAs onboard.

Most aircraft that ditched in the water, the crews have swam away from. 

They are the lucky ones.

The aircraft in the water usually made a reasonably ditching, so the aircraft is in rather good condition even if there were fatalities on board, like the B24 4123752 at Kawa Island (see www.pacificwrecks.com) 1 MIA still inside, one died of his injuries on the way back to Alotau but the rest of the crew survived.

The aircraft in the bush on the other hand usually went in at high speed, more or less obliterating the planes, and over the years the remains of the aircraft have been reclaimed by the forests, vandalization, animals etc so there is not a lot left.

I have found aircraft on land, in the bush, but I'm not really interested in these, and don't include them in my list of finds. 

I still have on my short list 15 aircraft to find in the water, most with remains and these are very easily findable however; It all comes down to time and money.

And having never been married to anything else than my boat and passion for diving, nor had children, I've been able to direct my surplus into finding wrecks instead.

What are you planning for the next few months? Any wrecks waiting to be located etc?

For the next three months I take off to find a plane in Buka, and then off to Lae to locate an A-20 that ditched with three crew belonging to the RAAF, one of these crewmembers received the Commonwealth's highest reward, the Victoria Cross, and there is still one crewmember MIA on this plane.

This plane is deep, at about 100 meters.

A28-3 a Boston from 22 Squadron is of particular interest to me as my father went to school at Melbourne Grammar with Bill Newton, VC.

How important is it in your opinion to highlight the role of historical warplanes resting on the seabed?

Very important for future generations, to be documented, if not fully, as I have limited resources.

However in the future, someone might like to step up and fully document these aircraft in the form of a documentary or similar.

But for future generations, I think it's a must for them to know what happened, and the relatives of those MIAs know the last resting place of their loved ones.

Could you single out the wreck that made you feel proud of?

A9-217, an Australian Beaufort, which crashed at night off a island in a godforsaken part of New Guinea and all were killed. (see pacificwrecks.com/a9-217)

It was only through my determination and experience in hounding the authorities to do a second recovery that we found all four crewmembers in their entirety.

This, I think, was my most memorable recovery, although I failed to document it properly in the form of pictures, I did write up the report on the recovery and the history of it's last flight.

I should point out, that most - if not all - of the photos on my Facebook-page were taken by other people than me, as I've never been much of an underwater photographer and have always had more than enough to do running my vessel and operating my sonar, in addition to all the research that goes into this type of work.

As such, the photos I've submitted should be credited to the respective photographers, and not myself.

Check more here

On this day, May 30, 1941: When two Greeks removed the nazi flag from the Acropolis

It has been acknowledged as one of the first act of resistance against the nazis in Europe and the first in Greece; On this day, in the late hours of May 30, 1941 two young Greeks removed the nazi flag from the Acropolis in Athens. 

Manolis Glezos and Lakis Santas, two young students, climbed on the Acropolis and removed the swastika, which had been there since April 27, 1941, when the Nazi forces had entered Athens. 

It inspired not only the Greeks, but all subjected people, to resist against the occupation, and established them both as two international anti-Nazi heroes. 

The Nazi regime responded by sentencing the perpetrators to death in absentia, but they did not learn who they were until much later. 

Glezos was arrested by the German occupation forces on March 24, 1942, and was subjected to imprisonment and torture. 

As a result of his treatment, he was affected by tuberculosis. He was arrested on April 21, 1943 by the Italian occupation forces and spent three months in jail. 

Greek newspaper "To VIMA" frontpage, dated June 1st, 1941, with a notification on the nazi flag's removal with the "perpetrators to be arrested and sentenced to death" by the German Commander of  Athens.

On February 7, 1944 he was arrested again, this time by Greek nazi collaborators. He spent another seven and a half months in jail, until he finally escaped on September 21 of the same year.

Enquiries are being made, as to the circumstances that lead to the removal of the German flag", according to the Greek daily newspaper "TA NEA", dated early June 1941.

