Captain Ian went with them after a tearful farewell to his fellow commandos. In the last week of February the two downed air crews set out for the Ionian coast to the southwest, where they were to be evacuated. She didn’t know how her family would survive without the commandos, and despite their eccentricities, she had become truly fond of them.

Not only would she lose the income that had kept her alive, she said, she would be left unprotected from the Skevis guerrillas, who considered her a traitor and worse. From that moment he was entirely out of control, weeping and raging, and throwing things at his fellow officers.Īngeliki was desolate at the news that the British were leaving. Suddenly he fainted, falling over “like a cedar tree,” she said. She described how he called the staff of the mission together, ranted at them in his foreign tongue until his voice broke, and then burst into tears.

The attempted sabotage by ELAS drove Captain Ian over the edge, Angeliki said. Years later Philip Nind said, “Clearly, ELAS was hoping that the Germans would kill us, because we were an embarrassment to their efforts to persuade the villagers that the English and American allies were not really fighting the Germans effectively compared to the Russians.” Angry and demoralized, they retraced their steps to Lia. The British and the fliers managed to save themselves by hiding out for several days, some of them in a cramped underground baking oven.

Obviously the ELAS commanders had known the Germans’ position when they okayed the route. ELAS gave him a go-ahead, but once they left Lia and crossed the mountains, the British stumbled directly into the path of a German drive which had been in progress for four days. As always, he notified the guerrilla commanders in the areas he would cross of the route he would take. The last straw had been the attempt of the Skevis guerrillas to lead the English and the downed airplane crews into a German ambush.Ĭaptain Philip intended to lead the American and English fliers into Albania, she explained, as he had successfully evacuated General Infante. The girl told her that the British were preparing to leave.

In early February, Eleni walked down the path to the Botsaris house and found Angeliki in tears.

Eleni by Nicholas Gage