Heinrich Kreipe

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Heinrich Kreipe

Born	5 June 1895 Niederspier, Thuringia
Died	14 June 1976 (1976-06-15) (aged 81) Northeim
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Rank	General
Commands held	22nd infantry division
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Karl Heinrich Georg Ferdinand Kreipe (5 June 1895 – 14 June 1976) was a German general, who served in World War II. He is most famous for his spectacular abduction by British and Cretan resistance fighters from occupied Crete in April 1944.

Biography

Early life and career

Kreipe was born in Niederspier, Thuringia. Upon the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for the army, and rose through the ranks, being appointed lieutenant in December 1915. After the war's end, Kreipe enlisted in the Hessen-Thüringen-Waldeck Freikorps, and joined the new Reichswehr in October 1919. He was retained in the much-reduced German armed forces permitted after the Treaty of Versailles, a testament to his ability as a soldier. By 1939, he had risen to the rank of Colonel.

World War II

As commander of Infantry Regiment 209 of the 58th Infantry Division, Kreipe participated in the Battle of France and the drive towards Leningrad during Operation Barbarossa. For these actions he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 13 October 1941. He remained in the Leningrad front until May 1942, when he was transferred back to Germany, where he took up administrative and teaching positions. In June–October 1943, he was transferred back to the Eastern Front, where he led the 79th Infantry Division. On 1 March 1944, Kreipe was appointed Commander of the 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division operating on Crete, replacing General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller, who had been made the German commander of Crete in Hania.

Abduction by Greek and British agents

Main article: Kidnap of General Kreipe

In the spring of 1944, a plan was laid out by the Allies to kidnap General Müller, whose harsh repressive measures had earned him the nickname "the Butcher of Crete". The operation was led by Major Patrick Leigh Fermor, together with Captain Bill Stanley Moss, Greek SOE agents and Cretan resistance fighters. However, Müller left the island before the plan could be carried out. Undeterred, Fermor decided to abduct Kreipe instead.

In the night of 26 April, General Kreipe left his headquarters in Archanes and headed without escort to his well-guarded residence, "Villa Ariadni", approximately 25 km outside Heraklion. Major Fermor and Captain Moss, dressed as German military policemen, waited for him 1 km before his residence. They asked the driver to stop and asked for their papers. As soon as the car stopped, Fermor quickly opened Kreipe's door, rushed in and threatened him with his gun while Moss took the driver's seat. The abduction is commemorated near Archanes.^[1] Moss drove the kidnappers and the General in his car for an hour and a half through 22 controlled road blocks in Heraklion before leaving Leigh Fermor to go on and abandon the car, with suitable decoy material being planted that suggesting an escape off the island had been made by submarine. Moss set off with the General on a cross-country march supported by andartes to be rejoined by Leigh Fermor. Hunted by German patrols, the group moved across the mountains to reach the southern side of the island, where a British Motor Launch (ML 842 commanded by Brian Coleman) was to pick them up. Eventually, on 14 May 1944, they were picked up (from Peristeres beach near Rhodakino) and transferred to Egypt.

Kreipe was interrogated, and then transferred to a POW camp in Canada. Later transferred to a special camp in Wales,^[2] Kreipe was released from British captivity in 1947. General Kreipe met his kidnappers one more time in 1972 in a Greek TV show.^[3] He died at Northeim on 14 June 1976.

Legacy

In 1950 W. Stanley Moss, one of the leaders of the operation, wrote a bestselling account of the abduction — Ill Met by Moonlight.^[4] In the 1957 film Ill Met by Moonlight, based on the book, Kreipe is portrayed by Marius Goring.^[5]

References

↑ Photo
↑ Brett Exton, Generalmajor Karl Heinrich Georg Ferdinand Kreipe, Some of the Prisoners Held at Special Camp 11, A link from the website ISLAND FARM PRISONER OF WAR CAMP: 198 / Special Camp: XI, Bridgend, South Wales, 2004.
↑ Nikos Mastorakis, "The abduction of general Kreipe" Video
↑ W. Stanley Moss, Ill Met By Moonlight: The Classic Story of Wartime Daring, (London, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1950) ISBN 0-304-35259-4
↑ Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) IMDB entry

External links

Military offices
Preceded by General der Infanterie Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller	Commander of 22. Infanterie-Division February 15, 1944 - April 26, 1944	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Helmut Friebe

v t e Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients of the 58th Infantry Division

Stab	Karl von Graffen Curt Siewert

Infanterie/Grenadier-Regiment 154	Hermann-Heinrich Behrend¹ (Oak Leaves & Swords) Werner Ebeling² (Oak Leaves) Hans Gidion Karl Hofbauer Helmut Köhler Alexander von Pfuhlstein Heinrich Schwarting Hans-Günther Voigt

Infanterie/Grenadier-Regiment 209	Oskar Bremermann Wilhelm Eggemann³ (Oak Leaves) Gerhard Hein (Oak Leaves) Heinrich Kreipe

