14th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 14th Infantry Brigade was a British Army formation during the Second Boer War, World War I, when it served on the Western Front, and World War II, when it fought in Crete and Tobruk, and then as Chindits in Burma.
Men of the 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment searching the ruins of a railway station for Japanese snipers, during the advance of the Fourteenth Army to Rangoon along the railway corridor, 13 April 1945.
The Battle of Crete, codenamed Operation Mercury, was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, with multiple German airborne landings on Crete. Greek and other Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. After only one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered heavy casualties and the Allied troops were confident that they would defeat the invasion. The next day, through communication failures, Allied tactical hesitation, and German offensive operations, Maleme Airfield in western Crete fell, enabling the Germans to land reinforcements and overwhelm the defensive positions on the north of the island. Allied forces withdrew to the south coast. More than half were evacuated by the British Royal Navy and the remainder surrendered or joined the Cretan resistance. The defence of Crete evolved into a costly naval engagement; by the end of the campaign the Royal Navy's eastern Mediterranean strength had been reduced to only two battleships and three cruisers.
German Fallschirmjäger landing on Crete, May 1941
Major-General Freyberg (right), Allied Commander at the Battle of Crete
A Fallschirmjäger and a DFS 230 glider in Crete
German mountain troops board a Junkers Ju 52 for Crete, 20 May 1941.