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Secuestrar a un general
Una de las grandes aventuras de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y una de las mayores hazañas de la extraordinaria vida del escritor y viajero británico, Patrick Leigh Fermor, fue el secuestro del general Kreipe, el comandante de las fuerzas alemanas en Creta, el 26 de abril de 1944. El atrevido plan fue tramado para evitar que siguiese la dura política alemana de represalias contra la población cretense. Vestidos como policías militares alemanes, Patrick Leigh Fermor, y su compañero en la aventura, Billy Moss, detuvieron y tomaron el control del coche de Kreipe, atravesaron veintidós puestos de control enemigos, lograron ocultarse y realizar un duro viaje para entregar finalmente a su rehén en una playa al sur de la isla y transportarle a un lugar seguro en Egipto.
Secuestrar a un general es el emocionante relato literario sobre dicho suceso realizado por el propio Leigh Fermor.
Además de un impresionante testimonio de primera mano de semejante aventura bélica, este libro, debido a su estilo inimitable, resulta una pieza maestra de la literatura autobiográfica. Leigh Fermor, considerado hoy ya un clásico moderno de la prosa viajera y de memorias en inglés, no renuncia en ningún momento a sus enormes dotes literarias, incluso para realizar sus informes de inteligencia militar, también incluidos aquí. Escritos en medio de una acción de guerra totalmente especial e imprevisible, y redactados desde sus guaridas en la Creta más profunda, entonan con el texto principal para ofrecer una vívida imagen de conjunto de las peligrosas operaciones especiales, de la resistencia cretense, de la especial convivencia con su propia víctima, del paisaje, e incluso de las más íntimas y eruditas especulaciones de su protagonista.
Con el fin de que el lector pueda revivir este increíble evento, y su no menos extraordinario relato, también se incluyen una presentación del afamado historiador Roderick Bailey, un conjunto de imágenes históricas y una guía del viaje que hubo de soportar el general alemán desde que fue sacado de su coche y hasta el lugar de su embarque hacia Egipto.
Secuestrar a un general es el emocionante relato literario sobre dicho suceso realizado por el propio Leigh Fermor.
Además de un impresionante testimonio de primera mano de semejante aventura bélica, este libro, debido a su estilo inimitable, resulta una pieza maestra de la literatura autobiográfica. Leigh Fermor, considerado hoy ya un clásico moderno de la prosa viajera y de memorias en inglés, no renuncia en ningún momento a sus enormes dotes literarias, incluso para realizar sus informes de inteligencia militar, también incluidos aquí. Escritos en medio de una acción de guerra totalmente especial e imprevisible, y redactados desde sus guaridas en la Creta más profunda, entonan con el texto principal para ofrecer una vívida imagen de conjunto de las peligrosas operaciones especiales, de la resistencia cretense, de la especial convivencia con su propia víctima, del paisaje, e incluso de las más íntimas y eruditas especulaciones de su protagonista.
Con el fin de que el lector pueda revivir este increíble evento, y su no menos extraordinario relato, también se incluyen una presentación del afamado historiador Roderick Bailey, un conjunto de imágenes históricas y una guía del viaje que hubo de soportar el general alemán desde que fue sacado de su coche y hasta el lugar de su embarque hacia Egipto.
336 pages, Paperback
First published October 9, 2014
69 people are currently reading
562 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Leigh Fermor
53 books575 followersSir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor, OBE, DSO was of English and Irish descent. After his stormy schooldays, followed by his walk across Europe to Constantinople, he lived and travelled in the Balkans and the Greek Archipelago acquiring a deep interest in languages and remote places.
Fermor was an army officer who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Battle of Crete during World War II. He lived partly in Greece in a house he designed with his wife Joan in an olive grove in the Mani, and partly in Worcestershire. He was widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer".
Fermor was an army officer who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Battle of Crete during World War II. He lived partly in Greece in a house he designed with his wife Joan in an olive grove in the Mani, and partly in Worcestershire. He was widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
March 1, 2024
This is a very well written book and the author really takes you to the island of Crete with him with his detailed description of the island and its people. That being said, the focus of this book is more on that than the actual operation and getaway, and is told more in a poetic way with the raid being constantly in the background. Still a very interesting book by the man who led the raid and is recommendable for a quick read.
March 11, 2024
A book of two parts - the first being Patrick Leigh Fermor's telling of the abduction of (the German) General Kreipe on Crete in 1944 by Paddy and his SOE (Special Operations Executive) companions and Cretan guerillas or resistant rebels.
By way of background Crete was under Axis control - Germany with some Italian forces until their surrender, with most eligible Cretans in the Greek forces, leaving older men and younger men, along with women, to oppose the Germans. The British SOE were few in numbers, and were tasked with reconnaissance, encouraging resistance, carrying out sabotage and generally just to irritate the German forces.
Fermor's ability to speak fluent Greek, his ability to blend in, disguised as a shepherd or villager made him an ideal SOE operative, and as a Major he was leader on Crete at the time.
So the first part of the book explains in Fermor's style the capturing of General Kreipe, of moving him all around the mountains of Crete from hideout to hideout and eventual rendezvous with a British ship to take him to British command in Egypt. The whole process is well described, with Fermor lavishing praise of the Cretan's who are assisting them, constantly reinforcing the fact they are volunteers who generally refuse all form of payment, and take huge risk to their families and homes to actively resist the occupying forces.
The second part of the book is a copy of the nine reports he wrote for the SOE. They are edited to reduce by about two thirds, omitting what is described as 'long lists of German dispositions, together with complex accounts of local politics and guerilla machinations'. What remains describe various things such as morale (Enemy and Cretan), propaganda, working plans and updates of progress. In spite of using pseudonyms for the people involved (there is a glossary, and the first time they are mentioned they are defined) they are readable and interesting. The reports differ in detail depending on whether they were written at rest or in a rush for a rendezvous, and show the progress of the SOE but also the Germans on Crete for the period June 1942 to December 1944.
