On this day 16th November 1943The Battle of Leros ended when Allied troops on the island surrendered.

On this day 16th November 1943The Battle of Leros ended when Allied troops on the island surrendered.

For Germany, it was a pyrrhic victory, as an estimated 4,000 men had been lost, mostly in sunken landing-craft. But the Germans were to hold the Dodecanese until the end of the war.

For Britain, it was a humiliating defeat in an operation that should never have been attempted. 

Churchill came in for particular criticism, although he laid the blame for failure firmly at the door of the Americans.

The campaign cost the British Army 4,800 casualties, most of whom were taken prisoner.

 Given the chronic shortage of infantry replacements, which plagued the British in Normandy less than a year later, this was an unnecessary sacrifice.

Six British and Greek destroyers were sunk, along with two submarines and a number of smaller craft.

 Four cruisers were damaged, and the Royal Air Force lost 115 aircraft. The damage to morale cannot be calculated.

Lieutenant Ted Johnson took part in the fighting p with the Royal Irish Fusiliers. ‘We were fighting for six days, but we had no air support and were completely outnumbered,’ he recalled years later.

There were lots of casualties in this fighting, and from the aerial attacks. My… company had been decimated, and… we were penned in by the Germans, who were at the bottom of the hill. 

We had… to take up this position, but it was a stony outcrop with little cover, so our position was not too hot. 

We were down to five men – three soldiers, another officer, and myself. We realised there was no point carrying on. 

We had no ammunition and no grenades left, so we destroyed our weapons, and walked down the hill with our arms up. I have to say it was the most shameful moment of my life.

Arriving in Germany after a nightmare 14-day journey across the Balkans and central Europe sealed in a cattle truck, Johnson found his interrogators knew more about the battle of the Dodecanese than he did.

 They apparently described it as a ‘ridiculous operation’, a judgement that is hard to counter.

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