A Exclusive Interview with British Hero Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor: Groundbreaking World War II Documentary
The 11th Day Arrives in the U.K.
Britain’s elite commandos and the civilians of Crete… An unlikely partnership that took on Hitler and astonished the world.
November 28, 2007
Patrick Leigh Fermor (bottom, center) with his S.O.E. and Cretan resistance colleagues
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It’s a film that Chase Brandon, a 30-year veteran operative of the CIA, has proclaimed “one of the greatest untold stories of World War II.” Columnist John Kass of the Chicago Tribune and Newsday rallied his readers to the Chicago premiere of this “stirring documentary,” telling them, “if you’re interested in what fuels an insurgency—and the news is full of that today—you’ll want to see this film.”
After a successful theatrical tour throughout the United States and Canada, director-producer Christos Epperson and writer-producer Michael Epperson have brought their groundbreaking World War II documentary film The 11th Day to the United Kingdom. And British audiences are certain
Patrick Leigh Fermor (bottom, center) with his S.O.E. and Cretan resistance colleagues.
to take notice of a particularly rare jewel within—an extensive on-camera interview of one of Britain’s most celebrated and elusive modern heroes, Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor.
The Story
On May 20, 1941, thousands of elite Nazi paratroopers assaulted the island of Crete. It was the beginning of the Battle of Crete—the largest Nazi airborne operation of the war. They had expected to control the island within a few days; after all, they had only needed to occupy Paris for a week before France surrendered. What they hadn’t expected was that the hundreds of stranded soldiers from England, Australia, and New Zealand, together with the men, women, and even children of Crete, would fight them to their dying breath. “They never gave up,” says director Christos Epperson. “They locked German soldiers into a state of continuous and relentless conflict in a single, isolated location for over four years, drawing in thousands of additional troops with each passing year. Nowhere else in Europe did that happen.”
“Until now, we knew that Greeks were fighting like heroes; from now on we shall say that the heroes fight like Greeks.”
–Winston Churchill
But the ten-day-long Battle of Crete is only the beginning of the story. From there, The 11th Day goes on where no documentary has ever gone before—to chronicle, via extensive first-hand interviews, the astounding partnership between the people of Crete and the handful of British special operations commandos who had parachuted in to help them. Together, they dealt Nazi Germany one of its most crippling defeats of the entire war. They would even kidnap General Heinrich Kreipe, the German garrison commander—the famous operation masterminded and led by British Special Operations officer Patrick Leigh Fermor. It was the only successful kidnapping of a German general throughout the war.
The Film
Fermor’s participation in The 11th Day marks his first on-camera interview in decades—just one reason why so many World War II historians and enthusiasts have celebrated this film. In just the year since its release on DVD, The 11th Day has rocketed up the Amazon.com bestseller list to become one of its top 20 World War II documentary films of all time.
Patrick Leigh Fermor (left) and colleague Stanley Moss disguised as German traffic police for their abduction of General Kreipe
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Patrick Leigh Fermor (above left) and colleague Stanley Moss disguised as German traffic police for their abduction of General Kreipe. Another source driving the film’s robust fan base has been the unusual move by its producers to make freely available their unprecedented collection of research material, including over 2000 photos—more than 500 of which are rare and unpublished. Hundreds of these photos are included on the DVD, and the entire collection is available free of charge on the film’s website, www.The11thDay.com. It is the largest on-line archive of World War II photos and documents in the world.
Accented with rare 16mm film footage, vintage photographs, and carefully crafted flashback re-enactments shot on-location in Crete, The 11th Day provides audiences with an eye-opening portrayal of the Allied insurgency spearheaded by Fermor, his S.O.E. colleagues, and their Cretan partners. Most important, the film tells these stories through exclusive first hand interviews, establishing a truly intimate connection with its subjects—an intimacy rarely seen in most period documentaries. “The events themselves are important, obviously, but not as important to us as the people who lived them,” says writer-producer Michael Epperson. “These are their stories, told in their own voices. That’s what makes this film unique.”
With over 20 veterans interviewed from Crete, England, Australia, and New Zealand, The 11th Day is a heart-pounding adventure story about courage, faith, and heroism… a story that is all the more remarkable because it is history.
For more information, visit www.The11thDay.com. To order a DVD (just £10 + p&p) which includes both English and Greek language versions of the film, plus an archive of over 500 photos, call toll free: 0800 781 2664.
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