The kidnapping of Heinrich Kreipe was an operation executed jointly by the British
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
(SOE) and
local resistance members in
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
in
German-occupied Greece during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. The operation was launched on 4 February 1944, when SOE officer
Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greates ...
landed in Crete with the intention of abducting notorious war criminal and commander of
22nd Air Landing Division,
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
__NOTOC__
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller (29 August 1897 – 20 May 1947) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He led an infantry regiment in the early stages of the war and by 1943 was commander of the 22nd Air Landing ...
. By the time of the arrival of the rest of the abduction team, led by
William Stanley Moss
Ivan William Stanley Moss MC (15 June 1921 – 9 August 1965), commonly known as W. Stanley Moss or Billy Moss, was a British army officer in World War II, and later a successful writer, broadcaster, journalist and traveller. He served with t ...
, two months later, Müller had been succeeded by
Heinrich Kreipe
Karl Heinrich Georg Ferdinand Kreipe (5 June 1895 – 14 June 1976) was a German career soldier who served in both World War I and World War II. While leading German forces in occupied Crete in April 1944, he was abducted by British SOE officers ...
, who was chosen as the new target.
On the night of 26 April, Kreipe's car was ambushed while en route from his residence to his divisional headquarters. Kreipe was tied and forced into the back seat while Leigh Fermor and Moss impersonated him and his driver respectively. Kreipe's notorious impatience at roadblocks enabled the car to pass numerous checkpoints before being abandoned at the hamlet of Heliana. The abductors continued on foot, continuing to evade thousands of Axis soldiers sent to stop them, with the help of guides from the local resistance. On 14 May, the team was picked up by a British motorboat from the Rodakino beach and transported to British-held Egypt.
The success of the operation was put into question several months afterwards. The outcome came to be seen as a symbolic propaganda victory rather than a strategic one. The relatively harmless Kreipe was replaced by Müller who ordered mass reprisals against the civilian population of the island, known as the
Holocaust of Kedros
The Holocaust of Kedros ( el, Ολοκαύτωμα του Κέντρους/Κέδρους), also known as the Holocaust of Amari ( el, Ολοκαύτωμα του Αμαρίου), was the mass murder of the civilian residents of nine villages lo ...
. The abduction operation entered popular imagination through the biographical works of several of its participants, most notably Moss's book ''
Ill Met by Moonlight
''Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe'' is a non-fiction partly-autobiographical book written by W. Stanley Moss, a British soldier, writer and traveller. It describes an operation in Crete during the Second World War to captu ...
''.
Background
Greece entered the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
on the side of the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
following an
Italian invasion from
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
on 28 October 1940. The following year, on 6 April,
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
launched an invasion of its own from
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
known as
Operation Marita
The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usu ...
;
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
was occupied on 28 April and the resistance on the Greek mainland had ceased by the 30th.
King George II and his government had left the Greek mainland for
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
five days earlier. The island was in turn
attacked by a Nazi airborne invasion on 20 May 1941. The Germans prevailed after seven days of fighting, forcing an Allied withdrawal to
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
.
With the conclusion of Operation Marita, Greece was subjected to a
Triple Occupation by Germany, Italy and Bulgaria. Crete, now called
Fortress Crete
Fortress Crete (german: Festung Kreta) was the term used during World War II by the German occupation forces to refer to the garrison and fortification of Crete.
The Greek island of Crete was seized by the Axis after a fierce battle at the en ...
, was shared between Germany and Italy. The Germans occupied the western three
prefectures
A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...
of the island with their headquarters in
Chania
Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion.
The muni ...
, whilst the Italians occupied the easternmost prefecture of
Lasithi
Lasithi ( el, Λασίθι) is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra and Sitia. The mountains include the Dikti in the west and the Th ...
. It did not take long for the
Cretan resistance
The Cretan resistance ( el, Κρητική Αντίσταση) was a resistance movement against the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek ...
to spring up. They assisted Allied soldiers stranded on the island in evading capture and helped them escape to the British controlled Middle East. The escapees helped establish contact between the
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
's (SOE)
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
branch and Cretan resistance organisations. Supplied with wireless sets and augmented by SOE stay behind operatives, they began co-ordinating their actions with the Allied command. Following the
surrender of Italy to the Allies in September 1943,
Angelico Carta
Angelico (Angelo) Carta (born 1886 in Riola Sardo) was an Italian military officer, best known for his actions during the Axis occupation of Crete in World War II.
