The quest for the lost submarine: HMS Triumph, mysteriously sunk in 1942 in the Aegean Sea, Greece

Photo provided by the Royal Navy Submarine Museum

During the second world war some 40 British submarines were sunk in the Mediterranean.

Many have been found, but HMS Triumph, lost with all hands in January 1942, is still unaccounted for. 

HMS Triumph (Lt. John Symons Huddart, RN) sailed from Alexandria on 26 December 1941 to land a party on Antiparos Island, before making a patrol in the Aegean Sea. 

She reported making the landing on the 30th, but did not show up on 9 January 1942 when she was to pick the party up again. 

Photo provided by the Royal Navy Submarine Museum

She was declared overdue on 14 January 1942. 

HMS Triumph was probably lost due to Italian mines off Cape Sounion, the southernmost tip of Attica, where the famous ancient Temple of Poseidon is located.

Professor Gavin Don, the Triumph Association founder, which has been formed to carry out a search for the T-Class submarine HMS Triumph describes the efforts currently being made to locate the lost submarine and bring closure to the families of the drowned sailors. 

An aerial view of HMS Triumph (photograph FL 5477 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums, collection no. 8308-29)

Why do you search for HMS Triumph? Is it to bring closure to the families of the lost sailors, because it is still one of the unsolved mysteries of WW2 or something different?

It began as a personal search to find my lost uncle.  His portrait (as a child) used to hang on our dining room wall so I grew up with the mystery.

Lt Robert Douglas Don RN DSC** (at age 12). Photo provided by Professor Gavin Don

As I searched my motives changed - first I found her story, and brought it to light, and then as I collected photographs of the crew, my uncle stepped into the background (just one among 60) and the search has become more an act of collective memorialisation.

Photo provided by the Royal Navy Submarine Museum

What are your plans? Reports are conflicting as to where the sub was lost. Do you have high hopes, or wait for more information to emerge?

My plan is to buy a high performance commercial sidescan sonar and simply cover the ground until we find her.  

We have a start point (a "datum") and circles of probability, which start small and grow large, but with a commercial sonar and enough boat time we will certainly find her.  

I think we have all the available search information that there is to find - the task now is to comb the area thoroughly.

Photo provided by the Royal Navy Submarine Museum

Tell us a bit more about the HMS Triumph location team: Are you relatives of the deceased, friends of naval history, or just people with high interest in an unsolved mystery of WW2?

At present the location team is just me.  When we start searching I will bring in my friends (those who can spare the time, mostly ex Naval Officers like myself), probably some junior seamen from the current Royal Navy, perhaps some other friends who have been involved in searches, and of course my children.

What would the best outcome be for you, obviously apart from locating the sub? 

I have three objectives - one is to find her and fill in the gap in the story of her last day.

The second is to collect photographs and biographies of all 60 crew members (we have 20 so far).

The third is to publish her story in a book.

Photo provided by the Royal Navy Submarine Museum

Do you work with UK and Greek authorities? 

I am working closely with the Greek authorities.  

The search is governed by the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities in Athens, but the Navy, the coastguard, the port police, the underwater institute and the foreign office are all interested to make sure that we are not "treasure hunters", smugglers or other nefarious types.

I have received the blessing of UK authorities, who are primarily concerned to protect the "war grave" status of Triumph.  I will also be working with a Greek Academic Institution (not selected yet).

Photo provided by the Royal Navy Submarine Museum

What are your plans for the future?

Continue collecting crew, bring my boat over to Greece, buy my sonar, get formal permissions, then search!

When we find her we will hold a memorial service at sea with the descendants (probably one or two hundred people by then), and I have a bottle of 1960 port (my birth year) to open to toast her memory on the day we find her.

Photo provided by the Royal Navy Submarine Museum

Read more here and here

Italian war crimes and atrocities in Greece during WW2

The Italian occupation of Greece, from 1941 up until 1943, when the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini collapsed and the Italians swiftly changed sides, was a dark period, which was full of atrocities.

Almost all of mainland Greece, the Ionian Islands and the Lasithi Prefecture of Crete were under the domination of Italians from 1941 to 1943. 

