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Other Participants OFF SITE LINKS The War Graves Photographic Project |
Welcome to my Ill Met By Moonlight pages. Note 2010. If you come to this page from Google, click on Home link to go to the current Home Page Initially this site is likely only to be used by those kind souls out there who are assisting me, Tim, and 'my team' with our endeavours to find out all we can about the facts surrounding abduction of General Kreipe in Crete in 1944, by a British and Cretan team led by Patrick Leigh Fermor. Many of you will have 'happened upon' me through another website www.kastri.co.uk, which contained a lot of information about the abduction of Kreipe, indeed, Alun and Chris, two of the adventurers in the team I assisted in 2005 came to me through the kastri site. That site has been down for sometime now but I thought a new site of this name would be more appropriate for this venture. My interest in these events followed a reading of Ill Met By Moonlight by William Stanley Moss, one of the original participants, soon after my first trip to Crete in 1990. After reading the book, I felt that Moss and his party may well have landed on a hidden beach I had used on my trip, and I decided to see if I was right. In 2005, Alun D, Chris P, John ER, Richard C and I met up in Crete and I assisted them with their efforts to follow in the footsteps of those who took part in the original operation. My good friend Yannis Samatas assisted me in assisting them! Another great friend of all Cretophiles, Stelios Jackson of The Hellenic Book Service, had also been of great assistance prior to our departure for Crete (and ever since for that matter!). We chose as the starting point for the walk, that point on the Ano Archanes to Heraklion road where the abduction took place. Like the original participants, we then drove the point where Moss, Kreipe and others got out of the car and headed up to Anogia. See a brief report of that adventure on www.explorecrete.com Eventually we all ended up at Peristeres beach west of Rhodakino, the point we can now be confident* that Paddy Leigh Fermor and his party left from for North Africa with their prisoner. (*2008 note- we though then we could be confident!) Not satisfied with the 2005 adventure, my team of adventurers went off in 2006 to follow, not in the footsteps, but the ski tracks of Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian member of S.O.E. and the man featured in David Howarth's book, We Die Alone. It was even more of an adventure than they anticipated I understand - though I have yet to hear the full details. Now the team are looking to revisit Crete and to 'do' the first part of the Ill Met By Moonlight story, possibly starting off in Cairo, but in any case landing at the beach that Moss et al did on 4th April 1944 (if we positively identify it in time) before setting off and following the original team's route to the point where we started in 2005, continuing " In the Footsteps of Heroes." Many of you will know that we have enquiries going on all over the place in an effort to determine exactly where various elements of the original operation took place. I find it enormously pleasing to make the exceedingly helpful and friendly contacts that have been made in trying to find out accurate evidence about this adventure. It is clear that I am not alone in being fascinated by these and similar stories. I do however find it a job to maintain a clear mind over what I have told to whom - and what I have asked of them ! I know that most helpers are also interested in the wider story and not necessarily just the tangent I have sent them off on so hopefully this site will enable all to see what avenues are being explored and with what results. So, PL, RGJH, SA, JD, and others, a thank you from me and the team for the assistance generously offered - and please keep an eye on here to see how the information develops as a whole. Thanks also to Yannis Samatas for all the help he has given over the years, and for continuing to help with setting up website etc etc etc. There are many others whom I must thank and in due course I hope to list you all. I feel I ought to say a word or two about copyright and sources. I want this site to be authoritative and I wish to show our evidence for various assertions or beliefs. The evidence may have been obtained from all manner of sources and I shall do my utmost to credit them accordingly. Likewise, with pictures I trust I will give due credit and not breach any copyright. If you think I might be doing so them please advise me. I learned quite early on in my research that there are a good few people with a genuine deep interest in this subject and fields that are allied to it. I know there are many more with a casual interest. Sadly, the number of folk personally, or closely involved in the actual events, is declining and there is a lot of chasing of the original or closely connected participants. There are some elements to these tales that are still sensitive matters to those who took part or their relatives. I feel sure that so many people, including some very close to these events have been so helpful because they know I can be trusted with confidences. It follows that there will be a few occasions when I may not, for the time being anyway, be able to identify sources for some matters, and other facts may be left unmentioned. I will try and not hold much back though, after all, if others had held back then I would have struggled to learn what I know (OK SJ?). Links will follow as soon as I can set them up and enter the information. Hopefully, as the results of enquiries come in, the pages will change rapidly so keep rechecking! Tim August 2007. Follow this link to see the evidence for my considerations as to the location of the arrival beach February 2008 Click link to email me Email from Ill Met by Moonlight
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