Battle on 42nd Street: War in Crete and the Anzacs' Bloody Last Stand by Peter Monteath

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges.

The battle for Crete was at once the most modern and the most ancient of wars. For a week, Australian and New Zealand forces were relentlessly hammered from the skies by the Luftwaffe and pursued across Crete by some of the most accomplished and best equipped forces Hitler could muster.

However, on the morning of 27 May 1941, all that was about to change. When German mountain troops approached the Allies’ defensive line, known as 42nd Street , men from the Australian 2/7th and 2/8th Battalions and New Zealanders from several battalions counter-attacked with fixed bayonets. By the end, German bodies were strewn across the battlefield.

Acclaimed historian Peter Monteath draws on recollections and records of Australian, New Zealand, British and German soldiers and local Cretans to reveal the truth behind one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War. (back cover)