The Cretan Runner (Penguin World War II Collection)

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Continuing my recent theme of reading about SOE (the Special Operations Executive), I was pleased to get round to reading The Cretan Runner by George Psychoundakis, a man who delivered messages for the British officers organising Cretan resistance to the German and Italian Occupation in Crete, 1941-1945. Psychoundakis’s effortlessly poetic account reflected a passionate love of his homeland and its people, a geologist’s and botanist’s eye, chortling bemusement at the habits of the upper-class British agents, and deep comradeship with his fellow resistance fighters.”—Simon Steyne, The Guardian The Holocaust of Kedros was an operation involving 2,000 Axis soldiers who targeted Anogeia and Damasta. A total of 900 houses were burned, 50 civilians were shot and 3,500 became internally displaced. In the following days the operation expanded to other villages, men were executed, houses were looted and then burned or dynamited regardless of their involvement in resistance activities. [40] Local resistance bands could do nothing but watch, being vastly outnumbered. [41] Biographical works [ edit ] I found this book very enjoyable as it was written as a series of stories and anecdotes by a Cretan who acted as "runner" for the British in their attempts to free Crete from the Nazi yolk.

Ogden, Alan (2012). Sons of Odysseus, SOE Heroes in Greece. London: Bene Factum Publishing. ISBN 978-1-903071-44-1. Koliopoulos, Ioannis (1977). "Η στρατιωτική και πολιτική κρίση στην Ελλάδα τον Απρίλιο του 1941"[The Military and Political Crisis in Greece in April 1941] (PDF). Mnimon (in Greek). 6: 53–74. doi: 10.12681/mnimon.174 . Retrieved 15 November 2020. This is a memoir from the conflict in Crete during WWII after the Germans invaded and occupied the island. The author was a runner and message bearer for English spies and local underground. He talks about running messages and literally running from pursuing Germans shooting at him. The occupation was oft times pretty brutal and a good example of how not do win a population over to your side. There is not a lot of urban cloak and dagger stuff here. They lived out in the woods/hills/caves and often went hungry. The author had an opportunity to go to Egypt and he talks about all the guys with him gorging themselves until they threw up because it had been so long since they had good food. George Psychoundakis was born in Asi Gonia ( Greek: Ασή Γωνιά), a village of a few hundred people high in the Mouselas valley in western Crete. The village was not serviced by a road until the 1950s. He was the penultimate son of Nicolas and Angeliké. One of the poorest families in the village, they lived in a one-room home with an earth floor. After a minimum of education in the village school, he became a shepherd, tending his family's few sheep and goats. He developed an intimate knowledge of his part of the island.Ill Met by Moonlight (1957)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 11 September 2017 . Retrieved 16 October 2020. Dillon, John, "The Cretan Runner: George Psychoundakis story", Battle of Crete, UK: My Crete, archived from the original on 3 March 2016 , retrieved 16 February 2009 Dear, I. C. B.; Foot, M. R. D. (1995). The Oxford Companion to the Second World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866225-9– via Archive Foundation. Koukounas, Demosthenes (2013). Η Ιστορία της Κατοχής[ History of the Occupation] (in Greek). Vol.II. Athens: Livani. ISBN 978-9-60-142687-7. Any fresh volume on the subject would need to be exceptional. The Cretan Runner not only competes but transcends; it is not exceptional, it is unique.

The team moved to a cave system in the mountains above Kastamonitsa village, the hideout of a local resistance group. [19] The SOE team was joined by Antonios and Grigorios Papaleonidas, Michail Akoumianakis and Grigorios Chnarakis. Akoumianakis' house was located across the road from Kreipe's residence, the Villa Ariadne, in the village of Knossos. [20] Leigh Fermor disguised himself as a Cretan shepherd for his trip to Knossos. After traveling by bus with Akoumianakis, he reconnoitered the vicinity of the villa. Enclosed by a triple wire barrier (one of which was rumoured to be electrified) and guarded by a sizeable garrison, it was deemed too well-fortified for a direct assault. It was decided to seize Kreipe during one of his frequent trips from his residence to his divisional headquarters in Ano Archanes, some 5mi (8.0km) away. Surveying the route, they discovered a T-junction where the road from Archanes joined the main road to Heraklion, forcing cars to slow down to almost a standstill; the location was subsequently named Point A. The owner of a small cottage outside Skalani ( el), some twenty minutes travel time from the abduction point, agreed to collaborate, turning the building into an observation point. [21] Owing to the heavy traffic on the main road, the operation had to be undertaken at night. [22] If you were doing a thorough study of the conflict in Crete this would be a must read. If you don't know much about the conflict there this is probably too narrow of a subject and limited in scope to be the first thing to read.Psychoundakis, Georgio (1991) [1955], The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation, Fermor, PL transl, ISBN 0-7195-3475-5 [6] George was a foot-soldier who did nothing glamorous but whose, and other Cretans like him, efforts were essential in harassing the Germans and helping the Allied war effort. Psychoundakis, George (1955). The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation. London: John Murray. OCLC 753260092.