The events commemorating the 84th anniversary of the Battle of Crete reached a climax last Sunday with the customary religious service and speech-making at the Battle of Crete memorial within the precincts of the Maleme aerodrome, which concluded with parachute jumps and an air display by a single F16 of the 115th Combat Wing. This year, Haniotika Nea noted, apparently with some disapproval, a total of no less than 42 wreaths were laid at the memorial.
The main event to be organised by the Municipality of Platanias took place the day before on, Saturday 24th May, at the Keritis war memorial in Alikianos, commemorating the numerous atrocities carried out by the German invaders as a reprisal for the participation of civilians in the Battle of Crete.
Among those present were representatives of the Embassies of Germany, the UK, New Zealand and India, the deputy minister for Immigration Sevi Voloudaki, Chania MP Alexandros Markogiannakis, the mayor of Platanias Giannis Malandrakis, Regional Councillor Giannis Manousakas Vladas, representatives of the armed services, political parties, local organisations and more.
In his address the mayor of Platanias said: “Today it is our duty to remember and honour those heroes, to learn from history and to keep their memory alive in our hearts. The Keritis river continues to flow, however, as does the history of Crete, full of struggles and sacrifices. Let us promise never to forget the heavy price of freedom and let us continue to defend the values of peace, democracy and justice.”
Deputy Immigration minister Sevi Voloudaki said that the fighters, the simple people who sacrificed themselves in the Battle of Crete, were defending the values of peace, freedom and dignity, and stressed that they constituted an example for the coming generations.
MP Alexandros Markogiannakis said that we should honour the memory of our forebears, and described their struggle as constituting a guide and a compass for the present and the future. The Regional Councillor for Civil Protection Giannis Manaousakas Vladas said that the Keritis river was witness to the fierce resistance to the conqueror and that the fighters’ sacrifice constitutes a symbol of resistance again barbarism.
The main speaker was the president of the World Council of Cretans, Nikos Kastrinakis, who said: “Our responsibility is to pass our history on to the next generations…. We are here pay the honour which is due to the victims of the brutality of fascism in Crete.”
(Haniotika Nea, 24/05/25)
The Alikianos executions
The Alikianos executions were the mass execution by firing squad of mostly male civilians from Alikianos and nearby villages by German paratroopers on 24 May, 2 June, and 1 August 1941. The executions were ordered by General Kurt Student, commander of the XI Air Corps, in reprisal for the active participation of Cretan civilians in the Battle of Crete.
The background
The village of Alikianos is located on a fertile plain approximately 12 km southwest of the city of Chania. During the Battle of Crete, the 3rd Paratroop Regiment was ordered to land on the plain and advance northwest towards the Maleme airstrip, the site of the main air drops. Covering the rear of the 3rd Regiment was the 7th Engineer Battalion, dropped in the vicinity of Alikianos and charged with conducting reconnaissance. The Engineer Battalion were confronted by the ill-armed and poorly trained 8th Greek Regiment, who were assisted by local irregulars. Despite being armed with primitive weapons, the locals attacked the Engineer Battalion, inflicting significant losses.
The area in and around Alikianos was the site of a fierce battle that started on 21 May, and lasted for seven days. The gallant defence of the 8th Greek Regiment and the local population is today credited with protecting the Allied line of retreat, making possible their safe withdrawal and subsequent evacuation from Sfakia.
The executions
Infuriated by the involvement of the local population in resisting the invasion by German paratroopers, and the heavy losses they inflicted on the invaders, Goering ordered General Student to launch collective punishment operations against the locals.
24 May 1941
On 24 May 1941, while the Battle of Crete was still being fought, a German patrol arrested 6 male civilians in Alikianos. Upon discovering the dead body of a paratrooper officer, the Germans killed the civilians by firing squad. One of the hostages, Vassilis Drakakis, survived the execution and the following coup de grâce but was later arrested again and shot in the third execution on 1 August 1941.
2 June 1941
On 2 June 1941, Alikianos was surrounded by German forces. Forty-two male civilians were marched to the churchyard and shot in groups of ten in front of their relatives. On the same day and during similar operations, 12 and 25 civilians were respectively executed in the nearby villages of Agia and Kyrtomado.
1 August 1941
General Alexander Andrae, who succeeded Student as the Commander-in-Chief of occupied Crete, continued Student’s campaign of retaliations. Two months after the first executions, the Germans gathered 118 civilians at the bridge over the Keritis river at Alikianos and shot them after forcing them to dig their own graves. Twelve of those killed were from Alikianos whereas the rest came from the nearby villages of Fournes, Skines, Vatolakkos, Koufos, Prases, Karanos, Lakkoi, Orthouni, Nea Roumata and Hosti.
The aftermath
After the surrender of Germany, Student was captured by the British. In May 1947, he came before a military tribunal to answer charges of mistreatment and murder of prisoners of war by his forces in Crete. Greece’s demand to have Student extradited was declined. He was found guilty of three out of eight charges and sentenced to five years in prison. However, he was given a medical discharge and was released in 1948. Student was never tried for crimes against civilians.
Also in May 1945, Andrae was captured by the British and then extradited to Greece to be tried for war crimes he was responsible for while in Crete. In 1947, he was condemned to four life sentences. In 1951, his sentence was commuted by King Paul of Greece to four years’ imprisonment. As a result, after spending four years in prison, he was released in January 1952. Later, Andrae co-founded the nationalist and far right German Reich Party.
(Wikipedia)
The memorials
A monument commemorating the victims of the first execution stands by the church in Alikianos, while the second one, commemorating the executions of 1st August 1941, stands near the Keritis bridge. The monument near the church is now closed for reasons unknown, while the Keritis monument, where Saturday’s ceremony took place, stands beside the main road between Agia and Fournes, opposite the approach road to the destroyed Keritis bridge.