Infanterie/Grenadier-Regiment 220	Ulrich Freiherr von Canstein Werner Ebeling² (Oak Leaves) Hans-Heinrich Mach Curt Müller Heinz Wunram

Artillerie-Regiment 158	Emil-Gerhard Schwarzer Wilhelm Wagner

Panzerjäger-Abteilung 158	Heinz Schacht

Aufklärungs-Abteilung 158	Gerhard Boldt

Divisions-Füsilier-Bataillon (A.A.) 58	Wilhelm-Ernst Freiherr von Cramm Hans-Christoph Grießbauer Albert Nielsen

Pionier-Bataillon 158	Christoph Duncker Hans Pikrot

Feldersatz-Bataillon 158	Werner Pape

¹ Knight's Cross with Infanterie-Regiment 489 (269th Infantry Division), Swords with the 490th Infantry Division. ² Knight's Cross with Grenadier-Regiment 220, Oak Leaves with Grenadier-Regiment 154 ³ Knight's Cross with Grenadier-Regiment 94 (32nd Infantry Division)

Greece during World War II

1940–41 Balkans Campaign	Occupation and Resistance		Greek government-in-exile

Greco-Italian War Battles Elaia–Kalamas Pindus Morava–Ivan Himara Klisura Trebeshina Italian Spring Offensive Commanders Greece Ioannis Metaxas Alexander Papagos Charalambos Katsimitros Konstantinos Davakis Ioannis Pitsikas Italy Benito Mussolini Sebastiano Visconti Prasca Ubaldo Soddu Ugo Cavallero Carlo Geloso German invasion Battles Metaxas Line Vevi Kleisoura Pass Thermopylae Crete Commanders Greece Alexander Papagos Georgios Tsolakoglou British Empire & Commonwealth Henry Maitland Wilson Thomas Blamey Bernard Freyberg Germany Wilhelm List Kurt Student	Occupying powers Authorities/People Germany Günther Altenburg Hermann Neubacher Walter Schimana Alexander Löhr Hellmuth Felmy Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller Alexander Andrae Bruno Bräuer Italy Angelico Carta Pellegrino Ghigi Carlo Geloso Bulgaria Andon Kalchev Atrocities Kondomari Kandanos Alikianos Doxato Kommeno Kalavryta Distomo Domenikon Drakeia Cephalonia Mesovouno Pyrgoi Viannos Kedros Kleisoura Mousiotitsa Chortiatis The Holocaust in Greece Great Famine Collaborators People Georgios Tsolakoglou K. Logothetopoulos Ioannis Rallis Georgios Poulos George S. Mercouris Ioannis Plytzanopoulos Organizations Collaborationist government Security Battalions ESPO EEE Greek National Socialist Party Secessionists Principality of the Pindus Ohrana Cham collaboration (Këshilla) Atrocities Paramythia Kaisariani Kokkinia	National Liberation Front (EAM) People Aris Velouchiotis Stefanos Sarafis Georgios Siantos Andreas Tzimas Alexandros Svolos Evripidis Bakirtzis Markos Vafiades Organizations KKE Socialist Party ELAS ELAN PEEA EPON E.A. OPLA SNOF Operations Drama Uprising Ryka Mikro Chorio Gorgopotamos Bridge Fardykambos Sarantaporo Porta Steiri Agorelitsa Atrocities Feneos 5/42 dissolution Meligalas Non-EAM Resistance People Napoleon Zervas Georgios Kartalis Dimitrios Psarros Komninos Pyromaglou Kostas Perrikos Vasilios Sachinis Georgios Petrakis Organizations EDES EKKA YVE/PAO PEAN ΕΟΚ E.S. MAVI Other Operations ESPO bombing Gorgopotamos Bridge Fardykambos Agia Kyriaki Milia Skala Paramythias Xirovouni Menina Dodona Atrocities Expulsion of Cham Albanians British Mission in Greece (SOE) People Eddie Myers Chris Woodhouse Patrick Leigh Fermor Bill Stanley Moss Operations Operation "Albumen" Gorgopotamos Bridge Operation "Animals" Asopos Bridge Kidnap of General Kreipe Damasta sabotage	Events El Alamein Dodecanese April 1944 mutiny Rimini People King George II Emmanouil Tsouderos Panagiotis Kanellopoulos Notable units 3rd Mountain Brigade Sacred Band Vasilissa Olga Adrias Katsonis Papanikolis 13th Squadron 335th Squadron 336th Squadron Toward the Civil War Events National Bands Agreement Plaka agreement Lebanon conference Caserta agreement Percentages agreement Dekemvriana Treaty of Varkiza People Ronald Scobie George Papandreou Archbishop Damaskinos Nikos Zachariadis

Authority control	VIAF: 42995431 GND: 132309556

Persondata
Name	Kreipe, Heinrich
Alternative names
Short description	German general
Date of birth	5 June 1895
Place of birth	Niederspier, Thuringia
Date of death	14 June 1976
Place of death	Northeim

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