Crete

Hellenic-Australian Memorial Park, Rethymno,

The Hellenic-Australian Memorial Park at Rethymno, commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Battle for Crete was dedicated on 19 May 2001.

The design for the memorial symbolically represents the Greek people fighting side by side with Australians during the battle for Crete in 1941.

The two flanking pillars, clad in a rough-surfaced local limestone, represent Greek soldiers and civilians, while the Australian forces are portrayed by the central pillar clad in a polished black granite from South Australia. All three pillars are equal in size and height.

The landscaped setting for the memorial provides a tranquil environment where visitors can pause and reflect on the sacrifice of those remembered and honoured at this place.

Information panels use photographs and maps, together with Greek and English text, to explain the history of Australian involvement in the Greek and Crete campaigns.

The memorial is located at the corner of Igoumenou Gavrill Avenue and 44th Syndagmatos Street, Rethymno.

Greek and Crete campaigns 1941

[Excerpt taken from Hellenic-Australian Memorial's information panels]

In March and April 1941 the British sent over 58,000 servicemen and women to the defence of Greece and of these 17,125 were Australians of the 6th Division, AIF. The force as a whole suffered over 2,500 dead, 3,400 wounded and over 25,000 taken prisoner. Australian losses were 594 dead, 1 001 wounded and 5,132 Prisoners of War.

For the Greek people the war was a disaster. An estimated 540,000 Greeks perished during the German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation of 1941-44. They died of hunger, were shot in reprisals and during guerrilla operations or, if they were Jews, they died in concentration camps in Germany.

During and since World War 2 close bonds of friendship have existed between Greece and Australia. Hundreds of servicemen not evacuated by the main force were helped by the Greek people, at great personal risk, to escape from the mainland and from Crete. After the war, hundreds of thousands of Greeks made their homes in Australia where today they form one of the largest native-born Greek communities outside Greece

Hellenic-Australian Memorial Park, Rethymno, Crete

See:

Greek & Crete Campaigns