Kidnap of General Kreipe
Encyclopedia
The Kidnap of General Kreipe was a Second World War operation by the Special Operations Executive
, an organisation of the United Kingdom. The mission took place on the German occupied island of Crete
in May 1944.
The German military governor in Crete, Heinrich Kreipe
, had just taken over command from Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
, who had a reputation for brutality towards the Cretan people. The SOE team of Major Patrick Leigh Fermor
and Captain
William Stanley Moss had planned to abduct Müller, but when he was replaced, proceeded with their plans and targeted Kreipe instead. Helped by Cretans resistance fighters, Manolis Paterakis and George Tyrakis, Leigh Fermor's team successfully abducted General Kreipe and managed to evade the German troops searching for them. After a cat-and-mouse style pursuit by German troops, the SOE team reached the coast where they were picked up by the Royal Navy
and taken to Egypt
.
and allied forces from various countries of the British Commonwealth had been driven out of Crete
after the Battle of Crete
in May 1941. Following the evacuation of the surviving British forces, the Special Operations Executive
landed agents on the island to assist and advise the Cretan resistance
movements. They had a number of objectives including liaison, intelligence gathering, preparing the local resistance and assisting escapers and evaders to leave the island.
Major Patrick Leigh Fermor
and Captain
William Stanley Moss hatched the plan in Cairo for the abduction of General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
, the military governor in Crete and commander of the 22nd Airlanding Division. Müller had a reputation for brutality and was despised by the Cretan people, and the Special Operations Executive planned to kidnap him and transport him to Egypt.
Leigh Fermor’s strategy was to undertake a bloodless operation that would be attributed to British forces alone in order to avoid direct reprisals being meted out against the Cretan population. In this, he was successful.
, only Leigh Fermor was able to parachute successfully. The others had to abandon the attempt due to bad weather and were returned to Egypt. On landing Leigh Fermor was met by a group from the Cretan resistance
, with whom he remained until the arrival of the rest of the SOE team. Moss and the other two tried three more times by aircraft to land and eventually, after two months of attempts they arrived by Motor Launch ML 842 on 4 April 1944. They were met on the beach by Leigh Fermor and another SOE agent, Sandy Rendel.
Their target General Müller was replaced by General Kreipe on 15 February just before they arrived by sea (Müller replacing General Bräuer
in Canea as Commander of Fortress Crete
). They decided, nevertheless, to go ahead with their plan with General Kreipe now their target. The SOE team now included a number of Cretans; 'Anthony' (Antonis Papaleonidas), 'Micky' (Michalis Akoumianakis) and Gregory Chnarakis. Micky was especially welcome as his house was across the road from Kreipe's residence, the Villa Ariadne, in the village of Knossos
. The team reconnoitred the area and planned the abduction. Leigh Fermor dressed as a Cretan shepherd, and travelled on the local bus to check Knossos and the area around the German headquarters. From his reconnaissance Leigh Fermor decided that the German headquarters would be too difficult to penetrate. After a few days of alternately observing the comings and going of the General, they finalized the details of the abduction. The plan was for the two British officers, dressed as corporal
s in the Feldgendarmerie
(German military police), to stop the general's car on his way home at what was supposed to be a routine check point.
On the night of 26 April 1944, the two British officers stopped the General's car before the Villa Ariadne. When the car stopped, Leigh Fermor took care of Kreipe and Moss knocked the driver out with his cosh. Moss drove the team and the General in the General's car for an hour and a half through 22 controlled road blocks in Heraklion
before leaving Leigh Fermor to go on and abandon the car. When he left the car, he also left documents, revealing that the kidnapping had been done by British Commandos
and no reprisals should be taken against the local population. Moss set off with the General and his Cretan escorts across country, to a rendezvous where they would be joined by Leigh Fermor. Hunted by German patrols, the group moved across the mountains to reach the southern side of the island, where Maj. Dennis Ciclitira
had arranged for a British Motor Launch
(ML 842 commanded by Brian Coleman) to pick them up. The route took them over Mount Ida
, in Greek mythology the birthplace of Zeus
, where Kreipe is said to have recited the first line of Horace
's "ode Ad Thaliarchum" (in Latin) on seeing the white peak: "Vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte" ("You see how [Mount] Soracte stands white with deep snow") at which point Leigh Fermor, a keen reader of Horace, recited the rest of the poem. Leigh Fermor later recounted that each had realised they had "drunk at the same fountains" of learning.
