A highly intriguing and moving account of this significant and wasteful battle.The invasion of Crete in 1941 should have been a textbook battle for General Kurt Student's German troops, a swift and decisive blitzkrieg based on technical surprise. In fact it was based on a series of misjudgements which resulted in large and bloody losses and Crete became the graveyard of the German parachute troops. Crete was the first battle of the Second World War in which airborne and parachute troops were used on a large scale; it was also the first battle in which ULTRA played a major role in British decisions. Although the Germans eventually won the island, the victory proved a hollow one as their airborne forces were destroyed and greater losses were suffered than in the entire Balkan campaign.'Callum MacDonald is a historian of considerable merit' D. C. Watt, The Times'A grim battle impressively presented' Observer'A highly readable contribution to the illumination of this strange episode - that was at the same time so bloody, so frustrating, and so heroic' Alan Clark, Guardian'The Lost battle is a wonderful book, scholarly yet very readable, with many new insights' Paul Kennedy, author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers