<Tr> <Th> Pages </Th> <Td> 288 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Preceded by </Th> <Td> HMS Ulysses </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> South by Java Head </Td> </Tr> <P> The Guns of Navarone is a 1957 novel about the Second World War by Scottish writer Alistair MacLean that was made into the film The Guns of Navarone 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 Sea in 1943 . 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 . </P>

Is the film the guns of navarone a true story