The SOE team and the general were finally picked up from a beach near Rodakino, possibly Peristeres beach, on the southern side of the island on 14 May 1944. They were transported to safety, landing at Mersa Matruh in Egypt.
After the War, a member of Kreipe’s staff reported how, on hearing the news of the kidnap, an uneasy silence in the officers' mess in Heraklion was followed by – “Well gentlemen, I think this calls for champagne all round.”
Post War correspondence explains that Kreipe was disliked by his soldiers because, amongst other things, he objected to the stopping of his own vehicle for checking in compliance with his commands concerning approved travel orders. This tension between the General and his troops, in part, explains the caution of sentries in considering stopping the General’s car as Moss drove it through Heraklion.
on 1 May 1944. Kreipe was interrogated, and then transferred to a POW camp in Canada. Later transferred to a special camp in Wales, Kreipe was released from British captivity in 1947. General Kreipe met his kidnappers one more time in 1972 in a Greek TV show. He died at Northeim
on 14 June 1976.
For their part in the successful kidnapping Major Patrick Leigh Fermor was awarded the Distinguished Service Order
, and Captain William Stanley Moss the Military Cross
, "For [their] outstanding display of courage and audacity", the awards were gazetted
on 13 July 1944.
These events were portrayed in Moss's
1950 book Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe
. In 1957, the book was turned into the film starring Dirk Bogarde
, David Oxley
and Marius Goring
.
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
, an organisation of the United Kingdom. The mission took place on the German occupied island of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
in May 1944.
The German military governor in Crete, Heinrich Kreipe
Heinrich Kreipe
Karl Heinrich Georg Ferdinand Kreipe was a German general, who served in World War II. He is most famous for his spectacular abduction by British and Cretan resistance fighters from occupied Crete in April 1944....
, had just taken over command from Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was a General in the German army in World War II. He is notorious for having been the most brutal commander of occupied Crete, where he earned the nickname "The Butcher of Crete." After the war, he was tried by a Greek military court for war crimes, convicted and...
, who had a reputation for brutality towards the Cretan people. The SOE team of Major Patrick Leigh Fermor
Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sir Patrick "Paddy" Michael Leigh Fermor, DSO, OBE was a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Cretan resistance during World War II. He was widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer", with books including his classic A Time of...
and Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
William Stanley Moss had planned to abduct Müller, but when he was replaced, proceeded with their plans and targeted Kreipe instead. Helped by Cretans resistance fighters, Manolis Paterakis and George Tyrakis, Leigh Fermor's team successfully abducted General Kreipe and managed to evade the German troops searching for them. After a cat-and-mouse style pursuit by German troops, the SOE team reached the coast where they were picked up by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and taken to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
Background
The British ArmyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and allied forces from various countries of the British Commonwealth had been driven out of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
after the Battle of Crete
Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...
in May 1941. Following the evacuation of the surviving British forces, the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
landed agents on the island to assist and advise the Cretan resistance
Cretan resistance
The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement against Nazi Germany by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek Resistance, it lasted from May 20, 1941, when the German Wehrmacht invaded the island in the Battle of Crete, until the fall of 1945 when...
movements. They had a number of objectives including liaison, intelligence gathering, preparing the local resistance and assisting escapers and evaders to leave the island.
