The Ariadne Objective

December 23, 2013
British officers, Cretan guerrilla fighters, a Polish baronesses, and both good and bad Germans are among the diverse cast of characters that fill this exciting historical account of when WWII came to the island of Crete. The narrative focuses on an eccentric group of British amateur Special Forces officers lead by Major Patrick Leigh Fermor, who perpetrate the Cretan guerrilla bands against the Germans in a full throttle, fierce attempt to block Nazi domination in the Middle East. Over several years Fermor and his companions gather intelligence, raid and harass the German occupation from caves and huts deep in the foreboding Cretan mountains. Constantly on the move to avoid searching German forces, the guerrillas gain steady strength until ultimately they take on their most daring mission in the summer of 1944 when they attempt to kidnap the German general commanding the island. Already thrilling in premise, Davis's execution of this previously untold war story is spot on especially when he colors in history with intricate descriptions of the exotic locale.

November 1, 2013
Davis (editor: An Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry, 2010) tells the story of the Cretan soldiers who struck a blow to German morale during World War II. Highlighted in a recent biography by Artemis Cooper, the life of Patrick Leigh Fermor was romantically restless, as he demonstrated early on when he resolved to walk across Europe at age 18. With the breakout of World War II, his knowledge of Greece landed him in a special-ops mission to the German-invaded Crete in order to carry out British espionage. Leigh Fermor cooked up the plot to abduct the occupying German Gen. Friedrich-Wilhelm Muller from the bath; he and his fellow agents had been deeply distraught by the crisis of Cretan occupation, brutally carried out by Muller. After being dropped by parachute on a plateau near the village of Kritsa in 1944, Leigh Fermor rendezvoused with the Cretan patrols and fellow British agent Billy Moss, after many setbacks, and waited for the opportune moment. Even though Muller had been replaced as general, the plan went forward by April. Wearing smuggled German military police uniforms, the two Englishmen, along with a ragtag group of locals, took up position on the route taken by the new general, Heinrich Kreipe, from his residence at Villa Ariadne, near Knossos, to his headquarters near Heraklion. As the two mock Germans stopped the car as part of a routine checkpoint, with Leigh Fermor speaking solid German, the general was seized, the driver knocked out and the car commandeered. After a long trek through goat trails in the mountains, hiding out from the enraged Germans, the group was finally picked up and conveyed to Cairo. It was an amazing abduction and rescue, offering the valiant Cretans renewed hope for liberation. An exciting, earnestly narrated World War II story.

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November 15, 2013
The Nazi invasion of Crete in 1941, spearheaded by an innovative airborne assault, was rapid, efficient, and brutal; the subsequent Cretan resistance was prolonged, vicious, and successful in that it tied down large numbers of German troops. The brunt of the resistance fighting fell upon Cretan partisans and civilians, many of whom were massacred in Nazi reprisal raids. Also playing an important role was a group of amateur British adventurers, including classical scholars, archaeologists, and writers motivated by streaks of romanticism. They were led by Patrick Leigh Fermor, who had wandered extensively across the eastern Mediterranean as a teenager. Aided by their ability to speak Greek, they holed up in the mountains, gathered intelligence for the partisans, and joined them in guerilla raids. Eventually, they engineered an audacious and successful plot to kidnap a German general. Davis, a writer and professor who took part in excavations on Crete, recounts the activities of these men in an exciting, tense narrative that unfolds like an espionage novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2013

History both crucial and swashbuckling: an odd bunch of British intelligence officers joined with Cretan resistance fighters and an American avenging his father's murder to keep German forces from occupying Crete--truly important, for otherwise Germany would have been able to dominate the Middle East. Journalist/former assistant English professor Davis worked for two years at excavations on Crete.

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