25 Apr 2024

'Undefeated men in a defeated army' Cretan historian on the Maori Battalion

From Māpuna Podcast, 8:00 am on 25 April 2024

For Anzac Day Māpuna revisits an episode from 2023 when producer Tama Muru visited the Greek island of Crete to delve into the history of the battle in 1941 which pitted New Zealand, Australian and British troops against elite paratroopers from Nazi Germany. Cretan historian Apostolis Panigirakis leads a tour of famous battlefield sites such as Maleme, Galatas and 42nd Street near Suda Bay where the 28th Māori Battalion performed a haka before taking part in a bayonet charge against advancing German troops. He says they were 'undefeated men in a defeated army.'