JULIE PEAKMAN Memories of the Battle of Leros, 1943
LEROS War Cemetery
Winston Churchill said: ‘If it were not for the bravery of the Greeks and their courage, the outcome of WWII would be undetermined.’
On Leros and neighbouring islands, civilians alive today still remember they were starving as no food was getting through the blockades.
Group of SBS in Training in the Desert
The first British Officer to arrive in Leros after the Italian surrender on 8th September 1943 was Captain George Jellicoe, Leader of the Special Boat Service
Nikos Pyrovolikos
Under cover Greek agents were helping the SBS – men like Nikos Pyrovolikos. He worked with a group of other Greek civilians using fishing boats.
LONG
RANGE
DESERT GROUP LT. Colonel Guy Prendergast has
been
(R) made
commander of the Long
Range
Desert Group and Jake Easonsmith (L) his deputy. The LRDG were to fight
long
hard
on
Clidi, Leros.
and Mount
north
of
Officer Ted Johnson, Royal Irish Fusiliers
Greek Destroyer Queen Olga
The Queen Olga had been used to help move British troops and equipment from Haifia to Leros . Ted Johnson remembered its sinking; he told me; ‘My first casualty on Leros was a Greek sailor who was killed on Olga. I helped pull him out of the water.’
HMS Intrepid
The British destroyer Intrepid went down that same night.
Once the bombing started, it was relentless and continued nonstop over a period of 2 months until the day of surrender
CAPTURED ITALIAN SOLDIERS IN AGIA MARINA
After the surrender prisoners were told to assemble at Alinda
Anders Lassen SBS
Jake Easonsmith LRDG
Alan Redfern LRDG
Danish soldier Anders Lassen survived the Battle of Leros, but was killed in action in April 1945; Jake Easonsmith LRDG was killed on the last day of the battle on 16th November. He now lies in Leros war cemetery with his collegue, Alan Redfern, also killed in action on Leros.
RIF Private Paddy McCrystal recalled the loss of his comrades: He was hit in the head with a large piece of shrapnel, leaving a scar he would bear for the rest of his life.
Cpt. Clifford Clarke and Sgt. George Hatcher, Queen’s Own Royal West Kents, escaped in small rowing boats were. First to Lipsi, then on to Turkey They recalled the kindness of the locals on Leros & Lipsi who helped them escape.
Stalag VIIA at Moosburg, showing British POWs talking to new inmates captured on the Greekisland of Leros