battle, landmark, interwar and Second World War
Battle of Crete
Battle of Crete was a battle fought on 20 May 1941 at Crete, in what is now Greece; it lasted 12 days. It was part of World War II in the Balkans, which ran from 1940 to 1941. The recorded result: Axis victory.
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Where it sits in World War II in the Balkans
Record
| Date | 20 May 1941 to 1 June 1941 | |
|---|---|---|
| Place | Crete, Greece 35.500N, 24.061E | |
| Kind | Battle, interwar and Second World War | |
| Territorial change | Axis forces occupy Crete; Establishment of Fortress Crete | |
| Strength | United Kingdom: 18,047; Greece: 10,258 – 11,451; New Zealand: 7,702; Australia: 6,540; Total: 42,547 | Germany: 22,000 paratroopers and mountain troops; 280 bombers; 150 dive bombers; 180 fighters; 500 transports; 80 troop gliders; Italy: 2,700 |
| Casualties and losses | British Commonwealth: 3,579+ killed and missing; 1,918 wounded; 12,254 captured; Greece: 544+ killed and missing; 5,225 captured; Material: Royal Navy: 12 fleet and 7 auxiliary ships sunk, 22 damaged; Royal Air Force: 21 aircraft shot down; 12 aircraft destroyed on ground; Total: ~23,000 total casualties; 4,000 to 6,000 killed (4,000 ground troops, 2,000 sailors) | Luftwaffe: 1,032 killed; 1,632 wounded; 2,097 missing (including aircrew losses); 5th Mountain Division: 321 killed; 488 wounded; 324 missing; Material: Luftwaffe: 284 aircraft lost, 125 damaged; Italy: 1 destroyer damaged; 1 torpedo boat damaged; Total: 5,894 casualties; Over 500 Greek civilians executed by Axis soldiers. |
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The ground today
The recorded site stands at about 2 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from -3 to 606 m, 610 m of relief, steep country and today it is 38% tree cover, 19% built-up, 19% water.
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.Nearest engagements
- Siege of Souda 1715, 1.9 km S
- Battle of 42nd Street 1941, 2.1 km S
- Siege of Chania 1645, 4.4 km NW
- Siege of Chania 1692, 4.4 km NW
- Siege of Vamos 1895, 23 km S
Contested ground: this site was fought over 5 times between 1645 and 1941.
In the same war
- Before: Battle of Tempe Gorge 18 April 1941
- After: Battle of Rethymno 20 May 1941
- All 3 engagements of World War II in the Balkans
Elsewhere in 1941
- Attack on Pearl Harbor United States
- Siege of Leningrad Soviet Union
- Battle of Moscow Soviet Union
- Battle of Kiev Ukraine
- Siege of Sevastopol Russia
Battle of Crete is one of 2,997 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 493 in present-day Greece.
Sources
Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q153316, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Crete, revision 1385041091, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.