The Razing of Anogeia (Greek : Καταστροφή των Ανωγείων) or the Holocaust of Anogeia (Greek : Ολοκαύτωμα των Ανωγείων) refers to the complete destruction of the village of Anogeia in central Crete (Greece) and the murder of about 25 of its inhabitants on 13 August 1944 by German occupying forces during World War II. [1] [2] [3] This was the third time Anogeia was destroyed, as the Ottomans had destroyed it twice; first in July 1822 and again in November 1867, during the Great Cretan Revolt. [4]
The village of Anogeia (alternate spellings Anogia and Anoyia) sits at an altitude of 750 metres (2,460 feet) on the north slopes of Mt Ida, located 36 kilometres (22 miles) west of Heraklion and 52 km (32 mi) southeast of Rethymno. Anogeia residents are renowned for their rebellious spirit and, backed by the mountainous surrounding terrain, have a long tradition of resisting foreign rule and sheltering rebel fighters.[ citation needed ] At the time of the German occupation of Crete, Anogeia had approximately 4000 residents who were primarily occupied with pastoral farming. No permanent German garrison was established in Anogeia; however, roundups were carried out occasionally.[ citation needed ]
Before the Battle of Crete, residents of Anogeia laid boulders on Nida Plateau in order to prevent German aircraft and paratroopers from landing. Armed irregular groups of Anogeians participated in the battle, fighting in Heraklion and Rethymno. [1] After the capture of Crete, Anogeia emerged as a stronghold of the local resistance.[ citation needed ]
Anogeians sheltered British, New Zealander and Australian soldiers and assisted them to escape to Egypt. During the summer of 1941, Giannis Dramountanis (Stefanogiannis) along with Michalis Xilouris set up in Anogeia a resistance organization known as "Independent Group of Anogreia" (Greek : Ανεξάρτητη Ομάς Ανωγείων "ΑΟΑ", consisting mostly of Anogeians. Several other village residents joined the local ELAS. These resistance groups collaborated with SOE commander Lt Col Tom Dunbabin, providing intelligence and support. [1]
In early May 1944, the abductors of Generalmajor Heinrich Kreipe led by Maj Leigh Fermor spent some time at Anogeia during their march to the south coast of Crete. [5] [6]
On 7 August 1944, a German detachment went up to Anogeia in search of forced labour workers. Several dozen locals were taken hostage and forced to march towards Rethymno. At a location near Damasta, Anogeian guerrillas attacked and eliminated the German detachment, freeing all hostages. On the following day, in an attempt to save Anogeia from German reprisals, a group of Anogeians under the commands of Cpt Bill Moss carried out the Damasta sabotage, killing around 30 German soldiers and destroying an armoured car. [1]
Soon after the news of the Damasta attack reached Generalleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller, the commander of Crete who one year earlier had orchestrated the Viannos massacres, he issued the following order: [7] [1]
Since the town of Anogeia is the centre of English espionage on Crete, since the people of Anogeia committed the murder of the Sergeant Commander of the Yeni-Gave, as well as of the garrison under his command, since the people of Anogeia carried out the sabotage of Damasta, since in Anogeia the guerrillas of the various resistance bands take refuge and find protection and since the abductors of General Kreipe passed through Anogeia using it as a transit camp, we order its complete destruction and the execution of every male who is found in the village and around it within a distance of one kilometre.