Rounding out this book is a 10 page Guide to the Abduction Route by Chris and Peter White, which as can be expected from the title describes the route taken by car and then foot with the General in hand. This is somewhat gimmicky as unless you intend to visit Crete and reenact the journey is means little to the reader. Mostly it is described by GPS coordinates, as the majority of the action takes place out of the villages etc.
Nevertheless, a reasonably quick and enjoyable read.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
By way of background Crete was under Axis control - Germany with some Italian forces until their surrender, with most eligible Cretans in the Greek forces, leaving older men and younger men, along with women, to oppose the Germans. The British SOE were few in numbers, and were tasked with reconnaissance, encouraging resistance, carrying out sabotage and generally just to irritate the German forces.
Fermor's ability to speak fluent Greek, his ability to blend in, disguised as a shepherd or villager made him an ideal SOE operative, and as a Major he was leader on Crete at the time.
So the first part of the book explains in Fermor's style the capturing of General Kreipe, of moving him all around the mountains of Crete from hideout to hideout and eventual rendezvous with a British ship to take him to British command in Egypt. The whole process is well described, with Fermor lavishing praise of the Cretan's who are assisting them, constantly reinforcing the fact they are volunteers who generally refuse all form of payment, and take huge risk to their families and homes to actively resist the occupying forces.
The second part of the book is a copy of the nine reports he wrote for the SOE. They are edited to reduce by about two thirds, omitting what is described as 'long lists of German dispositions, together with complex accounts of local politics and guerilla machinations'. What remains describe various things such as morale (Enemy and Cretan), propaganda, working plans and updates of progress. In spite of using pseudonyms for the people involved (there is a glossary, and the first time they are mentioned they are defined) they are readable and interesting. The reports differ in detail depending on whether they were written at rest or in a rush for a rendezvous, and show the progress of the SOE but also the Germans on Crete for the period June 1942 to December 1944.
Rounding out this book is a 10 page Guide to the Abduction Route by Chris and Peter White, which as can be expected from the title describes the route taken by car and then foot with the General in hand. This is somewhat gimmicky as unless you intend to visit Crete and reenact the journey is means little to the reader. Mostly it is described by GPS coordinates, as the majority of the action takes place out of the villages etc.
Nevertheless, a reasonably quick and enjoyable read.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
April 19, 2023
Fitzroy Maclean, SAS, Yugoslavia, in Eastern Approaches:
With a jerk my parachute opened and I found myself dangling, as it were at the end of a string, high above a silent mountain valley, greenish-grey and misty in the light of the moon. It looked, I thought, invitingly cool and refreshing after the sand and glare of North Africa. Somewhere above me the aircraft, having completed its mission, was headed for home. The noise of its engines grew gradually fainter in the distance. A long way below me and some distance away I could see a number of fires burning. I hoped they were the right ones, for the Germans also lit fires at night at different points in the Balkans in the hope of diverting supplies and parachutists from their proper destinations. As I swung lower, I could hear a faint noise of shouting coming from the direction of the fires. I could still not see the ground immediately beneath me. We must, I reflected, have been dropped from a considerable height to take so long coming down. Then, without further warning, there was a jolt and I was lying in a field of wet grass. There was no one in sight.
Patrick Leigh Fermor, SOE, Crete, in Abducting a General:
The sierras of occupied Crete, familiar from nearly two years of clandestine sojourn and hundreds of exacting marches, looked quite different through the aperture in the converted bomber's floor and the gaps in the clouds below: a chaos of snow-covered, aloof and enormous spikes glittering as white as a glacier in the February moonlight. Then, suddenly, on a tiny plateau among the peaks, were the three signal fires twinkling. A few moments later they began expanding fast: freed at last from the noise inside the Liberator the parachute sailed gently down towards the heart of the triangle. Small figures were running in the firelight and in another few moments, snow muffled the impact of landing. There was a scrum of whiskery embracing, a score of Cretan voices, one English one. A perfect landing!
Maclean's passage is an old favorite, but he yields the palm of eloquence to Fermor. During the war Maclean also abducted a general – seized at gunpoint and hustled into a waiting car the Iranian General Fazlollah Zahedi, thought to be planning a pro-German coup from Isfahan; a decade on, Zahedi, backed by MI6 and the CIA, would overthrow and replace Prime Minister Mosaddegh.
Abducting a General speaks to the English military penchant for deceptive ruses and theatrical cunning. General Kreipe called his abduction a “hussar stunt” – perfect description of an operation that required as much acting and flair for costume as it did courage and physical hardiness. To stop the General's car, Fermor and his second in command, W. Stanley Moss, had to dress as Feldpolizei. There was some anxiety because only one pair of the regulation high boots could be obtained, and Moss had to step into the headlights wearing puttees, not worn in the German army since the Great War. Neither Kreipe nor his driver noticed. After the driver was hit over the head and hustled away by guerillas – they would slit his throat – and with Kreipe securely held under knives in back, Fermor donned the General's cap and posed in the passenger seat, through twenty-two checkpoints, letting the cap's bill, the car's pennants, Moss' cool driving through Hun-thronged Heraklion, and the shadows do their work. At the twenty-second checkpoint, Fermor had to improvise an indignant growl – Generals Wagen! – for a sentry who appeared ready to check papers, and the sentry, convinced, or at least cowed, raised the last striped gate before the friendly mountains.
To prevent reprisals against Cretan civilians, Fermor and Moss had to convince the pursuing Germans of an all-English operation. They sowed their tracks with characteristic props. The General's car was abandoned near a bay in which British subs occasionally surfaced. In the car they left a letter claiming responsibility for the act, signed with their names, and “wax seals from our rings after the names, for fun, and because such emblems were unlikely to be worn by partisans.” The interior of the car was carefully strewn with “fag-ends of Player's cigarettes,” a Raiding Forces beret (“Who Dares, Wins”), and an Agatha Christie paperback. “We kicked up the pathway, running down it to plant a round Player's tin, and, further on, a Cadbury's milk chocolate wrapper. (If only we'd had a sailor's cap…)”
Abducting a General consists of three parts, progressively detailed: his ninety-page account of the abduction and getaway, written in 1965 and here published in full for the first time; a selection of his official reports for SOE Cairo, jaunty and humorous little pieces penned by torchlight in various hideouts, over a span of two years; and a guide to western Crete written by two current climbers, for the true cultists who might wish to hike the abduction route.
