Eagles Over Crete – WW2 Battle of Crete Military History Ebook

May 1941. The Germans own the skies. Crete is about to become the battlefield for the most audacious airborne invasion in history.

After the disastrous Allied retreat from mainland Greece, thousands of exhausted British, Australian, New Zealand and Greek troops arrive on Crete.

There is nowhere left to retreat.

Across the Mediterranean, German General Kurt Student prepares Operation Mercury—a revolutionary plan to seize the island using elite Fallschirmjäger dropped from the sky.

At the centre of everything stands Maleme Airfield.

If the Allies hold it, the German invasion could be destroyed.

If Maleme falls, Crete may fall with it.

Former Greek Army officer Captain Manolis Petrakis has already fought the German war machine on the mainland. Now he watches the skies above his homeland, knowing that the enemy will soon come.

In Chania, schoolteacher Eleni Markakis quietly assists Allied intelligence, translating intercepted messages and uncovering signs of the approaching airborne assault.

Near Maleme, young Cretan shepherd Nikos Vardinogiannis knows every olive grove, river crossing and hidden path around the airfield. He has never considered himself a soldier.

War will give him little choice.

And among the German Fallschirmjäger preparing to descend upon the island are men who will soon discover that Crete is unlike any battlefield they have encountered before.

On 20 May 1941, the sky opens.

Hundreds of aircraft roar across the coast. Gliders sweep towards their landing zones. Thousands of German paratroopers descend into murderous defensive fire as New Zealand troops, Greek soldiers and armed Cretan civilians fight among the olive groves, villages and hills.

What follows is a savage struggle for Maleme, Hill 107, Chania and ultimately the island itself.

But The Eagles Over Crete is more than the story of armies and generals.

It is the story of ordinary people caught inside an extraordinary battle.

A teacher who becomes part of the intelligence war.

A shepherd forced to defend his home.

A Greek officer determined that his island will fight.

Allied soldiers who have already survived one disastrous retreat.

And German paratroopers discovering that victory may demand a price none of them expected.

From the first men falling from the sky to the bloody struggle for Maleme, the retreat towards Sfakia and the beginnings of occupation and resistance, The Eagles Over Crete brings one of the Second World War's most dramatic campaigns to life through soldiers and civilians on both sides of the battle.

THE EAGLES OVER CRETE is a sweeping historical military adventure of airborne warfare, courage, sacrifice, survival and resistance.

Perfect for readers who enjoy Second World War historical fiction, the Battle of Crete, airborne warfare, Fallschirmjäger, Commonwealth military history, Greek resistance stories and fact-inspired military adventure.

They came from the sky expecting victory. Crete would make them pay for every mile.