The Germans expected their airborne attack on Crete in 1941
- a unique event in the history of warfare
- to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. They had no idea that the British using Ultra intercepts knew their plans & had laid a carefully-planned trap. It should have been the first German defeat of the war but a fatal misunderstanding turned the battle round. Nor did the conflict end there. Ferocious Cretan freedom fighters mounted a heroic resistance aided by a dramatic cast of British officers from Special Operations Executive.