With a jerk my parachute opened and I found myself dangling, as it were at the end of a string, high above a silent mountain valley, greenish-grey and misty in the light of the moon. It looked, I thought, invitingly cool and refreshing after the sand and glare of North Africa. Somewhere above me the aircraft, having completed its mission, was headed for home. The noise of its engines grew gradually fainter in the distance. A long way below me and some distance away I could see a number of fires burning. I hoped they were the right ones, for the Germans also lit fires at night at different points in the Balkans in the hope of diverting supplies and parachutists from their proper destinations. As I swung lower, I could hear a faint noise of shouting coming from the direction of the fires. I could still not see the ground immediately beneath me. We must, I reflected, have been dropped from a considerable height to take so long coming down. Then, without further warning, there was a jolt and I was lying in a field of wet grass. There was no one in sight.
Patrick Leigh Fermor, SOE, Crete, in Abducting a General:
The sierras of occupied Crete, familiar from nearly two years of clandestine sojourn and hundreds of exacting marches, looked quite different through the aperture in the converted bomber's floor and the gaps in the clouds below: a chaos of snow-covered, aloof and enormous spikes glittering as white as a glacier in the February moonlight. Then, suddenly, on a tiny plateau among the peaks, were the three signal fires twinkling. A few moments later they began expanding fast: freed at last from the noise inside the Liberator the parachute sailed gently down towards the heart of the triangle. Small figures were running in the firelight and in another few moments, snow muffled the impact of landing. There was a scrum of whiskery embracing, a score of Cretan voices, one English one. A perfect landing!
Maclean's passage is an old favorite, but he yields the palm of eloquence to Fermor. During the war Maclean also abducted a general – seized at gunpoint and hustled into a waiting car the Iranian General Fazlollah Zahedi, thought to be planning a pro-German coup from Isfahan; a decade on, Zahedi, backed by MI6 and the CIA, would overthrow and replace Prime Minister Mosaddegh.
Abducting a General speaks to the English military penchant for deceptive ruses and theatrical cunning. General Kreipe called his abduction a “hussar stunt” – perfect description of an operation that required as much acting and flair for costume as it did courage and physical hardiness. To stop the General's car, Fermor and his second in command, W. Stanley Moss, had to dress as Feldpolizei. There was some anxiety because only one pair of the regulation high boots could be obtained, and Moss had to step into the headlights wearing puttees, not worn in the German army since the Great War. Neither Kreipe nor his driver noticed. After the driver was hit over the head and hustled away by guerillas – they would slit his throat – and with Kreipe securely held under knives in back, Fermor donned the General's cap and posed in the passenger seat, through twenty-two checkpoints, letting the cap's bill, the car's pennants, Moss' cool driving through Hun-thronged Heraklion, and the shadows do their work. At the twenty-second checkpoint, Fermor had to improvise an indignant growl – Generals Wagen! – for a sentry who appeared ready to check papers, and the sentry, convinced, or at least cowed, raised the last striped gate before the friendly mountains.
To prevent reprisals against Cretan civilians, Fermor and Moss had to convince the pursuing Germans of an all-English operation. They sowed their tracks with characteristic props. The General's car was abandoned near a bay in which British subs occasionally surfaced. In the car they left a letter claiming responsibility for the act, signed with their names, and “wax seals from our rings after the names, for fun, and because such emblems were unlikely to be worn by partisans.” The interior of the car was carefully strewn with “fag-ends of Player's cigarettes,” a Raiding Forces beret (“Who Dares, Wins”), and an Agatha Christie paperback. “We kicked up the pathway, running down it to plant a round Player's tin, and, further on, a Cadbury's milk chocolate wrapper. (If only we'd had a sailor's cap…)”
Abducting a General consists of three parts, progressively detailed: his ninety-page account of the abduction and getaway, written in 1965 and here published in full for the first time; a selection of his official reports for SOE Cairo, jaunty and humorous little pieces penned by torchlight in various hideouts, over a span of two years; and a guide to western Crete written by two current climbers, for the true cultists who might wish to hike the abduction route.
June 3, 2017
Patrick Leigh Fermor is such a great writer that he makes this a seamless story. The abduction is fairly well known having had previous books written about and a film made. Anyone that has an interest in the Cretan events of WW2 will find this a more than useful addiction to their reading. Though the main story is short, only 91 pages in my copy, there is plenty more that the publishers have added to keep interest. Nine of the authors wartime reports make fascinating reading and there is a very good guide to the abduction route that has to be more than useful for anyone who would like to take that in while visiting Crete. Very good.
July 5, 2020
This is the third time I have read an account of the kidnap of General Heinrich Kreipe, the commander of a German division on the island of Crete during the German occupation of World War 2. The first was in the excellent biography of Patrick Leigh Fermor, Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper, the second in The Cretan Runner by George Psychoundakis (which Patrick Leigh Fermor translated into English), and now this version.
Patrick Leigh Fermor wrote his version in 1966-67 just after the death of W Stanley "Billy" Moss. He wanted Billy Moss to be allowed to write his account first. Moss's book was written in 1945 and published in 1950 and is called Ill Met By Moonlight. This book was later made into a film with the same title starring Dirk Bogarde by the British writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
Abducting a General: The Kreipe Operation and SOE in Crete is split into two parts: the first is about the kidnap of General Kreipe and the main focus of this is on getting him across the island and off Crete to Cairo, the second part contains nine of Patrick Leigh Fermor's contemporaneous war reports written whilst he was part of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) on Crete - these hurriedly written reports give a wonderful insight into Paddy's day to day life as an SOE operative on Crete.
