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20 Jul 1940

Greece
  • British submarine HMS Parthian disembarked a British agent on Crete, Greece. ww2dbase [Crete | CPC]
25 Mar 1941

Greece
  • Italian destroyers Crispi and Sella departed Leros, Dodecanese Islands in Greece, each carrying three 2-ton motor assault boats loaded with 300-kilogram explosives. At 2330 hours, the destroyers released the motor boats 10 miles off Suda Bay, Crete, Greece to attack British warships. ww2dbase [MT | Crete | CPC]
26 Mar 1941

Greece
  • British cruiser HMS York was heavily damaged by an Italian explosive boat raid at Suda Bay, Crete, Greece at about 0445 hours. Two men were killed. All six Italian boat drivers survived the attack, but all were captured. ww2dbase [MT | Balkans Campaign | York | Crete | CPC]
  • The 8,324-ton Norwegian motor tanker Pericles, in British Admiralty Royal Fleet Auxiliary service, was struck by a torpedo during an Italian torpedo boat raid into Suda Bay, Crete, Greece. The torpedo struck the starboard, causing oil to gush out of the damaged tanks and the pump room was partly flooded. She listed about 40 degrees to starboard, but effective damage control prevented capsizing. Naval Control would soon order Pericles to be towed out of Suda Bay for repairs in Egypt. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Crete | HM]
11 Apr 1941

Greece
  • The damaged 8,324-ton Norwegian motor tanker Pericles, in service with the British Admiralty Royal Fleet Auxiliary, departed Suda Bay, Crete, Greece in tow at 1130 hours for Port Said, Egypt as a member of a convoy. ww2dbase [Crete | HM]
1 May 1941

Greece
  • General Bernard Freyberg arrived in Crete, Greece where he planned to concentrate his New Zealand Division, supported by 3,500 Greek troops around Maleme to defend the airstrip there. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Bernard Freyberg | Crete | AC]
18 May 1941

Greece
20 May 1941

Photo(s) dated 20 May 1941
German paratroops jumping from Ju 52 transports over Crete, Greece, 20 May 1941German paratroopers landing in Crete, Greece, 20 May 1941
21 May 1941

Photo(s) dated 21 May 1941
German paratroopers in Crete, Greece, late May 1941
22 May 1941

Greece
  • HMS York, crippled at Suda Bay, Crete, Greece, had her main guns wrecked by demolition charges as the Allied began to evacuate Crete. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | York | Suda Bay, Crete | CPC]
23 May 1941

Greece
  • HMS Kelly commanded by Lord Louis Mountbatten, great grandson of Queen Victoria, was sunk 35 miles south Crete, Greece at 0800 hours, shortly a bombardment mission; 181 were killed, 297 survived. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Kelly | Crete | AC]
  • Bitter fighting continued on Crete, Greece. During the day, German reinforcements arrived at Maleme airfield, but the attempts to land troops by sea were rebuffed. The Germans now controlled the west end of the island. On the same day, German bombing of Suda Bay sank 5 British motor torpedo boats. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Crete | AC]
  • British destroyer HMS Kashmir (F 01) was bombed and sunk by German Stuka dive bombers south of Crete, Greece. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Crete | HM]
28 May 1941

Greece
  • The evacuation of British and Commonwealth troops from Crete, Greece began before dawn; the evacuation centered around Sphakia on the southern coast of Crete, while Colonel Laycock commanded a rearguard force to guard the evacuation. British cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Orion, and HMS Dido and destroyers HMS Decoy, HMS Jackal, HMS Imperial, HMS Hotspur, HMS Kimberly, and HMS Hereward departed Alexandria, Egypt for Heraklion, Crete to help with the evacuation; German aircraft damaged HMS Ajax (killing 6, wounding 18, and forcing her to turn back) and HMS Imperial (wounding 1); the force, less Ajax, arrived at Heraklion at 2330 hours. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | Sphakia, Crete | TH]
31 May 1941

Greece
  • In Crete, Greece, German Luftwaffe General Kurt Student issued an order authorizing reprisals against the civilian population, including women and boys, proven of involvement in fighting, committing sabotage, or mutilating or killing wounded soldiers. The reprisals were to consist of shooting, fines, burning villages or extermination of the male population. Several senior officers stormed out of the conference in protest of the order but there were a few officers who were quite prepared to lead execution squads. ww2dbase [Kurt Student | Balkans Campaign | Crete | AC]
Photo(s) dated 31 May 1941
Map depicting the German assault on Crete, Greece, 20-31 May 1941
25 Jun 1941

Photo(s) dated 25 Jun 1941
A British truck and trailer burning after attacked by German Luftwaffe aircraft, Crete, Greece, 25 Jun 1941A pall of smoke hanging over the harbor in Souda Bay, Crete, Greece where two ships, hit by German bombs, were burning, 25 Jun 1941, photo 1 of 2
9 Jun 1942

Greece
  • A British Special Boat Service team made a textbook sabotage operation on the German Kastelli Pediados airfield on the island of Crete, Greece. Five aircraft together with nearly 200 tons of aviation fuel were destroyed by the SBS Team with delayed action bombs. ww2dbase [Crete | AC]
13 Jun 1942

Greece
  • Greek submarines Papanicolis and Triton delivered British Commandos on Crete, Greece; while this new group of arrivals failed to achieve their objectives, a group landed on 10 Jun reached parked German aircraft on this date and destroyed 20 Ju 88 bombers at Heraklion. ww2dbase [Heraklion, Crete | CPC]
8 Jul 1942

Greece
  • Axis convoy Siena departed Suda Bay, Crete, Greece; it was consisted of 5 freighters, Italian destroyer Mitragliere, German destroyer ZG-3, Italian torpedo boat Sirio, Italian torpedo boat Cassiopea, German submarine chaser UJ-2104, and German submarine chaser UJ-2107. ww2dbase [Suda, Crete | CPC]
22 Jul 1942

Greece
  • B-24 bombers of US Middle East Air Force attacked Suda Bay, Crete, Greece, damaging two German vessels. ww2dbase [Suda Bay, Crete | CPC]
5 Aug 1942

Greece
  • Leading Greek resistance leader Colonel Andreas Papadakis and his family were evacuated from Crete, Greece by the Greek submarine Papanikolis. Colonel Papadakis later became the commandant of the Greek forces in the Jerusalem garrison. ww2dbase [Crete | AC]
26 Apr 1944

Greece
14 May 1944

Greece
  • Heinrich Kreipe and his captors were picked up by a British ship at near Rodakino, Crete, Greece. ww2dbase [Heinrich Kreipe | Rodakino, Crete | CPC]
1 Jul 1944

Greece
11 Oct 1944

Greece
  • Georgios Petrakis arrived at recently liberated Heraklion on Crete, Greece and was made the commanding officer of the city's garrison. ww2dbase [Georgios Petrakis | Heraklion, Crete | CPC]
28 Feb 1964

Photo(s) dated 28 Feb 1964
Carrier USS Shangri-La (foreground) and nuclear-powered carrier USS Enterprise at Souda Bay, Crete, Greece, 28 Feb 1964
14 Sep 1972

Greece

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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USAAF Maj Thomas McGuire and Aviator Charles Lindbergh after returning from a combat mission, at Biak Island off New Guinea, Jul 1944. Note P-38 Lightning. Lindbergh helped with economical flight techniques to extend the range of P-38s.


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