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Those known to have fought in Battle of Crete during the Second World War 1939-1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
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Want to know more about Battle of Crete? There are:43 items tagged Battle of Crete available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Pte. Dan Bricknal Black Watch Dan Bricknal was my mother's uncle, he served with the Black Watch and was held as POW in Hohen Fels along with my father's brother David Fenton. After they were released they never met again till my parents wedding day where David was my father's Best Man. He was still in the Black Watch as CQSM.
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Leonard Bayes 18 Squardron My Father, Leonard Bayes joined the RAF in 1935. In the early hours of the 21st of January, 1936, he was a member of the duty crew at RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk when, following the death of King George V at nearby Sandringham, the ill-fated new King, Edward VIII, arrived to fly off to London. He was in no great hurry and chatted pleasantly to the people there, until an official suggested that they really should leave. No doubt the new King was dreading the formalities awaiting him. They then climbed into a De Havilland Rapide and it took off for the Metropolis. Dad therefore witnessed the first ever flight by a reigning Monarch.
Dad served in 18 Squadron at Upper Heyford flying Hawker Harts and at the ourbreak of WWII, he was stationed at Seletar, Singapore with 100 Squadron, equipped with Vickers Vildebeests. Heading home to the UK for training, he stopped off at Egypt, where he helped to re-assemble the long range flight Vickers Wellesleys. He then went on to Crete, where he missed the evacuation and was captured by the Germans. He ended up in Stalag Luft III, and was part of the evacuation March in January 1945. He was eventually repatriated in May 1945.
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Sgt. David Fenton Black Watch David Fenton was an uncle of mine and was a prisoner in Hohen Fels during WW2, serving with the Black Watch he was captured in Crete. My mums uncle, Dan Bricknal was also with the Black Watch and a POW with David, after they were released they never met again till my parents wedding day where David was my father's Best Man. He was still in the Black Watch as CQSM.
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Able Sea. Thomas "Ron" Hall Gunner HMS Manchester   Thomas (Ron) Hall was born in South Shields, Co. Durham on 11 April 1917, the family home being in Hebburn-on-Tyne. Although christened Thomas, he was always known as Ron by his RN friends and his wife's family - no-one knows why! At the age of 16 he joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Sailor. After training at the shore base HMS Ganges, he was sent for gunnery training at HMS Excellent, Portsmouth.
At the outbreak of war, he was serving on HMS Glasgow, but was transferred to HMS Barham, where he was wounded in May 1941. Barham had been assisting with the withdrawal of Allied forces from Crete, during which time she was subjected to almost constant German attacks. The gun turret in which Thomas was serving was hit, and he was the only one to emerge from the wreckage.
Posted ashore in Alexandria on 2nd July for rehabilitation, his next ship would be the Cruiser HMS Carlisle. On 9th April 1942, Thomas joined HMS Manchester, which had been assigned the role of escort to convoy WS-21S - better known as Operation Pedestal - the convoy which would save Malta from starvation and surrender. On 13th August, whilst rounding Cape Bon, Manchester was crippled by Italian torpedoes and was later scuttled off Kelibia Roads, Tunisia. Thomas survived and was taken prisoner and interned by the Vichy French at Laghouat in Algeria.
With the landing of British and American troops in Morocco and Algeria as part of Operation Torch on 8th November 1942, Thomas and his shipmates were able to return to England in December. After 8 months ashore, Thomas was assigned to the Destroyer HMS Janus, which provided artillery support for the Allied landings at Anzio on 22nd January 1944 under Operation Shingle. Janus was sunk the next day by a German air attack. Thomas was again saved, but the experience of being sunk for a third time would have a lasting effect on his nerves.
He was invalided out of the Royal Navy in November 1945, and died in 1973, aged 55.
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Cpl. Izzet Dervish Cyprus Regiment (d.4th Jul 1943) Izzet Dervish was born on 28th September 1912, he was a Turkish Cypriot.
He was captured by the Germans in Crete, on 1st of January 1941 and was taken to Stalag IIID Berlin, with a PoW number of 10657.
His death is mentioned in the obituary of the 7th issue of the magazine that the war prisoners in the Stalag VIIIB produced. It is mentioned that he lost his life in Stalag VIIIB.
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Sgt. James Mather Kyd 1st Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders My father, James Kyd, was a career soldier, joining the Argylls prior to WW2. He was reticent to talk about his wartime experiences but I can confirm that he was captured on Crete in 1941. The records show that he finished the war in Stalag 383 but I have not been able to trace his movements between capture and liberation.
