difficult and dangerous role in the defence of Greece. Antony Beevor, historian of the Battle of Crete, attributes to Pendlebury the same conventional motive often attributed to British partisans of Hellenic causes starting with the Greek War of Independence in the early 19th century: "Although an archaeologist, and an Old Wykehamist of conventional background, John Pendlebury was a vigorous romantic." The path to special operations In July 1939, Pendlebury reached an intermission of his work in Crete; An Introduction to the Archaeology of Crete was published and work had stopped at the excavation of Karphi. John and his family left Heraklion, where they had been staying, to return to England. John had some work he wanted to finish at Cambridge. A number of sources say that in August 1939, he was placed on the "reserve of officers". This is the officer sign-up list for the Territorial Army (TA), the volunteer reserve of the British Army. Officer recruits would pursue their civilian careers until called up. His work at Cambridge completed, John took his family to the Isle of Wight for a holiday. There, the Pendleburys heard on the radio on 3 September that the United Kingdom was at war with Germany. Pendlebury was commissioned on the General List in January 1940. He was appointed British vice-consul at Candia (the Venetian name for Heraklion) in June 1940, but his job title did not hide the nature of his duties. He immediately set-to working up his outline plans: improving the reconnaissance (routes, hiding places, water sources) and sounding out the local clan chiefs like Antonios Gregorakis and Manolis Badouvas. Turkey had relinquished control over Crete only 43 years before and these kapetanios would be the key to harnessing the Cretan fighting spirit. In October, on Italy's attempted invasion of Greece, Pendlebury became liaison officer between British troops and Cretan military authority. In January 1941, he took part in an unsuccessful raid on Kasos, one of the Italian Islands of the Aegean. Involvement in the Battle of Crete By the time Germany had occupied mainland Greece in April 1941 Pendlebury had laid his plans, which could not include the Cretan division of the Greek army which was captured on the mainland. The invasion of Crete began on 20 May 1941, Pendlebury was in the Heraklion area where it started with heavy bombing followed by troops dropped by parachute. The enemy forced an entry