Battle of 42nd Street 1941
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 27 May 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Greece | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 35.4819, 24.0559 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of 42nd Street was fought between Australian and New Zealand (Anzac) forces and German troops on the island of Crete on 27 May 1941, during World War II. The location took its name from a sunken dirt road south-east of Chania, unofficially named 42nd Street by British troops after the 42nd Field Company, Royal Engineers, who had been stationed there. On 20 May, Germany launched a combined airborne and amphibious invasion of Crete. A week later, after the British and Commonwealth forces defending the island were forced to withdraw towards Chania, a force of several understrength Australian and New Zealand infantry battalions established a defensive line along 42nd Street, south-east of Chania, forming a rearguard for the withdrawing troops.
On 27 May, as a German battalion advanced towards 42nd Street, the Anzac defenders carried out a bayonet charge that inflicted heavy casualties on the German attackers, which forced them to withdraw and briefly halted the German advance. Afterwards, the Anzac troops kept retreating towards the southern coast of the island.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of 42nd Street (revision 1379820167), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Crete 1941 · 2 km
- Siege of Chania (1645) 1645 · 5 km
- Battle of Cape Spada 1940 · 38 km
- Battle of Rethymno 1941 · 44 km
- Battle of Trahili 1943 · 81 km
- Siege of Chandax 960 · 99 km
Other battles of the World War II
- Battle of the Hague (1940) 1940
- Operation Wikinger 1940
- Siege of Calais (1940) 1940
- Siege of Malta (World War II) 1940
- Åndalsnes landings 1940
- Action of 4 April 1941 1941
- Battle of Amba Alagi (1941) 1941
- Battle of Bardia 1941
- Battle of Brody (1941) 1941
- Battle of Gurun 1941
All 178 battles of the World War II →
Browse more: battles in Greece · Europe · World War II era battles