CHANEA 13TH AUGUST 1944
THE GENERAL COMMANDER OF THE GARRISON OF CRETE
In the early morning of 13 August 1944, German battalions of the 65th regiment/22 Luftlande Infanterie-Division with a strength of around 2000 men moved towards Anogeia. [8] Sentries installed in nearby villages noticed them and notified the people of Anogeia, allowing men to flee to the mountains for safety. Upon entering the village, the German forces gathered the women and children and then forced them to march to the village of Perama. [8] There, approximately 30 kilometres (19 miles) away, women and children were dispersed in nearby villages of the Mylopotamos region. Around 25 villagers, including women, elders and disabled, who refused to abandon their homes, were summarily shot. The village houses were then systematically pillaged, burned and finally dynamited. [9] [8] [10] The pillage and destruction continued for a total of 23 days until early September, turning Anogeia into piles of rubble. [1] During every night, the Germans retreated to the nearby village of Sisarha (Greek : Σίσαρχα). Pack animals were requisitioned to transport the loot to Sisarha, where it was loaded to trucks that transported it to the cities.[ citation needed ]
According to a report compiled on behalf of the Greek state in the summer of 1945, out of the 940 houses of Anogeia, none stood intact. The newly built school was also destroyed and the three churches had been turned into stables. [9] Shepherd huts around the village were demolished and all livestock (mostly sheep and goats) were seized. [11]
The pillage of Anogeia lasted from 13 August to 5 September 1944. [9] Around 2500 women and children were displaced from the village. [8] Having lost all their belongings, they were forced to live in absolute poverty and managed to survive only thanks to the solidarity of the residents of nearby villages, who in many occasions housed them for years. [4]
In 1945, Müller was captured by the Red Army in East Prussia. In 1946, he was tried by a Greek court in Athens for ordering atrocities against civilians. He was sentenced to death on 9 December 1946 and executed by firing squad on 20 May 1947. [12]
Anogeia has been declared a martyred village with the Presidential Decree 399 (ΦΕΚ 277/16.12.1998). Today, an engraved commemorative plaque with Müller's order stands in the central square.[ citation needed ]
The 22nd Infantry Division, which soon became the 22nd Air Landing Division, was a specialized German infantry division in World War II. Its primary method of transportation was gliders. The division played a significant role in the development of modern day air assault operations. Towards the end of the war, the formation was reshaped into the 22nd Volksgrenadier Division.
Ivan William Stanley Moss MC, commonly known as W. Stanley Moss or Billy Moss, was a British army officer in World War II, and later a successful writer, broadcaster, journalist, and traveller. He served with the Coldstream Guards and the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and is best known for the Kidnap of General Kreipe. He was a best-selling author in the 1950s, based on his novels and books about his wartime service. His SOE years are featured in Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe, and A War of Shadows. Moss travelled around the world, including Antarctica to meet the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
Anogeia (Ανώγεια) is a municipality in the Rethymno regional unit, Crete, Greece. The municipality has an area of 102.632 km2 (39.626 sq mi). Population 2,240 (2021).
The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek resistance, it lasted from 20 May 1941, when the German Wehrmacht invaded the island in the Battle of Crete, until the spring of 1945 when they surrendered to the British. For the first time during World War II, attacking German forces faced in Crete a substantial resistance from the local population. In the Battle of Crete, Cretan civilians picked off paratroopers or attacked them with knives, axes, scythes, or even bare hands. As a result, many casualties were inflicted upon the invading German paratroopers during the battle. For their resistance to the Germans, the Cretan people paid a heavy toll in the form of reprisals.
The 11th Day: Crete 1941 is a 2005 documentary film featuring eyewitness accounts from survivors of the Battle of Crete during World War II. The film was created by producer-director Christos Epperson and writer-producer Michael Epperson, and funded by Alex Spanos. Among the eyewitnesses interviewed are British SOE operative and famous travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, along with George Doundoulakis, and Cretan Resistance hero George Tzitzikas. The film also includes historical commentary and analysis by Chase Brandon of the CIA and Professor Andre Gerolymatos of Simon Fraser University.
Karl Heinrich Georg Ferdinand Kreipe was a German career soldier who served in both World War I and World War II. While leading German forces in occupied Crete in April 1944, he was abducted by British SOE officers Patrick Leigh Fermor and William Stanley Moss, with the support of the Cretan resistance.
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He led an infantry regiment in the early stages of the war and by 1943 was commander of the 22nd Air Landing Division. Under his orders, troops of the division committed atrocities against Greek civilians. He was later commander of occupied Crete and his harsh methods of controlling the island saw him nicknamed "The Butcher of Crete." After the war he was convicted and executed by a Greek court for war crimes.
