Battle for Crete Movie May 20 1941 Operation Mercury

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• published: 16 Dec 2008
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GET YOUR DVD AT CRETE1941.COM TODAY AND HELP SAVE OUR HISTORY! Chicago Tribune, "Stirring documentary... You'll want to see this film." Sacramento Bee, "A courageous story of espionage and sabotage against the Nazis." The National Post (Canada), "Heroes fight like Greeks... An amazing story." The National Herald, "Amazing film...a must see." Product Description - ENGLISH & GREEK MULTI-LANGUAGE EDITION - INCLUDES HISTORICAL ARCHIVE OF OVER 500 PHOTOS - REGION-FREE DVD PLAYABLE WORLDWIDE On May 20, 1941, thousands of elite Nazi paratroopers assaulted the island of Crete. It was the beginning of the Battle of Crete--the largest Nazi airborne operation of World War II. They had expected to control the island within a few days; after all, they only needed to occupy Paris for a week before France surrendered. What they hadn't expected was that the men, women, and even children of Crete would fight them to their dying breath. Together with hundreds of stranded soldiers from England, Australia, and New Zealand, and a handful of British special operations commandos who had parachuted in to help, the Cretan resistance dealt Nazi Germany one of its most crippling defeats of the entire war. They would even kidnap the German commandant of Crete, General Kreipe--the famous operation masterminded and led by British Special Operations officer Patrick Leigh Fermor. It was the only successful kidnapping of a German general throughout the war. With dramatic re-creations and over 20 veterans interviewed from Crete, England, Australia, and New Zealand, including Leigh Fermor himself, The 11th Day is a heart-pounding adventure story about courage, faith, and heroism...a story that is all the more remarkable because it is history. "Until now, we knew that Greeks were fighting like heroes; from now on we shall say that the heroes fight like Greeks." --Winston Churchill Order today and support our Veterans crete1941.com From the Director The great-aunts and uncles of producers Christos and Michael Epperson were members of the Cretan resistance in World War II. In 1943, their uncle Kyriako Xirouhakis and his sisters Eleftheria and Rita joined the Pibli resistance group in Hania. Eleftheria spoke three languages and worked in a German office with access to classified documents that she would steal, translate and give to the resistance group. On June 11, the Germans came during Manoli's wedding reception and arrested all the siblings. According to our uncle Niko, one of Manoli's ex-girlfriends (jealous due to the wedding) had informed the Germans about the Xirouhakis' involvement in the resistance. During the search of the house, the Germans found a diagram of the Perivolitsa Camp behind a painting on the wall. Eleftheria took responsibility in order to protect her brothers and sisters. Her exact words according to German Lieutenant Volf Sinter were, "I am a spy, I work with the resistance group 'Pibli' and I will not reveal anything else." They were all taken to the prison at Agia where Eleftheria was severely tortured by the Germans Hoffman and Fritz Sterling. She was hung naked and beaten repeatedly for three days and nights. There was a guard next to her 24 hours a day to prevent her from sleeping. Finally, on July 13, 1944 Eleftheria was executed. Her last words according to the records of German nurse Fritz Nider who went to check her to make sure she was dead were, "Away with your dirty hands so you don't pollute a Greek woman. Long live Greece." Kyriako, Manoli and Dimitri were sent to the Dachau concentration camp and Rita was sent to another concentration camp somewhere in Eastern Europe. They all survived and returned to Crete after the war was over. The three brothers returned the same day their parents were having a memorial for them since they thought they had died. On April 4, 2004 the cultural group Omonia honored Eleftheria with a statue at the church grounds in Aroni, Crete. The Epperson brothers' current production is Outpost Harry--a documentary feature film that tells the story of the Greek and American soldiers stationed at a small outpost behind enemy lines during the Korean War. They were ordered to "hold at all costs" against an enemy that outnumbered them 30 to 1--an enemy that flooded into the tiny outpost night after night for over a week.