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| Allied World War ll Cemetery in Souda |
Events held in the city of Hania marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Crete heightened at the historic airport of Maleme on Sunday evening.
The ceremony included a religious service at the memorial of the fallen, the laying of wreaths and speeches by Alternate Defence Minister Panos Beglitis,who represented the government, the vice regional governor of Hania Apostolos Voulgarakis and the mayor of Platanias Yiannis Malandrakis.
The Alternate Defence minister referred in his address to the events of that period and to the joint effort made at the time by the Greeks and the allies.
| Veterans of the Battle |
The Battle of Crete began on the morning of May 20, 1941 when German forces launched an unprecedented airborne invasion of Crete, code-named "Merkur". The operation was successful in that it wrested control of the island from Allied forces, although the victory was so costly in terms of paratrooper casualties that the Wehrmacht never again attempted a major airborne operation. The stiff resistance by the allied troops and local Cretans is also credited, by many historians, with delaying the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
The British Royal Air Force's (RAF) renowned aerobatics team, the Red Arrows, also put on a breath-taking display at the Old Port of Chania, on the island of Crete, as part of the annual commemoration events.
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| 'Red Arrows' in Hania |
ANA-MPA
| Maleme Airport |
