Dennis John Ciclitira was a British soldier and businessman of Greek descent.
11 Facts About Dennis Ciclitira
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Dennis Ciclitira was educated at Wycliffe School and was then sent to Greece to learn the family business.
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Dennis Ciclitira was responsible for organising clandestine deliveries of arms and supplies to the Cretan resistance, and the exfiltration of those for whom it had become too dangerous to remain.
4.
In December 1943 Dennis Ciclitira took over from Xan Fielding as commander of SOE activities in western Crete, operating from a mountain hideout near Canea.
5.
In May 1944, after the abduction of General Kreipe, Ciclitira organized the evacuation of Patrick Leigh Fermor, W Stanley Moss, and their captive by Motor Launch, and met them at a remote beach on the southern coast.
6.
Just as Leigh Fermor and Moss realised that neither knew enough Morse to make the correct recognition code Dennis Ciclitira arrived, having been ordered to return to Cairo, took the torch, called them "bloody fools", and made the correct signal.
7.
Dennis Ciclitira returned to Crete in September 1944, remaining there until the end of the war.
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Xan Fielding 8.
On 8 May 1945, V-E day, Dennis Ciclitira arranged for Generalmajor Hans-Georg Benthack to formally surrender all German forces on the island to Major-General Colin Callander.
9.
On 23 May 1946, Dennis Ciclitira received a mention in despatches "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the Mediterranean Theatre".
10.
Dennis Ciclitira's father having died in 1943, Ciclitira and his brother John revived the family business in the late 1950s, forming Demos Ciclitira Ltd.
11.
Dennis Ciclitira remains one of the UK's leading importers of dried fruit, as well as other products.