A 1944 Willys MB Jeep restoration from A to Z. Akiss Paraskevopoulos and his WW2 legend

Internationally acclaimed photographer Akiss Paraskevopoulos is the happy owner of a historic WW2 vehicle, a legendary 1944 Willys MB Jeep, equipped with a 2.2 lt. engine (55 hp), which with great effort, commitment and above all love, managed to bring it again to perfect working condition.

Akiss Paraskevopoulos unfolds the thread of the myth that came true, in his own words.

"Usually, the desire to acquire a historical World War II Jeep begins gradually and many years, even decades pass, until the... dreamer manages to  make his dream come true. 

In my case, I remember myself since I was a kid, wanting to be behind the wheel of such a legendary WW2 Jeep.

It was the dream of a lifetime!

For a year and half, I looked for such a vehicle until sometime in the midst of my summer vacation, I decided to call someone who was selling his Jeep and offer him a bid.

To my surprise, after 24 hours he called me back and we reached to an agreement.

So, in September 2011, I got my own piece of WW2 history, a 1944 Willys MB Jeep. 

Since I bought it, I entered a new world.

My aim was to properly restore it, with attention to the smallest detail and a focus on originality.

I wanted to restore the vehicle as it was on D-Day (06/06/1944), the day that the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy. It was a great challenge, because I wanted to remain faithful to all the details.

The vehicle was in working condition, but very neglected and many parts where post war, such as the windshield, while many other parts were just missing. 

It was a dangerous and unreliable vehicle to drive. I started an internet investigation around the world, which continues to this day, to learn what was exactly needed, but also where to find it.

It takes time before you end up with what parts you need exactly and from whom you will buy those necessary parts.

Networking helped a lot and I also became a member in various groups and forums specifically on the Willys MB Jeep.

Many members of these websites gladly transferred their knowledge and experience, whenever I needed assistance.

After thorough research, I started buying spare parts from England in order to restore the jeep in is original appearance.

Piece by piece the puzzle was completed. Aesthetically, the big change occurred after the installation of WW2 Combat Rims wheels, with NDT (non-directional tread) profile and the authentic WW2 split windscreen.

In 2012, I participated in the annual contest of FILPA, Concours d' Elegance and my Jeep won the first prize.

My surprise was great, because the restoration of my Jeep had not yet reached the level I wanted, but undoubtedly, the recognition was an extra incentive to continue the restoration until I felt my Jeep was up to my standards.

Then, after I painted it with the appropriate  Olive Drab Matt color of the era, the Jeep had now reached a satisfactory level of restoration, so the time was right to begin a full reconstruction of the mechanical parts.

Ideally, the right process is to first repair the mechanical parts of a vehicle and after continue with the aesthetic changes.

In my case, unfortunately, this was not possible, because I did not have the appropriate garage space or money needed for this process.

Over time and with the help of a friend I found a garage close to my place and started the mechanical restoration.

Everything mechanical was disassembled to the last bolt. Differentials, water pumps, gasoline pumps, oil pumps, the carburetor and everything else in between were thoroughly restored and reconditioned, using new old stock materials whenever necessary.

The process took about a year, as we could only work during weekends.

During the restoration process, I continued networking and in June 2014, I made it to Normandy for the 75th celebration  of the Normandy landings, along with members of various Willys MB Jeep groups that I was a part of.

It was a memorable trip that gave me the opportunity to meet with people who have the same hobby as I do and learn more details on my project.

Since then, every year, I make at least one trip to participate in historical events.

All WW2 vehicle owners in Europe and all over the World are reenactors, revivalists of this historical period, with appropriate clothing and equipment.

The driver and his vehicle should be exact reenactors of History.

In Greece unfortunately, reenactment is still in its initial steps.

My Willys MB has now been restored as a "War Correspondent" Jeep.

This came as a natural consequence, being a  professional photographer.

I participate in various events, with original equipment, such as WW2 typewriters, cameras, tripods, etc.

I also gladly provide my knowledge and experience I have gained so far to friends and other enthusiasts who plan to restore their own WW2 vehicle.