This is the third book by Patrick Leigh Fermor I have read. The other two are the first two parts of the trilogy (A Time of Gifts, Between the Woods and the Water, and The Broken Road) in which he describes his walk from the hook of Holland to Constantinople as a teenager. Whether it was familiarity with the story, or whether it was that this book is not as coherent and well written as the other two, I did not connect with this book in the same way. I suspect I would have enjoyed it more had I come to it with less prior knowledge. That said, it is a short, well written and interesting account and worth reading for anyone interested in Crete during WW2, or for those who, like me, have fallen under Paddy's spell.
4/5
Patrick Leigh Fermor wrote his version in 1966-67 just after the death of W Stanley "Billy" Moss. He wanted Billy Moss to be allowed to write his account first. Moss's book was written in 1945 and published in 1950 and is called Ill Met By Moonlight. This book was later made into a film with the same title starring Dirk Bogarde by the British writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
Abducting a General: The Kreipe Operation and SOE in Crete is split into two parts: the first is about the kidnap of General Kreipe and the main focus of this is on getting him across the island and off Crete to Cairo, the second part contains nine of Patrick Leigh Fermor's contemporaneous war reports written whilst he was part of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) on Crete - these hurriedly written reports give a wonderful insight into Paddy's day to day life as an SOE operative on Crete.
This is the third book by Patrick Leigh Fermor I have read. The other two are the first two parts of the trilogy (A Time of Gifts, Between the Woods and the Water, and The Broken Road) in which he describes his walk from the hook of Holland to Constantinople as a teenager. Whether it was familiarity with the story, or whether it was that this book is not as coherent and well written as the other two, I did not connect with this book in the same way. I suspect I would have enjoyed it more had I come to it with less prior knowledge. That said, it is a short, well written and interesting account and worth reading for anyone interested in Crete during WW2, or for those who, like me, have fallen under Paddy's spell.
4/5
November 11, 2015
Major Patrick Leigh Fermor's subordinate, Captain Stanley Moss, wrote the first book about the extraordinary British Special Operations abduction of the top Nazi General from Crete. It's called "lll Met By Moonlight," and I gave it only three stars. (Moss's book was the basis for the 1957 film of the same name, staring Dirk Bogarde.) But, in addition to speaking no Greek, and knowing little of Crete, Moss was not a writer of the quality of Leigh Fermor--few are.
Fermor waited until Moss's death before publishing his version. And the short work (50,000 words) is vastly more rewarding. The poetry of his prose; his unbidden love for the Cretan people; his fear of capture; his terror of reprisals to natives of Crete, whether partisans or not. Even after reading the story twice, I'm anxious to see the movie.
Surely the most astounding moment (I don't recall Moss mentioning it) is when the German General -- being spirited from one mountain hiding hole to another, barely ahead of the pursuing Nazis -- morosely, quietly, under his breath, begins to declaim Horace's Ode to Thaliarchus on Mount Kedros [Mount Kedros is on Crete]. Leigh Femor picks up at the second line and completes it--both of them in Latin of course. The General looks up and, after a pause, says, "Ach so, Herr Major." Leigh Fermor writes, "For five minutes the war had evaporated without a trace." Yet the deeper epiphany, I think, was the General's: his captor was no beast, but an educated (and thus presumably honorable) man.
Fermor waited until Moss's death before publishing his version. And the short work (50,000 words) is vastly more rewarding. The poetry of his prose; his unbidden love for the Cretan people; his fear of capture; his terror of reprisals to natives of Crete, whether partisans or not. Even after reading the story twice, I'm anxious to see the movie.
Surely the most astounding moment (I don't recall Moss mentioning it) is when the German General -- being spirited from one mountain hiding hole to another, barely ahead of the pursuing Nazis -- morosely, quietly, under his breath, begins to declaim Horace's Ode to Thaliarchus on Mount Kedros [Mount Kedros is on Crete]. Leigh Femor picks up at the second line and completes it--both of them in Latin of course. The General looks up and, after a pause, says, "Ach so, Herr Major." Leigh Fermor writes, "For five minutes the war had evaporated without a trace." Yet the deeper epiphany, I think, was the General's: his captor was no beast, but an educated (and thus presumably honorable) man.
March 27, 2016
During the Second World War, one Patrick Leigh Fermor, a member of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), abducted the general in command of the Nazi forces on Crete and, with the help of Cretan rebels, spirited him over the mountains to a rendezvous with a British vessel, and from thence on to Cairo.
Abducting a General is Fermor's own description of the operation -- written some twenty years after its was over. Before then, his associate on Crete, W. Stanley Moss, wrote his own book on the subject entitled Ill Met by Moonlight, which I have also read.
In addition to this reportage on one of the most surprising events of the War, Fermor was the author of a series of travel classics about Greece and about his walking trip in the 1930s between Holland and Istanbul. So far, everything I have read by Fermor, and I have read everything except his book about the Caribbean, has been worth it.
Abducting a General is Fermor's own description of the operation -- written some twenty years after its was over. Before then, his associate on Crete, W. Stanley Moss, wrote his own book on the subject entitled Ill Met by Moonlight, which I have also read.
In addition to this reportage on one of the most surprising events of the War, Fermor was the author of a series of travel classics about Greece and about his walking trip in the 1930s between Holland and Istanbul. So far, everything I have read by Fermor, and I have read everything except his book about the Caribbean, has been worth it.
February 20, 2016
Patrick Leigh Fermor has been described as one of our nation’s finest travel writers, and I would agree with that. His walk across Europe from Holland to Istanbul before World War II is well worth reading. After the war he then wrote about Greece and the Caribbean, but up until recently there was very little about his exploits during the war.
This book changes that. His illustrious military career started with the Irish guards, but with his language skills he was soon seconded into the Special Operations Executive (SOE) where he was despatched to Crete and mainland Greece several times to work behind German lines and help with the local resistance. The pinnacle of his success there though was the moment that he and his team succeeded in kidnapping General Kreipe, the German commander in Crete. This audacious plan was developed between him and Captain Billy Moss, and took place on the 26th April 1944. Not only did they abduct him with almost no violence, they took the General through 22 German checkpoints with out being stopped before dumping the car and taking Kreipe into hiding. The SBS then collected Fermor and the General from a beach in the south of the island around two weeks later.
