This one is from my shelf of half read books. I love Anthony Beevor, after reading the unputdownable Stalingrad. Crete is not in that league, but still well written, fascinating, and full of well researched opinion.
Beevor's thesis is why the Brits very incompetently lost Greece to the Germans in WW II and then followed suit by even more incompetently losing Crete. He blames it on the British officers running the show there and on one particular officer, Major General Freyburg, who "misread" Ultra communiques from Britain and prepared for a sea invasion instead of an airborne one. The son of this officer wrote a defence of his father so it is a well known controversy.
Beevor admires the Cretan partisan defence, made up of mainly priests, women, and kids (the Cretan men being in Greece defending the mainland) that went into action as the German paratroopers landed and kept it up through the entire occupation.
The Med was teeming with boats and submarines making secret landings on Crete and other islands, dropping off and picking up Brits and partisans, including the King of Greece.
Beevor as usual makes the whole story fascinating and easy to read, and I eagerly and constantly referred to the maps provided to follow the battles and other events.
Although there are many characters, he describes them and their relationships in interesting detail as to make them distinct and memorable. He especially likes to include opinions the players had of the others. He mentions Evelyn Waugh several times, as he was one of these officers --- Officers and Gentlemen was based on his experiences in Crete (it's on the reading pile).
The story ends with well drawn explanation of the Greco/Cretan political rivalries leading to civil war and chaos as the Germans leave Crete.
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