Crete War Museum

[don_kihotis7]

Your reply was fine mate and interesting to read. I visited Crete too but not any WWII related places unfortunately. When you go with your wife you don't have time for everything.
Cheers

[LizardKing]

Schweppes my post was for you mate! You can actually divide Crete in zones with North Crete having most tourist attractions (Hotels, bars, taverns *not good ones*, clubs etc etc) and South Crete having all Nature attractions (forsaken beaches, canyons, mountains, waterfalls, gold sand beaches, white sand beaches, rocky beaches, huge beaches, tiny beaches within two giant rocks, rivers with palm trees and did i mentioned countless beaches of all kinds?? )... Now for the history lovers Southwest Crete is the best! Especially Chania is full of WW2 memories! There are the most famous villages that Germans wiped out (Kondomari and Kandanos), also the German cemetery, Hill 107 above the Maleme airfield, Allied cemetery, the village of Sfakia, the villages of Platanias and Perivolia (where the FJs landed and fought), Suda bay, the memorial of the dead FJs with the eagle and many many more! Rethimno has a bit of everything! Heraklion is awful and Ag. Nikolaos is of no interest to me because it's great distance from my place!

[Wagriff]

A person could Easily spend the entire day at this museum, but I suspect that by the end of the day, one would be more than a bit glassy-eyed from the endless amazing bits that are seemingly everywhere. The handmade knuckle knives....the Russian Kindjal....even a Sea Mine, of all things!(Which would look Very cool by my front porch, by the way...so if anyone visiting there should happen to find it in their pocket when they leave, please feel free to drop it in the mail to me! )

Oddly enough, there also seems to be a few Clunkers as well-such as the brass Hitler pocket knife, but with all the treasures around you, who cares, hey? A Great looking little museum!

[LizardKing]

A person could Easily spend the entire day at this museum, but I suspect that by the end of the day, one would be more than a bit glassy-eyed from the endless amazing bits that are seemingly everywhere. The handmade knuckle knives....the Russian Kindjal....even a Sea Mine, of all things!(Which would look Very cool by my front porch, by the way...so if anyone visiting there should happen to find it in their pocket when they leave, please feel free to drop it in the mail to me! )

Oddly enough, there also seems to be a few Clunkers as well-such as the brass Hitler pocket knife, but with all the treasures around you, who cares, hey? A Great looking little museum!

Rumor has it that the old man that started the collection and now is gone used to follow one simple rule! "You want to see my collection? Then you have to bring something to add in it, as simple and common it is"... Thus the few repros he has i guess! Or maybe someone found it and without knowing it is a fake donated to him, he saw the old Adolf on it and thought it would be good to keep it and exhibit it too!

[Thanatos]

Great thread Mike. Thanks mate.
The MkII helmet on the drum in image 4 appears to be Australian made as it has no folded rim. Note the British made example above it with the fold.

Very enjoyable set of images.

All the best
Dave

[LizardKing]

I wonder what the symbols on the marble stone mean... Picture no.11! Are there any unit's marks?? Also at pic.19 at the KRETA cufftitle... Is this an original piece? I've never seen a font and decoration like this... And a final one... At post #27 with the second group of photos, near the end of the post there is a german helmet (pic 53) with a very weird decal... What unit is it from? Can you solve me these questions?

[Thanatos]

The one on the top left image 11 is a tactical unit insignia. Someone here will know which unit it represents for sure.

Cheers
Dave

[m3bobby]

Any chance when you go back to the museum you could get the serial numbers of the Brens and their tripods. They are very scarce examples.

I also like the Lewis guns and the Browning 1919A6, did any American units land in Crete?

[LizardKing]

I will! But i can't give any promises about the date i'll visit it again!
I don't know about how the Browning got there... No US troops deployed here!

[sandgroper]

Any chance when you go back to the museum you could get the serial numbers of the Brens and their tripods. They are very scarce examples.

I also like the Lewis guns and the Browning 1919A6, did any American units land in Crete?

Only fighting forces were Cretens, British, New Zealanders and Australian.