Map of Greece with all villages, towns and cities destroyed during the triple occupation (Germany, Italy, Bulgaria)

Brutality, executions, thefts, rapes and burning of villages were a daily occurrence and the Italians proved to be as ruthless and evil, as the nazi Germans and the Bulgarians were, since Greece was under a triple occupation from Germany, Italy and Bulgaria. 

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace was under Bulgarian administration, Central Macedonia, the islands of the northeastern Aegean islands and of the Saronic Gulf, most of Crete and Piraeus belonged to the German zone and the rest of Greece was under the control of Italian occupation forces.

The Italian army in Greece as an occupying power is treated by some revisionist historians, as a “friendly force”. 

Movies like “Captain Corelli’s mandolin” added to that perception, portraying the Italian occupation army as a group of peace-loving people who treated the Greeks in a civilized manner. 

"Thank you Adolf, I think I can manage the Greeks now" - A sketch from the British newspaper Manchester Daily Dispatch, 1941

This image is incorrect and attributed largely to post-war construction, according to which all criminal acts were caused only by the nazi German occupation forces. 

The historical truth is that the Italians, who were seen by the Greek population as the “losers” of the Greco-Italian war (October 1940-April 1941) and treated with contempt, took advantage of the German occupation and conducted a series of atrocities, which by any measure are considered war crimes.

Ionian Islands

From the first days of the occupation, the Ionian Islands (Corfu, Kefalonia, etc.) came under exclusive Italian political and military administration, as opposed to the areas of Greece under German occupation, which had Greek political administration of nazi collaborators or “Quislings”.

The Italians with a series of measures proceeded to cut the Ionian Islands off Greece and aimed at the annexation of the islands to Italy, just as they did with the Dodecanese Islands (Rodos etc.). 

Italian politicians were appointed as commanders of the islands, which belonged directly to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Learning the Italian language became compulsory and the teaching of Greek history was restricted. 

Greek teachers were under Italian supervision and denied any contact with the Greek government. 

They established the so-called “Anonymous Society of Ionic Commerce” which had the exclusive rights to all imports and exports. They introduced a new currency, the Ionian drachma. Agricultural products were confiscated and transported to Italy. 

They introduced a new tax system, while the judges applied the mandatory Italian law and tried in the name of the Italian king. They opened camps for "disobedient Greeks" in Paxos, Othoni and Lazaretto, where approximately 3,500 Greeks were jailed, tortured and executed under harsh conditions.

Lassithi, Crete

At the end of May 1941 Crete was occupied by the Germans, who took control of the western part of the island and left the eastern part (Lassithi) to the Italians, who landed there from the Dodecanese in a farcical way. 

The Germans had no interest to occupy Lassithi, which had no airports or deep sea ports and was considered of minimal geostrategic importance.

The Lassithi region was occupied by the Siena Division. Unlike other regions of Crete occupied by the Germans, there were no mass executions. 

The Italians were busy stealing agricultural products and using forced labor to construct their defenses. 

The people of Crete nevertheless regarded the Italians with contempt, as a bunch of cowards.

Executions and ethnological alteration

The Italian occupation in mainland Greece was particularly hard, especially in areas they planned to annex, such as central Greece and the northwestern parts of the country. 

Due to the occupation of most areas of the Greek countryside, the Italians were the first to face the growing Greek resistance movement. 

To address it, they resorted to tactics of retaliation by performing atrocities, just like their German allies did. 

In December 1942 in retaliation for the resistance movement they burned the villages Chryso and Mikro Chorio (“Little Village”) and murdered almost all of their residents. 

The most characteristic case was the massacre in the village of Domenico, where on February 13, 1943 Italian soldiers burned the village and murdered 194 people, including women and children. 

Approximately in the same area one month later, on March 12th, 1943, the Italians burned Tsaritsani to the ground and executed 40 villagers. 

On June 6, 1943, in retaliation for the bombing of a rail tunnel by the resistance in the vicinity of Kournovo (central Greece), the Italians executed 106 Greeks. 

There are many other instances like the above that prove Italy treated Greece in the worst possible manner during the two years of fascist Italian occupation.

Italy changes sides - Massacre in Kefalonia 

After the capitulation of Italy on September 8, 1943, the commander of the Italian troops in Greece signed the surrender of Italian units to the Germans. 

