Kidnap in Crete: The True Story of the Abduction of a Nazi General, by Rick Stroud
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Kidnap in Crete: The True Story of the Abduction of a Nazi General, by Rick Stroud
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This is the story of how a small SOE unit led by Patrick Leigh Fermor kidnapped a German general on the Nazi-occupied island of Crete in 1944. For thirty-two days, they were chased across the mountains as they headed for the coast and a rendezvous with a Royal Navy launch waiting to spirit the general to Cairo.
Rick Stroud, whose Phantom Army of Alamein won plaudits for its meticulous research and its lightness of touch in the telling, brings these same gifts to bear in this new project. From the adrenalin rush of the kidnapping, to the help provided by the Cretan partisans and people, he explains the overall context of Crete's role in World War II and reveals the devastating consequences of this mission for them all.
There have been other accounts, but Kidnap in Crete is the first book to draw on all the sources, notably those in Crete as well as SOE files and the accounts, letters, and private papers of its operatives in London and Edinburgh.
Kidnap in Crete: The True Story of the Abduction of a Nazi General, by Rick Stroud- Amazon Sales Rank: #1102724 in Books
- Brand: Stroud, Rick
- Published on: 2015-05-05
- Released on: 2015-05-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.54" h x 1.20" w x 6.42" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 304 pages
Review
“A wonderful book: charming, fascinating . . . There are few better accounts of this epic desert struggle . . . A gem of a book and a classic of its kind.” ―James Holland, author of The Battle of Britain and Fortress Malta on The Phantom Army of Alamein
“Told with clarity, humour and precision.” ―The Times on The Phantom Army of Alamein
“A fascinating study of how the most unlikely characters became heroes.” ―Independent on Sunday on The Phantom Army of Alamein
“A stirring adventure with an exotic setting and a thrilling cast.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
About the Author Rick Stroud is the author of The Phantom Army of Alamein: The Men Who Hoodwinked Rommel and The Book of the Moon. He is also the coauthor, with Victor Gregg, of Rifleman: A Front Line Life from Alamein and Dresden to the Fall of the Berlin Wall and King's Cross Kid: A London Childhood Between the Wars. He lives in Chelsea, London.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Perhaps The Most Audacious Mission Of WWII By Nemoman British special forces Maj Patrick Fermor, parachutes into German occupied Crete, organizes a band of partisans, and successfully kidnaps the island's German Commander, eventually spiriting him off the the island. The story previously was told in the book Ill Met By Moonlight, which was made into a movie starring Dirk Bogard. Stroud does an excellent job of detailing the operation, and fully developes the key characters.The book begins with the German takeover of the island, which outcome was uncertain for at least a week. The occupation was initially brutal, with villages destroyed, and men women and children executed in reprisals. The Cretan resistance, however, was well organized and led. Patrick Fermor takes primary credit for that. Paddy is a heroic figure, and a man's man in the old meaning of that expression. At the age of nineteen he was expelled from a private school for rowdy behavior, whereupon he hiked on foot from the hook of holland to Istanbul during the time Hitler was coming into power. He wrote a trilogy of that journey, considered a classic of travel writing. I consider the first book of that trilogy - A Time Of Gifts - one of the finest books I have ever read. At the outbreak of WWII he entered the British special forces, and was stationed in Cairo. His assignment to Crete was based on his poly- linguistic skills, including fluency in German and Greek.Although Crete would appear to be a backwater sideshow in the war as a whole, it had strategic importance for Germany during its operations in North Africa. Likewise partisans were able to provide the British valuable intelligence on German troop and supply movements.At some point, Fermor came up with the idea of kidnapping the German Commander. There was some doubt as to the wisdom of the operation. There was fear of German reprisals that would follow such a kidnapping, and moreover at the time in 1944, Germany was losing the war anyway. Nevertheless, Fermor prevailed.Fermor and two others were to parachute into Crete, along with considerable supplies; however, due to bad weather, Fermor was the only one to make it out of the plane. He had to hide out with partisans until, after other unsucessful attempts, his team members landed in Crete.Fermor was a natural leader of men, and an exceptional strategist. With a substantial crew of partisans, he impersonated a German military policeman and halted the German commander's (Gen