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.