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Product Description
Product Description
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.
It was not only the toughest but the most dangerous job of all. It involved immense journeys carrying vital messages, smuggling arms and explosives and guiding Allied soldiers, agents and commandos through heavily garrisoned territory. And George did not escape capture and torture on his many forays.
This brilliant account of George's activities across mountainous terrain, come blazing summer or freezing winter, is a gripping story of bravery against impossible odds.
About the Author
George Psychoundakis was born in Crete in 1920. After a brief period of schooling he lived as a shepherd until the beginning of the German occupation in 1941, when he joined the Cretan resistance as a runner. He was later awarded the BEM.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
This is a fascinating book - I had already read the Anthony Beevor book about the Battle for Crete and had visited Crete on a number of occasions, and this book is a must.
George was a shepherd boy who had virtually educated himself and had not even travelled as far as the Cretan capital before the war, when he became a runner for the SOE and Cretan resistance.
Patrick Leigh Fermor (whose own life is the stuff of legends, and who has been heaped with honours both in UK and in Greece), kept in touch with George and translated this book as closely as possible in George's own words- LF himself is no mean writer but wisely added little of his own except some explanatory footnotes. George later translated Homer into the Cretan dialect but went back to his village after the war. He died a few years ago and his obituary was written by Artemis Cooper, Anthony Beevor's wife.
A remarkable man , and a remarkable account, which is a very important document.
George was a shepherd boy who had virtually educated himself and had not even travelled as far as the Cretan capital before the war, when he became a runner for the SOE and Cretan resistance.
Patrick Leigh Fermor (whose own life is the stuff of legends, and who has been heaped with honours both in UK and in Greece), kept in touch with George and translated this book as closely as possible in George's own words- LF himself is no mean writer but wisely added little of his own except some explanatory footnotes. George later translated Homer into the Cretan dialect but went back to his village after the war. He died a few years ago and his obituary was written by Artemis Cooper, Anthony Beevor's wife.
A remarkable man , and a remarkable account, which is a very important document.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
This book was written by a Cretan peasant who acted as a courier for the insurgent or resistant forces on that island during the Second World War. One of his British officers, trying to organize and use the irregular or guerrilla bands on the island during that period, was Patrick Leigh Fermor, who wrote the long and very elucidating Introduction to this work. Leigh Fermor was also the famous character in Ill Met By Moonlight, dealing with his own experiences at the time (e.g. kidnapping the German commanding general on the island). The book was filmed in the 1950's under the same name and can be recommended as a fair view of some of what happened in Crete at the time.
As the Introduction explains, Crete is 160 miles long and betwen 20 and 40 miles wide. That would seem to make it an unsuitable place for irregular warfare, but the topography of the island leads to a different view. The mountains which covr much of Crete are often over 7,000 feet high and in places over 8,000 feet. This and the fact that, at the time, the only trans-island road was the North coast East-West route, meant that Crete was in fact ideal guerrilla territory, all the more so in a day when helicopters, drones, satellites and high-altitude spy planes etc were unknown.
Crete had been occupied by Allied forces early in the war, but fell to German parachute forces under General Student. The Allied forces then were either killed, captured or escaped to Egypt. Thus the irregular formations. The war in Crete betwen the Cretan irregulars and their German opponents was harsh in the extreme, with little quarter given on either side. That is the backdrop to this book.
The author covered all or most of Crete, on foot, in all weathers, carrying his messages and connecting from time to time with the resistant forces. He was also extracted at one time during the war and visited Egypt and Palestine. I found those parts of the book among the most interesting, not least his visit to Palestine which, after Egypt he found a paradise of lemons and oranges etc. This is the land which we are told was a "desert", only blooming after it had become "Israel" after 1948...
I was interested to read (in the introduction and notes) that the insurgent fores on Crete, being mainly non-Communist, were not so riven with internal dissent and backstabbing as those of mainland Greece and the Balkans generally. Also, the author does indicate that there was not only self-interested pro-German collaboration on the island, but that some islanders were "Germanophile". One has to remember that Crete had been part of both the Venetian and Ottoman empires. There may have been a rift between the isolated rural peasantry (who supplied the fighters of the insurgent forces) and the town-based folk, more educated, perhaps more likely to compromise with a de facto power. Two of the several pro-Germans killed in the book were medical doctors.
I should say that, as a firsthand account of the Second World War, pretending to nothing more than a simple country person's immediate view, without guile, it is well worth reading.
As the Introduction explains, Crete is 160 miles long and betwen 20 and 40 miles wide. That would seem to make it an unsuitable place for irregular warfare, but the topography of the island leads to a different view. The mountains which covr much of Crete are often over 7,000 feet high and in places over 8,000 feet. This and the fact that, at the time, the only trans-island road was the North coast East-West route, meant that Crete was in fact ideal guerrilla territory, all the more so in a day when helicopters, drones, satellites and high-altitude spy planes etc were unknown.
