Abducting a General: The Kreipe Operation and SOE in Crete - Hardcover

Fermor, Patrick Leigh

3.78

360 ratings by Goodreads

9781444796582: Abducting a General: The Kreipe Operation and SOE in Crete

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1444796585 ISBN 13: 9781444796582

Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd, 2014

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Physical description; xxix, 206 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm. Summary; One of the greatest feats in Patrick Leigh Fermor's remarkable life was the kidnapping of General Kreipe, the German commander in Crete, on 26 April 1944. He and Captain Billy Moss hatched a daring plan to abduct the general, while ensuring that no reprisals were taken against the Cretan population. Dressed as German military police, they stopped and took control of Kreipe's car, drove through 22 German checkpoints, then succeeded in hiding from the German army before finally being picked up on a beach in the south of the island. Subjects; Fermor, Patrick Leigh - Career in Special Operations. Moss, W. Stanley (William Stanley) 1921- - Career in Special Operations. Kreipe, Karl - Kidnapping, 1944. Moss, W. Stanley (William Stanley) 1921-1965 - Career in Special Operations. Kreipe, Karl - Kidnapping.

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About the Author:

Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) was the greatest travel writer of our generation. Following his walk across Europe, he lived and travelled in the Balkans and Greek Archipelago. He joined the Irish Guards and during the occupation of Crete led the party that captured the German commander. He was awarded the DSO and OBE and was once described by the BBC as 'a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene'. Towards the end of his life he wrote the first two books about his early trans-European odyssey, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water. He planned a third, unfinished at the time of his death in 2011, which has since been edited by Colin Thubron and Artemis Cooper and published as The Broken Road.

Review:

A glorious first-hand account of one of the great adventures of the Second World War * Gentleman's Journal * Paddy's vividly idiomatic reports irresistibly take us in to the skulduggery and derring-do . . . a wonderful story * Jan Morris, Literary Review * What shines through in Leigh Fermor's account is his connection to and respect and admiration for the spirit of the Cretan people * Daily Mail * Abducting a General is filled with the same rich exuberant prose [as his trilogy] and fulfils its objective as portraying the Cretan people as the true heroes of the resistance * TLS * A riveting first-hand account * Good Book Guide * Paddy was the Byron of our time * Standpoint * Gripping buccaneering of the old school * Sun * The late, great Pagrick Leigh Fermor, described as a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene, first became famous in 1944 for his daring kidnap of high-ranking German general . . . Afficionados of the tale were spoilt this year * Daily Express * Paddy's vividly idiomatic reports irresistibly take us in to the skulduggery and derring-do . . . a wonderful story * Jan Morris, Literary Review * Superb . . . Leigh Fermor's many fans will find plenty of the old master's fizz in this resurrected work . . . irresistible * Scotsman * As a pure adventure story . . . it is hard to beat * Financial Times * Beautifully written . . . Fermor's love of Crete and scholarly knowledge of the Classics exude from the pages * The Times * It takes some chutzpah to kidnap a German general - and serious presence of mind to get away with it. Paddy, the Special Operations Executive commander of a group of 11 Cretan andartes, or guerrilla fighters, together with his second-in-command Captain William Stanley Moss, had excessive stores of both . . . Abducting a General . . . is the work of a mature man, anxious to pay proper tribute to the Cretans who were the backbone of the resistance and ran by far the greatest risks. His SOE reports, which run to 90 pages here, provide gripping cinematic portraits of Leigh Fermor the soldier * The Spectator *

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