On May 20 1941, a major World War II battle, the Battle of Crete began.
It was an effort of the German troops to capture the island of Crete. It was in fact Germany’s first large scale airborne invasion.
Thousands of German paratroopers attacked northern Crete’s airfields. They were confronted by the fierce resistance not only of Greek and Αllied forces, but Cretan civilians as well.
The first day of fighting ended with great casualties for the Germans, leaving the Allies optimistic that they would hold their ground. It was the first time the Allies made extensive use of intelligence from decrypted German messages from the Enigma Machine.
But tactical hesitation, German offensive operations and communication failures led to the fall of Maleme Airfield, thus allowing Germans to land reinforcements and overwhelm the defensive positions on the north of the island.
The Battle of Crete lasted 13 days, ending in the German forces taking over.
My Lovely Crete 