Centaur tanks in Greek service, 1946-1957

Photo credit: Christos Kalfopoulos
http://www.missing-lynx.com/library/modern/greece/grcent.htm

Greece received its first tanks after WW2 as part of the British military aid in May 1946, 52 Centaurs (along with Carriers, Marmon Herrington Mk. IVs and Otter Is) , which were set in action the very next year, during the Greek civil war, against the communist forces in Macedonia and Epirus. 

Despite the mountain terrain and the numerous minefields in these regions the tanks performed quite well. They soldiered on till 1957 when they were gradually phased out as the new M-47 was received.

Greek Centaurs were equiped with a 6pdr Ordance Quick Firing Mk.5 (57mm) gun and most of them had the Type B hull. At least one greek Centaur survives at the Armor Museum of the Armor Training Center, though in very bad condition and two turrets are at the Greek War Museum in Athens.

Photo credit: Christos Kalfopoulos
http://www.missing-lynx.com/library/modern/greece/grcent.htm

Xenophon Castrisos, an aerial photographer with the RAAF

Source: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Xenophon Castrisos (Castles), an aerial photographer with the Royal Australian Air Force, reads the Hellenic Herald, a Greek-Australian newspaper, during World War II.

Castrisos or Castrisios (Καστρίσιος in Greek) is a surname found on the island of Kythera, from which many impoverished locals immigrated to Australia in the 1920s and 1930s, looking for a better life.

Image colorised by acclaimed Greek artist Markos Danezis

Possibly Xenophon Castrisos is one of those Kytherians who found a new home in Australia and fought with his new fellow countrymen against the common foe, the Axis powers.

More information, if available, is welcome!

Sabotage in Greece and Operation "Noah's Ark": An interview with author Bernard O' Connor

This RAF photograph was taken October 5, 1944. The caption reads, "RAF lands in Greece: The first arrival on the mainland of Greece of our forces, which included British land forces and units of the Royal Air Force Regiment; met with a wildly enthusiastic welcome from the inhabitants. On a beach in Greece, BAC. Frank Harper, 160 Canongate, Edinburgh (left), and BAC Edward Carswell, Ivy Cottage, Stanley, Stoke-on-Trent, members of the RAF Regiment, share their early morning breakfast rations with a little Greek boy." He seems to be enjoying breakfast with his new friends. Notice what looks to be a landing craft in the background.

Bernard O' Connor is the author of the book "Sabotage in Greece", which offers a unique insider's view on the Operations conducted in occupied Greece by the Allies during World War II.

Many are aware of the Operation to blow up Gorgopotamos bridge, which was the one and only event that united all Greek guerilla forces under a common goal, to destroy a vital rail transport network that fed the German Afrika Korps in northern Africa. 

Relatively few know though that a series of other sabotage operations were constantly organised mainly by British operatives, such as the daring Asopos viaduct destruction and the operations against mines that produced mineral ore, such as chrome, in order to disrupt the German military machine.

What lied in obscurity for decades, since WW2 ended, was Operation "Noah's Ark", which was essentially a plan to harass the German withdrawal from Greece in the Autumn of 1944.

Americans Spiro Cappony, Mike Angelos, and Jim Kellis (left to right) begin preparations for the Evros mission soon after arriving in Greece and locating guerilla forces.

The author answers many questions, especially regarding the fact that the retreating Germans suffered relatively light casualties while on their way out of Greece, compared to the terrific losses the nazis sustained in Yugoslavia and offers fascinating insight on the events that led to the success of those Operations, from the protagonists themselves, i.e. the official reports that were submitted by the British saboteurs and remained hidden for decades after WW2 ended.

Preparing to destroy a bridge, guerillas move through extensive brush while wary of being discovered by the Germans.

Bernard O' Connor sheds light on Operation "Noah's Ark" and a variety of other Operations and offers his insight on the process of researching the sources for his book.

On top of these, possibly for the first time, we have the opportunity to read about the German stay-behind sabotage plans, which included a wide variety of personnel, both German and Greek, who were specifically trained and equipped to destroy vital infrastructure after the German withdrawal in 1944. 

Many Greek names of nazi collaborators, which are included in the book, will certainly sound familiar to the Greek readers!

Here is what Bernard O'Connor told pierrekosmidis.blogspot.com


Why did you decide to write a book on Allied Sabotage in Greece?