Biography
Carta was an artillery officer and became commander of the 51st In ...
, the commander of the
Italian 51st Infantry Division, decided to side with the Allies. Evading German patrols and observation planes he embarked on a SOE
motor torpedo boat at Soutsouro reaching
Mersa Matruh
Mersa Matruh ( ar, مرسى مطروح, translit=Marsā Maṭrūḥ, ), also transliterated as ''Marsa Matruh'', is a port in Egypt and the capital of Matrouh Governorate. It is located west of Alexandria and east of Sallum on the main highway ...
the next afternoon, on 23 September 1943.
British officers had considered the idea of capturing a senior German officer as early as November 1942, when a SOE agent on Crete,
Xan Fielding
Alexander Wallace Fielding (26 November 1918 – 19 August 1991) was a British author, translator, journalist and traveller, who served as a Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in Crete, France and the East Asia during World War II. The pu ...
, proposed seizing the island's chief military governor at the time,
Alexander Andrae
Alexander Andrae (27 April 1888 – 3 April 1979), whose first name is often mistakenly given as ''Waldemar'', was a German military officer from Kösling, Upper Silesia. Initially pursuing an Army career, he then joined the security police and ...
. When Andrae was posted away, his successor
Bruno Bräuer
Bruno Bräuer (4 February 1893 – 20 May 1947) was a general in the paratroop forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. He served as a commander on Crete (called Fortress Crete by the Germans) and then commanded the 9th Paratroop Division. A ...
was targeted for capture. None of these plans were carried out. Carta's successful escape to Egypt rekindled the idea of abducting the chief military commander of Crete. In 1943,
Captain William Stanley Moss
Ivan William Stanley Moss MC (15 June 1921 – 9 August 1965), commonly known as W. Stanley Moss or Billy Moss, was a British army officer in World War II, and later a successful writer, broadcaster, journalist and traveller. He served with t ...
, a recent SOE recruit and
Major Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greates ...
, an officer of SOE Cairo's Cretan Desk; hatched a plan for the abduction of General
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
__NOTOC__
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller (29 August 1897 – 20 May 1947) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He led an infantry regiment in the early stages of the war and by 1943 was commander of the 22nd Air Landing ...
, then commander of the
22nd Air Landing Division. Müller had gained a reputation for brutality and was despised by the Cretan people, being responsible for mass executions, torture, the razing of villages and conscripting civilians into labour units. The SOE planned to kidnap him while keeping the use of violence at a minimum and transport him to Egypt, thus giving a morale boost to the Cretans. Leigh Fermor submitted the plan to the commander of the SOE in the Middle East
Brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...
Karl Vere Barker-Benfield. The plan received widespread support in SOE's Cairo branch, with Special Operations Committee senior executive Bickham Sweet-Escott being the only one to oppose it. Sweet-Escott argued that the benefit of raising the morale of the Cretan resistance was significantly outweighed by the high risk of
German reprisals. Nevertheless, in September 1943, Barker-Benfield approved the plan and the operation was set in motion.
Operation
![W](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/W._Stanley_Moss%27s_drawing_of_Kreipe_Abduction_Point.jpg)
In late 1943, Leigh Fermor and Moss formed a squad with two Cretan resistance members, Georgios Tyrakis and Emmanouil Paterakis, who were to accompany them in their mission. After undergoing training at an SOE camp in
Ramat David
Ramat David ( he, רָמַת דָּוִד, ''lit.'' David Heights) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Jezreel Valley near Ramat David Airbase, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In it had a population ...
,
Palestine and facing numerous delays the team flew to the headquarters of the British
8th Army in
Bari on 4 January 1944. On 4 February, they boarded a bomber at the
Brindisi airport which was to transport them to Crete's Katharo plateau. Leigh Fermor was the only one airdropped, due to a sudden weather change that caused the area to be obscured by clouds. Leigh Fermor was greeted by Cretan resistance members and SOE Captain
Sandy Rendel
Alexander Meadows Rendel (1910–1991) was a British diplomat and solicitor who also served as a Special Operations Executive agent in Crete during World War II, rising to the rank of major.Rendel, Alexander M. ''Appointment in Crete: the story o ...
