Special enterprise League of Nations
The special company with the code name League of Nations was the second special company that was supposed to try the partisans who fought against the occupation of the island of Crete in World War II and killed and wounded German parachutists in the process . It took place from September 1 to 9, 1941 and was carried out by Major Friedmann of the 5th Mountain Division , who had a reinforced regiment at their disposal.
A number of villages such as Alikianos at the foot of the high mountains had been searched by the first special enterprise on August 1, 1941 . But only 21 people could be caught, so that the second special company was ordered to penetrate into the high mountain range, the center of which is the Omalos plateau. The wanted lists and the court judgments had been prepared in Section V B1 of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), which was responsible for professional and habitual criminals. The three court courts had their seat in Paleochora , Chora Sfakion and in Agia penitentiary . 110 men were sentenced to death and shot. Another 39 male civilians were shot while fleeing and in the field during armed resistance.
The League of Nations special enterprise was one of the measures that was directly related to the invasion of Crete , which lasted from May 20 to early June 1941. German troops began to take hostages during the fighting. Major General Julius Ringel , commander of the 5th Mountain Division, reports on a battle on June 4, 1941:
“A tough and dogged fight, in which even children and women take part. It is severely cracked down. After the atrocities of the Greek population and probably also by Greek soldiers became known, the Div. to shoot 10 Cretans for every German wounded or fallen, to burn down homesteads and villages in which German troops are being shot, to secure hostages in all places. "
From the beginning of the invasion to September 1941, over 2,000 Cretans fell victim to the measures.
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- ↑ Bundesarchiv (Ed.): Europa unterm Hakenkreuz, The Occupation Policy of German Fascism in Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania, Italy and Hungary (1941-1945), Volume 6. Hüthig Verlagsgemeinschaft, Berlin, Heidelberg 1992, ISBN 3-8226-1892- 6 , p. 157.