After the war he continued his army career with postings in Palestine and Egypt. He met his wife Mary in Egypt when she was serving in WRAC. He later took a commission into the RASC and completed his 40 years service as a Major. He died in 1984.
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Cpl. George Humphreys Bennett My dad, GeorgeBennett, joined the Royal Marines at Portsmouth aged 25 on 15th Feb 1940, as a volunteer ‘for the period of the present emergency’.
Dad's service record is extremely sketchy due, I assume, to the exigencies of war.
His record notes a wound to his right leg received in action in May 1941 and a period of hospitalisation from 27tg of October 1942 to 12th of January 1943. He was discharged from service aged 29 on 7th of April 1944 as Physically Unfit for Royal Marine Service.
During his wartime service, dad took part in operations at Crete sometime between 10th of March 1941 and 31st of May 1941 for which he received the 1939/43 Star. He also served in the Middle East and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
As a child I recall trying on numerous occasions to coax dad, mostly unsuccessfully, to tell me about his wartime experiences.
All I ever learned was that he was wounded on Crete, after being strafed from the air which was during the fighting that ensued from the German parachute invasion of the island. He was subsequently evacuated from Souda Bay.
I have a couple of photographs of dad in Ceylon and a small album of photos of him in Palestine with members of his unit. I was told by a relative recently that he thought dad had also served in the Western desert during the war, however there doesn't appear to be any evidence of his active service there in his record. He passed away in Plymouth in 1990 aged 75.
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Pte Arthur Reginald Borland 23rd Infantry Battalion Arthur Borland was captured on Crete, and held as a POW in Stalag VIII-B (later 344), Lamsdorf, Germany.
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Sgt. Ronald Chambers MM 2/8th Field Regiment Australian Engineers      I have a handmade photo album containing photographs and art work from prisoners held in Stalag XIIIC and Stalag XXA (357). The album is constructed from pieces of wood from a Red Cross box, handmade aluminium hinges, a 1940 drawing pad, and all tied together with a piece of leather strap. From the little bits of information on the back of some of the photos I have identified a few of the guys. All are from the Australian 9th Div, 2/8th Field Company (Engineers) captured on Crete:
- Fred Chambers
- Ron Chambers MM
- Allan Selwood
- Bob Maguire
- Oswald Wall
Oswald Wall is mentioned in the book "Silk and Bard Wire" in the chapter dealing with a radio/airgunner's escape, by Hamish Philson. Living in the RAF compound, Hamish switched uniforms with Oswald during a camp soccer match. Oswald then went into the RAF compound and Hamish went to the soldiers’ compound, which was apparently less well guarded.
One of the photos shows a group in soccer/sports gear with a German guard in the background. The hand-drawn menu lists several guests on the back, Oswald being one of them. The photo I like the most is the one of the guys inside the wooden hut, a glimpse of daily life in very trying times.
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Pte. Richard August "Digger" Thomas 2/4th Btn Richard Thomas was captured in Crete on 1st of June 1941, then taken from there to Greece by German Air Troop Carrier soon after he was reported missing in action.
It was confirmed by the Red Cross he was a Prisoner of War interred at Kokuma. Then on the 3rd of September he was officially reported as a P.O.W in Stalag 18A. (P.O.W. No 4018).
He was known to go out to work at a place called Weissenbach an der Enns at a paper mill. The work group No was 785/G.
He returned to Australia in 1945 and died in 1975.
Richard was my husband's father.
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Recomended Reading.Available at discounted prices.
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Crete: The Battle and the ResistanceAntony Beevor
This is a splendidly-written account of the British Campaign in Greece and Crete in 1941, and to a lesser extent, of the resistance to the Germans during the occupation. The account of the defence against the German airborne invasion is masterly, and though many units are involved, the writer has the knack of keeping them distinct in the reader's mind such that there is no difficulty in following the actions at four separate but simultaneous landing points. Stories of heroism and of initiative, and also sadly of failure of will, abound on all sides. The aspect of the knife-edge that separated success and failure is very well conveyed. Bernard Freyberg emerges as a tragic figure, a man of magnificent personal courage and a Homeric hero of an earlier war, and in the same general theatre, but sadly out of his depth in the Cretan operation. One is reminded poignantly of the merciless revelation of John Bell Hood's weakness as a commander during his invasion of Tennessee in late 1864. The o
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