Major Patrick Leigh Fermor
Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sir Patrick "Paddy" Michael Leigh Fermor, DSO, OBE was a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Cretan resistance during World War II. He was widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer", with books including his classic A Time of...
and Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
William Stanley Moss hatched the plan in Cairo for the abduction of General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was a General in the German army in World War II. He is notorious for having been the most brutal commander of occupied Crete, where he earned the nickname "The Butcher of Crete." After the war, he was tried by a Greek military court for war crimes, convicted and...
, the military governor in Crete and commander of the 22nd Airlanding Division. Müller had a reputation for brutality and was despised by the Cretan people, and the Special Operations Executive planned to kidnap him and transport him to Egypt.
Leigh Fermor’s strategy was to undertake a bloodless operation that would be attributed to British forces alone in order to avoid direct reprisals being meted out against the Cretan population. In this, he was successful.
Mission
On 4 February 1944, Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and Captain William Stanley Moss and two Cretan SOE agents left Egypt by plane for Crete. Their intention was to parachute into Crete but after arriving at the drop zoneDrop zone
A drop zone is a place where parachutists or parachuted supplies land. It can be an area targeted for landing by paratroopers, or a base from which recreational parachutists and skydivers take off in aircraft and land under parachutes...
, only Leigh Fermor was able to parachute successfully. The others had to abandon the attempt due to bad weather and were returned to Egypt. On landing Leigh Fermor was met by a group from the Cretan resistance
Cretan resistance
The Cretan resistance was a resistance movement against Nazi Germany by the residents of the Greek island of Crete during World War II. Part of the larger Greek Resistance, it lasted from May 20, 1941, when the German Wehrmacht invaded the island in the Battle of Crete, until the fall of 1945 when...
, with whom he remained until the arrival of the rest of the SOE team. Moss and the other two tried three more times by aircraft to land and eventually, after two months of attempts they arrived by Motor Launch ML 842 on 4 April 1944. They were met on the beach by Leigh Fermor and another SOE agent, Sandy Rendel.
Their target General Müller was replaced by General Kreipe on 15 February just before they arrived by sea (Müller replacing General Bräuer
Bruno Bräuer
Bruno Bräuer was a German paratrooper from Willmannsdorf, Prussian Silesia. In 1905 he joined the army cadets and started his military career. In World War I he received the Iron Cross first and second class whilst serving in the 7th West Prussian Infantry regiment...
in Canea as Commander of Fortress Crete
Fortress Crete
Fortress Crete was the term used during World War II by the German occupation forces to refer to the garrison and fortification of the Greek island of Crete, which they had captured after a fierce battle at the end of May 1941...
). They decided, nevertheless, to go ahead with their plan with General Kreipe now their target. The SOE team now included a number of Cretans; 'Anthony' (Antonis Papaleonidas), 'Micky' (Michalis Akoumianakis) and Gregory Chnarakis. Micky was especially welcome as his house was across the road from Kreipe's residence, the Villa Ariadne, in the village of Knossos
Knossos
Knossos , also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square...
. The team reconnoitred the area and planned the abduction. Leigh Fermor dressed as a Cretan shepherd, and travelled on the local bus to check Knossos and the area around the German headquarters. From his reconnaissance Leigh Fermor decided that the German headquarters would be too difficult to penetrate. After a few days of alternately observing the comings and going of the General, they finalized the details of the abduction. The plan was for the two British officers, dressed as corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
s in the Feldgendarmerie
Feldgendarmerie
The Feldgendarmerie were the uniformed military police units of the armies of the German Empire from the mid 19th Century until the conclusion of World War II.- Early history :...
(German military police), to stop the general's car on his way home at what was supposed to be a routine check point.