This book is Fermors own account of his exploits in Crete and the details behind the abduction. Written in his distinctive style, also include are the secret reports that he sent to his commanders in Egypt, bringing the actual events of that time vividly alive. It is not a long book as it is mostly about that event, but it conveys just how dangerous it was to be behind enemy lines and the number of close calls that he had, for example being in the cellar of a house with German soldiers just above him or being asked for papers and managing to convince the soldier that he was a native. Thankfully his papers were declassified after his death otherwise we would not have this firsthand account. It is not his best piece of writing, but you have to remember that this was written whilst under cover or in challenging circumstances, and allowances should be made. It is a must read for any fans of Fermor, and for fans of World War II books.
This book changes that. His illustrious military career started with the Irish guards, but with his language skills he was soon seconded into the Special Operations Executive (SOE) where he was despatched to Crete and mainland Greece several times to work behind German lines and help with the local resistance. The pinnacle of his success there though was the moment that he and his team succeeded in kidnapping General Kreipe, the German commander in Crete. This audacious plan was developed between him and Captain Billy Moss, and took place on the 26th April 1944. Not only did they abduct him with almost no violence, they took the General through 22 German checkpoints with out being stopped before dumping the car and taking Kreipe into hiding. The SBS then collected Fermor and the General from a beach in the south of the island around two weeks later.
This book is Fermors own account of his exploits in Crete and the details behind the abduction. Written in his distinctive style, also include are the secret reports that he sent to his commanders in Egypt, bringing the actual events of that time vividly alive. It is not a long book as it is mostly about that event, but it conveys just how dangerous it was to be behind enemy lines and the number of close calls that he had, for example being in the cellar of a house with German soldiers just above him or being asked for papers and managing to convince the soldier that he was a native. Thankfully his papers were declassified after his death otherwise we would not have this firsthand account. It is not his best piece of writing, but you have to remember that this was written whilst under cover or in challenging circumstances, and allowances should be made. It is a must read for any fans of Fermor, and for fans of World War II books.
March 22, 2019
Ίσως όχι το σημαντικότερο έργο του συγγραφέα αλλά η εξιστόρηση της απαγωγής του στρατηγού Κράϊπε είναι κινηματογραφική και ενδιαφέρουσα, διανθισμένη με παρατηρήσεις για τον τρόπο ζωής και τον χαρακτήρα των κάτοικων της Κρήτης την εποχή εκείνη. Το μισό περίπου βιβλίο αποτελείται από τα σημαντικότερα μέρη των επισήμων αναφορών που έστελνε ο Πάτρικ Λη Φέρμορ ως αξιωματικός του Βρετανικού Στρατού στο αρχηγείο του καθώς και έναν αναλυτικό οδηγό της διαδρομής της απαγωγής, τα οποία όμως δεν προσθέτουν πολλά κατά τη γνώμη μου.
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February 27, 2024As painful as it is for me to say, this was underwhelming. Now, I’ve been a fan of PLF for a long time, and if anyone was dashing enough to write a lengthy report about the kidnapping of a German general with the help of charming Cretan partisans, it would be him. But this just didn’t work. There was none of the bejeweled detail or brilliant perspective I’d come to expect – even the scene in which General Kreipe quotes Horace in the cave and Fermor finishes his stanza… it was written so much better in the introduction to Between the Woods and the Water. Skip.
May 2, 2017
This is an amazing story of the abduction of a German General in occupied Crete in 1944. I have read a superb account of it in Ill Met by Moonlight by William Stanley Moss, and it also figures in The Cretan Runner by George Psychoundakis. It was led by a Major in the SOE, Patrick Leigh Fermor, later, a famous travel writer. I wondered why he never wrote about it himself & the introduction explains.
At the end of his first 18 month stay in Crete in September 1943, culminating in the successful spiriting away of the General in command of the Italian garrison after the surrender of Italy, Fermor returns to Egypt. That’s when he hatches the plan to abduct the German General responsible for atrocities in Crete and returns in February 1944. Though the butcher General has been replaced, he decides to kidnap the new one anyway. Plans are made swiftly, and had it not been for the late arrival of the rest of the team due to bad weather, the abduction may have happened even before April 28, 1944.
It is truly audacious. Fermor and Moss are to dress up as German traffic police and stop the General’s car. They did, and then drove through the German headquarters of Heraklion, past 22 checkposts and made it. Not having access to a working wireless, it is 16 days before they leave for Egypt on May 14. The poor infrastructure they had to survive with is demonstrated by the fact that even for a mission such as this, they couldn’t get hands on a proper wireless for days.
The German General, Kriepe, seems resigned to his fate and doesn’t give trouble. Fermor is fluent in German and they strike up a sort of friendship, even meeting again in Athens in 1970. Their other common language is Latin, and they have several witty exchanges in that tongue.
Taking General Kriepe through the Cretan resistance strongholds was, as Fermor says, like “taking the Sheriff of Nottingham through Sherwood Forest”. After many vicissitudes, they reach the beach on the night of May 14th where they are to be picked up by the Royal Navy. They almost missed the boat as neither Fermor nor Moss knew the Morse code for “B”, and were saved by the arrival of another British officer who fortunately did.
The account of the abduction is followed by extracts from Fermor’s reports to the SOE while in the field in Crete. They are replete with the tensions of the moment, and a very interesting read.
This is a great book that I thoroughly enjoyed.
At the end of his first 18 month stay in Crete in September 1943, culminating in the successful spiriting away of the General in command of the Italian garrison after the surrender of Italy, Fermor returns to Egypt. That’s when he hatches the plan to abduct the German General responsible for atrocities in Crete and returns in February 1944. Though the butcher General has been replaced, he decides to kidnap the new one anyway. Plans are made swiftly, and had it not been for the late arrival of the rest of the team due to bad weather, the abduction may have happened even before April 28, 1944.
