Psychoundakis, Georgio (1991) [1955], The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation, Fermor, PL transl, ISBN 0-7195-3475-5 [6] Psychoundakis’s effortlessly poetic account reflected a passionate love of his homeland and its people, a geologist’s and botanist’s eye, chortling bemusement at the habits of the upper-class British agents, and deep comradeship with his fellow resistance fighters.”—Simon Steyne, The Guardian Full of death, and the excitement of a fighter who wildly enjoys his own part of the dangerous business Sunday Times I found the huge array of different characters to be a little confusing however this did not hamper my enjoyment of this guileless account of a courageous and extraordinary resistance fighter. 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.

The Cretan Runner by Psychoundakis - AbeBooks The Cretan Runner by Psychoundakis - AbeBooks

Beevor, Antony (2005). Crete 1941: The Battle and the Resistance. London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-6831-2. There have been other memoirs of wartime Crete but those were visitors’ books. George’s story, as Leigh Fermor points out in the introduction, is unique.”—Allison Pearson

The book has at once a calm of a race which takes it for granted that life is full of death, and the excitement of a fighter who wildly enjoys his own part of the dangerous business. It is full of jokes and full of pride. 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.” Continuing my recent theme of reading about SOE (the Special Operations Executive), I was pleased to get round to reading The Cretan Runner by George Psychoundakis, a man who delivered messages for the British officers organising Cretan resistance to the German and Italian Occupation in Crete, 1941-1945. Koukounas, Demosthenes (2013). Η Ιστορία της Κατοχής[ History of the Occupation] (in Greek). Vol.II. Athens: Livani. ISBN 978-9-60-142687-7.

The Cretan Runner, by George Psychoundakis

Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth 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. I was unfamiliar with pretty much everything that was happening during WW2 in Crete, so I appreciated this perspective. It is complete with petty arguments, daily routine, local culture, and mildly comic insights about the Allied forces the author (a local Cretan resistance member) encounters. It is refreshing and not smoothed to align with a victorious narrative, although I am still interested in reading some of the available accounts written by the translator and other British men who are mentioned in this account for another perspective. In May 2016, I wandered with some friends a part of the "kidnapping route" - to the Perister Beach. From here, the crew was brought to Egypt at night with a boat.Psychoundakis, George (1955). The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation. London: John Murray. OCLC 753260092. Likewise, reading The Cretan Runner, the volume of short tales, events, of fighting the Germans as Cretan resistance seem repetitive at times, but the reader feels guilt jumping, avoiding the narrative. The actions of these brave, resisting individuals have led to comparative freedom for much of the western world for the past seventy years – albeit high dependency and impoverishment in many developing countries, as well as within the so-called advanced economies. From 1974 until his retirement, Psychoundakis, together with another fighter in the Greek resistance, Manolis Paterakis, were caretakers at the German war cemetery on Hill 107 above Maleme. George Psychoundakis buried Bruno Brauer when he was re-interred on Crete later in the 1970s. [5] Sources [ edit ]

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Psychoundakis’s effortlessly poetic account reflected a passionate love of his homeland and its people, a geologist’s and botanist’s eye, chortling bemusement at the habits of the upper-class British agents, and deep comradeship with his fellow resistance fighters.

Missing from the book is the overall outcome of the successes that the work of the runner George Psychoundakis and his countrymen achieved. The most celebrated act of resistance in Crete – the capture of the German local leader Kreipe is described. Yet there were many other successes in sabotage achieved on raids conducted not by SOE but by the Special Boat Service (SBS) of the Royal Marines (SBS), which made incursions into Crete in coordination with SOE. The SBS raids, targeting German military infrastructure, became regular. The first raid on 9 June 1942 targeted the German airfields at Kastelli, Heraklion, Maleme and Tymbaki, and in the first two instances recorded success in the destruction of aircraft, albeit at the cost of the life of one saboteur and the freedom of three others. A second raid on the same airfields (with the exception of Maleme) was staged in July of the following year, while the third and final raid, distinguished by closer collaboration between SBS and SOE, took place in July 1944. There was skepticism about the value of the raids and the Cretans, too, felt at best ambivalent about this form of Allied intervention. The second of the SBS raids brought a round of reprisals. Among the reprisal victims were most of the small Jewish colony in Heraklion. Postwar life [ edit ] Book covers of Psychoundakis' translations of the Iliad and Odyssey to the Cretan dialect. 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.