Kriepke) car , whereupon they quickly overpowered him. Fermor donned Krieke's hat and with the General's pennants flying on the car's front, they were waved through a number of checkpoints. They abandoned the car and began an epic trip over the mountains to find a location where they could be spirited off the island. The Germans were everywhere trying to find them. A number of landing beaches had to be crossed off. Moreover, the Germans razed three villages suspected of harboring them. Ultimately, a launch landed, and carried them back to Cairo.The mission was heroic and audacious; however, the question remains whether it was worth it. The reprisals weighed heavy on Fermor's mind; however, based on subsequent German correspondence, he came to believe that the reprisals were for partisan activity unrelated to the kidnapping. This may have been a convenient rationalization. In any event the book is a captivating and adventurous read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Loved the book, even though the kidnap seemed a futile exercise By Malvika In 1941, the German forces took over the island of Crete. This in itself is a fascinating story as the author narrates the fantastic spirit of the local people in trying to fend off the attack. In any other town or city the advance of an armed army would have sent people running for cover and trying to save their lives. In Crete it seems all the local people, men, women and children, thronged onto the streets with whatever weapons they could lay their hands on. Eyewitness accounts tell of people walking out with kitchen knives lashed onto broom handles as their only weapons to face an enemy carrying three different types of guns and enough ammunition to last for days. What kind of spirit did these people have that prompted them to take their lives in their hands literally? It defies a simple explanation.The German invaders were in no way less impressive. When I first read about the 'gliders', I thought they were small planes. It was not until a few pages later that I saw that they were in effect collapsible gliders that were tied by a rope to the Junker planes and carried one platoon of paratroopers. The Germans lost almost half their paratrooper force when they were killed while still in the flimsy gliders. What were their superiors thinking? But hey, a soldier's not to question why, a soldier's but to do or die.From 1941, until the end of the war, the Cretans had an active resistance movement. The British seemed to have an almost proprietorial interest in the island. They seem to be a bit hurt when an acting general of the Cretan resistance proposed that they were fighting for the independence of Crete and would not recognize any other state's dominance when they threw out the Germans. Still, it was the British who kept fuelling the fires of the resistance with continuous supplies and exchange of information and were a big help in their own way.As for the kidnap itself, I failed to understand the point of it. It seems that the intelligence officers were mavericks looking for a new high in the form of life-threatening adventures. Apparently, there was one individual who thought like me and tried to deter the kidnapping by saying that it made no sense to expose the locals to reprisals at this late stage when the war was almost at its end. Nobody listened to him, of course.The journey was long, tedious, exciting and everything that these British officers had hoped for. That it was a complete waste of time and energy is another matter.I loved this book. The author is so obviously a boy so in love with adventure stories that he tends to glorify all the main characters throughout the book. Most people would absolutely love this book for the bravery and sheer recklessness of the protagonists, while I was pleased to point out all the flaws in their plans and bemoan the stupidity of men. It is a good read and the author provides anecdotes from various sources that constantly liven up the narrative.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Bravery, Deprivation and Determination on German-Occupied Crete By Timothy M. Biddle This is a good story, and fascinating because it is true. The heart of the book about the kidnap planning, execution and getaway is worthy of a 5 rating, but I thought there are too many (and detailed) chapters about background, with too many names and places to easily follow. The post-kidnap chapters get tiresome because of the long accounts about the many communications between the kidnappers hiding in the mountains and the British agents on the island who operated wireless radios to talk to their British base in Egypt. If you like gritty details about the German army's occupation of Crete, want to know what British agents did to bedevil the Germans on Crete and can endure keeping track of dozens of Cretans with long names (and their relatives, and their histories, and what happened to them after the war), this is the book for you.
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