38426 5371 SUPPLEMENT TO The London Gazette OF FRIDAY, Sth OCTOBER, 1948 b? Registered as a newspaper MONDAY, 11 OCTOBER, 1948 NAVAL OPERATIONS IN THE AEGEAN BETWEEN THE 7TH SEPTEMBER, 1943 AND 28x11 NOVEMBER, 1943. The -following Despatch was submitted to the 3. Following our successful landings in Sicily Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on the with unexpectedly small losses of assault ship- 2fjth December, 1943, by Vice-Admiral Sir ping and craft, an attempt was made to plan ALGERNON U. WILLIS, K.C.B., D.S.O., and mount " Accolade " using such forces as Commander-in-Chief, Levant. were available in the Middle East or were earmarked for India. Once again, it became Levant. necessary to call on General Eisenhower to Tfjth December, 1943. make up deficiencies, particularly in long range Be pleased to lay before Their Lordships the fighters, and, as a result, " Accolade " was attached report of Naval Operations in the cancelled by decision of the Combined Chiefs of Aegean between the 7th September, 1943 and Staff, at the Quadrant Conference.* The Com- «8th November, 1943. manders-inOhief, Middle East informed the Chiefs of Staff on 3ist August that the only (Signed) A. U. WILLIS, operations which could be mounted from Middle Vice-Admiral, East were:— Commandenn-Chief. (a) Small Scale Raids. GENERAL REPORT ON AEGEAN (b) Sabotage and Guerilla operations by OPERATIONS. Resistance Groups. EVENTS LEADING UP TO OUR ENTRY INTO THE (c) Unopposed " walk-in" to areas AEGEAN. evacuated by the enemy. The possibility of capturing the island of PHASE I. "Rhodes and subsequently opening up the Aegean (Operation " Accolade") had been Surrender of Italy to the opening of the German under active consideration since January, 1943. Air Offensive. Outline plans were drawn up but the require- Sth to z6th September, 1943. ments of the advance in North Africa and later 4. When it was known that Italy had sur- the invasion of Sicily (" Husky "), prohibited rendered, it was decided to take advantage of the allocation of forces necessary to mount such this situation by encouraging the Italian gar- an operation. risons to hold such Aegean islands as they 2. In April, Force Commanders and their could against the Germans, and to stiffen their staffs were assembled in Cairo to plan for resistance by sending in small parties of British " Accolade " to take place shortly after the troops. Between Sth and i6th September, landing in Sicily, when an Italian surrender Casteloriso, Kos, Leros, Samos, Kalymnos, was considered possible. By the middle of Symi and Stampalia were all occupied by small June, however, it became apparent that assault detachments of Raiding Force troops accom- shipping, craft and air forces would not be panied by Civil Affairs Officers. Fairmile motor available and the Naval Force Commander and staff were sent to Algiers to plan " post-Husky" Admiralty footnote: * Quadrant Conference—the British-American con- operations in the Central Mediterranean. ference held at Quebec in August, 1943. 60584 A 5372 SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 11 OCTOBER, 1948 launches and caiques of the Levant Schooner and war material as they could lay their hands Flotilla manned by Royal Naval crews provided on. With the exception of Syra they estab- the transport. lished observation posts only and did not 5. In Rhodes our emissaries were unable to garrison the islands in force. prevent the Italian Governor surrendering the 10. Apart from Rhodes, the Italians' atti- island to the Germans after a short resistance. tude was co-operative in the islands visited by (There were 30,000 Italian and 7,000 German us, though their fighting value was low. It troops in the island.) The combined service was considered that even if Leros were rein- mission waiting at Casteloraso and the 234 forced by such British troops as were avail- Infantry Brigade waiting to proceed to Rhodes able and Kos airfields developed and defended were therefore held available to reinforce the adequately, we should not be in a secure posi- British forces in the other islands. tion to continue operations in the Aegean until 6. During this phase our naval forces, con- Rhodes was in our possession. Accordingly on sisting of six Fleet destroyers of the 8th 22nd September the Chiefs' of Staff approval Destroyer Flotilla, 2 Hunt class destroyers, ist was obtained to mount " Accolade " before Submarine Flotilla, 6 motor launches, 4 the end of October with- such forces as were L.C.F.