Crete had been occupied by Allied forces early in the war, but fell to German parachute forces under General Student. The Allied forces then were either killed, captured or escaped to Egypt. Thus the irregular formations. The war in Crete betwen the Cretan irregulars and their German opponents was harsh in the extreme, with little quarter given on either side. That is the backdrop to this book.
The author covered all or most of Crete, on foot, in all weathers, carrying his messages and connecting from time to time with the resistant forces. He was also extracted at one time during the war and visited Egypt and Palestine. I found those parts of the book among the most interesting, not least his visit to Palestine which, after Egypt he found a paradise of lemons and oranges etc. This is the land which we are told was a "desert", only blooming after it had become "Israel" after 1948...
I was interested to read (in the introduction and notes) that the insurgent fores on Crete, being mainly non-Communist, were not so riven with internal dissent and backstabbing as those of mainland Greece and the Balkans generally. Also, the author does indicate that there was not only self-interested pro-German collaboration on the island, but that some islanders were "Germanophile". One has to remember that Crete had been part of both the Venetian and Ottoman empires. There may have been a rift between the isolated rural peasantry (who supplied the fighters of the insurgent forces) and the town-based folk, more educated, perhaps more likely to compromise with a de facto power. Two of the several pro-Germans killed in the book were medical doctors.
I should say that, as a firsthand account of the Second World War, pretending to nothing more than a simple country person's immediate view, without guile, it is well worth reading.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
It seems slightly amazing that a Cretan shepherd with only the most rudimentary schooling could write such a book - but he did, and the result is terrific. The intrepid war-hero and traveller, Paddy Leigh Fermor undertook to translate and provide an introduction and helpful footnotes to this world-famous book but George Psychoundakis' prose is breathtaking in its passion and simplicity. When he refers to the German invasion of Crete and the atrocities which followed, he wrote: `No. Crete had to resist and she resisted with all her might. And these strangers, strutting now in the guise of brave swashbucklers should have been begging forgiveness for all the evil they had done to Crete.' The way in which the andartes - resistance fighters - and their British allies did resist is set out in this tremendous book.
Psychoundakis became a runner - sometimes wearing boots, others times in bits of old tyres, tied to his feet with string - across the most rugged, inhospitable landscape to carry messages for the British secret agents who came to the island during those troubled times. He was awarded the BEM by the British in 1945; he was thrown into jail by his own countrymen for months as a deserter because his relevant Greek military documents could not be found. When they were, he nevertheless had to perform two more years' service with the Greek army. He had a terribly hard life but in his later years he translated Homer into the Cretan dialect. He was Godfather to many Cretans and was trotted out at every opportunity to be shown off. When I met him in Tavronitis, western Crete, aged seventy-five in 1996 and he signed my copy of his book, he did look a little fed up - perhaps he'd been displayed once too often! A great man and a great book.
Psychoundakis became a runner - sometimes wearing boots, others times in bits of old tyres, tied to his feet with string - across the most rugged, inhospitable landscape to carry messages for the British secret agents who came to the island during those troubled times. He was awarded the BEM by the British in 1945; he was thrown into jail by his own countrymen for months as a deserter because his relevant Greek military documents could not be found. When they were, he nevertheless had to perform two more years' service with the Greek army. He had a terribly hard life but in his later years he translated Homer into the Cretan dialect. He was Godfather to many Cretans and was trotted out at every opportunity to be shown off. When I met him in Tavronitis, western Crete, aged seventy-five in 1996 and he signed my copy of his book, he did look a little fed up - perhaps he'd been displayed once too often! A great man and a great book.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Cretan Runner
We already had an earlier copy of this book but we wished to give the book as a present. The latest copy is as good as the earlier copy and I would recommend the book to anyone... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Stewart
an excellent read
I have recommended this book to several people - and their comments are
the same as mine - a very good read. I was disappointed by the addendum remarks. Read more
the same as mine - a very good read. I was disappointed by the addendum remarks. Read more
Published 12 months ago by lynne lanson
Keeps the boyfriend quiet
This was a gift for my boyfriend who has recently developed an obsession with all things Crete and WW2. He seems very happy with it, so 10/10!
Published 19 months ago by L. Shearing
Fascinating insight
Honest and straightforward first-hand account of the war in Crete, from the Crete perspective, describing some of the background to the German victory (and explains what the Cretan... Read more
Published 21 months ago by paul1010
Memoirs of a resistance fighter in wartime Crete
A very interesting book for anyone interested in Crete during wartime and there is a lengthy introduction by Patrick Leigh Fermor which adds background. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2010 by Mrs. R. M. Marks
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