The resulting German and Italian occupation of Crete was marred by massacres on both sides: of both German soldiers and Greek partisans and civilians. More than 8,000 Cretans lost their lives in the resistance. When 20,000 Italians surrendered in 1943 they were made POW's too but almost a third drowned at sea after German merchant ships carrying them to the mainland were torpedoed by British submarines. These forgotten tragedies constituted one of the world's biggest maritime disasters.