Battle of 42nd Street

35°28′55″N 24°03′21″E / 35.4819°N 24.0559°E / 35.4819; 24.0559

Battle of 42nd Street
Part of World War II, Battle of Crete
Forty-Second street sign.
Date 27 May 1941 Location South-east of Chania, Crete Result Allied victory; German advance halted
Belligerents
Australia New Zealand	Germany
Units involved
2/7th Battalion 2/8th Battalion 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion 19th Battalion 21st Battalion 22nd Battalion 23rd Battalion 28th (Maori) Battalion	1st Battalion of the 141st Gebirgsjäger Regiment from the 6th Mountain Division Small groups of paratroopers
Strength
	Roughly 400 men
Casualties and losses
52 killed or wounded	Roughly 280 killed, 3 captured

The Battle of 42nd Street (27 May 1941) was fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete between an attacking Anzac force and fleeing German troops. On 20 May, Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete. A week later, after the British and Commonwealth forces defending the island had been 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 the road, 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 coast.