The Guns of Navarone

The Guns of Navarone is a 1957 novel about World War II by Scottish writer Alistair MacLean that was made into a critically acclaimed film in 1961. The Greek island of Navarone does not exist and the plot is fictitious; however, the story takes place within the real historical context of the Dodecanese Campaign - the Allies' campaign to capture the German-held Greek islands in the Aegean in 1943, while "Navarone" is an obvious variation of Navarino, the place of a famous naval battle in 1827. The story is based on the Battle of Leros, and Leros island's coastal artillery guns - among the largest naval artillery guns used during World War II - that were built and used by the Italians until Italy capitulated in 1943 and subsequently used by the Germans until their defeat.