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.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.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 If you were doing a thorough study of the conflict in Crete this would be a must read. If you don't know much about the conflict there this is probably too narrow of a subject and limited in scope to be the first thing to read. Koliopoulos, Ioannis (1977). "Η στρατιωτική και πολιτική κρίση στην Ελλάδα τον Απρίλιο του 1941"[The Military and Political Crisis in Greece in April 1941] (PDF). Mnimon (in Greek). 6: 53–74. doi: 10.12681/mnimon.174 . Retrieved 15 November 2020. 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. 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.The book did provide a good flavour of what it must have been like to a) live in a Nazi occupied country b) how ordinary folk rallied to the cause and c) how the British by and large co-ordinated much of the resistance effort. George must have a brilliant memory for people, names and places but I must admit they did become a little blurred, not helped by an insufficient map of the island at the start of the book ,

Dear, I. C. B.; Foot, M. R. D. (1995). The Oxford Companion to the Second World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866225-9– via Archive Foundation.The Holocaust of Kedros was an operation involving 2,000 Axis soldiers who targeted Anogeia and Damasta. A total of 900 houses were burned, 50 civilians were shot and 3,500 became internally displaced. In the following days the operation expanded to other villages, men were executed, houses were looted and then burned or dynamited regardless of their involvement in resistance activities. [40] Local resistance bands could do nothing but watch, being vastly outnumbered. [41] Biographical works [ edit ] Any fresh volume on the subject would need to be exceptional. The Cretan Runner not only competes but transcends; it is not exceptional, it is unique.”— The Times Literary Supplement Psychoundakis, George (1955). The Cretan Runner: His Story of the German Occupation. London: John Murray. OCLC 753260092. The Cretans had a long history of being invaded and resisting valiantly; the last people to invade had been the Turks in 19th Century. There was also a long history of sheep/goat rustling, family feuding and banditry in the mountains, so there was a ready supply of andartes (guerrillas) who were fiercely loyal to Crete and who loathed the German invaders, whom the British could help to organise into a fighting force. SOE sent in a small number of officers and wireless operators, who organised airdrops of arms, food, clothing, gold sovereigns (a more ready currency than money) and other supplies because the andartes had almost nothing – some of them even without shoes/boots.