Captain Manolis Petrakis and the White Mountain Resistance – WW2 Crete Ebook

Crete has fallen. The battle is over. But for Captain Manolis Petrakis, the war is only beginning.

Crete, May 1941.

The last British destroyers have disappeared towards Egypt. German troops control the towns, ports and roads. Thousands of Allied soldiers have been left behind, and the victorious occupiers believe the island has finally been conquered.

They are wrong.

Captain Manolis Petrakis, a former Greek Army officer, refuses the chance to escape. Crete is his home, and he will not abandon it.

Instead, he disappears into the White Mountains.

Among hidden caves, ancient shepherd trails and isolated mountain villages, Petrakis begins building a resistance network from almost nothing. His fighters are an unlikely army—Cretan shepherds and farmers, stranded British and Commonwealth soldiers, teachers, priests and ordinary islanders prepared to risk everything rather than accept occupation.

At first, they possess little more than a handful of rifles, local knowledge and determination.

Then the resistance begins to grow.

German convoys are ambushed. Weapons are hidden in mountain caves. Allied soldiers are smuggled towards secret escape routes. Intelligence reaches Cairo. British SOE agents arrive with radios, explosives and supplies.

But every attack carries a terrible price.

Villages burn.

Hostages are executed.

Collaborators betray their neighbours.

And German intelligence officer Major Karl Richter becomes determined to discover the identity of the mysterious Greek captain turning the White Mountains into a battlefield.

As the occupation grows increasingly brutal, Petrakis and his fighters must wage a war in which survival depends not upon holding territory, but upon striking quickly and disappearing before the enemy can respond.

From the destruction of Kandanos and the first mountain ambushes to clandestine radio networks, sabotage operations, submarine landings and desperate escapes, Captain Manolis Petrakis and the White Mountain Resistance is a sweeping historical military adventure inspired by the extraordinary resistance on Crete during the Second World War.

It is a story of guerrilla warfare, courage, sacrifice, betrayal and an island that refused to bow.

Perfect for readers who enjoy Second World War historical fiction, resistance stories, military adventure, SOE operations, guerrilla warfare and novels inspired by remarkable events from history.

The Germans conquered Crete. Conquering the Cretans would prove far more difficult.