Known in Germany as Höllenkommando Kreta and in Greece as I haravgi tis nikis, this begins in 1943. We find ourselves on the rugged, occupied island of Crete. The Allied forces stationed in the Middle East dispatch a high-stakes commando mission to dismantle the massive German military airport, tightening the Axis grip on the region. Leading this squad of hand-picked saboteurs is Nikitas (Nikos Dadinopoulos)—a proud Cretan bearing a heavy burden: he is the son of a notorious, collaborationist traitor (played by Dimos Starenios).
To pull off this impossible, life-or-death operation behind enemy lines, Nikitas and his men need to coordinate with the local underground Resistance movement. Enter Lefteris (Lakis Komninos), the fierce, uncompromising leader of the local fighters. Complicating matters far beyond tactical disagreements, both men share a history with Martha (Miranta Kounelaki), a local village woman who holds both their hearts. When friction and hesitation threaten the mission, the stakes skyrocket. After the resistance strikes a blow by destroying a bridge, brutal German reprisals target the civilian population, setting the stage for a gritty, explosive clash of honor, sacrifice and survival.
Decades later, the film lives on in Greek pop-culture memory largely due to a specific, harrowing sequence involving Dimos Starenios’s collaborator character begging villagers to appease the occupying forces with the infamous pleading line: “The Germans love us! They came here as friends!”
Director Dimis Dadiras took the production straight to the historical heart of the events, shooting across authentic Cretan landscapes in late 1970. Production backdrops included the dramatic ruins of the Fortezza castle in Rethymno, Chania, the Kourtaliotiko and Prasiano gorges, and the Nida plateau. It also features powerful traditional sounds, including musical compositions by Kostas Kapnisis and the legendary Cretan singer Nikos Xylouris performing the Rizitiko song “When will the frost break” (“Pote tha spasei i pagonia”).
When The Dawn of Victory premiered at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in 1971, it faced intense, vocal pushback and heckling from audiences, leading to a notoriously rocky screening where producers desperately tried to quiet the crowd. Who knew that one day, it would be in the Sybil Danning Adventure Video release catalog?
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