The Damasta sabotage was an attack by Cretan resistance fighters led by British Special Operations Executive officer Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC against German occupation forces in World War II. The attack occurred on 8 August 1944 near the village of Damasta and was aimed at preventing the Germans assaulting the village of Anogeia.
The kidnapping of Heinrich Kreipe was an operation executed jointly by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and local resistance members in Crete in German-occupied Greece during the Second World War. Operation 'BRICKLAYER' was launched on 4 February 1944, when SOE officer Patrick Leigh Fermor landed in Crete with the intention of abducting notorious war criminal and commander of 22nd Air Landing Division, Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller. By the time of the arrival of the rest of the abduction team, led by William Stanley Moss, two months later, Müller had been succeeded by Heinrich Kreipe, who was chosen as the new target.
The Viannos massacres were a mass extermination campaign launched by German forces against the civilian residents of around 20 villages located in the areas of east Viannos and west Ierapetra provinces on the Greek island of Crete during World War II. The killings, with a death toll in excess of 500, were carried out on 14–16 September 1943 by Wehrmacht units. They were accompanied by the burning of most villages, looting, and the destruction of harvests.
The Holocaust of Kedros, also known as the Holocaust of Amari, was the mass murder of the civilian residents of nine villages located in the Amari Valley on the Greek island of Crete during its occupation by the Axis powers in World War II. The massacre was a reprisal operation mounted by Nazi German forces.
Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe is a non-fiction partly-autobiographical book written by W. Stanley Moss, a British soldier, writer and traveller. It describes an operation in Crete during the Second World War to capture German general Heinrich Kreipe. Moss kept a diary during the war years and based his book on it. The 2014 edition includes an introduction by one of Moss's children and an afterword by Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Georgios Petrakis, better known as Petrakogiorgis, was a Greek businessman, partisan, and politician. He was a leading figure in the Cretan resistance of the years 1941 – 1944 against the Axis occupation forces, well respected for his patriotism, courage, honesty, perspicacity and selflessness.
A War of Shadows is a non-fiction book written by W. Stanley Moss, a British soldier, writer and traveller, best known, together with Patrick Leigh Fermor, for the Kidnap of General Kreipe as described in Moss’s book Ill Met by Moonlight. Moss recounts his subsequent activities during World War II as agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Crete, Macedonia (Greece) and Siam (Thailand). The 2014 editions contain an Introduction by one of Moss's children and a short biography, Billy Moss: Soldier, Writer, Traveller - A Brief Life by Alan Ogden as an Afterword.
The razing of Vorizia refers to the destruction of the village of Vorizia (Βορίζια) in Crete (Greece) by aerial bombardment and the murder of five of its inhabitants on 27 August 1943 by German occupying forces during World War II.
The Battle of Trahili was fought on 15 August 1943 between Cretan partisans and German occupying forces during World War II. It took place near the village of Vorizia in south-central Crete, when German forces attempted to surround a small group of partisans led by the local chieftain Petrakogiorgis. Most of the partisans managed to escape, despite being heavily outnumbered.
Kimonas or Kimon Zografakis, frequently referred to by his nom de guerre, Black Man, was a distinguished Greek partisan in the Cretan resistance from 1941 to 1944 against the Axis occupation forces.
The Kallikratis executions refer to the mass execution, by German Army and Greek collaborationist paramilitary forces, of some 30 mostly male civilians of Kallikratis, in southwest Crete, on 8 October 1943. Kallikratis was declared a martyred village in October 2018.
The Malathyros executions refer to the mass execution by firing squad of 61 male civilians from the village of Malathyros in Crete, Greece by German forces on 28 August 1944 during World War II.
The Skourvoula executions refer to the mass execution by firing squad of 36 civilians, of which 22 were women, at the village of Skourvoula in Crete, Greece by German Wehrmacht forces on 14 August 1944 during World War II.