Two divisions, Pinerolo in Thessaly and Acqui in Kefalonia, did not follow the order to surrender. 

The latter numbered 12,000 soldiers. On September 15, the Germans launched an operation to neutralise Acqui Division. 

Until September 25, when the nazis announced the elimination of the division, there was a constant pounding of Kefalonia with aerial bombardments and mass executions of Italian soldiers who were arrested by German military units. 

The total number of executed Italian soldiers is estimated at 9,500. 

The movie “Captain Corelli’s mandolin” is loosely based on these events and because of the nazi brutality, several historians after the war wanted to embellish the Italian occupation of the Ionian Islands and present the Italians as “victims”, rather than aggressors. 

An Italian writes about thefts and atrocities

Romolo Galimberti, an Italian soldier who later became journalist and author wrote a book and described the actions of the Italian occupation forces: 

"The (Italian) soldiers ransacked, destroyed houses, they ripped floors or dug for hidden treasures, emptied the chests, broke all the furniture, they scattered clothes and linen everywhere and they dirtied the houses even with shit. 

The soldiers, some intoxicated, wore women’s clothes and dresses, carrying back tobacco packs and flasks with raki, or hens writhing desperately. 

Map of Greece with all villages, towns and cities destroyed by Germans, Italians and Bulgarians

They would shoot men, women or children indiscriminately, just because there was a vague suspicion that they were resistance sympathizers. None of the officers ever tried to return the goods or punish anyone".

Frontpage history: The nazi invasion of Crete, May 1941, as reported by the NY Times

The dramatic events of the nazi invasion of Crete, which started in the morning of May 20, 1941, unfolded quicker than the... censor's scissors and the New York Times report on the British retreat and the nazis' foothold on the greek island.

USA were still officially "neutral", as the Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese, which caused the United States to enter the War, only happened several months after the Battle of Crete, in December 1941

February 21, 1943: The last flight of Boris Lazarev

It was February 21, 1943. The war raged on the Eastern Front. The 22 year old pilot Boris Alexandrovich Lazarev and his Hurricane took off, in order to halt an attack of the Germans. 

Pilot Rudolf Müller, from the 6/JG5 "Expertenstaffel" prepared to add another shooting under his belt, which was to be his last. He was shot down in April of that year and executed while trying to escape from the soviet prison camp.

66 years after this long-forgotten incident, Russians and Americans, searching in the archives found the details of the dogfight. They decided to go to look in the swamp where Lazarev's Hurricane crashed. 

Soon the researchers identified the first parts of the fighter, deep in thick mud. 

Among the mangled metal, the researchers made an unexpected and unique discovery: the mummified corpse of the 22-year Soviet pilot. The conditions in the swamp favored the maintenance of the corpse inside the cockpit of the British origin aircraft.

From the position of his body, it was evident that the 22-year old Lazarev was ready to leave the aircraft, having his hands at the straps, probably in a desperate attempt to open the canopy or use his parachute. Only his feet were cut off at the height of the ankles, probably from the brunt of the crash, as they were found in the aircraft.

Lazarev was buried with military honors, while personal items still testify to this day his personality. A knife from a German paratrooper, German coins, Soviet medals and numerous other objects and documents, remained intact in the anaerobic conditions of the thick mud.

Read more here, here and there

"Οι Μαγκουφανιώτες θυμούνται..." ένα πολυτελές λεύκωμα για την ιστορία της Πεύκης

Μια πολυτελής έκδοση 400 σελίδων του Λαογραφικού-Ιστορικού Συλλόγου Πεύκης "Πευκιώτικες Ρίζες", καταγράφει βήμα-βήμα τη γέννηση της Πεύκης, από την εποχή που ήταν ένα δάσος που φιλοξένησε τους πρώτους πρόσφυγες της Μικρασιατικής καταστροφής, τις οικογένειες των θυμάτων του Εμφυλίου που βασάνισε τη χώρα μας και φτάνει στο σήμερα, που πλέον η Πεύκη θεωρείται "πολυτελές προάστιο", με τις τιμές των ακινήτων, παρά την οικονομική κατάρρευση της χώρας μας, να κρατιούνται ακόμα στα ύψη και κάποιοι να... "μεγαλοπιάνονται" θεωρώντας ότι ζουν στην... Ελβετία.

