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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:44 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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Marine. Leonard Oliver Alfred Morley Royal Marines My father Len Morley was captured in the sea off Crete in 1941 and spent the rest of the war in PoW camps. The one mentioned in the records I can find is Stalag 4d Torgau (Elbe) as PoW No 11392. But I understand this was mainly a transit camp.
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Cpl. Thomas Edward Dargan 6th Provost Corps Thomas Dargan was captured on Crete in 1941
In June 1941 he was officially reported Missing Casualty List 142. In Sep 1941 he was reported interned in Stalag 18D as POW Number 6088
In Nov 1942 he was transferred to Oflag 3C as POW Number 1511
and in Apr 1943 he was interned in Stalag 383 POW Number 6088
In Jun 1945 he returned to the UK as recovering POW
"Stalag 383 , which guarded about 6000 prisoners, was good as long as you behaved yourself. We had marbles sent from home. We'd play trains, do anything to pass the time.The Germans used to scratch their heads at us.
An escape attempt ended in a rail carriage near the Italian border, after a fellow escapee was helped through a small window. He too was found 3 weeks later by the Italians and marched back to the camp. Near the end of the War Stalag 383 prisoners were taken past the muddy Danube River to Nuremburg where the German guards deserted."
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Pte. Clarence John Furness C Company 20th Battalion Clarence Furness known as Clarrie, was my mother's first cousin.
Son of George Samuel Furness and Mary Edith Williams known as Edie.
Born in 1920 at Blaketown, Greymouth, New Zealand, he died in 1991 at Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24464, 13th January 1945, p.6 reported: Private C. J. Furness, No. 14247 C Company, 20th Battalion, Middle East Forces
West Coast Prisoner of War Outstanding on Athletic Field. Private Clarence John Furness, eldest son of Mr and Mrs George Furness. Blake Street, Blaketown, Greymouth, prisoner of war at Stalag 8A, Germany. After serving in Greece, he was wounded in Crete, and subsequently taken prisoner. Last year he participated in a sports meeting held at Stalag 8A, where 20,000 prisoners of war are confined. After a few events had been decided it became apparent that the championship would be between a hut of South Africans and a hut comprising New Zealanders and Australians. “The South Africans,” to quote from a letter from F. H. Fraser-Smith, of Wellington, “got a good lead of points in the field events, but our chaps notched a few points in the sprints. Then in the distance events a sensation was caused by a young chap from the West Coast, a shy lad named Clarrie Furness. He just romped away with the mile and the three miles. Then an Aussie, named McKay, 42 years old, got us up a few points in the jumps — a very good effort in view of his age, and then we came to the final event; 1500 metres relay, two points behind the South Africans. In this race young Clarrie Furness gave us a lead of 200 yards and we won hands down.”
The New Zealand team, who were the winners, were: Parsons, D. Thompson, Private Clarence John Furness of the 20th Infantry Battalion, and A. Cook.
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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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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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