Thomas Dunbabin

Thomas James Dunbabin DSO (12 April 1911 – 31 March 1955),[1] was an Australian classicist scholar and archaeologist of Tasmanian origin, as well as a renowned WWII soldier in Crete.

There, he won the Haigh prize and was eventually appointed Reader in Classical Archaeology and Fellow of All Souls College, specializing in the Greek colonization in Italy.

[citation needed] During World War II, he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel as a SOE Field Commander behind enemy lines in occupied Crete.

His obituary in the Times notes his finest achievement was using his influence to keep peace between various partisan groups and is credited with saving the island from the turmoil experienced on the mainland during the Greek Civil War.

[citation needed] A transcription of Dunbabin’s own account of his time on Crete was prepared by his nephew and published (in Greek and English) in 2015 by the Society of Cretan Historical Studies, Heraklion.