War Museum in Crete... The armour!

[Paul J]

For the armour guys here, I took these Pics on my recent trip to Crete. Its a lovely little museum at Chromonastiri about 10 minutes up a windy road inland from Rethymnon.

Hope you find somethings of interest.

A line up by the roadside near the main entrance.

M24 Chaffee

M?? 'Duster'

40mm Bofors

White Scout Car.

Some bif artillery piece??

[tonyot]

Cheers for posting this, the behicles and guns are very well looked after and look to be in good nick. It looks like most of the objects on display are ex Greek Army but was there much inside the museum dealing with the 1941 battle and the occupation and resistance which followed? I once heard that the Greeks as a nation suffered more under occupation by the German`s than any other country and those on Crete especially so?

Cheers

Tony

[old thumper]

There used to be and possibly still is a war museum at Askifou near Hora Sfakion, this was a private collection of artefacts collected over a number of years by a couple and their son. Askifou is on the road the commonwealth forces used to retreat south from Hania, the collection was largely made up of items found abandoned around this area. If anyone happens to pass this way both the museum and Askifou are well worth a look. Askifou becomes visible as you pass over the mountain top, the whole area opens up into a fertile plain with a Turkish castle in the middle commanding the pass, a little later on a canyon begins that leads down to the sea.

[Paul J]

Hi and thanks for comments. Yes Tony! Plenty inside on WW2 and the battle for Crete! Some harrowing pics and story of how the resistance suffered under the occupying forces but' they' didn't fair too well. Especially at Heraklion.

On my first visit to Crete four years ago I went to Maleme where the German paras concentrated the first landings. There is a dedicated cemetery to them. Over at Souda Bay there is a Commonwealth war grave.

The island is so steeped in history though. Even at the hands of the Turks in the 17th century . Lovely people there and a matching climate and food too. Very much a place worth visiting.