Leigh-Fermor, Patrick Michael

Date of birth:: February 11th, 1915 (London, United Kingdom)
Date of death:: June 10th, 2011 (Dumbleton/Gloucestershire, United Kingdom)
Service number:: 143448
Nationality:: British

Biography

Patrick Leigh Fermor, expelled from school and drawn to adventure, walked from Holland to Istanbul at 18. His journey, later immortalized in three books, led him through Europe’s cultural heartlands. In Greece, he joined royalist forces and lived with Romanian noblewoman Balasha Cantacuzène until WWII called him back to Britain.

During World War II, Leigh Fermor trained with Derek Bond and Iain Moncreiffe before joining the Irish Guards. Fluent in Greek, he was commissioned into the General List in 1940 and served as a liaison officer in Albania, later fighting in mainland Greece and Crete. As part of the SOE, he returned to Crete multiple times, living disguised as a shepherd—nicknamed “Michalis”—and helping organize resistance. In 1944, he led the daring abduction of German General Heinrich Kreipe, alongside Captain Bill Stanley Moss. The event was chronicled in Moss’s Ill Met by Moonlight and adapted into a 1957 film starring Dirk Bogarde. Leigh Fermor’s own account, Abducting a General, was published in 2014.

During wartime leave, he stayed at Tara, a lively SOE villa in Cairo hosted by Countess Sophie Tarnowska. After the war, his literary career began with The Traveller’s Tree (1950), a Caribbean travelogue that won the Heinemann Prize and was quoted in Ian Fleming’s Live and Let Die.

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Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Captain
Unit:: Cretan Section, Special Operations Executive (SOE), British Government
Awarded on:: August 6th, 1943

"This officer infiltrated into Crete on 22 Jun 42. Since that date, by his courage, cheerfulness and steadfastness, he has been most valuable in maintaining morale among the civilian population in most difficult circumstances.
At different times he has been in charge of our revolutionary and espionage services in the prefectures of Canea, Rethymnon and Heraklion and has been responsible for providing much valuable information regarding enemy activity and intentions. In addition he has made a personal reconnaissance of the ports of Suda and Heraklion under most hazardous circumstances.
On his own initiative he has organised defeatist campaigns in the ranks of German troops. With complete disregard for personal safety … he has carried these enterprises through to a successful conclusion.
He is still in Crete, where his determination, devotion to duty, and steadfastness of purpose have been invaluable in helping the local population to sustain their faith in their allies.
He is consistently hunted by the occupying troops.
Signed by Head of Mission 9 Apr 43."

Recommended for a DSO, but awarded the OBE instead.

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

Distinguished Service Order (DSO)

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Captain
Unit:: Force 133, Special Operations Executive (SOE), British Government
Awarded on:: July 13th, 1944
Awarded for:: Kidnapping of Heinrich Kreipe

"This officer showed exceptional gallantry in executing the task of kidnapping Major-General Karl KREIPE, G.O.C. 22 Panzer Grenadier Division, at ARKHANES, CRETE, on 26th April 1944.
He led a party close to the German Commander's HQ, attacked his car and overpowered both him and the driver of the car.
Then, impersonating the General in his car he was driven through HERAKLION through 22 German controlled road blocks. Subsequently, for 16 days he was hunted by considerable enemy forces but he succeeded in moving the General over a distance of 100 miles through enemy held country. After several attempts he was finally successful in placing his captive on board a ship which evacuated him to the Middle East
For his outstanding display of courage and audacity Major LEIGH-FERMOR is recommended for the Immediate Award of the D.S.O."