 The German reasons for their onslaught were that these villages were all hotbeds of bandits, the haunts of the British, hiding places of terrorists, refuges for commandos attacking aerodromes and supply dumps, the hiding places for unnumbered weapons, and the supply point for hundreds of bad men ... 

Cretans and the Cretan resistance worked closely with the British, firstly when they aided the British and Dominion forces in escaping from Crete, and secondly, when they worked together on acts of sabotage when Crete became a launching pad for German operations in Africa.This involved the British agents who either remained on Crete or escaped and re-entered Crete, such as Patrick Leigh Fermor, W. Stanley Moss, Tom Dunbabin, Sandy Rendel, and Stephen Verney, John Houseman, Xan Fielding, Dennis Ciclitira and Ralph Stockbridge.The New Zealander Dudley "Kiwi" Perkins, also known as “Kapetan Vasili” by locals became a legend for his courage, and after he was killed, the Cretans kept his grave covered with flowers.