Battle of Crete Holiday 2012

[Ben Evans]

Hi guys, well at the moment I am on Holiday in Crete with my very good friends Sean & Helen. They have'd lived here now for seven years and have two self catering apartments which they rent out all year round to guests. They live in a small village not far from Maleme called Xamoudochiri which actually saw some of the fiercest fighting during the battle of Crete. This is where they live

Self-catering apartments Crete- Self-catering holidays west Crete.

Due to picture storage size I am going to run a thread whilst I am here so I can get all the photos on and Sean can tell me the history as I write it, so guys this thread will be a running commentary from day to day.

[Ben Evans]

First info then is actually where they live, since the building and renovating of the building Sean has found several interesting artifacts literally in his own garden, these include tunic buttons from a New Zealand Infantry Regiment, a 17" bayonet, 303 ammunition and German Mauser cases. There is also a canteen which looks German but I am not sure, anyone any ideas on what it is?

[KradSpam]

The mess tin is Italian I think, interesting find.

gavetta militare italiana WWII "war" military mess tin | eBay

[António Fragoeiro]

That is a great place for vacation.
I love it.
Beautiful view and great history to the place.
Cheers.
Nuno

[Ben Evans]

This is the canteen

[KradSpam]

De Nicolo Carlo, sounds Italian to me I'd love to get out there and have a poke about. If you stumble across any FJ lids in the attic I'll provide my address

[Ben Evans]

This is a German Flak Unit storage pit which was dug into the side of the hills to keep ammo out of the sun and shell fire. I wanted to crawl in but Sean was not keen on the idea lol. The other hole was either dug by locals as a Air raid shelter or even the Germans themselves. I took one of the these pics from the balcony of my apartment. The ammo store is about 70m away.

[MD Helmets]

I envy those of you who reside across the pond and can go on holiday to such places. Thanks for the photos Ben!

[Ben Evans]

Yesterday we were in Hania town. This is a picture of the old Turkish tower in the town full of bullet holes. Just to add we went into a small Gyros eatery and the wall was full of German and British weapons, MP40's, K98's. No 4's. SMLE's, ammo pouches and sat on the floor was a Vickers on a Tripod. gents pure porn

[lebus12]

Many thanks for the pictures, you Italian were also on the island until 1943. I think. So, you can see their typical pillboxes.
I