In May 1941 Crete was the site of the first major airborne assault in military history, when German paratroopers and glider troops descended on the island in Operation Mercury. The ten-day Battle of Crete was ferociously fought — the Allied garrison, supplemented by Cretan civilians who took up arms, came close to defeating the invasion entirely. The cost was devastating: thousands of soldiers killed, and German reprisals against the civilian population among the most brutal carried out in Western Europe during the war.
This municipal museum near the old harbour covers the battle and the four-year occupation that followed with maps, weapons, equipment, photographs, and extensive documentation of the resistance movement that operated in the mountains throughout the war. The presentation is straightforward and sobering; the section on reprisals is particularly affecting. Free admission. The museum is less visited than the Minoan sites but gives essential context for understanding modern Crete.