Summary

The Guns of Navarone

This novel is a fictional story in the historical setting of Greece during World War 2.

Chapter 1:

In this chapter, Captain Keith Mallory, the main character of the book is introduced. Chosen by Captain Jensen, he is to lead a sabotage mission into the fortress on the island of Navarone, occupied by Germans, and destroy the two guns in it, the guns of Navarone. The guns need to be destroyed so that ships can evacuate the island of Kheros, which is close to Navarone. Because of the guns, the navy vessels are unable to approach Kheros without taking heavy casualties. Numerous attacks on Navarone have been unsuccessful and the sabotage mission is the last option to destroy the guns. The plan is for Mallory and his team of specialists, introduced later in the book, to enter the island of Navarone from the South side. The South side of Navarone is one great cliff, supposedly impossible to climb. Keith Mallory is one of the best mountain climbers in the world, which is one of the reasons why he is chosen for this particular mission. Another reason being that he is fluent in both Greek and German. Mallory and his team of four others are to be disguised as Greek peasants on the way to Navarone, so being fluent in Greek is a necessity.

Chapter 2:

Mallory and his team have set off toward Navarone, although they are taking a few detours to escape observation. First, they will be flying to Castelrosso. His team of four consists of Corporal Dusty Miller, Lieutenant Andy Stevens, Petty Officer Telegraphist Casey Brown, and Mallory's close friend, Andrea, a Greek. All of these men have special qualifications required for this guerrilla operation. As already mentioned, Mallory is a first class mountain climber, as is Stevens. They are both also fluent in Greek. Miller has been picked for one reason only: his expertise with explosives. Brown has excellent engineering skills and would keep radio contact with base during the operation. The last member of the team is Andrea, Mallory's lieutenant. A giant of a man, he is there for one exclusive reason: protection. He is the most experienced guerilla fighter of the group. Once the group arrives at the Navy base in Castelrosso, Mallory shows the plan of action to the rest of the group. While discussing the plans, they apprehend a spy, the laundry boy, who is to be imprisoned until the operation is over. A few hours later the team sets off again, this time on a torpedo boat.

Chapter 3:

At the next stop, they switch their torpedo boat to an old caique. On the way to Navarone they encounter a German patrol boat. Thy are forced to attack the ship and sink it to prevent being caught with a cargo of explosives and an arsenal of weapons. Their boat also has engine trouble, and they decide to dock at a nearby island. When they get to the island, they realize that there is a German watchtower on it.

Chapter 4:

A German sentry from the watch tower comes out to inspect their ship, but turns back without further inspection when Mallory shows him forged papers and letters of authority supposedly from a German general. Later, the Germans are somehow tipped off about the mission, and Andrea sneaks into the watchtower. The others distract the guards, and Andrea apprehends them and locks them in the basement of the tower. They fix the engine and set off toward Navarone again. Now they are caught in a storm and barely make it to Navarone alive. The boat hits the cliff and starts to sink. They escape from the sinking caique with all of their supplies just in time by climbing onto a narrow ledge on the cliff.

Chapter 5-17:

Andrea and Mallory begin the climb up the 400-foot cliff. On top, they find a German guard whom Andrea kills. They throw him down the cliff wall into the sea. They haul up all the supplies up the cliff, except for the food and the fuel, which falls into the sea. Then Miller and Brown make the climb. Stevens is the last to climb, and falls down the cliff when he is almost seen by a patrol of Germans who are looking for the missing guard. The guards see Stevens on a ledge beneath the cliff, and mistake him for the missing guard. Mallory and Andrea climb down and retrieve Stevens, whose leg is split in two spots. Then Miller applies some first aid to Stevens' leg and the group begins to search for a shelter. They head east and find a cave where they set up a temporary shelter for some time. After a short time they set off again and retrace their route to the West, where they find another cave where they set up shelter to sleep. When they wake up, Andrea spots soldiers coming up the slope. Those soldiers are the Alpine Corps, the best German mountain troops. Andrea snipes a couple of them, and leads them away from where the rest of the party is hiding. Miller and Mallory go to find food and fuel. They find a hut where they find Louki and Panayis who are the two men who Vlachos had told Mallory about who could help the team. They make their way back to the cave and stay there to sleep for the night. Germans apprehend them early the next morning while they were still sleeping. They are brought to Hauptmann Skoda, a German officer, to be interrogated, and escape with Andrea's help. From there the party makes their way toward the Devil's Playground, the honeycomb caves in the mountains. Somehow, something constantly tips off the Germans who keep finding the group no matter how well they are concealed. Once the German's are on to them they leave Steven's behind to hold off the Germans for a while since he cannot walk and insists upon being left back. The rest of the group flees through the caves. They then head towards the town where they hide in an abandoned house and discuss their plan of attack in detail. After the German's finding them so many times, and the explosives having been tampered with, Miller realizes that Panayis is a spy. When that happens they kill him immediately. Mallory and Miller then go to a bar on the south side of the Town Square where they rob some German soldiers of their uniforms. With these uniforms they sneak into the fortress and set up the explosives to destroy the guns while Andrea distracts the Germans. Mallory and Miller just barely escape the German soldiers on their exit. The whole party then meets at the docks, except for Andrea who is still on the island. They find a ship, surprise the guard on board, and begin to sail away. Soon they are joined by Andrea, who swims to the ship from shore. Shortly afterward, they team is aboard the destroyer Sirdar as the explosives detonate. Tons of rock falls into the harbor from the blast, along with the two guns of Navarone.