The Battle of Crete forged a link between the islanders of Crete and the people of Australia and New Zealand which endures to this day.
HISTORY'S FIRST EVER airborne invasion pitched the cream of the Nazi military, the
Fallschirmjaeger,
headlong
into battle with the island's British and Anzac defenders.
Confident of a quick victory,
t
he German paratroopers jumping over Crete in May 1941 were blissfully unaware they were leaping into a seething cauldron. The island's defenders, fresh from the debacle of the Battle of Greece, knew they were coming and prepared for them as best they could. Short of equipment and weapons, they never lacked morale or were short of determination and sheer guts.. The battle taxed both sides to the limit. The ten days of non-stop action that followed left a lasting impression on Adolf Hitler, who never again risked his elite airborne assault force in such a venture. The invaders' superior communications and ability to reinforce and resupply the troops on the ground proved decisive, the battle becoming a succession of savage rear-guard actions by day and retreats by night, forcing the defenders over the mountains to the coast and another evacuation.
This book, the second in THE RABBIT HUNTER series, accurately portrays the battle from the perspective of those who fought it.
New Zealander Second Lieutenant Neil Rankin
and his platoon find themselves on the back foot, with limited supplies and dented morale, facing a coup de grâce from the relentless Axis forces... After the fall of Greece in April 1941, the Allies regroup on the island of Crete to make their next stand against the German forces. Bruised and short of weapons and equipment, the story follows New Zealand troops evacuating the mainland and arriving on Crete, the navel of the Mediterranean. Control of Crete was paramount for dominance of sea and air operations, and the defeat in Greece weighed heavily on the exhausted and under-supplied troops... Following from
The Rabbit Hunter:
The Battle of Greece,
this eagerly awaited sequel thrusts the reader back into the chaos of battle alongside Second Lieutenant Neil Rankin and his platoon as they are pitched headlong into the real events of 1941. Under the command of a New Zealand general, the grueling historical battle might even be seen as a setback in Hitler's violent campaign. A pivotal moment in the Second World War, Crete represented a last-ditch effort to retain a foothold in Greece, demanding everything of the Allied soldiers in resisting the aggressive advance of the German forces and the indomitable Luftwaffe. A vivid tale of gallantry and sacrifice,
The Battle of Crete
sucks the reader into the explosive bedlam of World War Two. Based on the true events of the New Zealand 1941 campaign in Greece,
The Rabbit Hunter
sequel once again delivers on impact, setting the bar for realism in war fiction.