It is truly audacious. Fermor and Moss are to dress up as German traffic police and stop the General’s car. They did, and then drove through the German headquarters of Heraklion, past 22 checkposts and made it. Not having access to a working wireless, it is 16 days before they leave for Egypt on May 14. The poor infrastructure they had to survive with is demonstrated by the fact that even for a mission such as this, they couldn’t get hands on a proper wireless for days.
The German General, Kriepe, seems resigned to his fate and doesn’t give trouble. Fermor is fluent in German and they strike up a sort of friendship, even meeting again in Athens in 1970. Their other common language is Latin, and they have several witty exchanges in that tongue.
Taking General Kriepe through the Cretan resistance strongholds was, as Fermor says, like “taking the Sheriff of Nottingham through Sherwood Forest”. After many vicissitudes, they reach the beach on the night of May 14th where they are to be picked up by the Royal Navy. They almost missed the boat as neither Fermor nor Moss knew the Morse code for “B”, and were saved by the arrival of another British officer who fortunately did.
The account of the abduction is followed by extracts from Fermor’s reports to the SOE while in the field in Crete. They are replete with the tensions of the moment, and a very interesting read.
This is a great book that I thoroughly enjoyed.
November 12, 2018
If you're looking to peer into the mountains of insurgent Crete during WWII, then you'll be hard pressed to find a better portal than this. I've always loved Paddy Leigh Fermor's style. He's of his age but at the same time, he's approachable.
July 4, 2020
Fermor’s literary account of the abduction of General Krieppe and his participation in the Cretan resistance has been previously published and this was my second time reading it. It is a fantastic account worth reading by anyone interested in Fermor’s life, Cretan history & culture, and WWII history.
Particularly fascinating to me, and new to this edition, are Fermor’s original dispatches to the SOE in Cairo, smuggled off the island. These dispatches were heavily cited in Artemis Cooper’s 2012 biography of Fermor but reading these accounts directly is a revelation, in terms of the challenges and deprivations the British & Cretan resistance fighters faced. Despite being military style reports, Fermor can’t help but write them with his usual flair.
Particularly fascinating to me, and new to this edition, are Fermor’s original dispatches to the SOE in Cairo, smuggled off the island. These dispatches were heavily cited in Artemis Cooper’s 2012 biography of Fermor but reading these accounts directly is a revelation, in terms of the challenges and deprivations the British & Cretan resistance fighters faced. Despite being military style reports, Fermor can’t help but write them with his usual flair.
July 11, 2021
Not PLF’s finest work. Honestly, I cannot believe that is not just cashing in on PLF, which the NYRB has done for years. It leaves out questions about retribution, the actual strategic significance of the operation.
I would really like to see Powell and Pressburgers film based thereupon.
I would really like to see Powell and Pressburgers film based thereupon.
September 29, 2025
British derring-do mixed with Cretan guerillas. Interesting and quick.
January 11, 2016
Patrick Leigh Fermor's harebrained scheme, to kidnap the commanding German general of occupied Crete and spirit him away to Cairo, made marginally more sense when it had been mooted, in 1943, than when it was finally executed, in early 1944. But by the time Leigh Fermor parachuted back into Crete (joined, due to inclement weather, weeks later by the rest of his team), the War had changed: the Allies controlled much of the Mediterranean, and the brutal General Muller had been replaced by General Kreipe, a career soldier who was looking to end his war in the relative peace of the Aegean after years on the Russian Front. Still, the plan went forward, damn the consequences, and what a plan it was: everything had to go more or less according to plan, or the enterprise was doomed. In the event, the exact number of things that could go wrong without causing disaster did go wrong (broken or lost wireless sets, the General falling off his mule, the driver not being healthy enough to reach the rendezvous and having to be disposed of), causing our heroes to have to improvise furiously and trace a dizzying path across the island. All of which makes for splendid reading.
Really, the whole thing has the feel of a Boy's Own adventure, or an "Astrerix and Obelix" comic: the boys had the General, on his word of honor, promise not to try to escape or draw German attention to their presence, and left a note declaring that the operation had been conducted without Cretan aid, while ingenuously scattering clues (an Agatha Christie novel, Player's cigarette butts, a British commando beret) inside the General's abandoned vehicle.
That said, there is no denying that Leigh Fermor could write like an angel:
"But, tormenting as our journey was, the dazzle of the moon and, when it set, of a blaze of stars that was nearly as bright, undermined this commotion of rock and then, by a planetary device in collusion with the optical tricks of which, at some moments, Crete seems to be composed - involving manipulated reflection and focus, levitation, geometrical shifts and a dissolving of solids balanced by a solidification of shadow - filled the hollow, the porous and finally transparent island under foot with lunar and stellar properties and, while hoisting it several leagues in the air, simultaneously, with moves as quiet as an opening gambit followed by those advances of knights and bishops, fast and stealthy as grandmother's steps, which lead to penultimate castling and a sudden luminous checkmate, regrouped all the mountain tops of Crete within touching distance. The valleys and foothills had dropped away from this floe of triangles; they drifted in the windless cold starlight with the pallor, varying with their distance, of ice or ivory."
And,as he was readying to take victorious leave of Crete:
"The cliffs below were a descending jungle of thyme, rockrose, heather, myrtle, arbutus and verbena, oleanders marked the pebble and boulder strewn torrent beds and the air was loaded with the smell of herbs. Who would exchange all this, and nightingales and the sounds of goatfolds and herdsmen calling across the gulfs of air, and the echo of shots among empty gorges, for the tram bells, jacarandas, carrion crows and muezzins?"
(I'm not sure, but I think "rockrose" may have just supplanted "penumbra" as my favorite word in the English language)
Appended to this are several field reports Leigh Fermor smuggled off the island, which I'm guessing are far breezier and informal than those the Intelligence officers were used to reading. But this is what happens when you send romantics like T.E. Lawrence and Patrick Leigh Fermor off to fight your wars.
