As readers of this blog will know I’m a bit of a fan of those eccentric Englishmen who in history have found a niche undertaking remarkable wartime escapades in the most laid back and casual manner. I have also been a devourer of travel writing of the best sort. These two passions come together in the person of Patrick Leigh Fermor, the writer and wartime SOE operative. I’m about to go on a family vacation to Crete so have been re-reading the story of Leigh-Fermor’s kidnapping of General Kreipe and the subsequent exfiltration from that island. Wonderful stuff and I’m looking forward to seeing the actual scenes. The book about this escapade was written by Bill Stanley-Moss, Leigh-Fermor’s accomplice and was made into a film in the 1950’s that I’m forcing my sons to watch. I’m also reading a book “The Cretan Runner” translated by PLF, written by a young Cretan shepherd who was part of the messaging system for the resistance in Crete.
I was doing some idle digging and came across a photographic record of Leigh-Fermor’s wartime files. Fascinating stuff, and can be seen here. Seeing these images is like touching history. A few jump out:
- Here is the citation for an award. He was awarded a DSO and an OBE.
- The official debriefing documents about his Cretan missions. All the more remarkable for their dry, “matter of fact”-ness
- Amusing documents regarding Bill Stanley-Moss’s first draft of his book “Ill met by Moonlight”. The censoring officer in the MoD calls it ‘unutterable trash” and even Leigh-Fermor himself calls it “not a very good book”.
- A wonderful statement from an internal MoD document warning that “Leigh-Fermor does not submit willingly to discipline and I think requires firm handling”.
For those unfamiliar with the remarkable man – here’s his Obituary.