War History: Why it was Called World War

War History: Why it was Called World War - Andreas Ninios (Lakeside Middle, Eighth Grade)

Not many people hear the horrific and painful but at the same time inspiring, spirit raising stories that came from World War II.  Even less people hear about them from a first person point of view.  I am one of those select people who have the luck to be able to hear the movie like events from a relative. My great-grandma was born in Crete, Greece in 1929. She was born in a rural environment where everyone was family. World War 2 started September 1st, 1939. At the mere age of ten years old, when most kids learn mathematics and language arts in school, my great- grandma had to endure the effects of war in her country. Greece at the time was part of the Allied powers but was in a bad position as Italy, part of the Axis powers, was in close proximity. If you have ever looked at a map of Greece you would see a small,lonely island right under it. That’s Crete. If you looked at that island you wouldn’t have thought that a major World War Two Battle was going to happen.

On October 28th, 1940, a telegram arrived for the Prime Minister of Greece, Ioannis Metaxas. The telegram was from Benito Mussolini, the Italian Dictator and Axis power co-leader. He had sent an ultimatum. Famously, Metaxas answered Οχι, meaning “No” in Greek. Mussolini had one answer, Alors, c’est la guerre, which translates to “Well, this means war”, and indeed it did. The same day Italian forces attacked Greece. This war would last until the 23rd of April 1941, with the German powers stepping in after what they felt was too much involvement and help from the British. The British had been helping keep Crete under Allied control as it provided a key strategic place in the Mediterranean. My great-grandma housed a British soldier for a few days. She told me about her vivid memories of the soldier teaching her English. She spoke about those memories as if they were happening in front of her, trying to remember every detail she could so she could give me a story for the ages. 

When Germany entered the dying war it seemed as though we could defend everything. 

The Germans, though, had another trick up their sleeve. They used an air-raid and bombed Crete from above. The Germans also sent troops on the ground but surprisingly they met resistance from the people. My great-grandma repeats how the people threw stones or whatever they could find, because they were poor, to toss and throw at the soldiers. They even threw at the planes as they flew by. The people of Crete are a remark to the tough and unbreakable power that groups can hold when they want to fight for their country and lives.

Another story that my great-grandma has told many times, is the one of the kidnapping of the Nazi General, Heinrich Kreipe . I had never researched these stories until now.  I learned many fascinating facts in my time researching this topic. The story starts around the year 1943, in the rich city of Cairo. Two young men, Captain Stanley Moss and Major Patrick Leigh-Fermor, hatched the idea for the kidnapping of the then Nazi General of Crete,  Fredrich Wilhelm Mueller, over a cocktail drink. According to the article “Commando Kidnapping : Capturing General Kreipe on Crete” by John W Osborn Jr, each man had a different motive, “  For Captain Stanley Moss, just 18, it was the chance for some action. But for Major Patrick Leigh-Fermor, 20, there was more driving motivation. He had been on Crete during the German invasion of 1941, been evacuated, then returned for 17 months as an SOE operative with the Crete resistance, seeing firsthand Mueller’s savagery against the Crete populace (Osborn Jr, P.2)” 

In the night of February 4th, 1944, the two men along with another two Crete SOE agents, Manoli Paterakis and Georgi Tyrakis, rode in a bomber plane with only one thing in mind, to capture the General. As the first Leigh-Fermor landed on the ground the drop zone for the other men closed forcing the plane to go back to Egypt and wait to drop off the other men. Finally on the night of April 4, 1944 after exactly two months of hiding, and numerous attempts to land the other men, Leigh-Fermor was joined by the soldiers. They marched across the mountains to a village, where there they met Crete’s top SOE agent, Micky Akaumianos. Instead of the men celebrating though he brought disastrous news. General Mueller was replaced by General Kreipe. Leigh-Farmor knew that they had come too far to stop now. In a later entry Moss wrote, “We supposed that one general was as good a catch as any other.”. 

The plan was hatched slowly. Leigh-Farmor and Akaumianos spent days figuring out Kreipe’s schedule and what times made him most vulnerable for an attack. Both were disguised as peasants when they waved to him, on the day where their plan was finally ready to go into action.  After four failed attempts the men finally struck gold. At 9:30 pm on April 26th, 1944, Moss and Leigh-Fermor, dressed as German Soldiers, caught the General. Kreipe remembers the attack saying, “ a red light appeared in front of us, approximately on the bend. The chauffer asked: ‘Shall I stop?’ We were accustomed to traffic control patrols, and I answered, ‘Stop!’ As the car drew to a halt two lance corporals in German uniform stepped forward. One, Leigh-Fermor, demanded to see my travel document; as I did not have one—it was not normally required—I said: ‘Don’t know about that!’ ‘In that case, the password, please!’ Then I did something foolish. I got out of the car and said: ‘What unit are you? Don’t you know your general?’ Leigh-Fermor, in his German soldier’s disguise, said: ‘General, you are a prisoner of war in British hands.’”.

Their attack had worked beautifully as they drove past everybody and took Kreipe to a safe location. The plan now was for Kreipe to be transported to Cairo. Leigh- Fermor had sent a message letting the Germans know where their leader was going to go. Naturally the Germans tried to find the General and came as close as one mile from the cave they were hiding. Their first attempt was blocked when, after a long march to the beach, a Crete SOE intercepted a message letting them know that the Germans had occupied the site they were headed to. The group had to walk back and hide in shepherd's huts, while Leigh-Fermor went to find new instructions from a Cario SOE .  At last, a new beach location was named and there they marched cheered by all the people who knew how much this man had demolished their lives. After 17 days at the location, the ship arrived and they left Crete undetected. Once they got to Cairo, Major Leigh-Fermor collapsed and died.  

In this whole essay I have taken stories that my great grandmother told me and have found an unexpectedly large amount of facts about my heritage. Starting this essay I had a feeling that I would be drowned by boredom but instead I have once again uncovered my love for history. I leave this project feeling more proud than ever to be a Greek citizen. In the words of Winston Churchill, Great Britain's Prime Minister during World War Two, “ Hence, we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks”.

I am back here writing an additional paragraph to this essay that truly meant so much for me. Last year my great-grandma died. I am and was 13 when she died. I truly felt like I hadn’t learned enough from her, like it was an opportunity wasted for me. I started thinking about all the times she wanted to talk to me and being younger back then had made up some excuse. I was lazy and bored and didn’t want to sit and talk to some old lady about her crazy past. But the few times that I did I learned so much that I couldn’t understand then. Her conversations were scarce but beautiful like a flower that only blooms once or twice. I learned so much more than just what this essay shows. I learned about honesty, virtue and respect. I learned how to love unconditionally and how to be a leader, as she would boss around everyone in the house. My emotions bottled up are about as bad as it can get, that is why they are bleeding all over this paper by sharing her sacred story.