The Battle of Crete - A unique Adventure Experience from Heraklion

Starting point: Heraklion city.

HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF CRETE (W. W. 2 Exhibition)

The Battle of Crete (May 1941) – German occupation – Everyday life in occupied Crete - The Resistance – Allied Secret Services – Guerrilla Warfare – The Heraklion Airfield Sabotage (June 1942) – The execution of the 62 hostages - The Liberation 

ARCHANES

The Headquarters of German General Heinrich Kreipe

Briefing on Allied Secret Service activity (S.O.E. - Special Operations Executive, I.S.L.D. – Inter-Services Liaison Department, O.S.S. - Office of Strategic Services)

VILLA ARIADNE

Built by Sir Arthur Evans, excavator of Knossos

John D.S. Pendlebury, ‘The Lawrence of Crete’, an archaeologist - spy in the service of British Intelligence

General Kreipe’s residence

The final act of the War: The German - Italian surrender, signed 9 May 1945

THE AMBUSH SITE 

The Plan - The Place – The Memorial

(The site of the ambush carried out by two British S.O.E. officers -Patrick Leigh Fermor& William Stanley Moss- with the assistance of 10 hand-picked Cretans)

FOLLOWING THE ABDUCTORS’ CAR ROUTE

MOUNT IDA

(Wireless transmitter stations – Secret Service and Guerilla hideouts) 

DA PLATEAU

On the eve of the Battle of Crete, piles of stones (still visible today) were placed there in order to prevent German aircraft landings.

In April 1944 the abductors escorting General Kreipe started climbing the mountain, heading to the south coast

The Ida Plateau was a very important area for the Resistance.. During the war, it was also a meeting-place for S.O.E. agents and Cretan guerilla leaders. The R.A.F. occasionally dropped supplies and equipment in the area.)

ANOGEIA VILLAGE

Small village involved in allied Secret Service Operations Wehrmacht reprisals

Return to Heraklion city.