READ MORE HERE

The 73 year Odyssey of a lost seaman's family and the submarine lost in 1943

Massimo Domenico Bondone, the experienced Italian deep wreck scuba diver, who is credited with the recent discovery and the identification of the ill-fated British submarine P311 (CLICK TO READ THE FULL STORY) received the following message from Paul Denison, a family member of a lost crew member of the submarine, Able Seaman Leonard Auty:

"Sir on behalf of the family of Able Seaman Leonard Auty, I would like to thank you for finding HMS P311 and the care and respect that you have shown to those that perished. You have my grateful respect."

Giving the lost seamen families' closure, to help them know where they loved ones are after 73 years, is the most important element of this discovery, in my opinion. 

Able Seaman Leonard Auty was born in 1917 and went Missing Presumed Killed with P311 in early January 1943, while on a mission, when he was 26 years old.

Hi family was only given the very barest of details from the Admiralty when he was reported missing.

The last known position of P311 was listed as 38 degrees,10 minutes North,11 degrees 30 Minutes East at 18:30 hrs. on the 30th December in a signal which was received at 01:30 hrs. on the 31st. This was the last signal received from the lost submarine.

Paul Denison stressed that "One thing I will mention, I went to the Royal Navy Memorial at Southsea, as soon as I saw his name my eyes watered and I had to look away and compose myself, quite a reaction for someone that died before I was born."

In an article that was printed on The Times newspaper, Friday, March 12, 1943 (page 4; Issue 49492; col G), under the title Submarine P311 Presumed Lost Commander Cayley's Fine Record published for the first time the loss of the submarine P311.

The article reads as follows:

"The Board of Admiralty regrets to announce the loss of submarine P311 (Commander Richard Douglas Cayley DSO RN) is overdue and must be presumed lost. The next-of-kin have been informed.

Commander Cayley won the DSO and two bars and as one of the outstanding captains of this war. His name will always be associated with HM Submarine Upmost which sunk 69,000 tons of axis shipping in 15 months while he was serving in her. He was 34. 

The loss of Utmost was announced in January. Commander Cayley had for some months previously been in command of P311. 

One of Utmost’s outstanding successes occurred on the night of 21 November 1941. 

Commander Carey sighted three Italian cruisers steaming at 20 knots escorted by destroyers. He attacked on the surface firing his torpedoes at a range of nearly a mile. 

He saw the flash of one torpedo hitting a cruiser just abaft the foremost funnel. Immediately after a great red flame leaped more than 200ft from the stricken ship, the submarine dived to the accompaniment of a violent explosion followed by breaking-up noises. 

In a counter attack which followed 84 depth charges were dropped but the submarine escaped undamaged."

Paul Denison, describes his feelings and his family's Odyssey since 1943 and shows what war is like on a human scale, when you put a name behind a largely forgotten tragedy that haunted the lives of the family members of the lost seamen for 73 years. 

"The loss affected greatly his brother Eric Auty who would never speak about Leonard" Paul says to pierrekosmidis.blogspot.com and adds: 

"We were told that he had been killed in the Royal Navy but that was all we knew. 30 years after his death the family were still coming to terms with it."

Paul Denison is relieved to have found the details of Leonard's loss, back in 1943, with the P311 submarine, thanks to Massimo Domenico Bondone's efforts

Paul goes on describing his thoughts about this family tragedy: 

"About 2003 I stumbled across his name on the war graves commission site, at the time P311 wasn't listed in his details but quick check of submarine losses suggested that P311 was the most likely. 

After checking the Crew list I confirmed that was his submarine so I started looking at the history of the 10th Submarine Flotilla and was amazed at just how much they achieved in hammering Rommel's supply lines."

"There is a sad irony in that the base they were attacking become the home of the 10th Submarine Flotilla only a few months later", Paul adds.

"I believe Leonard left a wife, and son that he had never met. I never knew Leonard but I always wanted to know what happened and I am delighted that their story won't be forgotten."

Just like Leonard's story, millions of families all across the world suffered the lasting trauma of losing a loved one during WW2, sons, brothers, husbands, with no word or details on the whereabouts of their resting place: 

Paul is equally respectful to the losses suffered by both sides during WW2: 

"I did look into the U-boat war, and got passed the propaganda and the tragedy of young men on both sides some of whom probably never will be found.

It saddens me, which is why I am glad that P311 has been found thanks to Massimo Bondone".

Period photos are from the book A Submarine at War: The Brief Life of HMS Trooper By David Grant