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Second World War
21 April-28 April 2004
 The Battle of Crete in May 1941 was the first attempt in history to capture a country by airborne assault, using the paratroopers and glider-borne soldiers of General Kurt Student's Fliegerkorps 11. Instead of a week garrison, they found a 35,000-strong Commonwealth and Greek force, commanded by Major General Freyburg VC, who had been warned by ULTRA signal intercept of their arrival and were grimly prepared to meet them.
Student knew that for Crete to be won he had to seize an airfield in the first 24 hours. Yet by nightfall two of the three airfields at Heraklion and Rethymnon were still firmly in British and Australian hands, and the battle for Maleme airfield held by the New Zealanders was still undecided. Two thirds of Student's force had been killed or wounded and the vaunted German military machine faced its first defeat of the Second World War.
We will visit the battlefields of the epic struggle. Maleme and Point 107 on which the German Cemetery now stands overlooking the airfield for which they died; the Prison Valley and Galatas where the Cretan population fought alongside Freyburg's men to repel invaders. We will walk the battle for Canae and visit the CWGC cemetery on the shores of Suda Bay, before retracing the fighting retreat over the White Mountains and down to the tiny evacuation beach at Sfakia. We will view the gritty Australian defence of Rethymnon and that of 14th British Brigade at Heraklion. This hard-won German victory is told in the context of an island history of a proud, friendly people from Minoan times through the struggle between Ottoman, Venetian and Cretan to the present day.
| Itinerary |
Day 1 (Wednesday):
Fly London-Athens-Heraklion. Dinner and overnight Hania (4 nights)
Day 2:
The battle for Maleme 20 May 1941. German War Cemetery. Picnic lunch. Dinner and overnight.
Day 3:
The battle for the Prison Valley and the fight for Galatas. Lunch and museum in Galatas. Dinner and overnight
Day 4:
Suda Bay including beautiful CWGC cemetery and General Freyburg's HG on Akrotiri Peninsular. Lunch and walk the old town of Hania. Dinner at the Old Mill Restaurant, Platanias.
Day 5:
The retreat to Sfakia over the White Mountains. Lunch in Askifu. Walk down the Lunbros Gorge to the evacuation beaches at Sfakia. Dinner and overnight, Sfakia.
Day 6:
The Australian Epric at Rethymo. Picnic lunch. Dinner and overnight, Rethymo.
Day 7:
The battle for Heraklion. Visit Knossos and the old Venetian town, including lunch, Dinner and overnight, Heraklion.
Day 8:
Fly Heraklion - Athens - London
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