Really, the whole thing has the feel of a Boy's Own adventure, or an "Astrerix and Obelix" comic: the boys had the General, on his word of honor, promise not to try to escape or draw German attention to their presence, and left a note declaring that the operation had been conducted without Cretan aid, while ingenuously scattering clues (an Agatha Christie novel, Player's cigarette butts, a British commando beret) inside the General's abandoned vehicle.
That said, there is no denying that Leigh Fermor could write like an angel:
"But, tormenting as our journey was, the dazzle of the moon and, when it set, of a blaze of stars that was nearly as bright, undermined this commotion of rock and then, by a planetary device in collusion with the optical tricks of which, at some moments, Crete seems to be composed - involving manipulated reflection and focus, levitation, geometrical shifts and a dissolving of solids balanced by a solidification of shadow - filled the hollow, the porous and finally transparent island under foot with lunar and stellar properties and, while hoisting it several leagues in the air, simultaneously, with moves as quiet as an opening gambit followed by those advances of knights and bishops, fast and stealthy as grandmother's steps, which lead to penultimate castling and a sudden luminous checkmate, regrouped all the mountain tops of Crete within touching distance. The valleys and foothills had dropped away from this floe of triangles; they drifted in the windless cold starlight with the pallor, varying with their distance, of ice or ivory."
And,as he was readying to take victorious leave of Crete:
"The cliffs below were a descending jungle of thyme, rockrose, heather, myrtle, arbutus and verbena, oleanders marked the pebble and boulder strewn torrent beds and the air was loaded with the smell of herbs. Who would exchange all this, and nightingales and the sounds of goatfolds and herdsmen calling across the gulfs of air, and the echo of shots among empty gorges, for the tram bells, jacarandas, carrion crows and muezzins?"
(I'm not sure, but I think "rockrose" may have just supplanted "penumbra" as my favorite word in the English language)
Appended to this are several field reports Leigh Fermor smuggled off the island, which I'm guessing are far breezier and informal than those the Intelligence officers were used to reading. But this is what happens when you send romantics like T.E. Lawrence and Patrick Leigh Fermor off to fight your wars.
February 22, 2015
Sporting moustaches and Cretan clothes and with our Ancient Greek from public school, we English fitted in perfectly with the simple locals. We had a whizzing idea to capture a general. We were not put off by the human rights abuser general muller being replaced with a general himself disillusioned with the war, nor that the war was now going firmly against the Hun.
While spending many a night with raki, wine and roasted sheep, exploiting the hospitality of the locals for whom we were to cause so much trouble, we cooked up a boys own plan to whisk our General away. Not for the last time we fooled the simple locals by singing German songs. Thank god we were there to keep the communists away from infiltrating the island's resistance movement.
Dressed in completely unconvincing German uniforms we put our plan into action. The Cretans we knew would never be blamed if we left a letter saying it was completely down to the British. After all, we were men of honour. We were also to do no harm to anybody part from hitting the driver over the head and then later killing him as he was too much of a burden.
Wearing German uniforms we found the local Cretans no longer recognised us as British. How easily fooled they were. We looked after the general, taking him across the mountains with nothing more than a bang to his leg and a couple of falls off the donkey, dislocating his shoulder. We got on famously.
The damn Germans ignored our letter and raised several villages to the ground. All this just improved the morale of the locals and strengthened their resolve. None of them ever blamed us and we continued to put them in danger and lived off their hospitality as we fumbled our way to escaping.
Apart from a few mishaps, such as not knowing the morse code for M, we eventually escaped and left the Cretans to their fate at the hands of the returned general muller. We had pulled it off and so what if our general had no intelligence or military worth whatsoever.
Digested read digested: ripping yarn.
While spending many a night with raki, wine and roasted sheep, exploiting the hospitality of the locals for whom we were to cause so much trouble, we cooked up a boys own plan to whisk our General away. Not for the last time we fooled the simple locals by singing German songs. Thank god we were there to keep the communists away from infiltrating the island's resistance movement.
Dressed in completely unconvincing German uniforms we put our plan into action. The Cretans we knew would never be blamed if we left a letter saying it was completely down to the British. After all, we were men of honour. We were also to do no harm to anybody part from hitting the driver over the head and then later killing him as he was too much of a burden.
Wearing German uniforms we found the local Cretans no longer recognised us as British. How easily fooled they were. We looked after the general, taking him across the mountains with nothing more than a bang to his leg and a couple of falls off the donkey, dislocating his shoulder. We got on famously.
The damn Germans ignored our letter and raised several villages to the ground. All this just improved the morale of the locals and strengthened their resolve. None of them ever blamed us and we continued to put them in danger and lived off their hospitality as we fumbled our way to escaping.
Apart from a few mishaps, such as not knowing the morse code for M, we eventually escaped and left the Cretans to their fate at the hands of the returned general muller. We had pulled it off and so what if our general had no intelligence or military worth whatsoever.
Digested read digested: ripping yarn.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2017
This piece offers an excellent introduction to Leigh Fermor's unique prose. It also provides a rare insight into the methods of the SOE in Crete. Included, are Leigh Fermor's war reports for British Intelligence in Cairo, produced in a uniquely informal style, often while on the run from the Germans. The edition concludes with a guide to the abduction route, designed for anyone keen to retrace Leigh Fermor's odyssey.
February 16, 2015
The lengthy foreword was more informative; lots of padding at the end with all the various contemporary reports.
March 7, 2018
There's a question that sometimes gets asked in interviews: who in history would you most like to meet (or hang out with, or have a drink with, or the like)? For me, once you get past Shakespeare, Dickens, Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy, Prime Minister Churchill, and probably a few other immortals, the answer has to be Patrick Leigh Fermor. His story of his walk to Constantinople in the years before WWII is one of the great travel adventures of all time, written with a verve and charm that make you understand why Fermor made friends everywhere and was at home everywhere he went. Along the way, he fell in love with a Countess and lived in a lighthouse with her until WWII broke out. And then he joined the war effort. He was posted to Crete as an undercover agent provocateur, assigned to giving the Germans occupying Crete as hard a time as he could. He took to it as if born to the task, and covered himself with glory virtually the entire time. His best exploit was kidnapping the general who presided over Crete and delivering him after a tough climb in the Cretan mountains to a naval vessel along the coast and thence to Egypt. It's a great story, and well worth reading. The book contains a number of additions and extras, including photographs and reproductions of Fermor's original war reports, and those are great fun to read. A slice of history that holds the attention by one of the 20th century's most delightful characters, even if the operation in the end didn't hold any great significance for the war effort.
