Daedalus Returned [Hardcover]

Baron von der Heydte (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2001

limited 1,000 copy reprint of an extremely rare WWII memoir. This one of the few memoirs ever written by a former German paratrooper. The Baron was in command of a battalion of paratroopers in Crete, being dropped at zero hour near Canea and seven days later received the surrender of the town. This book is the full exciting account of preparation, landing and seven days of terrifying battle. This is an excellent read and the Baron has a flair with the pen. Captured in 1945 in the Ardennes the Baron was bitterly attacked for his anti-Hitler sentiments as a P.O.W., after the war he became a professor of law at the University of Wurzburg. This book does have a small photo section. Bound in full cloth using an exact copy of original dust jacket published originally in 1958!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 196 pages
• Publisher: Aberdeen Bookstore (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971385203
• ISBN-13: 978-0971385207
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,252,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vivid portrait of a lesser known campaign, July 9, 2002

By 

Christian Beckert (Loundonville, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daedalus Returned (Hardcover)

I have read several first hand accounts of WWII, with a special emphasis on the German perspective. With this in mind, never have I encountered a book so well written as Baron von der Heydte's. The language is clear and very descriptive, allowing the reader to easily slip into the Cretan setting the author lays out. It is apparent that von der Heydte was a deep intellectual thinker as he frequently makes referencees to Greek mythology, and takes time out from the action to discuss his feelings on the morality and insanity of war. His description of the fighting on Crete is first rate and leaves little to be desired. What is also pleasing is that he relates his innermost feelings to the reader throughout the text, giving a truly human side the German fighting man. Little emphasis is placed on Nazism and I think this is a result of the deep intellectual that he was. He saw though much of the propaganda of the Third Reich, yet still performed his duties a proffessional German soldier. In Baron von der Heydte we find a very honorable man indeed, and one cannot help but admire his character. If you a looking for a rare, first- hand account by a fine soldier, do not pass this book up.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic wartime memoir!, August 23, 2004

By 

Dimitrios (Greece) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Daedalus Returned (Hardcover)

This is one of the rare times that I have read a book in two successive days and there is a good reason. The battle of Crete remains one of the least known episodes of World War II, but it is extremely significant since it marked the absolute zenith of the Wehrmacht's might, just before it embarked on the disastrous Operation Barbarossa. Nothing seems to escape from von der Heydte's attention: the historical background of Crete, the landscape of the island and the personalities of his own soldiers whom he describes with vivid pictures. Von der Heydte was a battalion commander of the dreaded and elite German paratroopers who assaulted Crete against its British, Australian, New Zealander and Greek defenders in May 1941, and although he didn't fight in the crucial Maleme sector but in the neighbouring Galata-Canea area, he witnessed the whole drama of the battle. The operation "Merkur" was the brainchild of German General Kurt Student who had taken every possibility into consideration but then everything turned out contrary to plans and expectations. The author describes in excellent detail the combat jump, the chaos of the first hours on Cretan soil, the fierce enemy resistance, the painful losses, the hunger, the thirst and the desperation of the first days when the battle was hunging on a balance, so that the Berlin radio made its first mention of the attack on Crete five days after the beginning of the battle! Here and there a paragraph is a real gem of literature proving that the baron's pen is at least as mighty as his sword. The chapter "The Dressing Station" is one of the best I have ever read. Humour, horror, human relationships, personal drama and the solitary burden of leadership in battle are interwoven in a marcellously told story, which does not omit the broader view from the Generals' aspect. Von der Heydte has written a real masterpiece of military literature, although he was fighting from the side of an evil regime.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting tale told with literary flair, November 12, 2006

By 

Mannie Liscum (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Daedalus Returned (Hardcover)

Baron Friedrich August von der Heydte's "Daedalus Returned" is a short (only 186 pp) yet dense and riveting personal account of the events leading up to and including the Fallschirmjaeger (German paratroop) invasion of Crete in 1941. The combat itself started with a daytime drop 20 May and ended on 27 May with the capture of Canea (Cretin capital) and evacuation of remaining British and Australian troops. It was by all accounts (both German and Allied) a complete success on the part of the German paratroopers - this the first of its kind capture of an island stronghold by lightly armed paratroops; triumphing over larger numbers of more heavily armed defenders. As other reviewers have noted, von der Heydte is a quite gifted writer; his prose flows with considerable ease and lilt. The prose presented in "Daedalus Returned" comes from a clearly educated man who not only has a way of recounting historical facts, but with flair achieved by few other soldiers of his or any other time. "Daedalus Returned" is not only a gripping war story told from a mid-level commander but also a tour of Greek mythology to some extent as von der Heydte introduces the entire story in the context of the Greek mythology surrounding Crete, its mythical minotaur and Daedalus, the Greek architect that supposedly built the great labyrinth that housed the minotaur. The title "Deadalus Returned" eludes to the paratroop drop of idealistic adventurers coming to Crete, a place where by legend Daedalus escaped the labyrinth by flight to survive the minotaur. Von der Heydte continues his mythological theme throughout the book, although the story from chapter 2 onward is focused on his troops and their activities.

While short and very focused in content, "Daedalus Returned" is a quick and compelling read worthy of the short time one will spend to read it. Anyone at all interested in airborne operations should read this book - it comes from a man who was quite anti-Nazi, an educated and idealistic paratrooper, who saw the promise of airborne troops and strove to prove his thesis in combat. "Daedalus Returned" could have been written by a British or American commander to describe similar activities of their airborne troops (e.g., a condensed version of Jim Gavin's book "On to Berlin"). It doesn't steep of German perspective, but rather of a soldier's perspective. Highly recommended; 5 stars.