Dodecanese campaign
The Dodecanese campaign of World War II was an attempt by Allied forces to capture the Italian Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea following the Armistice with Italy in September 1943, and use them as bases against the German-controlled Balkans. Operating without air cover, the Allied effort was a costly failure, the whole of the Dodecanese falling to the Germans within two months. The Dodecanese campaign, lasting from 8 September to 22 November 1943, resulted in one of the last major German victories in the war.
| Dodecanese campaign | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II | |||||||||
Location of the Dodecanese Islands (in red) in relation to Greece | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Italy United Kingdom Naval Support:
| Germany | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Inigo Campioni (POW) Luigi Mascherpa (POW) Felice Leggio Robert Tilney (POW) L.R.F. Kenyon (POW) |
Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller Ulrich Kleemann | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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55,000 Italians 5,300 British | 7,500 Germans | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Italian: 5,350 killed and wounded 44,391 captured British: 4,800 casualties 113 aircraft destroyed 1 cruiser crippled 3 cruisers damaged 6 destroyers sunk 4 destroyers damaged 3 submarines sunk 4 submarines damaged 10 minesweepers and coastal defence ships sunk |
1,184 casualties 15 landing craft destroyed | ||||||||
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