The story of the Greek battleship "Kilkis" sunk by Stuka bombers on April 23, 1941

A colour picture of Kilkis, as it appeared in the nazi propaganda magazine "SIGNAL"

Battleship Kilkis (Greek: Θ/Κ Κιλκίς) was a 13,000 ton Mississippi-class battleship originally built by the US Navy in 1904–1908. 

The Stuka dive bombers hit "Lemnos" in the background, with "Kilkis" visible in the middle of the photo

As Mississippi she was purchased by the Greek Navy in 1914, and renamed Kilkis, along with her sister Idaho, renamed Lemnos. 

Port facilities being bombed in Piraeus

Kilkis was named for the Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas, a crucial engagement of the Second Balkan War 1912-13. Armed with a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) guns, Kilkis and her sister were the most powerful vessels of the Greek fleet.

The ship saw limited action during World War I. Greece's pro-German monarch, Constantine I opted to remain neutral until October 1916, when pressure from the Triple Entente forced him to abdicate in favor of a pro-Entente government. 

For the remainder of the war, Kilkis operated solely as a harbor defense ship. In the immediately ensuing Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, Kilkis supported Greek landings in Turkey and participated in the final Greek sea-borne withdrawal in 1922. 

She remained in service into the early 1930s. Thereafter she was used as a training ship, considered to be obsolete. 

During the German invasion of Greece in 1941, Kilkis and her sister ship Lemnos were sunk in Salamis by German Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers, on April 23. The two ships were ultimately raised in the early 1950s and broken up for scrap.

The art of camo: A Bf109 in the African desert

In this photo, which appeared in the nazi propaganda magazine "SIGNAL", a Bf109 is flying somewhere over the African desert.

Possibly, one of the most successful camo patterns ever to be applied on any aircraft!

20 May 1941: When Hell broke loose over the skies of Crete

The Battle of Crete, the graveyard of the nazi fallschirmjäger (click to read the story on their losses), started in the morning of May 20, 1941.

In this photo, published in the propaganda magazine "SIGNAL", we see the first airborne troops deploying their chutes as they are getting closer to the ground in the very first hours of the nazi invasion. 

The Battle of Crete was the first battle where Fallschirmjäger (nazi paratroops) were used en masse, the first mainly airborne invasion in military history, the first time the Allies made significant use of intelligence from the decrypted German messages from the Enigma machine and the first time German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population. 

Due to the heavy casualties suffered by the paratroopers, the nazi german paranoid dictator Hitler forbade further large airborne operations. 

In contrast, the Allies were impressed by the potential of paratroopers and started to form both airborne assault and airfield defence regiments.

April 1941, the end of an adventure... An Allied PoW at the foothills of Mount Olympus

The Allied campaign in Greece, March to April 1941, ended up in a mess, that could have turned into a disaster of tragic proportions. 

The rapid advance of the nazis from northern Greece towards Athens, passed through some of the most iconic landscapes of the country, including Mount Olympus, the home of the 12 gods of ancient Greece, Thermopylae, the historic spot where Leonidas and his 300 Spartans fought against the barbaric hordes of the Persians and other world-known landmarks.

In an operation that closely resembled Dunkirk, the Royal navy managed to evacuate the majority of the 70,000 troops of the BEF, with some being disembarked in Crete, while the rest continued their trip to Egypt.

On this propaganda shot, used in the nazi magazine "SIGNAL", an Allied PoW sits visibly exhausted and disheartened, while German armour continues its advance towards Athens.

Despite the fact that the BEF's presence in Greece was mostly a disaster, Allied troops fought valiantly during their retreat and gave the confident nazis a bloody nose on many instances.

Για πόσο διάστημα συνυπήρξε η σημαία των ναζί με την ελληνική στην Ακρόπολη;

Έχω στη συλλογή μου αρκετές φωτογραφίες της Ακρόπολης από την περίοδο των πρώτων ημερών της ναζιστικής κατοχής τον Απρίλιο του 1941, μεταξύ των οποίων και την παραπάνω από τεύχος του προπαγανδιστικού περιοδικού SIGNAL (κυκλοφορούσε και στα ελληνικά ως "ΣΥΝΘΗΜΑ"), στην οποία φαίνεται καθαρά ότι εκτός από το ναζιστικό πανί κυμάτιζε στυον Ιερό Βράχο και η ελληνική σημαία.

Τα ερωτήματα είναι, για πόσο καιρό βρίσκονταν και οι δύο σημαίες στην Ακρόπολη και πότε υπεστάλη η ελληνική, δίνοντας τη θέση της στην ιταλική;

Οι φιλίστορες ας μας διαφωτίσουν!

The "whispering death": A Beaufighter shot down in 1943 found near Naxos, Greece!

