Greek PM receives Australian coin honouring Crete’s Resistance and our shared fight for freedom

Australia’s Ambassador to Greece, Alison Duncan, formally presented Mitsotakis with the commemorative coin marking the 85th day of the Battle of Greece and Crete, the astir defining chapters successful the shared wartime past of Australia and Greece.

Issued by the Royal Australian Mint, the limited-edition coin recognises the courage, sacrifice and camaraderie forged betwixt Australian and Greek forces during the Second World War. The battles fought successful mainland Greece and connected Crete stay profoundly embedded successful the nationalist DNA of some countries.

Ambassador Duncan besides presented a commemorative coin to the Konstantinos Mitsotakis Foundation, acknowledging the Mitsotakis family’s humanities legacy. This held peculiar value fixed the wartime acquisition of the Prime Minister’s precocious father, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, who fought with the Cretan absorption during the Nazi concern and was aboriginal captured.

Battle for Greece and Crete – the metaphor for freedom

In 1940, Greek forces repelled Italy’s penetration and pushed Mussolini’s troops backmost into Albania. But they could not rebuff the Nazi onslaught that followed successful 1941. The defence of Greece was overwhelmed. ANZAC and British troops were forced into a warring retreat crossed Greece’s harsh terrain under relentless German attack. Many tried to scope Crete for evacuation. Many troops were unable to scope evacuation earlier the penetration was completed.

The Battle of Crete became a defining infinitesimal successful the war. It was the archetypal wide airborne invasion, arsenic 22,000 German parachute and glider troops dropped crossed the island. The Germans were staggered by the fierce absorption and suffered betwixt 6,000 and 8,000 casualties. Cretan absorption fighters, the Greek Army, and ANZACs near down were sheltered by section Cretan families and fought alongside the highly businesslike Cretan resistance.

Cretan absorption fighters Ioannis Vardoulakis, Ioannis Kontekakis and Manolis Vardoulakis from Anidri adjacent Chania, Crete. Photo: History Guild

The Germans carried retired reprisals connected civilians pursuing effectual absorption attacks and ambushes. In the Kondomari massacre, villagers, men, women and children, were forced into the village square, then the men were taken to adjacent olive groves and shot, up to 60 men.

Anzac, Captain Reg Saunders, the archetypal Aboriginal Australian commissioned serviceman successful the Australian Army, spent 11 months connected Crete sheltered by the Zagarachis household successful the village of Tsiklaria. https://neoskosmos.com/en/2023/04/24/features/captain-reg-saunders-a-warriors-journey-through-war-and-survival-in-crete/

The enslaved formed betwixt the Saunders and Zagarachis families endures to this day.

It was the archetypal wide airborne invasion, arsenic 22,000 German parachute and glider troops dropped crossed the island. Photo: Wikipedia

The Massacre of Men, up to 60 men were taken hostage and led to adjacent olive groves and shot, successful what became known successful infamy arsenic the Massacre of Kondomari, Photo: Wikipedia/Weixler, Franz Peter / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5409094

The Massacre of Men, up to 60 men were taken hostage and led to adjacent olive groves and shot, successful what became known successful infamy arsenic the Massacre of Kondomari, Photo: Wikipedia/Weixler, Franz Peter