Kidnap in Crete (36 page)

At the last minute Kapitan Boutzalis’s (
left
) men were stood down – their presence was arousing suspicion in the area.

Two uniforms were stolen to disguise Leigh Fermor (
right
) and Moss as military policemen.

A reconstruction of the moonlit kidnap staged by Leigh Fermor in 1947. On the back of the photograph he wrote: ‘The car is in the exact position of the General’s when the coup took place.’

Moss drove the captured general into Heraklion, through twenty-two German control points and past the Kreiskommandantur, the German headquarters for the province.

The heavily guarded West Gate was the last major obstacle out of the city; ahead lay the road to the mountains. This photograph was taken in 1942 before the barriers went up.

When the soldiers on guard at the road blocks saw the pennants on the car’s wings they immediately waved it through. The kidnappers kept the flags as souvenirs.

On the first leg of the escape route the kidnappers climbed high above the snowline. For the next twenty days the captured General Kreipe (
second from front
), dressed in the clothes he had chosen for a day in his office and an evening playing bridge, was forced to tackle some of the most gruelling terrain in Europe.

Radio contact was restored with the help of British SOE agent Dennis Ciclitira who helped organise a boat and accompanied the team to Egypt.

The General was flown to London for interrogation and then transferred to Canada to be interned with other high-ranking Nazis. He was released in 1947.

The radio they had been counting on failed. SOE in Cairo had no idea that the kidnap had succeeded or even where the kidnappers were. Communication on the island was only possible through the heroic efforts of runners like Giorgios Psychoundakis.

In 1945 peace returned to the island. Mrs Hariklia Dramoudanis, whose husband and son were murdered by the Germans and who fled into the mountains to protect her family, died many years after the war. She remains a symbol of the unbreakable Cretan spirit.

Acknowledgements

Luck played an important part in the capture of General Kreipe and luck has played its part in the writing of this book.

It was luck that took me to the Historical Museum of Crete on my first day of research in Heraklion where by chance I met the Curator, Constantinos E. Mamalakis, an expert on the history of Crete in the Second World War. In addition to the collections in the museum, Mr Mamalakis has a large private archive of documents, letters and artefacts. To his compendious knowledge of the events he brings a sharp eye for the archaeology of the war on the island and has possibly the most intimate understanding of the kidnap and its aftermath of anybody alive. Mr Mamalakis shared all this with me and words cannot express the depth of my gratitude.

Luck led me to the to the archive of Shaftesbury Young People where I met historian Simon Fenwick who had just finished some preliminary work on the Leigh Fermor papers. He too shared his knowledge with me and introduced me to David McClay, Senior Curator of the John Murray Archive at the National Library of Scotland. David and his team are making a magnificent job of curating Leigh Fermor’s papers. He allowed me unlimited access to the archive and was very generous with the facilities of the library, giving me all the help I could possibly ask for. I am indebted to David and his brilliant staff, and to Simon for making the introduction.

The National Library of Scotland was only one of several great institutions that helped me. I am also grateful to the National Archive at Kew, the British Library, the London Library and the Imperial War Museum.

Luigi di Dio at Getty Images was very helpful, as was the estate of William Stanley Moss who kindly gave permission to use some of the photographs Moss took during the abduction, and to quote from his books and diary. I owe thanks too to the Estate of Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor.