Pilot Productions - WW2 Ultimate Blitzkrieg The Battle of Crete (2020)

This three part documentary tells the story of the famous World War 2 battle and the four year German occupation of the Greek island of Crete that followed. The resulting German and Italian occupation of Crete was marred by massacres on both sides of both German soldiers and Greek partisans and civilians. More than 8,000 Cretans lost their lives in the resistance. When 20,000 Italians surrendered in 1943 they were made POW's too but almost a third drowned at sea after German merchant ships carrying them to the mainland were torpedoed by British submarines. These forgotten tragedies constituted one of the world's biggest maritime disasters. With the help of documentary footage from the day, CGI, expert contributors, and survivors, we're visit the island of Crete and it's battlefields to tell the story of this unique and bloody battle and its aftermath.

Part 1 Invasion In May 1941, 14,000 German paratroopers supported by nearly a thousand aircraft were dropped on the island in a unique blitzkrieg operation. An airborne invasion of this scale would never be repeated. Several thousand elite paratroopers, the pride of the Nazi Luftwaffe strikeforce, were killed and hundreds of planes lost in 10 days of fierce fighting. Despite the huge cost, the Germans defeated 30,000 British, Australian and New Zealand troops supported by Greek partisans. The Allies had few heavy weapons and no air cover. The loss of the island was controversial. We examine claims that the New Zealand commanders made tactical blunders that lost control of a key airport in the second day of the battle, allowing the German forces to gain a crucial foothold on the island.

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