PREPARED BY PIERRE KOSMIDIS

PHOTOS & TEXT: GEORGE RIGOUTSOS

www.rigoutsosphotos.com 

At a depth of 34 meters off the coast of Naxos, approximately half a nautical mile from the coast, divers found a RAF Bristol Beaufighter in 2007. Based on testimonies of fishermen, but also the inhabitants who had seen the events, this specific Beaufighter was shot down in 1943.

The "whispering death", as it was called by the Japanese because of the sound of its engines, the Beaufighter was a multi-role aircraft, which played an important role during WWII, in almost all theaters of fighting.

"As we get closer we see that the aircraft is in almost undamaged condition. 

It looks like it landed there with care and skill, but of course this belongs only to the realm of our imagination since no airplane will not "choose" to land 34 meters below the sea surface" says acclaimed photographer and scuba diver Giorgos Rigoutsos. 

A piece of the rudder over the tail fins is missing, and some bullet holes in the side of the aircraft suffered by anti-aircraft fire vividly demonstrate what caused the twin engined aircraft to ditch at sea.

The cone at the airplane's nose, made of thin metal, has eroded and is now close to the aircraft.

According to WW2 researcher Manolis Bardanis the crew managed to survive and was saved by Naxos island inhabitants who rushed to their rescue.

It consisted of  New Zealander W. E. Hayter (RAF 47th squadron) and T. J. Harper (603 RAF squadron). 

Specifications:

Manufacturer: Bristol Aeroplane

Type: Bristol Beaufighter TF Mk X

Crew: two

Length: 12.70m.

Wingspan: 17.63m.

Maximum speed: 512 km/h

Radius: 2913 km. Maximum.

Reinforcement: four machine guns Hispano 20 th.

4 303 guns of 7.7 mm. On the right wing,

2 outdoor 303 guns of 7.7 mm. On the left,

4 rockets RP-3, 41 kg per wing bomb or 1 113 kg per wing,

1 Torpedo 457mm

May 1941: The nazis thought the invasion of Crete would be easy. The 4,000 German graves in Crete proved they were wrong

The nazis ultimately prevailed on Crete but at a great and unbearable cost.

The island of Crete, considered to be the graveyard of the Fallschirmjäger, put an end to any large-scale airborne operations, following the scores of dead nazi paratroopers that found their eternal resting place in the military cemetery of Maleme, Crete, while thousands more were injured and remained out of action for an extended period of time.

 

Estimates of the exact losses vary greatly – there were around 4,000 German graves on Crete. 

But British naval commanders believed they had accounted for thousands more when they sunk troop transports bringing men across by sea at the height of the battle. 

Only a few hundred bodies were washed up. 

Churchill estimated total losses at around 15,000, some put it even higher.

The paranoid nazi dictator Hitler lost all enthusiasm -to put it mildly- for large scale parachute operations after the battle of Crete.

In the future parachute troops would be used as elite infantry. Possible future operations against Malta and Cyprus were discarded.

The cost of the battle of Crete

More than 1700 British, Commonwealth and Greek soldiers were killed and 15,000 captured during the Battle for Crete. There were 671 New Zealanders among the dead, and 2180 prisoners of war. 

More than 6000 Germans were killed or wounded. The Luftwaffe lost more than 350 aircraft.

Found, salvaged and preserved! A Blenheim shot down in Crete by friendly fire on April 28, 1941

The evacuation of  the BEF from mainland Greece towards Crete and Egypt is in full swing, during the last chaotic days of April 1941. A repetition of the Dunkirk operation on a smaller scale sees thousands of  allied soldiers fleeing the nazi advance in mainland Greece, following the capitulation of the Greek Army.

Boats of every size are struggling to get the troops from the shores of the Peloponnese and Attica, while the nazi Luftwaffe controls the skies over Greece and is constantly harassing the allies, sinking many ships.

The salvage operation in its final stages, the Blenheim is lifted out of the sea

One largely forgotten episode of this epic struggle is the story of a Bristol Blenheim Mk IV F (203 squadron, L9044), which covers the withdrawal of a convoy to Crete. A British destroyer with trigger-happy and quite nervous anti aircraft personnel believes the twin engine light bomber is a German one. They promptly set their sights on the Blenheim and shoot at it.

The evacuation route of BEF from Attica to Crete and Egypt. The dotted line depicts the flight path of the stricken Blenheim

Pilot Gordon Hall sees the starboard engine in flames and decides to try to reach the shores of Crete.

Minutes seem like ages and the crippled Blenheim is struggling to get to Crete. Losing altitude and flying with just one engine, it is obvious that there is not much life left in the aircraft.

