During World War II , the island was the scene of the famous Battle of Crete in May 1941 . The initial 11-day battle was bloody and left more than 11,000 soldiers and civilians killed or wounded . As a result of the fierce resistance from both Allied forces and civilian Cretan locals , the invasion force suffered heavy casualties , and Adolf Hitler forbade further large-scale paratroop operations for the rest of the war . During the initial and subsequent occupation , German firing squads routinely executed male civilians in reprisal for the death of German soldiers ; civilians were rounded up randomly in local villages for the mass killings , such as at the Massacre of Kondomari and the Viannos massacres . Two German generals were later tried and executed for their roles in the killing of 3,000 of the island 's inhabitants
Viannos massacres
Viannos massacres
Crete