Deborah C Wheeler

Silk Clouds and Olive Trees: Stories from the Battle of Crete Deborah C Wheeler

"I can verify the feelings of each soldier during these actions in Greece and on Crete

because I was there experiencing the same feelings." - Alfred Carpenter, World War Two Veteran, 2020




A lifetime has passed since the men involved in the Battle of Crete left Australia and New Zealand to join the British to go and fight for the freedom of others. This little reported battle had far reaching consequences for all involved.




Here we become aware of how a handful of these ANZACs felt, what they saw and experienced in Greece, Crete and in numerous POW camps where some of them were interned.




We realise how the small contacts they had with home through parcels and letters came to mean the world to them. We learn how they grieved for lost comrades.




The forging of unbreakable bonds, particularly with the Cretan people who fought alongside them, often at great sacrifice to themselves, their families and friends. How 80 years later those bonds of friendship have been handed down from family to family.




"You have done your best to save us. We are finished, but the war is not lost. Therefore save what you can to help win the war elsewhere." - Alexandros Koryzis, Prime Minister of Greece,