Crete Holiday 2013

[KradSpam]

Great Ben! Not sure what that potentially teno helmet was, I would love to see more of the camo para on the wall though.

[ruddersrangers44]

Fantastic thread and holiday Ben to boot,great museum with incredible items,luv most things you've shown so far.......Jake.

[Ben Evans]

The razing of Kandanos village. Another place chaps is Kandanos village, Sean told me that the village held out against the Germans to stall them whilst the allies retreated to the South via Paleochora, the village paid heavily for their restistance. Again if any Greek or German member wants to translate the signs it would be nice

Taken from Wikipedia

"On June 3 1941, a day after executing several civilians in Kondomari, German troops from the III Battalion of the 1st Air Landing Assault Regiment (most probably led by Oberleutnant Horst Trebes) reached Kandanos, following Student's order for reprisals. The Germans killed about 180 residents and slaughtered all livestock; all houses were torched and razed. Nearby villages such as Floria and Kakopetro met a similar fate. After its destruction, Kandanos was declared a 'dead zone' and its remaining population was forbidden to return to the village and rebuild it. Finally, inscriptions in German and Greek were erected on each entry of the village. One of them read: Here stood Kandanos, destroyed in retribution for the murder of 25 German soldiers, never to be rebuilt again"

[Ben Evans]

Kandanos 1

[Ben Evans]

Kandanos 2

[Ben Evans]

This is the village of Floria, it suffered the same fake as Kandanos unfortunately. One one side of the road there is the Greek memorial to the village and opposite on the other side of the road is a plaque for the German mountain troops fighting to take control of the village

[Ben Evans]

German side

[Ben Evans]

Right guys, that is the last of my pics apart from this last one. My friend Sean took me walking all around hill 107, showing me where the allied positions where then we went to look at the German bunker there before walking our way down to the German cemetery and into the Hill 107 cafe for a Frappe. On our walk and my guided tour I actually found this just lying on the ground in the olive grove. I would like to think this was a gift from cousin who was killed here in 1941 Also guys I will put a link to their apartments they have for hire. If you go and stay there just ask Sean he will gladly take you walking all over the hill 107 area, the river bed where the gliders landed or any position in the Malame area, well worth the trip

With many thanks to Sean & Helen for a fantastic holiday

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

[Ben Evans]

Great Ben! Not sure what that potentially teno helmet was, I would love to see more of the camo para on the wall though.

Best I can do BTW is it worth posting that Teno helmet on the helmet forum to try and find out what it is?

[herrzark]

Right guys thats the last of the Askifou museum pics. Next is Kondomari, most guys will know of this where the massacre of village people was captured by Franz-Peter Weixler, then serving as a war propaganda correspondent. The village is the next one from where I was staying about 1 km away. These are the pics of the memorial in the village where the massacre took place. The olive tree stumps are where the locals chopped down the trees where the men where stood when the Germans opened fire. Maybe a Greek member could save the pics with writing on and re post it with a translation of what it says

Sorry guys forgot to add this:

"Following Student's order, the occupants of Kondomari were blamed for the death of a few German soldiers whose bodies had been found near the village. On 2 June 1941, four lorries full of German paratroopers from the III Battalion of Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1 under the command of Oberleutnant Horst Trebes surrounded Kondomari. Trebes, a former member of the Hitler Youth, was the highest ranking officer of the Battalion to have survived the Battle unwounded. Men, women and children were forced to gather in the village square. Then, a number of hostages was selected among the men while women and children were released. The hostages were led to the surrounding olive groves and later fired upon. The exact number of the victims is unclear. According to German records, a total of 23 men were killed but other sources raise the toll to about 60. The whole operation was captured on film by Franz-Peter Weixler, then serving as a war propaganda correspondent (kriegsberichter) for the Wehrmacht." Taken from Wikipedia

The first foto is '' Εternal the memory for them who spilled their blood here in Kontomari from barbarian conqueror in 2 june of 1941''

and second '' Εternal the memory for them from Kontomari Kydonias who have murdered without honor (poltroon) from barbarian conqueror in 2 june 1941''