Just 1.5 kilometres from the shore of Rethymno, Crete, Hall decided to ditch the aircraft, as smoothly as possible. Indeed, the Blenheim sits on the surface, giving enough time to its three crew members to safely evacuate the sinking aircraft.

A man from Crete, Markos Koumiotakis, sees the sinking aircraft and the three men trying not to drown, he ties a rope on his waist and plunges into the sea. A keen swimmer, Koumiotakis finally reaches the crew and manages to save them, after over two hours at sea.

The Blenheim rests on the seabed, protected by a reef right next to it, largely forgotten for almost 50 years, until a diver finds it again by pure chance. 

 The instrument panel of the Ju52 salvaged in Leros, with the Blenheim in the background, at the Hellenic Air Force Museum, Tatoi Airport, Athens, Greece

The Hellenic Air Force decides to salvage it and following a technically complex opearation, they manage to bring it to the surface 55 years after its last flight. Bullet-ridden, with personal effects of its crew still inside, the Blenheim awaits its preservation.

After a painstaking work by experts at the Museum, the Blenheim now sits in the hangar, telling its story to everyone who is interested to listen.

Pilot Hall, who survived WW2, had the privilege to sit once again at his seat and received part of the stricken aircraft as a gift from the Hellenic Air Force.

Blenheim pilot Gordon Hall at the Hellenic Air Force Museum, with the aircraft in the background

January 1941: A Greek soldier sends a letter from the front, using an Italian "cartolina" war booty

War is not only the heroic images we see in the movies, the embellished narratives and the sterile depiction of historical reality.

Wars are fought by everyday people, with feelings, thoughts, people that leave their peacetime occupation and immerse themselves in the atrocities of the battlefields, an experience from which if they survive, it will mark them for the rest of their lives. 

One of them, the soldier Matthew Tloupas, from the 2nd company of the 4th Machine Gun Battalion, is doing something very human in the lull of the fighting: 

He sends a letter to his girlfriend, which bears the handwritten note "CENSORED" .

In his letter, which is written in an Italian... war booty, dated January 11, 1941, in the heart of the harsh winter, soldier Matthew Tloupas, who is "somewhere in Albania", is dreaming of the moment he "will discuss closely" with his girlfriend Euphemia, and does not fail to note that "soon we will throw the Italians in the sea."

The Greek Army may not finally have reached its goal to ... throw Mussolini's army in the sea, but by reading this letter, everybody hopes that there was at least a happy ending in the romance and eventually Matthew was able to reunite with Euphemia. 

Η επιστολή... λάφυρο του 1941 και ο έρωτας στα βουνά της Αλβανίας

Ο πόλεμος δεν είναι μόνο οι ηρωικές απεικονίσεις, οι εξωραϊσμένες αφηγήσεις και η αποστειρωμένη αποτύπωση της ιστορικής πραγματικότητας.

Στον πόλεμο πάνε καθημερινοί άνθρωποι, με αισθήματα, σκέψεις, άνθρωποι που από την ειρηνική τους ενασχόληση βρέθηκαν στο επίκεντρο της θηριωδίας των πεδίων των μαχών, μια εμπειρία, από την οποία αν βγουν ζωντανοί, θα τους έχει σημαδέψει για το υπόλοιπο της ζωής τους. 

Ένας από αυτούς, ο στρατιώτης Ματθαίος Τλούπας, του 2ου λόχου πολυβόλων στο 4ο Τάγμα Κινήσεων Πολυβόλων, κάνει κάτι πολύ ανθρώπινο στην ανάπαυλα των μαχών: 

Στέλνει μια επιστολή,  η οποία, όπως είναι φυσιολογικό, φέρει τη χειρόγραφη ένδειξη "ΕΛΟΓΟΚΡΙΘΗ" στη φίλη του.

Στην επιστολή του, η οποία είναι γραμμένη σε ιταλική κάρτα... λάφυρο, με ημερομηνία 11 Ιανουαρίου του 1941, στην καρδιά δηλαδή του βαρύ χειμώνα, ο Ματθαίος "κάπου στην Αλβανία" ονειρεύεται τη στιγμή που "θα συζητήσει από κοντά" με την Ευφημία "του", ενώ δεν παραλείπει να σημειώσει ότι "σύντομα θα πετάξουμε τους Ιταλούς στη θάλασσα".

Μπορεί να μην επιτεύχθηκε τελικά ο στόχος της... κολυμβητικής δοκιμασίας των Ιταλών, διαβάζοντας όμως αυτή την επιστολή-ιστορικό τεκμήριο, ο καθένας εύχεται να υπήρξε τουλάχιστον ευτυχές τέλος στο ειδύλλιο και τελικά ο Ματθαίος να κατάφερε να σμίξει με την Ευφημία. 