I live near RAF Tempsford, about 59 miles north of London and half way between Cambridge and Bedford. Between 1942 and 1945, it was the base of the Special Duties Squadrons which supplied resistance movements across Western Europe and parachuted in agents. 

Bernard O' Connor's book
"Sabotage in Greece"

I researched and published a number of books on its history, the missions carried out and accounts of some of the secret agents, focussing on the women’s stories.

As I give talks to various groups across the region, I generated a Powerpoint presentation of the buildings used by the Special Operations Executive and in 2013 published Churchill’s School for Saboteurs STS 17 Brickendonbury Manor. 

It included three examples of sabotage action as my editor considered the original book too long. 

So, not wanting my research to be wasted, I self-published accounts of sabotage in Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and France and another on blackmail sabotage (French manufacturers supplying the Germans were told to allow sabotage of their vital machinery – and be compensated after the war - or have your factory bombed by the RAF or USAAF).

I then researched sabotage in Greece, Gibraltar and Britain. 

The value of self-publishing is being able to update your account as you get more information. 

Gorgopotamos destroyed

Hence the first edition of Sabotage in Greece (2015) did not include the chapter on the Germans’ sabotage plans. 

I found that info whilst researching their post-invasion stay-behind sabotage plans.

What were your main sources and how long did it take you to go through them?

My sources were mostly agents’ personnel files and mission report found in the British National Archives in Kew.  

The National Archives’ online Discovery page allows one to search for names, places, dates, missions etc. 

The files can be ordered and sent to you (at a price) or read (or photographed) at Kew. 

My links with the SOE user group on Yahoo.com which has copied most of the SOE files mean that I can request and get sent files on disc or transferred online (and pay for them) from my armchair.

Axis occupation zones 1941-44

I also read numerous biographies, autobiographies, articles in academic journals and historians’ accounts of the war in Greece. 

Most could be ordered and paid for online and all I had to do was answer the door when the post arrived. 

I confess not to have read any Greek or German accounts of the war, hence my account is very British-centred.

The Gorgopotamos raiding force

I would transcribe interesting, relevant snippets to my account and then edit and revise. 

I’d say it took me just over a year to complete the first edition but I have to say, I spend several hours a day typing, editing etc.

Which single operation did you find more interesting and why?

Whilst describing the human story of the sabotage attacks on the viaducts was fascinating, perhaps the most interesting section was the German’s sabotage plans. 

I found on the CIA website, a similar searchable database to the National Archives and typing in sabotage or saboteur and Greece I found lots of files of interrogation reports of captured Nazi personnel, including the officers sent to Greece to initiate and implement the sabotage plans.

The Asopos viaduct in a contemporary image

Few persons are aware of the magnitude and complexity of the Allied, mainly British, sabotage efforts in occupied Greece. Looking back at all the information you processed, what are the key lessons learned from a historian's perspective?

I felt whilst working on these documents that I was one of the very few people to have read them since they were written and I could not imagine anyone would have read them all to get an overview of the German’s successes and failures. 

KIA Allied soldiers in Greece, 1941

These files also provided links to German sabotage plans in Italy, the topic of another book!

As regards lessons learned, it’s very rare that two sources tell exactly the same story. 

The more you can find, both primary and secondary, the better picture you can paint. 

Just because you find one account which you know contradicts what you’ve read elsewhere, still include it and point out the differences, or sometimes leave the reader to pick up the errors. 

Make you readers think for themselves or they’ll rely too heavily on you for the truth. 

It’s impossible to tell the whole truth of a war in a book as no one can know the complete story, only put together the disparate snippets of evidence as you find them. 

I sometime describe my work as being rather like an archaeologist, piecing together some ancient artefact but from pieces that are not always from the same site. 

The artefact may not look perfect, it hopefully resembles the original, it’ll have cracks and may well collapse with no support. 

It’s like doing a jigsaw but there’s no box, the pieces are all over the place, there’s no lid so you’re making guesses where each piece goes. 

It might fit but you need most of the pieces before you can get the overview. My work I have to admit is not 100% accurate as I don’t have and can’t have all the pieces. I can’t read Greek or German.

Gorgopotamos bridge today

I am not a professional historian. 

