KRETA : ein Heldenlied unserer Zeit [Main Title]

Documentary on the German airborne capture of Crete.

Dedicated to the memory of those who fell, image and sound make this outline of a battle an exaltation of the martial valour of the paratroops who outfought the British forces. After travel by train to a camp in Bulgaria, men hear the wireless announce news of British defeats in Greece. Mainland is swiftly overrun by the Germans who drop on the Corinth Canal and advance in captured British transport into the Peloponnese. Commentary contrasts the Germans' honourable treatment of their many prisoners with the false reports of Jews in London. Dawn on 20 May sees the paratroops over the Sea of Crete, dropping on the island and engaging in fierce and relentless fighting in village and vineyard. Narrator is now in the midst of battle, watching Stukas dive and waiting for the climatic moment when further drops of men and supplies relieve the greatly outnumbered Germans. 5th Mountain Division and General Student arrive, blazing Hania falls, snipers are rounded up, a few Italians land at Sitia, British victims of Churchill's war lie dead. Maps cover the final days of battle and "the destruction of the rest of the enemy at Sfakia." Afterwards Student visits and decorates the wounded in Hania and stands before a memorial honouring the German dead. Goering awards the Knight's Cross to parachute officers at the Wolfsschanze and the 1st and 2nd Parachute Regiments parade through Stendal and Goslar respectively.

35mm