page_title: Cretan resistance
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Cretan resistance / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: W. Stanley Moss on second operation in Crete 1944
context_page_description: The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and Italy by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek Resistance, it lasted from 20 May 1941, when the German Wehrmacht invaded the island in the Battle of Crete, until the spring of 1945 when they surrendered to the British. For the first time during World War II, attacking German forces faced in Crete a substantial resistance from the local population. Cretan civilians picked off paratroopers or attacked them with knives, axes, scythes or even bare hands. As a result, many casualties were inflicted upon the invading German paratroopers during the battle.
context_section_description: The Cretan resistance movement was formed very soon after the Battle of Crete, with an initial planning meeting on 31 May 1941.  It brought together a number of different groups and leaders and was initially termed the PMK (Πατριωτικó Μέτωπο Κρήτης – Patriotic Front of Crete), but later changed the name to EAM (Εθνικó  Απελευθερωτικó Μέτωπο – National Liberation Front) like the principal communist-led resistance movement on the mainland.  The primary objective of the movement, on the one hand, was to support the Cretan people under occupation by boosting morale, providing information, and distributing of food at a time of great deprivation (due to confiscations by the Germans and Italians), and on the other hand to undertake certain operations against the Germans, including a number of sabotage operations.  A notable success was the battle to prevent the destruction of Kastelli airport by the Germans as they were leaving eastern Crete.
caption: W. Stanley Moss in Crete.
exif: {}