Fortress Crete (German:Festung Kreta) was the term used duringWorld War II by theGerman occupation forces to refer to the garrison and fortification ofCrete.
The Greek island of Crete was seized by theAxis after a fiercebattle at the end of May 1941. The Germans occupied the western three prefectures of the island (the prefectures ofChania,Heraklion, andRethymno) with their headquarters inChania, whilst the Italians occupied the easternmost prefecture ofLasithi until the Italian capitulation in September 1943.
The first German garrison unit was the5th Mountain Division, which had seen combat during the capture of Crete. In late autumn 1941, the 5th Mountain Division was replaced by the713th and164th Infantry Divisions, which in early 1942 were reorganised as Fortress Division Crete (German:Festungs-Division Kreta - FDK).[1][2] In the summer of 1942, FDK was split to form the smaller Fortress Brigade Kreta (German:Festungs-Brigade Kreta - FBK) and the 164th Light Afrika Division (German:164. Leichte Afrika Division) which was sent toNorth Africa. The 164th was succeeded in 1943–1944 by the22nd Infantry Division. In autumn 1944, after the 22nd Division withdrew from Crete, the remaining German units on the island were consolidated under the 133rd Fortress Division (German:133. Festungs-Division).[3] The Italian garrison units were the51st Infantry Division "Siena" andLI Special Brigade "Lecce", which surrendered to the Germans after theItalian armistice of 1943.
The garrison's strength rose and fell considerably, depending on the progress of theNorth African andRussian campaigns, and the perceived threat for invasion. Its peak was 75,000 men in 1943 and its nadir 10,000 at its surrender of 12 May 1945.
After the general retreat from Greece in October 1944, the Germans, along with some Italian battalions, remained in Crete and in theDodecanese islands. They were cut off, possessed no air power or naval forces, with only some small patrol vessels and landing barges to maintain the links among the islands. The food problem was a serious one both for them and the inhabitants. Links were maintained (mainly postal) by some capturedB-24 bombers under Luftwaffe colours which made flights at night from Austria.
The eastern part of Crete was evacuated during the winter by the Axis forces and was then taken by a very weak mixed Anglo-Greek garrison. There was, then, an unofficial truce between the two parties until the final surrender order issued by theOKW in May 1945 after theunconditional surrender on 8 May. British SOE officerDennis Ciclitira arranged forGeneralmajorHans-Georg Benthack to formally surrender all German forces on the island to Major-GeneralColin Callander.[4]
Until the Italian armistice of 1943, the Italian occupation forces were commanded by GeneralAngelico Carta.