Where the Flaming Hell Are We? The story of young Australians and New Zealanders fighting the Nazis in Greece and Crete

‘We used our knees and our rifle butts and our blades. For a while we stopped being ordinary blokes and became blood-lusted creatures.’

March, 1941: 40,000 Australian and New Zealand troops are rushed to Greece in a desperate attempt to stop the Wehrmacht overrunning the country. Most of them overseas for the first time in their lives, they seek excitement and adventure. What they get are experiences they could never have imagined.


The operation is doomed to fail, but not before the Aussies and Kiwis succeed in holding up the German advance and evacuating thousands, mainly to Crete, where Hitler next sets his sights. As the Nazis assault the island, they deploy a devastating new weapon of invasion-paratroopers-for the very first time, meeting desperate resistance as the Allies fight for their lives.


Craig Collie, bestselling author of The Path of Infinite Sorrowand Nagasaki, delves into the experiences of the soldiers who fought in the mountains and villages of Greece, and faced entrapment and death on Crete. We all know of Gallipoli and the Fall of Singapore, but Greece and Crete are also major events in our countries’ shared history, and as with those two great military disasters, British leadership has much to answer for.


Through first-hand accounts, Where the Flaming Hell Are We? brings to life the gripping story of the fight for Greece and Crete in World War II. The soldiers’ experiences, many told here for the very first time, are a testament to the human spirit and the unbreakable bonds formed in war.


‘Wonderfully woven, this is the fight for the Aegean in World War II come to life. A great read.’ Peter FitzSimons, author of Kokoda


‘Master storyteller Craig Collie recounts an untold history of a little remembered series of desperate actions in the Mediterranean spring of 1941. The well-researched narrative lives; populated with typical Anzac men and women, a story I’m sorry I didn’t think to write myself.’ Will Davies, author of Beneath Hill 60




Praise for Craig Collie:


‘grippingly told’ -The Age on On Our Doorstep


‘enthralling reading . . . This book is an important contribution to Australia’s secret military history’ – Australian Defence Force Journal on Code Breakers

‘grips you like a well-crafted thriller . . . Seldom are writers able to inject this level of minutely detailed social history into such an account. Collie has, and this is a corker.’ – Courier-Mail on Nagasaki

‘penetrating in its research and original in its conclusions. . . a fine wartime historian’ -The Australian on The Path of Infinite Sorrow

Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Publication date: 01/08/2023