The Cretan Runner By George Psychoundakis

Fascinating, entertaining, harrowing. I was not aware that more greeks than brits were killed in WWII, almost all of the greek causalities were civilians. I soon learned why in this exhilarating and devastating account written by George Psychoundakis, a dirt-poor peasant resistance fighter in crete. He had hardly left his village before the terrifying invasion by nazi paratroopers during the battle of crete. The constant brutal harassment and murderous reprisals by the occupying force is tough to read, but the resistance teamed up with the SOE proved to be an exciting and formidable force, and the book is mostly them moving their camps and wireless transmitters between various mountain caves to elude the dogged and circling german patrols and gestapo. The light relief in the book came halfway through as George (who had never been on a boat) got to go on relief to british-controlled cairo. His first visit to a zoo he described as paradise, his first encounter with aquariums, bicycles,…