Word: crete
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...Dodecanese islands and either conquer Cyprus or by-pass it. In a by-pass the normally confused Italian navy would be wide open to flank attacks. To conquer Cyprus, the Axis planes would be farther away (200 miles) from land bases than in last year's attack on Crete. Even if British fighter planes were chased off Cyprus bases, there were other fields only 66 miles away on the Syrian mainland...
...Mesaoria" between them, would be met by 350,000 Greek-speaking Cypriots and Turks, all loyal to Britain. Defenses long neglected in pre-war days have been rushed to completion; they even utilize 14-foot walls built by the Crusaders. An attack might cost thousands more lives than Crete. But the plunder would be greater...
Well Tested. To defend the Middle East by attacking first, the British had raided Rhodes. At week's end they followed up with bomber attacks on Crete and the German submarine base at Eleusis near Athens. At the same time the British launched land and air attacks along the western route to Egypt. They shelled the Martüla airdrome in Libya while over the bomb-pocked British island base of Malta, R.A.F. fighters and anti-aircraft guns downed twelve German bombers and two Messerschmitt fighters in 24 hours. A report from London that Field Marshal Albert Kesselring...
...Dutch defenders told part of the story, but only part: promised Allied reinforcements did not arrive; an Allied High Command was imposed upon the Dutch, without the Allied troops, planes and ships which would have made the joint command effective. It was, in part, the story of Norway, France, Crete and Malaya: hugely superior air forces knocking out the few Allied squadrons, then dive-bombing ground defenders into subjection...
...impossible to hold any possession, island or base, by a defense whose principal buttress is an existing sea supremacy. Unless the foundations of victory are laid by the formation of an adequate land army . . . mere sea power ... is useless except for rescue work. . . ." (Cf. Dunkirk, Crete...