Souda (island)

Chania Tour - sunrise at the Suda Bay War Cemetery in Crete, Greece (Friday, October 11th 2013)

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• published: 10 May 2014
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CHANIA port of Call for "Navigator of the Seas" cruise ship -- Crete, Greece Friday morning (October 11, 2013), we had a TAXI waiting for us in Souda Bay -- pre-scheduled for a day tour (at 30 EURO/hour standard rate). Mano was our driver for the day! First STOP -- Souda Bay War Cemetery (British Commonwealth War Cemetery) -- located approximately 5 km east from the center of Chania (Xania). We were the first ones to arrive and enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise and great views of our RCI cruise ship "Navigator of the Seas" (docked in Souda Bay, Crete). It is truly a beautiful spot flanked by a steeply rising hillside to the north and only a few kilometers to the base of the white mountains to the south. It is a quiet, peaceful spot and is immaculately kept, the cemetery proper bounded by trees and shrubs on three sides and the open sea of the bay in front. The Cemetery is permanently open and may be visited at any time. Wheelchair access is via the path to the right of the main entrance. There are now 1,500 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 776 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate a number of casualties believed to be buried among them. The cemetery also contains 19 First World War burials brought in from Suda Bay Consular Cemetery, 1 being unidentified. There are also 7 burials of other nationalities and 37 non-war burials. Historical Information --- In May 1941, the Commonwealth force in Crete was organized in five widely separated defence areas along the north coast - around the three airfields at Iraklion, Rethymnon and Maleme, and at Suda Bay and the port of Chania. The Germans launched their attack on 20 May with airborne troops. The airfield at Maleme was quickly captured and used for landing German reinforcements. On 23 May, the remainder of the Maleme position had to be given up and its defenders fell back to Chania. On 26 May, the Allied line west of Chania was broken. Suda Bay became indefensible and the troops from these two positions, with the remainder of the Maleme garrison, withdrew across the island to Sfakion, where many of them were evacuated by sea on the nights of the 28 - 31 May. The airborne attacks on the Iraklion and Rethymnon positions on 20 May were repulsed. Iraklion was successfully defended until the night of 29/29 May when the garrison was evacuated by sea. Orders for the Rethymnon garrison to fight its way southward for evacuation did not arrive, and it was overwhelmed on 31 May. Of the total Commonwealth land force of 32,000 men, 18,000 were evacuated, 12,000 were taken prisoner and 2,000 were killed. The site of Suda Bay War Cemetery was chosen after the war and graves were moved there by 21st and 22nd Australian War Graves Units from the four burial grounds that had been established by the German occupying forces at Chania, Iraklion, Rethymnon and Galata, and from isolated sites and civilian cemeteries. 13 pics by OCP