This is an interesting book making use of previously unpublished material by an established author, once described as the greatest travel writer of the last century. Subsequent to his career as an army officer during World War II, Patrick Leigh Fermor wrote and published about a dozen major works which firmly established his reputation. Abducting a General was published after the author's death and made use of an account of a wartime operation written by Leigh Fermor in 1966-7, as well as some reports sent to headquarters during the action in Crete in 1943-4. It tells the tale of the abduction of General Kreipe, then commanding the German forces in occupation of this large Greek island.
Leigh Fermor's account written in the 1960s extends only to about 30,000 words so the book contains additional material including not only the author's contemporary war reports but also a foreword by Roderick Baily and supplementary material describing the abduction route by Chris and Peter White, a glossary of pseudonyms, maps, photographs and an index. Sheds Leigh This compilation could be mistaken for a portfolio assembled only for the purpose of historical research were it not for the high quality of Leigh Fermor's writing. This little gem might not have seen the light of day, or have been fully appreciated, without this elaborate setting.
The abduction of General Kreipe was a remarkable achievement that had relatively little practical value in aiding the British war effort. Originally, it had been intended to capture Generalmajor Muller who had carried out atrocities and was therefore a war criminal. Muller was replaced by Kreipe, a holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, from the Russian front, in March 1944, only a month before the abduction took place on 26 April. Leigh Fermor decided that the operation should still go ahead as 'the moral effect of the commander's capture would be just as great, whoever he might be.'
The account of the capture is quickly accomplished and the major part of the tale is of the long trek of eighteen days across the Cretan mountains before the General and his captors could be whisked away to Egypt by the Royal Navy. This journey was fraught with difficulty and the general was carried on a mule whenever possible. Some tracks, however, could only be passed on foot and the captive suffered two falls, injuring his shoulder and losing his iron cross.
Leigh Fermor employs his travel writer's skills in describing the Cretan landscape and especially his Cretan collaborators from whom he derived much support. It is clear throughout that the great majority of Cretans were keen to collaborate in a British liberation of their island, but there were a few traitors informing the Germans and at least two were executed after trials in which the author participated. One has the impression that a much longer account might have covered all of Leigh Fermor's activities in Crete, and the reader feels a little cheated that this is not provided.