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The kidnap of General Heinrich Kreipe was a Second World War operation by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), an organisation of the United Kingdom. The mission took place on the German occupied island of Crete in May 1944.〔Byford-Jones, W. , ''The Greek Trilogy'', Hutchinson 1945〕 On 1 March 1944, Kreipe was appointed Commander of the 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division operating on Crete, replacing General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller, who had been made the German commander in the Dodecanese and who had a reputation for brutality towards the Cretan people. The SOE team of Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and Captain William Stanley Moss had planned to abduct Müller, but when he was replaced, proceeded with their plans and targeted Kreipe instead. Helped by Cretan resistance fighters, the SOE team successfully abducted Kreipe and managed to evade the German troops searching for them. When the team reached the coast, they were picked up by the Royal Navy and taken to Egypt. These events were portrayed in Moss's book ''Ill Met by Moonlight''. and Leigh Fermor's book, ''Abducting a General''.〔Leigh Fermor, Patrick. ''Abducting a General'', John Murray, 2014〕 ==Background== The British Army and allied forces from various countries of the British Commonwealth had been driven out of Crete after the Battle of Crete in May 1941. Following the evacuation of the surviving British forces, the Special Operations Executive landed agents on the island to assist and advise the Cretan resistance movements. They had a number of objectives including liaison, intelligence gathering, preparing the local resistance and assisting escapers and evaders to leave the island.〔Ogden, Alan, ''Sons of Odysseus, SOE Heroes in Greece'', Bene Factum Publishing Ltd, London, 2012, ISBN 978-1-903071-44-1.〕 Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and Captain William Stanley Moss hatched the plan in Cairo for the abduction of General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller, the military governor in Crete and commander of the 22nd Airlanding Division. Müller had a reputation for brutality and was despised by the Cretan people, and the Special Operations Executive planned to kidnap him and transport him to Egypt.〔Kiriakopoulos, pp.158–159〕 Leigh Fermor’s strategy was to undertake a bloodless operation that would be attributed to British forces alone in order to avoid direct reprisals being meted out against the Cretan population. In this, he was successful.〔Beutin, Dr Ludwig, Letter to W. Stanley Moss, 27 September 1950〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kidnap of Heinrich Kreipe」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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