[3] After two years with the South Staffordshire Regiment, Ciclitira volunteered to serve with the Special Operations Executive, and in October 1942 was assigned to "Force 133", SOE's Cretan section, based in Cairo.
[1] He was responsible for organising clandestine deliveries of arms and supplies to the Cretan resistance, and also the exfiltration of those for whom it had become too dangerous to remain.
In December 1943 Ciclitira took over from Xan Fielding as commander of SOE activities in western Crete, operating from a mountain hideout near Canea.
[2][4] In May 1944, after the abduction of General Kreipe, Ciclitira organized the evacuation of Patrick Leigh Fermor, W. Stanley Moss, and their captive[5] by Motor Launch, and met them at a remote beach on the southern coast.
On 8 May 1945, V-E day, Ciclitira arranged for Generalmajor Hans-Georg Benthack to formally surrender all German forces on the island to Major-General Colin Callander.