August 25, 2024
The incident recounted more famously in Ill Met by Moonlight written by Leigh Fermor's junior sidekick, W Stanley ('Billy') Moss. The film of that book was acknowledged by Michael Powell as one of his worse and one regrets that the real story, of a tough operation carried out single-mindedly even to the extent of cold-blooded killing by the Greek partisans, was far from suitable for the British film industry of the 1950s. This book's account is very short, having remained unpublished since its composition in the 1950s. It is of course very elegantly written, though at times clarity suffers. It is padded out to book length with earlier SOE reports by Leigh Fermor and a description of how to find the sites of the kidnap and escape on the island of Rhodes. (The film was made in the South of France so that is no guide!). It might have been more helpful to have had some editorial explanations inserted into the posthumously-published text. Still, a very illuminating book, good value, and one I am glad to have.
March 6, 2019
Fermor’s account of his kidnapping of a Nazi general from Crete, while entertaining in its action, provides the most value in describing the rugged landscape of the island, the people of Crete, and the impact of the war on the citizens. After Fermor tells his story, the book includes a number of his dispatches from Crete, where he was a spy. When reading these dispatches, you understand that Fermor was a young man, without the benefit of experience, but with a young man’s attempts to “do something” for the war effort. He describes various ideas that at times seem harebrained, often involving bombs. He also describes accidentally shooting a comrade. You see how the idea of kidnapping the commanding general and dragging him through the mountains makes a kind of sense. I enjoyed the story and the things I learned about Crete. I found the writing interesting, but more challenging than most of the popular books I read.
August 16, 2022
Abducting and spiriting away the German General overseeing the occupation of Crete in 1944 was an audacious plan, brilliantly carried out and succeeded in helping cement British/Cretan relations but at some cost to the Cretan villagers when the full force of German reprisals descended.
Resourceful, determined, eloquent, popular and brave (the bastard) Leigh Fermor’s first hand account is (presumably) factually accurate and one warms to his allies and the poor old General who grudgingly comes to respect his captors.
There’s a useful scene-setting foreword, a raft of Leigh Fermor’s war reports and - should you wish to retrace his steps - a detailed walking guide to the full abduction route.
Useful reading alongside this would be “The Cretan Runner” written by one of his local helpers and his colleague’s “Ill Met By Moonlight” as well as the classic film of that name.
Resourceful, determined, eloquent, popular and brave (the bastard) Leigh Fermor’s first hand account is (presumably) factually accurate and one warms to his allies and the poor old General who grudgingly comes to respect his captors.
There’s a useful scene-setting foreword, a raft of Leigh Fermor’s war reports and - should you wish to retrace his steps - a detailed walking guide to the full abduction route.
Useful reading alongside this would be “The Cretan Runner” written by one of his local helpers and his colleague’s “Ill Met By Moonlight” as well as the classic film of that name.
September 13, 2018
Interesting history book on a daring feat during WW2, the capture of a General from then-german occupied Crete. The capture itself is only a small part of the book and the most part is about how they then managed to escape the island. The author, which was one of the captors clearly wants to erect a monument to all the Cretans that helped him and this leads to countless people mentioned in the course of this story which never play a role again after being named once. It still is an interesting read and the book also contains the war reports the author sent home during his time on Crete aswell as a contemporary guide to follow the escape route nowadays.
November 15, 2023
I enjoyed this, but though I am sure it’s more accurate than Ill Met By Moonlight (the first book about the abduction), I expect it isn’t as well written. The suggestions for hikes or even drives following the paths of the abductors, however, we’re quite tempting.
I am amazed that British industry, which made so many reliable or miraculous weapons in WWII, couldn’t make a reliable army radio in all that time. It reminds me of Soviets and boots and wide tires, they just couldn’t do it despite making so many far more difficult things.
I am amazed that British industry, which made so many reliable or miraculous weapons in WWII, couldn’t make a reliable army radio in all that time. It reminds me of Soviets and boots and wide tires, they just couldn’t do it despite making so many far more difficult things.
October 15, 2025
In my experience, everything written by Patrick Leigh Fermor is worth reading, and rereading in this case. Fermor had a fascinating life, as a young man wandering Europe by foot before WW II and being parachuted into Crete to support the island resistance. This (true) story gives the reader a real feel for the geography of Crete, how had it is to kidnap and enemy general (!), the resistance and the community fighting against the Germans at great risk - and Fermor's respect and appreciation of the local community.
October 11, 2023
This is the rather fun account paddy wrote about his famous abduction of a German general from crete while a British agent there during ww2. Well worth reading and utterly hair raising. That said half the book are his rather bland military reports on his time in Crete and a travel guide to following his route - its good but nothing like his actual books. Those are the best there is in travel writing.
August 13, 2019
I expected to enjoy this much more than I did as I absolutely loved his three books about walking across Europe. This is an oddly put together book starting with his short account of the kidnapping, which is the most interesting part. The book then continues with segments of his military reports and ends with a walking guide to the kidnapping route. Just a wee bit unsatisfactory as a read.
March 13, 2021
A gripping tale of the abduction of the German commander in Crete during the Second World War. Once the general had been seized the rest of the story is finding a path to a shore where the general, the author and his aides were picked up. The author's story is accompanied by the reports he prepared during operation and even a guide for anyone wanting to follow their route.
March 10, 2021
I love everything by Patrick Leigh Fermor. I discovered his work more than a decade ago when recommended by a local travel writer. This is an amazing true life story -- one that led me to visit Crete to visit some of the places mentioned in the operation.
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