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Summary: They were people of a different time and class!
Review: As has been said elsewhere, this account of an attempt to kidnap a German General from German-occupied Crete in WWII, illuminates many interesting facts about the people of Crete in the 1940's and their way of life. In fact, it is as much a sociology of war-time (male) Creteans as it is an account of the mission. Our writer (one of the commandos on the raid) is a rather colourful, almost poetic writer, which is a style that contrasts quite sharply with the gritty subject matter. He gives the reader the notion that he stays a little aloof of the Cretean partisans with which he operated and often comes off as arrogant. But, you've got to remember that the class system in England at the time produced people of a very different ilk than it does nowadays. Moss is full of that archaic British "stiff upper lip" mentality. A good book though, more of a personal adventure story than a war story but enjoyeable nonetheless. Like others, I too was left wondering why the German General was so important and why the plan to kidnap him, was hatched in the first place!
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Summary: A real page-turner...
Review: In 1944, two British commandos capture a Nazi General from the island of Crete, and take him to British-occupied Egypt.Written by one of the commandos, it's a suspenseful true wartime tale.
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Summary: Entertaining account of a unique British Commando raid
Review: Stanley Moss must have been an interesting man. He obviously was an erudite individual, in that he was able to write this marvelous book, in spite of not being an author or anything like that. He was instead a soldier, a wartime one who had an office job before the war, but left to try and kill Germans, and win the war for the Allies. This book covers his account of his attempt (with one other British officer and a band of local partisans) to capture the commander of a German division in Crete, and spirit him back to Egypt via torpedo boat. The book is very British. There's a marvelous sense of the British civilian upper class at war, bunglingly incompetent but amazingly brave, and very good-hearted. The bungling is strange in that the author clearly was an effective soldier (an afterward by Moss's partner, Leigh-Fermor, in my addition tells how Moss led a partisan detachment that killed 75 or so Germans several months after the events in the book) but he manages to convey that he's not very good at this war stuff. In one scene, he lets one of the Partisans examine his submachinegun ,and is then nervous because "I never know which buttons on these things to push" and sweats until the gun is given back to him. There's marvelous banter, slang, and nicknames (one of the Cretan partisans is called "Wallace Beery" because of his supposed resemblance to that actor) and even the torpedo boat captain is colorful, as he should be. I was impressed with this book. The plot moves right along, doesn't get bogged down with too many details, doesn't try to portray what was done in a particularly brave or skilful way, just tells you the results, I would recommend it highly.
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Summary: A true tale of courage and daring
Review: There were many interesting little incidents in World War II that are almost, if not completely, unknown today. This book recounts one of those types of incidents, the kidnapping and removal from the island of Crete of a German general. It's a first person narrative, written contemporaneously with the action, by one of the British leaders of the raid. Told with typical British understatement, nevertheless it's possible to read between the lines and discern the true courage of the team members, and the terrible danger in which they were placed. The writing is excellent, even poetic at times, considering the conditions under which it was written. Like any diary, there is not a lot of background detail included, which sometimes leaves the reader wishing for more information, but that's the nature of this type of writing. Read it for what it is, and you come away admiring the bravery of the men, both British and Cretan, who carried out this mission. With men such as these, it's possible to see why the Allies won the War!
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Summary: You won't put it down once you start.
Review: This book is a really fun read. It's all a bit mysterious, but it tells a classic tale of the British upper class at war. It's kind of a cross between "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Guns of Navarone", but with a lot less violence. Exactly what organization the author works for, and what context it all takes place in is lacking. But the chase across Crete and the author's insights into the locals kept me glued to my chair reading until I had read from front to back. See also the 1957 movie of the same name with Dirk Bogarde. For another book in the same vein find a copy of F.S. Chapman's "The Jungle is Neutral". Another WW2 "way behind the lines" story, this time in Malaya.
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Summary: Fun to Read True Life Adventure
Review: This is a really fun to read book. Its about an actual behind the lines mission carried out by the author of this book. It is about a mission to capture a Nazi general and deliver him to captivity. The story of how they captured the general and then evaded the efforts of the German occupational forces to find them makes for thrilling reading. This is a book that is very hard to put down and as such is heartily recommended.
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Summary: Fun to Read True Life Adventure
Review: This is a really fun to read book. Its about an actual behind the lines mission carried out by the author of this book. It is about a mission to capture a Nazi general and deliver him to captivity. The story of how they captured the general and then evaded the efforts of the German occupational forces to find them makes for thrilling reading. This is a book that is very hard to put down and as such is heartily recommended.
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Summary: More about commandos running and hiding than fighting
Review: This is the first person recount of an audacious commando raid to capture a German General on Crete during World War II. But most of the story is about trying to avoid German patrols. It isn't an exciting adventure, it's more like a story about a game of hide and seek than a war story or history. This book is highly focused on one operation without reference to anything else in the war. There's nothing telling if something significant was learned by debriefing the general. What we do learn about is the author's view of the residents of Crete (but we can't be sure whether it's accurate or prejudiced). It's reasonably well written but not engrossing.
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Summary: More about commandos running and hiding than fighting
Review: This is the first person recount of an audacious commando raid to capture a German General on Crete during World War II. But most of the story is about trying to avoid German patrols. It isn't an exciting adventure, it's more like a story about a game of hide and seek than a war story or history. This book is highly focused on one operation without reference to anything else in the war. There's nothing telling if something significant was learned by debriefing the general. What we do learn about is the author's view of the residents of Crete (but we can't be sure whether it's accurate or prejudiced). It's reasonably well written but not engrossing.
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Summary: Not As Gripping a Tale As One Might Think
Review: This is the first-hand account by a British commando of the kidnapping of a German general on the island of Crete in the Spring of 1944, and his removal to Egypt. The book is taken almost verbatim from the diary he kept during the course of the five-week operation, with occasional notes added by the author. What sounds like the stuff of movies, turns out to be rather tame in the telling. The bulk of the book describes the trekking hither and yon of two British officers and their various partisans allies, without whose aid the operation would never had succeeded. The main tension comes after the General is captured, as the group has to evade the German search parties and make it to the coast for a nighttime pickup. Aside from an inside look at how such operations actually work, the book's main value comes from Moss' descriptions of Crete and its people. Moss has some nice turns of phrase, too: "Only John Katsias, that suave killer, remained serene and unperturbed, leaning against the boatrail and looking like a very tired aristocrat who has tried and found wanting every physical and emotional stimulus."
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