You may find this book is not as good as other Beevor books. First off Crete is an island and big set-piece battles are few in number. Next read it as background to

[bc:The Guns of Navarone|296298|The Guns of Navarone|Alistair MacLean|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1381683551l/296298._SY75_.jpg|854073]

and the movie 'Ill Met by Moonlight' . Now the praise: Beevor builds the sequence of events from the invasion of Yugoslavia to the retreat from Crete wonderfully. The intelligence boys (and the odd girl too) pop up everywhere. The threads of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' are mixed in here too. However to understand North Africa (especially Wavell's part) you HAVE to know Crete. From the German side it was an audacious plan but see it this way: without Operation Mercury Market Garden would not have occurred. ( )

You may find this book is not as good as other Beevor books. First off Crete is an island and big set-piece battles are few in number. Next read it as background to

[bc:The Guns of Navarone|296298|The Guns of Navarone|Alistair MacLean|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1381683551l/296298._SY75_.jpg|854073]

and the movie 'Ill Met by Moonlight' . Now the praise: Beevor builds the sequence of events from the invasion of Yugoslavia to the retreat from Crete wonderfully. The intelligence boys (and the odd girl too) pop up everywhere. The threads of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' are mixed in here too. However to understand North Africa (especially Wavell's part) you HAVE to know Crete. From the German side it was an audacious plan but see it this way: without Operation Mercury Market Garden would not have occurred. ( )

Por el autor de Stalingrado y Berlín, que ahora se ocupa de la épica resistencia del pueblo de Creta contra el invasor alemán , y lo hace con su rigor y talento literario al que nos tiene acostumbrados. En Mayo de 1941, tras la invasión de Grecia y Yugoslavia, Hitler ordenó la ocupación de Creta, la isla más meridional del Egeo, para culminar la campaña del Mediterráneo oriental y proteger los yacimientos de petróleo rumanos de la amenaza de los bombardeos aliados. Los nazis lanzaron un espectacular despliegue aerotransportado sobre Creta en el que intervinieron 500 aviones de transporte y, or lo menos, otros tantos entre bombarderos y cazas. Los ingleses no consiguieron rechazar la invasión y la caída de Creta supuso una de las inflexiones más críticas de la segunda guerra mundial porque privó a los aliados de una base fundamental y permitió a los alemanes proteger su flanco sur para iniciar la invasión de la Unión Soviética.

Exactly what you'd expect from Beevor, fulsome, slightly opinionated, eminently readable. ( )