Όσοι μεγαλώσαμε στην Πεύκη τις δεκαετίες του '70 και του '80 θυμόμαστε ατελείωτες ώρες παιχνιδιού στο "δασάκι", στις άδειες μονοκατοικίες με τους κήπους, στα κτήματα με τις φυστικιές, στο χωμάτινο γήπεδο της "Πευκάρας" όταν δεν έπαιζαν οι μεγάλοι, στις αλάνες, ακόμα και την "παγόδα", μια έπαυλη στα όρια της Πεύκης με το Μαρούσι, η οποία -καταπώς λέει ο αστικός μύθος- την έχτισε έναν καπετάνιος για την Ιαπωνέζα γυναίκα του για να απαλύνει τη νοσταλγία της για τη χώρα του Ανατέλλοντος Ηλίου.

Το λεύκωμα είναι γεμάτο προσωπικές μαρτυρίες, φωτογραφικά τεκμήρια, έγγραφα και στοιχεία που αποκαλύπτουν τις καταβολές της Μαγκουφάνας, όπως ήταν γνωστή η Πεύκη μέχρι το 1960, όταν άλλαξε όνομα προς το... ευπρεπέστερον και μαζί με τα... Μπούτια της Αργολίδας (σημερινή Ήρα) επισημοποιήθηκε η νέα της ονομασία μέσω της Εφημερίδας της Κυβέρνησης. 

Οι σημερινοί... "νέοι", ετών 40 έως 50, ζήσαμε τη μετάλλαξη της Πεύκης... Σταδιακά, τα πεύκα έδιναν τη θέση τους σε πολυκατοικίες, τα προσφυγικά σπίτια και οι αστικές μονοκατοικίες της δεκαετίας του '50 και του ΄60 αντικαταστάθηκαν από τσιμεντένια τέρατα, ήρθε και ο... εκσυγχρονισμός και οι φυστικιές έγιναν "ηλιακό χωριό", ένα σκάνδαλο του 1982 που ποτέ δε λειτούργησε όπως είχε σχεδιαστεί και πρόσθεσε χιλιάδες ψυχές-δικαιούχους του Οργανισμού Εργατικής Κατοικίας από κάθε γωνιά της χώρας στον κοινωνικό ιστό της Πεύκης. 

Οι μαρτυρίες που περιλαμβάνει το λεύκωμα είναι μοναδικές: Από που πήρε το όνομά της η Μαγκουφάνα, από την Άννα τη Μαγκούφα, μια ξεχωριστή φυσιογνωμία του προσφυγικού συνοικισμού, από τον τσιφλικά Γεώργιο Μαγκαφά; Ποιες μεγάλες προσωπικότητες έζησαν εδώ, πότε υπήρχε στρατόπεδο καταστροφέων αρμάτων (!) στο δασάκι που παίζαμε παιδιά; Κάθε μαρτυρία έχει ονοματεπώνυμο, κάθε ανάμνηση έχει σμιλευτεί με τα βιώματα ανθρώπων που έγραψαν τη δική τους μικροϊστορία.

Το λεύκωμα μπορείτε να το αποκτήσετε μετά από τηλεφωνικό ραντεβού στα: 210-8023900, 210-6121865, και 6974-183250

On this day, December 31st, 1940: Greek soldiers march towards their positions on the Albanian front

The fascist Italian regime under Benito Mussolini decided to invade Greece on October 28th, 1940. The Italian offensive soon turned into a large-scale fiasco, with the Greeks throwing back the "fratelli" inside Albania.

The Italians were routed and soon the Greeks took initiatives that lead the battle well inside occupied Albania's territory. Christmas of 1940 was celebrated in snow covered mountains, with temperatures well below zero, which cost both armies, Italians and Greeks, dearly. Many soldiers were left frostbitten, with their limbs paralysed by the extreme weather conditions.

On this day, December 31st 1940, a rare and unpublished photo shows a group of Greek soldiers marching on towards their fighting positions. 

On the photo's back someone wrote "Ομαδευμένοι οπλοβομβισταί μεταβαίνουν να καταλάβουν θέσεις μάχης", which roughly translates as "A group of soldiers carrying rifle grenades move towards their fighting positions".