Σύμφωνα με έρευνα στα ρχεία που πραγματοποίησαν οι φίλοι του ιστολογίου Ιδομενέας Φιλοκτήτης και Γιώργος Κρικέλας, το 4ο Τάγμα Πολυβόλων Κινήσεως, στάθμευε στο Τσιροτάτι, στην κοιλάδα Τομορίτσα (στενωπός Κερπίτσας). 

Η κατάσταση στον τομέα της Χ Μεραρχίας παρέμεινε αμετάβλητη ως τις 28 Δεκεμβρίου. Μετά από μια μικρή δράση στις 29 Δεκεμβρίου, όπου το Απόσπασμα προώθησε ελαφρώς τις θέσεις του (στις μάχες δεν φαίνεται να συμμετέχει το 4ο Τάγμα Πολυβόλων Κινήσεως), το ΤΣΔΜ εξαιτίας της κακοκαιρίας, διέταξε την διατήρηση του κτηθέντος εδάφους. 

Πιθανόν το τάγμα έκανε Χριστούγεννα και Πρωτοχρονιά στο Τσιροτάτι.

Η Χ Μεραρχία ζήτησε στις 14 Ιανουαρίου 1941 (από το Ε' ΣΣ στο οποίο πλέον υπήγετο αυτή και το 4ο Τάγμα Πολυβόλων Κινήσεως) αντικατάστασή της προς ανάπαυση και αναδιοργάνωση. 

Εν τω μεταξύ είχε λάβει διαταγές για συνέχιση των επιθετικών επιχειρήσεων αν επέτρεπαν οι καιρικές συνθήκες, γιατί επιχειρούσε σε υψόμετρα 1700-2100 μέτρα. 

Το προσωπικό είχε εξαντληθεί από 3μηνο αγώνα και κάθε μήνα μειώνετο η δύναμη των κτηνών σε άνω των 400. Το ΤΣΔΜ αναγνώρισε την ανάγκη ανάπαυσης κι επιφυλάχθηκε. Μεταξύ 24-25 Ιανουαρίου υπήρξε μια μικρή δράση στην οποία δεν φαίνεται να συμμετείχε το 4ο Τάγμα Πολυβόλων Κινήσεως. 

Καθ' όλον τον μήνα Ιανουάριον, επεκράτησαν δυσμενείς καιρικαί συνθήκαι και εις τον τομέα της Χ Μεραρχίας. 

Αι καθημεριναί χιονοθύελλαι και αι εκ των αγώνων ταλαιπωρίαι, επέφερον την εξάντλησιν των ανδρών, ιδίως των εν τη πρώτη γραμμή ευρισκομένων, προς ανακούφισιν των οποίων διετάσσετο η κατά το δυνατόν αντικατάστασις διά των εις χείρας των διοικήσεων εφεδρικών τμημάτων. 

Οι εφοδιασμοί προσέκρουον επισης εις πλείστας δυσχερείας, λόγω της καταστάσεως των οδών και της φθοράς και ελλείψεως μεταγωγικών κτηνών. 

Μεγάλη ήτο η φθορά ανδρών και κτηνών εκ του ψύχους, ιδία εις τα τμήματα τα ευρισκόμενα επί του υψ. 1732, των δυτικών αντηρίδων αυτού και των ανατολικών κλιτυών του Τόμορι, καλυπτομένων συνεχώς υπό χιόνων πάχους πλέον του ενός και ημίσεως μέτρου. 

Ο ποταμός Τομορίτσας, ορμητικός κατά τον ρουν, ήλασσε περιοδικώς κοίτην και επέβαλλε την συχνοτάτην κατασκευήν νέων γεφυρών. Η διάβασις διά του ορμητικού ρεύματος, ήτο επικίνδυνος και πολλά πεφορτωμένα κτήνη παρασυρόμενα επνίγοντο. 

Η καθ' ημέραν μέση διαρροή των ανδρών εκ κρυοπαγημάτων, υπερέβαιονε τους τεσσαράκοντα πέντε, οι δε θάνατοι κτηνών εκ των κακουχιών και της κοπόσεως τους είκοσι. 

Συνολικώς κατά το τέλος του μηνός Ιανούαρίου η έλλειψις κτηνών έναντι των προβλεπομένων υπό των πινάκων συνθέσεως δι' ολόκληρον την Μεραρχίαν, υπερέβαινον τα 500, των δε μαχίμων ανδρών τους 3500 κατά προσέγγισιν.

Τα παραπάνω περιγράφονται σε 2 τόμους της ΔΙΣ, "Η Ελληνική Αντεπίθεσις" (14 Νοε 1940 - 6 Ιαν 1941), σελ. 199-202 και "Χειμεριναί Επιχειρήσεις και Ιταλική Επίθεσις Μαρτίου", σελ.37-38, 55.