Frank Pallone: “I want to thank Congressman Klink for organizing a special order to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Battle of…”

“I want to thank Congressman Klink for organizing a special order to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Battle of Crete. Throughout history, the Greek people have been champions of freedom and self determination and their actions in the Battle of Crete were instrumental in defeating fascism in the 20th century. In October 1940, Mussolini's Italy invaded Greece, entering that country by coming through Albania. Responding to this crisis, the British rushed to Greece's aid and quickly sent Army and Royal Air Force units to Crete. With Italian troops bogged down in Greece and delaying his brutal campaign of world domination, Hitler sent German troops into Greece and directed that the Nazi war machine take control of Crete. In May 1941 the Nazis began executing Hitler's directive and launched an airborne invasion on a scale unprecedented in history. With lightning speed, the Germans dropped some 20,000 troops on the island by air; in addition, the Germans and Italians launched a land invasion, sending troops by sea from the Greek mainland, which had fallen to the Nazis a few weeks earlier. The ensuing battle put up by the people of Crete and other Allied forces against the superior Nazi war machine was one of the most significant of World War II. And though the Germans won the battle and took the island, they did so at the highest possible cost--they would eventually lose the war.”