, while the rest of the squad returned to Cairo. While hiding in a cave above the village of Tapais in the
Lasithi mountains, Leigh Fermor reestablished old contacts, and learned that Müller had been replaced by
Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
Heinrich Kreipe
Karl Heinrich Georg Ferdinand Kreipe (5 June 1895 – 14 June 1976) was a German career soldier who served in both World War I and World War II. While leading German forces in occupied Crete in April 1944, he was abducted by British SOE officers ...
on 1 March. On 30 March, Leigh Fermor informed the Cretan section of SOE Cairo about Müller's replacement, simultaneously signaling his intent to carry out the operation. Although Leigh Fermor knew little about Kreipe, he insisted that the capture of a high ranking German officer was sufficient to raise the morale of both the Cretans and SOE's Greek section. The rest of the team attempted to parachute into Crete seven more times without success; after two months, on 4 April, they arrived by
motor launch
A Motor Launch (ML) is a small military vessel in Royal Navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing or for armed high-speed air-sea rescue. Some vessels for water police service are also known as motor launches.
...
at Tsoutsoura.
The team moved to a cave system in the mountains above Kastamonitsa village, the hideout of a local resistance group. 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
Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, Κνωσός, Knōsós, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city.
Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...
. 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 away. Surveying the route, they discovered a
T-junction
A three-way junction (or three-way intersection) is a type of road intersection with three arms. A Y junction (or Y intersection) generally has three arms of equal size coming at an acute or obtuse angle to each other; while a T junction (or T i ...
where the road from Archanes joined the main road to
Heraklion
Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban Ar ...
, 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. Owing to the heavy traffic on the main road, the operation had to be undertaken at night.
Akoumianakis supplied the team with two summer uniforms, complete with rank insignia for a
corporal
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...
, campaign badges, side arms and a traffic policeman's stick. Athanasakis set up an observation post on a height overlooking the German headquarters, signalling whenever Kreipe left the building. Four more resistance members, Efstratios Saviolakis, Dimitrios Tzatzadakis, Nikolaos Komis and Antonios Zoidakis, were recruited as guides. Shortly before the abduction was to take place, the team received a letter from a local commander of the pro-communist
Greek People's Liberation Army
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
(ELAS), who threatened to betray them to the authorities if they did not vacate the area. Leigh Fermor replied with an ambiguously written note and the ELAS commander did not carry out his threat. The operation was postponed for several days as the general did not leave his residence.
On the night of 26/27 April 1944, Leigh Fermor and Moss received a signal that the general had got into his car. Changing into the German uniforms, they followed Saviolakis to Point A. Leigh Fermor and Moss hid in a ditch on the east side of the road. Further to the west Zoidakis, the Papaleonidas brothers, Tyrakis and Komis lay in wait. At 9:30 pm, Tzatzadakis flashed his torch three times signalling that Kreipe's car was approaching unescorted. Leigh Fermor and Moss blocked the road and as the car came closer Moss waved his policeman's stick and shouted "Halt!". When the car stopped, Leigh Fermor requested that identity papers be shown. As Kreipe reached for his pocket, Leigh Fermor jacked the door open, while simultaneously pressing his automatic weapon against Kreipe's chest. The rest of the team sprung up and surrounded the car. A brief struggle ensued, which ended when Paterakis tied Kreipe and Moss struck the driver on the head with his
cosh, knocking him unconscious. Moss took up the driver's seat and Leigh Fermor impersonated the general, with Kreipe, Saviolakis, Tyrakis and Paterakis in the backseat, driving off to Heraklion. The rest cleared the spot of signs of struggle and also headed to Heraklion with the driver.
The car passed through 22 checkpoints in Heraklion, coming into the road to
Rethymno
Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ...
and stopping outside a steep mountain track leading to
Anogeia
Anogeia (Ανώγεια) is a municipality in the Rethymno (regional unit), Rethymno regional unit, Crete, Greece. The municipality has an area of ., excluding the former municipal departments Axos and Zoniana. Population 2,379 (2011).
When exact ...
