The unit was thereafter transferred to Crete for garrison duty in "Fortress Crete" and mop-up operations in the Aegean, playing a major role in the Battle of Leros under the command of Generalmajor Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller. During September 1943, forces of the unit committed numerous atrocities in Viannos. On 26 April 1944 the divisional commander, Generalmajor Heinrich Kreipe, was abducted by a British Special Operations Executive team led by Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and Capt Bill Stanley Moss. Kreipe's car was ambushed at night on the way from the divisional headquarters at Ano Archanes to the Villa Ariadne at Knossos and he was taken cross-country over the mountains to the south coast where he and his captors were picked up by a British vessel near Rodakino on 14 May. This operation was later portrayed in the book "Ill Met by Moonlight" (1950) written by Moss based on his wartime diaries, later adapted as a film of the same name. In late summer 1944, forces of the division were involved in more atrocities in Anogeia and Amari.