Vasili

The wartime exploits of 'Kapetan Vasili', New Zealander Dudley Churchill Perkins, have become a legend on Crete. He first arrived on Crete following the Allied withdrawal from Greece, and was then captured by the Germans. He escaped within 2 weeks and spent a year avoiding German patrols and roaming western Crete in search of a way to leave the island, before being evacuated to Egypt by a Greek submarine. He was so impressed by the Cretans' assistance to him that he left his New Zealand unit and joined the British Special Operations Executive and returned to Crete as a special agent, taking command of a guerrilla band which he trained, organised, and led in numerous attacks against the Germans.