The Guns of Navarone was a book that was originally written by Alistair MacLean in 1957 and the plot centers on a military attack in an attempt to take down a German fortress which is located on an island in the Aegean Sea. The book became so popular with readers that it later made into a movie in 1961. The part of the book regarding Navarone Island is completely made up; however it was based on the Battle of Leros which really did take place and it was part of a campaign that is connected to World War II. The film adaption of the book starred Gregory Peck and received rave reviews from the public because of the fact that it had an all-star cast and because it was based on such a wildly popular novel.

One of the main characters in the story is Captain Keith Mallory who is an officer from New Zealand and belongs to the Long Range Desert Group, nicknamed “The human fly” in novel because of his reputation for mountain climbing before the war began. Another one of the more noteworthy characters in this book is Colonel Andrea Stavros who used to be a commander of a Greek Motorised Regiment and the leader of the resistance movement on the fictional island of “Crete”. There is also Captain James Jensen R.N who is the leader of the Allied Intelligence for the Middle East as well as Mediterranean Theater of Operations.