My work is not a dissertation for a University degree; it’s not an attempt to test a hypothesis or disprove another historian’s theory; it’s the human story of the men and sometimes women engaged in the planning, preparing, facilitating, supplying and implementing the acts of sabotage.

I acknowledge there may be factual, chronological or spelling errors and invite corrections so that the next edition provides a more accurate, complete and interesting story for the general reader.

The Asopos viaduct and the mines destruction operations seem to have been vital, perhaps more than Gorgopotamos itself. What is your opinion on that?

Few cases of sabotage action produce permanent destruction. 

The human reaction is to repair, mend, replace and get production back to normal. Stoppage would have been days, weeks or months. 

Asopos viaduct today

Saboteurs knew that so sometimes, once it was repaired, they’d blow it up again.

The viaducts were repaired, the railway lines replaced, the bridges rebuilt, the tunnels cleared, railway locomotives, trucks, ships etc. were replaced. 

Sabotage was a series of pinpricks, increasing or decreasing in intensity, which irritated the enemy and drew troops away from other centres but, in itself, did not win the war. 

Reprisals were an issue but it provided knowledge and skills for the saboteurs, a boost to individual, group and national morale, a sense of purpose, something with easily observable results, stories to tell family and friends, even write or tell reporters/historians about.

Another contemporary view of the Asopos viaduct

You refer in your book "Sabotage in Greece" to a sinking of a ship laden with oil barrels in Sifnos island. Any more details?

The Sifnos attack was referred to in a specific file I researched. 

I guess reports were handed in to SOE and someone compiled them in chronological order. So who it came from I don’t know.

Copies of the book can be obtained from:

www.lulu.com/spotlight/coprolite

Extracts from other historians on 

Operation Noah's Ark 

The Struggle for Greece, 1941-1949 Christopher M. Woodhouse 

Brewer, Greece, the decade of war: Occupation, Resistance and Civil War, I.B. Taurus, London, 2016

  

Chant, Christopher, The Encyclopedia of Codenames of WW II
(Routledge Revivals) 1986

Then and Now: The bombing of a Greek airfield, 1944-2016

THEN AND NOW: Bombing of Kalamaki Airfield (also known as Hassani or Ellinikon), Athens, Greece, seen from the bomb bay of a US B-17 bomber, 15 Sep 1944 and a current image via google maps (source of photos: ww2db/google)

The airport was built in 1938, and after the German invasion of Greece in 1941, Kalamaki Airfield was used as a Luftwaffe air base during the occupation. 

The airfield had a 1800 metre long runway.

In its first year, it handled about 8,500 passengers and no more than one tonne of cargo.

After the Nazi invasion of April 1941 it was used as a Luftwaffe air base.

During the occupation the airfield was attacked at least 12 times by USAF and RAF bombers and fighters.

Luftwaffe flying units known to have used the airfield during the occupation were:

II./KG 26 (Nov 1941 – Mar 1942).

I./NJG 2 (4 Jan 1942 – 16 Jan 1942).

Kdo. Koch (formed at Kalamaki Jul 1942 from elements of II./KG 100), with He 111H and Ju 88 aircraft performing night reconnaissance and jamming duties.

1.(Go)/VK(S) 2 (Sep 1942 – Dec 1942).

II/KG 100 (21 Apr 1942 – 10 Apr 1943).

9./KG 4 (26 Oct 1942 – 31 Dec 1942).

1(F)./122 (Jun 1943 – 24 Mar 1944).

IV./JG 27 (formed at Kalamaki in May 1943, remained until 17 Jul 1943, then again from 8 Sep 1943 through to 28 Oct 1943).

Stab./JG 27 (Jul 1943 – Oct 1943 and again 3 Dec 1943 – Mar 1944).

5./JG 51 (31 May 1944 – 27 Jun 1944) .

Following the end of World War II, the Greek government allowed the United States to use the airport from 1945 until 1993.

Known as Hassani Airport in 1945, it was used by the United States Army Air Forces as early as 1 October 1945, as a base of operations for Air Transport Command flights between Rome and points in the Middle East.

SOURCE

Exploring the secrets of a legendary shipwreck of the Greek Seas: New story out soon!

A 1944 Willys MB Jeep restoration from A to Z. New story out soon!

New story out soon: Interview with author Bernard O' Connor on his book "Sabotage in Greece"