On the night of 26 April 1944, the two British officers stopped the General's car before the Villa Ariadne. When the car stopped, Leigh Fermor took care of Kreipe and Moss knocked the driver out with his cosh. Moss drove the team and the General in the General's car for an hour and a half through 22 controlled road blocks in Heraklion
Heraklion
Heraklion, or Heraclion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is the 4th largest city in Greece....
before leaving Leigh Fermor to go on and abandon the car. When he left the car, he also left documents, revealing that the kidnapping had been done by British Commandos
British Commandos
The British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe...
and no reprisals should be taken against the local population. Moss set off with the General and his Cretan escorts across country, to a rendezvous where they would be joined by Leigh Fermor. Hunted by German patrols, the group moved across the mountains to reach the southern side of the island, where Maj. Dennis Ciclitira
Dennis Ciclitira
Dennis Ciclitira was a British soldier and businessman of Greek descent. He was born in Patras, Greece but was raised in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, after his father Demosthenes emigrated to the UK and set up a business importing dried fruit....
had arranged for a British Motor Launch
Motor Launch
A Motor Launch is a small military vessel in British navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing or for armed high speed air-sea rescue....
(ML 842 commanded by Brian Coleman) to pick them up. The route took them over Mount Ida
Mount Ida
In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete; and Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia which was also known as the Phrygian Ida in classical antiquity and is the mountain that is mentioned in the Iliad of...
, in Greek mythology the birthplace of Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
, where Kreipe is said to have recited the first line of Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
's "ode Ad Thaliarchum" (in Latin) on seeing the white peak: "Vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte" ("You see how [Mount] Soracte stands white with deep snow") at which point Leigh Fermor, a keen reader of Horace, recited the rest of the poem. Leigh Fermor later recounted that each had realised they had "drunk at the same fountains" of learning.
The SOE team and the general were finally picked up from a beach near Rodakino, possibly Peristeres beach, on the southern side of the island on 14 May 1944. They were transported to safety, landing at Mersa Matruh in Egypt.
After the War, a member of Kreipe’s staff reported how, on hearing the news of the kidnap, an uneasy silence in the officers' mess in Heraklion was followed by – “Well gentlemen, I think this calls for champagne all round.”
Post War correspondence explains that Kreipe was disliked by his soldiers because, amongst other things, he objected to the stopping of his own vehicle for checking in compliance with his commands concerning approved travel orders. This tension between the General and his troops, in part, explains the caution of sentries in considering stopping the General’s car as Moss drove it through Heraklion.
Aftermath
General Kreipe was replaced by Generalleutnant Helmut FriebeHelmut Friebe
Helmut Friebe was a highly decorated Generalleutnant in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the LXIV. Armeekorps. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful...
on 1 May 1944. Kreipe was interrogated, and then transferred to a POW camp in Canada. Later transferred to a special camp in Wales, Kreipe was released from British captivity in 1947. General Kreipe met his kidnappers one more time in 1972 in a Greek TV show. He died at Northeim
Northeim
Northeim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, seat of the district of Northeim, with, as of 2002, a population of 31 000. It's located on the German Half-Timbered House Road.-History:...
on 14 June 1976.
For their part in the successful kidnapping Major Patrick Leigh Fermor was awarded the Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, and Captain William Stanley Moss the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
, "For [their] outstanding display of courage and audacity", the awards were gazetted
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...
on 13 July 1944.
These events were portrayed in Moss's
W. Stanley Moss
Ivan William "Billy" Stanley Moss MC , was a British army officer in World War II, and later a successful writer, broadcaster, journalist and traveller. He served with the Coldstream Guards and the Special Operations Executive . He was a best-selling author in the 1950s, based both on his novels...
1950 book Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe
Ill Met by Moonlight
Ill Met by Moonlight , also known as Night Ambush, is a film by the British writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the last film they made together through their Archers production company...
. In 1957, the book was turned into the film starring Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...
, David Oxley
David Oxley
David Oxley was an English actor who made many film and television appearances over a 35 year period. He is best known for portraying Sir Hugo Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskervilles and for the major role of Captain W...
and Marius Goring
Marius Goring
Marius Goring CBE was an English stage and cinema actor. He is most often remembered for the four films he did with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes...
.