WW2 The Lost Footage: Operation Marita, Greece April 1941
By Pierre Kosmidis The blitzkrieg against Greece, codenamed “Operation Marita” started on April 6, 1941. When Operation Marita began on 6 April, the bulk of the Greek army was on the border with Albania, then a protectorate of Fascist Italy, from which the Italian troops were trying unsuccessfully to conquer Greece. German troops invaded through Bulgaria, […]
May 30, 1941: When two Greeks removed the nazi flag from the Acropolis
By Pierre Kosmidis It has been acknowledged as one of the first act of resistance against the nazis in Europe and the first in Greece; On this day, in the late hours of May 30, 1941 two young Greeks removed the nazi flag from the Acropolis in Athens. Manolis Glezos and Lakis Santas, two young […]
Found! Part of a Bf 109 belonging to JG27 in Rodos, Greece
By Pierre Kosmidis Photos by Panagiotis Brokos Few fighter wings of the Luftwaffe during World War II achieved so many aerial victories as Jagdgeschwader 27 did. Successful pilots, such as Hans-Joachim Marseille, Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt, Werner Schröer and Karl Kugelbauer, among others, flew with JG 27, which claimed over 3,100 kills for some 1,400 aircraft lost, and approximately 827 pilots killed, […]
Nazi atrocities in Crete: Murdering civilians, women and children
By Pierre Kosmidis A photograph from a nazi propaganda publication shows German soldiers rounding up soldiers and Greek civilians in Crete. What was the fate of this man? It has been documented by historians that even during the Battle of Crete, the Germans summarily executed civilians who took up their arms against the invading nazis, […]
A Kettenkrad of the 1./Fallsch. Art. in the mountains of Crete, 1941
By Pierre Kosmidis
The Italian bomber, the…donkey and the peasants – a funny side of the “undeclared war”
By Pierre Kosmidis During the summer of 1940, Greece and Italy were still at peace, while Mussolini’s forces fought against the British. It was not until October 28th of the same year that Italy would declare war against Greece and suffer a humiliating defeat by the Greeks in the mountainous regions of northern Greece and […]
Battle of Crete: The end of German large scale airborne ops, the casualties and the Pyrrhic victory of the Germans
By Pierre Kosmidis The Germans ultimately prevailed on Crete but at a great and unbearable cost. The original photo The island of Crete, considered to be the graveyard of the Fallschirmjäger, put an end to any large-scale airborne operations, following the scores of dead paratroopers that found their eternal resting place in the military cemetery […]
“Fix bayonets!” – 11 am, Tuesday 27 May, 1941: The ANZACs’ charge at “42nd Street”
By Pierre Kosmidis On May 27, 1941 the Battle of Crete was lost for the Allied forces, largely as a result of the 22nd New Zealand Infantry Battalion’s withdrawal on May 21st from Hill 107, leaving Maleme airfield undefended and allowing the invading Germans to land their forces unopposed. The Allied forces were on full […]
1943: The massacre of the Italian Acqui Division
By Pierre Kosmidis In 1941, when Axis forces occupied Greece, the Ionian Islands (except Kythera) were handed over to the Italians, who in their three years of rule attempted to Italianize the population of Corfu (as has happened with the Corfiot Italians). Many revisionists claim that the Italian occupation was a period of friendly relation […]
Historical Revisionism: The Battle of Crete and the glorification of the Fallschirmjäger
By Pierre Kosmidis H Mάχη της Κρήτης είναι ένα ιστορικό γεγονός, το οποίο ακόμα και σήμερα απασχολεί πολλούς ιστορικούς, ερευνητές αλλά και την κοινή γνώμη. Τόσο η ίδια η Μάχη, η οποία παρά τις βαριές απώλειες των Γερμανών, σηματοδότησε την περίοδο της ναζιστικής κατοχής της Κρήτης και τις γερμανικές θηριωδίες που ακολούθησαν κατά του άμαχου πληθυσμού, […]