Detailed study of a brief but bloody campaign; Full of personal accounts of air, ground, and naval actions; Author has made numerous trips to Crete and knows the ground well. The fall of Crete in May 1941 was a catastrophic blow to the Allied cause. Nevertheless, the British, New Zealand, and Australian defenders forced the German invaders to pay a heavy price for victory. The daring German parachute assault, the first major example of its kind, proved a near disaster--so much so that Hitler never sanctioned another. But the Germans recovered, gained the initiative, and took the island in ten days.