Ο Νίκος Καββαδίας γράφει: "Το Θαύμα της Αλβανίας απ' τη σκοπιά της ΙΙΙ Μεραρχίας", πρώτη έκδοση, 1945

Η πρώτη έκδοση του βιβλίου "Το Θαύμα της Αλβανίας απ' τη σκοπιά της ΙΙΙ Μεραρχίας", σε επιμέλεια του Ξένιου Ξενίτα, βγήκε το 1945 και σε αυτό περιλαμβανόταν και ένα σύντομο διήγημα του Νίκου Καββαδία, ο οποίος υπηρέτησε και εκείνος στην τρίτη μεραρχία την περίοδο του ελληνοϊταλικού πολέμου 1940-41.

Το αφήγημα «Στο άλογό μου» γράφτηκε στο χωριό Κούδεσι το 1941 και πρωτοδημοσιεύτηκε στον στον τόμο «Το Θαύμα της Αλβανίας απ' τη σκοπιά της ΙΙΙ Μεραρχίας» του Ξένου Ξενίτα το 1945.

Στο άλογό μου

Το να γράψει κανείς σ' έναν άνθρωπο, είναι ίσως εύκολο στους πολλούς. Το να γράψει σ' ένα ζώο, είναι αφάνταστα δύσκολο. Για τούτο φοβάμαι. Δε θα τα καταφέρω.

Τα χέρια μου έχουνε σκληρύνει από τα λουριά σου, κι η ψυχή μου από άλλη αιτία. Όμως πρέπει. Αισθάνομαι την ανάγκη. Γι' αυτό θα σου γράψω.

Στην αρχή δεν με ήθελες. Καταλάβαινες σε μένα τον άπραγο με το αδύνατο χέρι. Είχες δίκιο. Ίσως για πρώτη φορά έβλεπα άλογο από τόσο κοντά. 

Τ' άλογα που είχα δει στη ζωή μου ήτανε στα τσίρκα, που τα δουλεύανε κοζάκοι, και στις κούρσες, που τα παίζαν οι άνθρωποι. Αυτό με είχε πειράξει. 

Δεν είστε προορισμένα για τόσο χαμηλές πράξεις. Ας είναι... Αυτό είναι μιαν άλλη ιστορία, καθώς λέει ο Κίπλινγκ, αυτός που τόσο σας είχε αγαπήσει και ιστορήσει.

Το ξέρω πόσο σε κούρασα. Στραβά φορτωμένο ακολούθησες υποταχτικά στις πορείες της νύχτας. Γρήγορα γίναμε φίλοι. Με συνήθισες. Έπαψα πια να σε χάνω μέσα στ' άλλα τα ζώα της Μονάδας μας. Έπαψα να μη σε γνωρίζω.

Αν αρχίσω τα «θυμάσαι» δε θα τελειώσω ποτέ. Λατρεύω τη συντομία! Θα σου θυμίσω μονάχα τρεις νύχτες μας. (Απορώ με τον εαυτό μου απόψε. Τόσο στοργικά δε μίλησα ποτέ σε κανένα).

Θυμάσαι τη νύχτα με τη βροχή; Ανελέητα κι οι δυο μουσκεμένοι, προχωρούσαμε μέσα στη νύχτα. Μόνοι. Σε οδηγούσα ή με οδηγούσες; 

Κάρφωνα τα νυσταγμένα μου μάτια στο νυχτερινό παραπέτασμα, όπως δεν τα κάρφωσα τότε που αναζητούσα φανάρια στη Βόρειο θάλασσα. Η όσφρησή σου μας έσωσε. Ένας στάβλος μάς έγινε άσυλο. 

Παραμερίσαμε το σανό κι ανάψαμε μεγάλη φωτιά. Λέω, ανάψαμε. Εσύ μου 'δινες θάρρος. Ξαπλωμένος σ' άκουα να μασάς. Κατόπι σου μίλησα. 

Ποτέ δε συμφώνησα με τους ανθρώπους όπως τότε με σένα. Κοιμηθήκαμε συζητώντας. Εγώ ξαπλωμένος στο χόρτο. Εσύ όρθιο. Πόσοι άνθρωποι δεν κοιμούνται όρθιοι περπατώντας δίχως να 'χουν τη δική σου νόηση; Ας είναι...

