Word: crete
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...seaplane carried him to Crete. Nazi soldiers, dropping out of the sky, drove him on again. He and his party fled once more; guided over the mountains by Capitan ("The Goat") Volanis, a fierce little Cretan guerrila. At the seacoast, he embarked on a British destroyer. From Cairo via Capetown he reached London, set up his Government-in-Exile...
Capitano Volanis was a short man, but fierce, handlebar mustaches and shoulders like an ox's made him look ominous. Over 70, he could still clamber goatlike among the mountains of Crete, could still spring on a wild goat and throw it with his bare hands. That was why they called him "The Goat," this notorious leader of the out lawed Venizelists, who wanted no kings in Greece & Crete...
Lord Louis then took the twice-repaired, recommissioned Kelly to the Mediterranean. On May 23, 1941, he was with the Kelly in the hell of Crete. This time, he did not bring her home. A dive-bomber found her. Within 70 seconds the Kelly sank, Lord Louis and some of his men escaped. Standing on a life raft, he led his men in a cheer for the dying Kelly. Down with her went two of Lord Louis' prized possessions: a silver cigaret lighter from his cousin, the Duke of Windsor, and a photograph of the reigning King and Queen...
Young Germans by the tens of thousands had learned to glide. Versailles had denied them, military planes-but not gliders. The invasion of Crete, 22 years later, paid off Versailles' thinking. Planes towed gliderfuls of soldiers to points a few miles off the Cretan coast, then cut them loose...
...eastern Mediterranean, the German eyed Cyprus, hoped to make it another Crete, a steppingstone down the Levant to Suez. To the north in Bulgaria, General Wilhelm Student, No. 1 Nazi parachutist, whipped new men into shape, ran a vast training program for glider pilots, reconditioned ground officers to lead air infantry. Perhaps they were being trained for an invasion of Britain, but a better bet was that they were headed for the Mediterranean...