. Kreipe's penchant for being impatient at roadblocks and acting rudely to the people manning them had made him unpopular among his subordinates, contributing to the success of his kidnapping as the car sped through the check points without stopping. Leigh Fermor drove to the hamlet of Heliana where he abandoned the car. To prevent reprisals against the area's population, he left a note claiming that British special forces had conducted the operation without any local support and scattered incriminating evidence. The team then ascended to Anogeia, where they rested for a few hours. Late in the afternoon of 27 April, a German reconnaissance aircraft dropped leaflets unto the village threatening reprisals if the general was not returned within three days. They soon departed for
Mount Ida, where they were met by a band of resistance men led by Michael Xylouris and the SOE officers attached to them. The breakdown of their wireless station meant that all communication had to be conducted by runners, hindering the evacuation. The next day, the team was informed that the Cretans had murdered Kreipe's driver as he was too stunned to walk at the necessary pace for the rebels to avoid capture. The team continued its ascent on Ida, where they stayed with another Cretan resistance group.
![Kreipe Propaganda Leaflet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Kreipe_Propaganda_Leaflet.jpg)
As the team continued their journey from Ida to the
Amari Valley The Amari Valley is a fertile valley on the foothills of Mount Ida and Mount Kedros in Crete. The valley was known as a center of resistance to the Germans during the Battle of Crete and the German occupation. After the abduction of General Heinri ...
, Crete's garrison of over 30,000 men had been placed on alert and Axis troops began to assemble around the mountain range in an attempt to block their escape. After crossing the valley they reached the village of Agia Paraskevi. A report transmitted by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
had alerted the Germans that Kreipe had yet to leave the island. Rumours of a general uprising and an Allied invasion had prompted Bräuer to strengthen Chania's garrison and continue the security sweeps. Kreipe's
and guards were arrested on suspicion of complicity. The arrival of a runner enabled the abduction team to request that a boat be sent to Saktouria on 2 May. The runner unexpectedly did not return the following day and the party was informed that Saktouria and other hotbeds of resistance had been destroyed by German troops. Moss and Leigh Fermor set off to the Amari valley in search of a wireless station. On 5 May, they reached the village of Pantanassa where they were able to send and receive written messages once again.
A day later dispatch runner
brought SOE officer Dick Barnes and a wireless set to the village. In the meantime, the rest of the party evaded a German patrol by moving to Patsos, just two hours away from Pantanassa. It then became known that a unit of the
was to land at Limni beach on 9 May, to assist with the evacuation. Moss and Leigh Fermor rendezvoused with the rest of the abduction team at the hamlet of Karines and advanced to Fotinou and then Vilandredo. Once a 200-man German column came to
and a band of ELAS fighters assisted the team in avoiding their pursuers. When the team reached
, a runner told them that a boat was going to pick them up at Rodakino beach on the night of 14 May. The Rodakiniot guerillas accompanied the team on their final trek. The team, Kreipe, two German prisoners of war and a sick Soviet prisoner of war boarded the SBS boats at 10:00 pm, concluding their mission by landing at Mersa Matruh in Egypt.
outstanding display of courage and audacity" during the operation. The awards were
on 13 July 1944. Following his interrogation Kreipe was transferred to
in Canada, where he was interned with other captured German generals until 1947. The operation dealt a blow to Axis morale on the island and raised that of the local resistance, as the BBC and
praised the operation's success through radio broadcasts and leaflet drops respectively. The wisdom of the abduction came into question as Kreipe was characterised as anti–Nazi by his interrogator. Despite his position he possessed very little information of value to British Intelligence and by the time of his capture Crete was a backwater.
On 8 August 1944, a German punitive expedition sent against the village of Anogeia was ambushed by Moss and Michael Xylouris' band. The
, as this came to be known, resulted in the death of thirty Germans, twelve of whom were murdered after surrendering. Müller, who had returned to his role of commander of Fortress Crete, was determined to penalise the inhabitants of Anogeia for providing shelter to the Kreipe abduction team and their role in the Damasta sabotage. The British historian Alan Ogden saw the order of the day to destroy Anogeia as specific and retrospective, confirming British fears of mass reprisals. The British military historian
saw the wave of German reprisals that followed the operation as unconnected to Kreipe's abduction. Beevor and Schramm saw the terror campaign as a means to facilitate the planned German evacuation from much of the island to the stronghold of Chania.
The
. 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. Local resistance bands could do nothing but watch, being vastly outnumbered.
. In 1957, the book was turned into the
.
Leigh Fermor and Psychoundakis also recounted their experiences in the respective biographical works ''Abducting a General: The Kreipe Operation and SOE in Crete'' and ''The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation''.