Η δεύτερη νύχτα: Τότε που μπήκαμε μ' άλλους πολλούς μες στη μάχη. Μπορούσε κοντά από 'κεί να κουβαλήσουμε τραυματίες. Ακούσαμε μαζί τον θόρυβο του πολέμου και τον συνηθίσαμε. Πήραμε το παλικάρι με το πληγωμένο πόδι και φύγαμε. 

Ποτέ μου δε σε είδα πιο προσεχτικό και τόσο αλαφροπάτητο. Είχες ξεχάσει κείνο το νευρικό σου συνήθειο να πηδάς σηκώνοντας το σαμάρι. Τα 'χες όλα νιώσει ίσως πριν από μένα.

Και τώρα, η νύχτα στο βουνό με τη λάσπη: βαρυφορτωμένοι, κατάκοποι προχωρούσαμε. Είν' αφάνταστη η λύπη κι η κακομοιριά που δοκιμάζεις σαν αισθάνεσαι να 'σαι και να βλέπεις ανθρώπους και ζώα και τα πάντα μες στη λάσπη.

Άλογα και μουλάρια πεσμένα μάς κόψανε το δρόμο. Εμείς προχωρούσαμε. Άξαφνα έπεσες. Πέσαμε θέλω να πω. Με τα δυο σου πόδια σπασμένα, με το κεφάλι χωμένο στις λάσπες. Θυμάσαι πόσο προσπάθησα. 

Δεν το κατόρθωσα. Πρέπει να νιώσεις καλά πως δε φταίω. Ποτέ δεν προσπάθησα τόσο. Έμεινα δίπλα σου ολόκληρη νύχτα. Πιο πέρα από μας ένας Ιταλός σκοτωμένος. Πάνω μας η Μεγάλη Άρκτος, το Βόρειο Στέμμα, ο Αστερισμός του Ωρίωνα ψιχάλιζαν φως.

Δεν είδα ποτέ πώς πεθαίνουν οι άνθρωποι. Γύρισα πάντα τα μάτια μου από το θάνατο. Μα φαντάζομαι...

Παύω. Φοβάμαι μήπως πω λόγο μεγάλο.

Φυλάω ακόμη το ξυστρί και τη βούρτσα σου. Κι όταν κάποτε κι αυτά θα τα παραδώσω, θα σε φυλάξω στη μνήμη μου.

Οι κάλοι των χεριών μου από τα λουριά σου μου είναι τόσο αγαπητοί, όσο εκείνοι που κάποτε απόχτησα στις θαλασσινές μου πορείες. 

Θα σου ξαναγράψω!...

Κούδεσι, Μάρτης 1941

Prelude to war: The diplomacy behind the fascist Italian invasion in Greece, October 1940

The Italian invasion in Greece, which proved to be a pure..."fiasco"  started on October 28th, 1940.

Just two weeks after the fascist Italians started their attack, the Greek counter offensive stopped the Italian attack in its tracks and threw the "rooster feathers", as the Italians were mockingly called by the Greeks, (because they had rooster feathers on their helmets and hats), back to their starting lines in Albania.

The harsh winter conditions and the ferocity of the battles caused many casualties, both Greek and Italian and the renewed Italian offensive in March 1941 was yet another majestic... "fiasco" for the Italians, embarrassing Mussolini who went to witness first-hand his legions in action.

On April 6th 1941, nazi Germany invaded Greece from the northern borders (Yugoslavia and Bulgaria), promptly overcoming the defences and marching in Athens in late April.

Before the Greco-italian war started, there was a "behind the scenes" diplomatic war, between the two countries, which is vividly demonstrated in this first edition, dated 1940.

Italy invaded Albania in 1939, demonstrating her real objectives. Greece chose to remain neutral and tried to keep a balanced attitude towards Italian aggression.

For the first time, right after the declaration of war between the two countries, this book features all the diplomatic moves, as well as photos from the torpedoes that the italian submarine Delfino launched against the Greek light cruiser "Ellli" in Tinos Island on August 15, 1940, on the day of the biggest religious celebration of Orthodox Greeks.