Ill Met by Moonlight by W. Stanley Moss (Folio Society, 2001)

Sometimes, truth is weirder than fiction.

Take a moment to consider the following two story pitches:

1. It’s late war. Allied agents parachute-in near the German-Austrian border with the objective of infiltrating a mountain-top Nazi fortress, rescuing a captured general and spiriting him back to England.
2. It’s late war. British agents infiltrate occupied “fortress Crete” under cover of night and pair-up with local resistance forces to kidnap a German general and smuggle him back to Cairo.

One of these is the plot of an outrageously fun war movie starring Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton, the other actually happened. Sometimes, truth is weirder than fiction. Ill Met By Moonlight may be the real-life story of W. Stanley Moss‘ daring Cretan kidnap mission, but it has all the ingredients of a blockbuster. Little surprise, then, that it too eventually got the Hollywood treatment. It also received the Folio Society treatment: they published it in 2001.

Ill Met by Moonlight exterior details.

The book arrives in a a plain navy blue slipcase that is standard Folio Society fare. The volume is bound in blue cloth with a wrap-around pictorial design depicting Moss’ arrival on Crete by sea. This design is printed in brown and silver, and was drawn by David Rooney. The spine bears the title in silver. The binding is sewn with black and white head and tail bands. My copy is of the first printing, which has light blue end papers, was printed on Buhl Wove paper in Great Britain, and was bound by Cambridge University Press. Via wcarter at Folio Society Devotees, I learn that a later printing had grey endpapers and was printed on Cordier Wove in Barcelona. The typeface is Bembo.

Throughout we find the book generously illustrated with black and white photographic plates printed on glossy photo paper. It’s remarkable that these images were taken in the middle of the mission while the photographers themselves were also busy dodging German patrols, lugging gear, and watching over their captured prize. There are also a couple of maps that helpfully show where the described events took place.

Ill Met by Moonlight interior details.

There’s an introduction by historian M.R.D. Foot, who offers a well-informed historical overview of the book’s contents. The book proper takes the form of a diary—kept by Moss during the mission’s daytime hours while hiding from enemy view. It recounts the almost unbelievable episode in which Moss, along with fellow British agents and local Cretins, abducted the German commander, General Kreipe, with the intention of extracting him back to Cairo. It’s a bit of a page turner full of action and suspense. It’s also that rare specimen: a war novel in which every protagonist—even the enemy General—is a likeable character (while Kreipe strikes an affable persona in the book, I’m sure the Cretins thought him anything but likeable!) Ironically, the original plan had been to abduct Kreipe’s predecessor, General Müller, who certainly was not well liked: Müller’s harsh oppression of Crete would see him tried and executed for war crimes. ■

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Miscellaneous

W Stanley Moss in Crete via The Wikimeda Commons.