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Crete: The Battle and the Resistance
by: Antony Beevor

List Price: £9.99

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780719568312
ISBN: 0719568315
Label: John Murray
Manufacturer: John Murray
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: September 12, 2005
Publisher: John Murray
Studio: John Murray
Sales Rank: 36693

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Editorial Review:

Michael Foot, Observer:
'The best book we have got on Crete'

Review:
‘Antony Beevor’s unerring flair for the climate and the feel of the conflict … his insight and his grasp of these vents make them seem as though they had happened last week’ (Patrick Leigh Fermor, Daily Telegraph )

'Excellent... an arresting account of the whole war on Crete, including the ghastly experiences of the Cretans under German occupation' (John Keegan, Sunday Telegraph )

'The best book we have got on Crete' (Michael Foot, Observer )

'Beevor's account is excellent: fresh, lively and peppered with anecdotes' (Mail on Sunday )

‘A new paperback edition is welcome for two reasons; reminding us that Beevor is a writer and historian of rare ability and for starkly illustrating the variables of war’

(Neville Smith, Lloyd’s List )

John Keegan, Sunday Telegraph:
'Excellent... an arresting account of the whole war on Crete, including the ghastly experiences of the Cretans under German occupation'

Patrick Leigh Fermor, Daily Telegraph:
'His insight and his grasp of these vents make them seem as though they had happened last week’

Product Description:
The Germans expected their airborne attack on Crete in 1941 - a unique event in the history of warfare - to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. They had no idea that the British, using Ultra intercepts, knew their plans and had laid a carefully-planned trap. It should have been the first German defeat of the war, but a fatal misunderstanding turned the battle round. Nor did the conflict end there. Ferocious Cretan freedom fighters mounted a heroic resistance, aided by a dramatic cast of British officers from Special Operations Executive.

Synopsis:
The Germans expected their airborne attack on Crete in 1941 - a unique event in the history of warfare - to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. They had no idea that the British, using Ultra intercepts, knew their plans and had laid a carefully-planned trap. It should have been the first German defeat of the war, but a fatal misunderstanding turned the battle round. Nor did the conflict end there. Ferocious Cretan freedom fighters mounted a heroic resistance, aided by a dramatic cast of British officers from Special Operations Executive.

About the Author:
A regular in the 11th Hussars, Antony Beevor served in Germany and England. He has had a number of books published and his book Stalingrad was awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson History Prize and the Hawthornden Prize. Among the many prestigious posts he holds, he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Good short history of a complex subject
The author's style is fast paced and entertaining without loosing track of a strategic overview or the main operational essentials. He provides a good background to invasion, covering political situation, the Greek campaign and evacuation, the organisation of the defence and preparations for the attack. He covers the fighting adequately giving more emphasis to individual experience rather than operational details and analysis of command decisions.

The author squarely blames Freyberg for the Allied defeat, with some justification. Puttick and Hargest, as senior commanders bungling severely in the most important sector deserve at least as much blame yet he gives them relatively less criticism.

A much stronger emphasis ... Read More:

Rating:

- He has produced better...
I am a big fan of Antony Beevor, enjoying every book that I have read by him. However, this account of the invasion and resistance on Crete during WW2 falls a bit short compared to his epic works on Berlin and the Spanish Civil War.
The best thing about this work is that it does flow well and is written in a very readable style, so you don't get bogged down and I believe it gives a good overview with what was going on from beginning to end.
There are quite a few things which would improve it though. There are not enough maps for a start and the work is so skewed towards a British viewpoint that I would have loved to have found out a bit more about the Cretans and the Germans. The Italians hardly get a mention so I really have no idea ... Read More:

Rating:

- A good genral account of the Greek and Crete theatre
This book details the events in greece and crete during World war two in a clear and often execiting way. A critsicsm could be made at the focus on Britsh soe operatives rather than the other toops fighting in the action or the locals perspective, but this approach makes fo a much more interesting read. Whereas many miltary history books become chores with there over descriptive details of units and straegy, Crete paints a picture of English eccentictures fighting with ever weapon at there disposal. Theres even a cameo apperance form what may of been the 'real' james bond. There is also detailed descripions of other spects of the fighting with a good well researched account of the battle being given. The large cast of charatcers can become distracting ... Read More:

Rating:

- Not what it says on the tin
Anthony Beevor presents the battle of Crete from the point of view of a bunch of middle-class adventurers and eccentrics, who really had little to do with the actual battle itself, but faffed around in the background with their bombs and daggers.

Just look in the pages of this book for the exploits of the PBI who actually got their hands dirty fighting the German invasion, You won't find them in there.

Rating:

- Clarity brought to a Complex Story
This is a splendidly-written account of the British Campaign in Greece and Crete in 1941, and to a lesser extent, of the resistance to the Germans during the occupation. The account of the defence against the German airborne invasion is masterly, and though many units are involved, the writer has the knack of keeping them distinct in the reader's mind such that there is no difficulty in following the actions at four separate but simultaneous landing points. Stories of heroism and of initiative, and also sadly of failure of will, abound on all sides. The aspect of the knife-edge that separated success and failure is very well conveyed. Bernard Freyberg emerges as a tragic figure, a man of magnificent personal courage and a Homeric hero of an earlier war, ... Read More:

Books : Crete: The Battle and the Resistance