* caiques and 8 R.A.F. high speed available in the Middle East and could be spared launches and pinnaces were employed on:— from the Central Mediterranean. (a) Building up British forces and supplies in the islands. PHASE II. (6) Intercepting enemy shipping proceed- The Start of the German Offensive. ing from the Piraeus to the Dodecanese. 26th September-i2th October. 7. By 28th September, the following had been landed:— n. With the arrival of large enemy air re- inforcements from France and the Russian front 2,700 men, 21 guns, 7 vehicles, 450 tons and the proved inefficiency of the A.A. defences of stores and ammunition. of Leros, as shewn by the sinking of H.M.S. 8. Acting on air reconnaissance, on reports INTREPID (Commander C. A. de W. Kitcat, from agents in the Piraeus area and from R.N.) and H.H.M.S. QUEEN OLGA in Leros Italian reporting posts and L.R.D.G.f patrols harbour on 26th September, operations of our in the Cyclades, destroyers carried out sweeps surface forces in the Aegean were restricted to ;n the Aegean by night, retiring to the south- sweeps during the dark hours with forces who ward or lying up in Leros during the day. On retired to the south-eastward to obtain fighter cover from Cyprus during the day. On ist i8th September, H.M.S. FAULKNOR (Captain : A. K. Scott-Moncrdeff, D.S.O., R.N.), H.M.S. October all available Fleet destroyers were ECLIPSE (Commander E. Mack, D.S.O., sailed to Malta as escort to H.M. Ships HOWE D.S.C., R.N.) and H.H.M.S. QUEEN OLGA and KING GEORGE V, leaving us with the (Lieutenant-Commander G. Blessas, D.S.O., Hunts whose speed and endurance made it R.H.N.) sank a 3,000 ton merchant vessel and difficult for them to operate far into the Aegean a 1,200 ton merchant vessel north of Stampalia and still be clear by daylight. As a result, and damaged the escort vessel, which put into H.M.S. ALDENHAM (Lieutenant-Commander Stampalia and was captured by one of our J. I. Jones, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N.R.), patrols assisted by the Italian garrison. This H.H.M.S. MIAOULIS (Commander C. convoy was carrying specialist personnel and Nikitiades) and H.H.M.S. THEMISTOCLES supplies to Rhodes. On 23rd September, (Lieutenant-Commander N. Sams, R.H.N.) H.M.S. ECLIPSE sank a 2,500 ton merchant who were patrolling off Kaso Strait on the night vessel off the S.W. point of Rhodes which had of the 2nd/3rd October, were short of fuel and landed reinforcements in Rhodes and was re- in no position to take action on an aircraft turning to the westward. An ex-Italian tor- report of an enemy convoy sighted off Naxos pedo-boat was driven ashore and later and believed on all available intelligence to be destroyed by the R.A.F. bound for Rhodes. They were ordered to with- draw to Alexandria for fuel. This convoy, in 9. Prior to the Italian surrender, the fact, carried an invasion force which was landed Germans had made preparations to take over on Kos at 0500 on October 3rd and captured the entire military administration of Greece the island in spite of stubborn resistance from as from 6th September and had disposed suffi- the British battalion, who received small cient forces on the west coast of Greece, the assistance from the Italian garrison. Peloponnesus, Melos, Crete, Scarpanto and Rhodes, to ensure the retention of their control 12. No surface force was available to interfere in these key positions. In the period im- with the landing, but submarines on patrol mediately following the surrender, the Germans were ordered to proceed to the Kos area to were in no position to undertake seaborne attack invasion shipping, and on 4th October operations, owing ,to the kck of shipping, the i2th Cruiser Squadron, consisting of H.M. escort vessels and landing craft, which they had Ships AURORA, flying the broad pendant of to obtain from the Italians or transfer from Commodore W. E. Agnew, C.B., D.S.O., other areas. By the middle of September, how- R.N., PENELOPE (Captain G. D. Belben, ever, they had collected enough craft to D.S.C., A.M., R.N.), SIRIUS (Captain despatch raiding forces to the Cyclades to P. W. B. Brooking, D.S.C., R.N.) and DIDO evacuate the Italian garrisons and such food (Captain J. Terry, M.V.O., R.N.), with five Fleet destroyers sailed from Malta at high Admiralty footnotes : * L.C.F.—large landing craft converted to mount speed to be available for operations in .the A.A. guns for air defence in combined operations. Aegean. From the night of 5th/6th onwards f L.R.D.G.—Long Range Desert Group. a force of cruisers and destroyers patrolled SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 11 OCTOBER, 1948 5373 close off the Kaso or Scarpanto Straits ready PHASE III. to act on any enemy reports which might be We build up Leros and Samos whilst the received, retiring to the south-eastward by day.