• Operation Bricklayer

Date of birth:

June 5th, 1895 (Niederspier, German Empire)

Date of death:

June 14th, 1976 (Northeim, Germany)

Nationality:

German

Karl Kreipe joined the army days after WWI began in 1914. He served at Verdun and earned several honors, including both classes of the Iron Cross. During the interwar years, he remained in the military, teaching at the Hanover War School and rising to lieutenant colonel by 1938.

In WWII, Kreipe commanded the 209th Infantry Regiment, fought in the Siege of Leningrad, and was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. Promoted to major general in 1943, he briefly led the 79th Infantry Division before taking command of the 22nd Infantry Division on Crete in February 1944.

On April 26, 1944, Kreipe was abducted near Archanes by British SOE agents Patrick Leigh Fermor and W. Stanley Moss, with help from Cretan resistance fighters. Disguised as Germans, they stopped his car at a fake checkpoint, killed his driver, and escaped using Kreipe’s vehicle. They passed checkpoints undetected, then crossed the Ida Mountains on foot and mule. After weeks of evasion, they were evacuated by British motorboat on May 15.

The mission aimed to boost Cretan morale and mislead the Germans about Allied invasion plans. Despite efforts to hide local involvement, German reprisals were severe—villages like Anogia were destroyed, and over 170 civilians were killed.

Kreipe was held in England and Canada, then released in 1947. He lived quietly in Hanover with his wife Ilse and never publicly discussed the kidnapping, though he met his captors in Athens for a TV program in 1972.

He is buried in Hanover-Ricklingen.

Do you have more information about this person? Inform us!

• - BEEVER, A., Crete 1941, Penguin Books Ltd, 2014.
  - LEIGH FERMOR, P., Abducting a General, John Murray Publishers Ltd, 2014.
  - Scherzer, Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (2007)
  - Rangliste des Deutschen Reichsheeres, Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1930, p.153

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