He had been a shepherd before the war and after it a charcoal burner and later caretaker of a German military cemetery on Crete. George Psychoundakis was a young shepherd boy who knew the island of Crete intimately when the Nazis invaded by air in 1941. He immediately joined the resistance and took on the crucial job of war-time runner. 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 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. George was a one-off, as they say. Nobody was remotely like him. Touchstone and Ariel spring to mind, and there is a dash of Kim. It was the oddity, independence, charm, curiosity, and imagination that gave him the cover-name of “Changeling” in our dispatches from Crete.”

Kidnapping of Heinrich Kreipe - Wikipedia Kidnapping of Heinrich Kreipe - Wikipedia

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]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.

The Cretan Runner : His story of the German Occupation

On the Platia, monuments and busts of significant Cretan politicians and resistance fighters, the village was always the center and retreat in the liberation fight against the Turks. 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.The book did provide a good flavour of what it must have been like to a) live in a Nazi occupied country b) how ordinary folk rallied to the cause and c) how the British by and large co-ordinated much of the resistance effort. On October 20, a new film adaptation of John Williams’s novel Butcher’s Crossing, published by NYRB Classics in 2007, will be released in select movie theaters across the U.S. Directed by Gabe Polsky, the film stars Nicolas Cage as the frontiersman Miller and Fred Hechinger... Born in 1920 in the tiny village of Asi Gonia high up in the mountain passes of western Crete, George Psychoundakis grew up poor. He and his three siblings only had a rudimentary education. His parents Nicolas and Angeliké worked hard, but the family was still one of the poorest in their village. George got his real education as a shepherd. And as it turned out, this high mountain learning would serve his nation and others very well. A photo of George Psychoundakis (left) and a comrade in WW II – H.M. Government Psychoundakis, Georgio (1991) [1955], The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation, Fermor, PL transl, ISBN 0-7195-3475-5 [6] Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth