Field engineers at Battle for Crete

Field engineers at Battle for Crete

Exhausted field engineers awaiting evacuation at Sfakia.

Alexander Turnbull Library,
Reference: DA-10739
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

How to cite this page: 'Field engineers at Battle for Crete', URL: /media/photo/field-engineers-at-crete, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 4-Jul-2007

Community contributions


Noel reader
27 Jan 2009
My father a royal engineer John Fredrick Reader was captured on Crete and sent back to Germany i would like to know more can any one help
Anonymous
27 Jun 2008
My father Lieutenant Edward Tidswell RE was on Crete and had been before the arrival of the evacuated troops from Greece. He recounted to me that his Engineers had been working at, I believe, Maleme when the first influx of German Paras began to drop in. He recalled being ordered to withdraw his Engineers and their Plant and Equipment, which he did at nightfall. He told me that their withdrawal was covered by a rearguard in interlocking positions and referred to the site as Hill No. ? I presume, now, that this was Hill 107. The Engineers withdrew under cover of darkness and laid up during the day in the olive groves. Travelling at night, they arrived with their equipment intact at the point of evacuation, only to be ordered by the Quayside Officer to destroy it, which they did. They were evacuated to Alexandria and my best guess is that they disembarked on HMS Orion, a Cruiser, on which 400 casualties occurred due to bomb damage.

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