The Abduction of General Kreipe

At 21:30 on 26^th April 1944, a small band of men lay hidden by the crossroads linking the Heraklion-Kastelli road to Archanes. As the duty vehicle transporting German General Heinrich Kreipe appeared, two members of the group dressed in German uniform forced it to stop at a supposed checkpoint. The other members lost no time in dispatching the driver and overpowering the general. Some of them then got into the car with its high-ranking passenger, while others left on foot. Together with the abductors, the car drove through the thronged streets of Heraklion and on, out westwards via the Chania Gate.

Moving through the Cretan Mountains under full protective cover provided by the guerrillas, the group succeeded in escaping to Egypt on a torpedo boat. The abduction of General Kreipe was one of the most daring and celebrated irregular warfare operations of the Second World War. At the head were British officers Paddy Leigh Fermor and Stanley Moss, who carried it out thanks to the support and participation of hand-picked Cretans.