By Pierre Kosmidis

Photos submitted by Panagiotis Brokos

“Then” photo source: Bill Marshall, “Now” photo source: Panagiotis Brokos

Rodos island, Greece, was one of the last bastions of the 3rd Reich in Europe, as on 8 May 1945 the Germans, under Otto Wagener, surrendered the island as well as all of the Dodecanese to the British, who soon after then occupied the islands as a military protectorate.

Battlefield Archaeology: Discovering relics of the 1943 battle in Rodos 

In 1912, Italy seized Rhodes from the Turks during the Italo-Turkish War. After World War I, the island, together with the rest of the Dodecanese, was officially assigned to Italy in the Treaty of Lausanne. It then became the core of their possession of the Isole Italiane dell’Egeo.

Battlefield Archaeology: The WW2 Italian submarine base in previously unpublished photos! 

Following the Italian Armistice of 8 September 1943, the British attempted to get the Italian garrison on Rhodes to change sides. This was anticipated by the German Army, which succeeded in occupying the island with the Battle of Rhodes. In great measure, the German occupation caused the British failure in the subsequent Dodecanese Campaign.

Relics from the forgotten battlefield: Italians against Germans in Rodos island, September 1943 

In 1947, Rhodes, together with the other islands of the Dodecanese, was united with Greece.

Local researcher Panagiotis Mprokos identified the exact spot where a Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, C-3/U7, WNr.0226, Kennung G6+FY, of 14./TG 4, also known as “Kurier” to the Allies, one  of the 276 aircraft of that type produced, was being inspected by Allied soldiers in 1945, after the capitulation of the German garrison of Rodos Island, at the airport base of Gadura.

Panagiotis Mprokos found a part of this Condor, which was scrapped post-war and is currently being kept in his collection in Rodos.

Battlefield Archaeology: Wartime graffiti at the forgotten barracks of WW2

Battlefield Archaeology: One of the last battles of WW2 in May 1945

FOUND! A Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero supporting structure for 250 kg bombs