Battle of Rhodes (1943)

Battle of Rhodes(1943)
Part of the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II
German Panzer IVs in Rhodes.
Date 9–11 September 1943 Location Rhodes Island, Aegean Sea Result German victory Territorial changes German occupation of Rhodes
Belligerents
Italy	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Inigo Campioni	Ulrich Kleemann
Strength
39,100 men (34,000 Army, 3,000 Air Force, 2,100 Navy)	6,000-8,000 men
Casualties and losses
447 dead 300 wounded 30,000 POW	Unknown number of killed and wounded 1 merchant ship captured

The Battle of Rhodes (Greek: Μάχη της Ρόδου) was a brief battle between Italian and German forces for the control of the Greek island of Rhodes, in the then Italian-held Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea.

Background

When the Armistice of Cassibile was announced, on 8 September 1943, Admiral Inigo Campioni was the governor of the Italian Dodecanese, the Cyclades and the Northern Sporades; his seat was in Rhodes. The military commander of the Italian forces in these archipelagos was instead Rear Admiral Carlo Daviso di Charvensod.

With no orders from the high commands and lack of information about the general situation of the Italian armed forces, the high command of the Italian armed forces in the Aegean (Egeomil), with headquarters in Rhodes, had to choose whether it should keep fighting alongside the German forces or remain loyal to Victor Emanuel III. Like many other commands, the Italian commands in the Aegean decided to consider the Germans as enemies, thus leading to the German invasion of the islands.

Forces

Italy

Campioni’s staff was headquartered in the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes; his Chief of Staff was brigadier general Roberto Sequi, while he was in turn subordinate to the command of Army Group East, based in Tirana. On 1° September 1943, lieutenant general Arnaldo Foriero had been sent to Rhodes to assume command of the Royal Italian Army forces stationed there and to create the Rhodes Military Command, but at the time of the German invasion many of the internal fortifications scheduled to be built on the island had not been completed, due to lack of resouces.

The Italian Army had in Rhodes the 50th Infantry Division Regina (three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment, the latter equipped with 75/27 mm guns) under major general Michele Scaroina, as well as the 35th, 36th and 55th Static Artillery Groups, and the 56th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group. The latter was equipped with 75/27 and 90/53 mm guns, whereas the static artillery groups had a total of 46 batteries and 9 autonomous sections, armed with 210/8 mortars, 149/12 mm howitzers and 105/28 and 75/27 guns. The Regina Division (which was tasked with garrisoning the Dodecanese since 1939) however lacked one battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment, which had been detached to garrison Karpathos, and the entire 10th Infantry Regiment, which garrisoned Kos. In Rhodes were the artillery regiment (deployed on Mount Fileremo and other positions), the 309th Infantry Regiment and the remaining battalions of the 9th Infantry Regiment.^[1] Overall, the Army troops available in Rhodes numbered about 34,000 men, with some dozen old vehicles.

These troops were allocated to seven defense areas, some on the coast and some inland: Rhodes Fortress Area, in the northern end of the island; Kalitea Area, in the northeastern part; Kalathos Area, in the eastern part; Vati Area, which spread from Lindos promontori in the south-east to the Alimia bay in the west; Agios Georgios Area, in the north-west. The Army also controlled all communications within the island, except for those of the coastal batteries and sighting points, which were under Navy control.

The Royal Italian Navy had in Rhodes the command of the Aegean Military Sea Zone (Mariegeo), under Captain Mario Grassi, and the Rhodes Naval Command, under Commander Adriano Arcangioli. The latter controlled a unit intended for swift intervention against the event of an invasion, as well as eight coastal batteries and several anti-aircraft batteries. The coastal batteries were named Majorana (located on Mount Smith, with three 152/40 mm guns and one 120/50 mm gun), Melchiori (three 152/40 mm guns and one 102/35 mm gun, located north of the Kalitea thermal baths), Bianco (located in Kremasti, with three 120/45 mm and one 76/17 mm gun), Dandolo (west of the Lindos promontory, with three 152/40, one 102/35 and one 76/17 gun), Morosini (east of the Lindos promontory, with three 152/40 and one 102/35 mm gun), Mocenigo (on the eastern coast of the southern end of the island, with three 120/45 and one 76/17 mm gun), Bragadino (on the western coast of the southern end of the island, with four 120/45 and one 76/17 mm gun) and Alimnia (in Alimia, with one 76/40 and two 76/50 mm guns); none of them was provided with a radio.

Few naval units were available in Rhodes; the 3rd MAS Flotilla with three motor torpedo boats and one MAS, the 14th Anti-Submarine Group with two submarine chasers, the 39th Minesweeping Flotilla with eight auxiliary minesweepers, the gunboat Sebastiano Caboto (immobilized by a mechanical breakdown) and the steamer Pomezia (used as a floating refrigerated warehouse). The naval personnel on the island amounted to about 2,100 men.

The Italian Royal Air Force had 3,000 personnel and about 60-65 aircraft in Rhodes, under air commodore Alberto Briganti. The Gadurra air base, near Kalathos, had no planes, as its torpedo bombers had been moved to Italy some months before, and the Kattavia airport had been abandoned in early 1943 and rendered unusable; the only active air base was in Maritsa, where there were the 30th Bombing Wing with twelve bombers, one transport squadron with four Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 and one Savoia-Marchetti SM.75, and a group of 40 fighters, mostly FIAT CR.42 and FIAT G.50, with six Macchi C.202. Ten of the 40 fighters weren’t however in working order, and only 20 pilots were available for the remanining 30. A CANT Z.506 flying boat, used for the personal movements of the governor, was based in the Mandraki seaplane base; there were also two more CANT Z.506 used as rescue planes, and the 147th Marittime Reconnaissance Squadron, equipped with CANT Z.501s. The air bases were defended by 20 mm machine guns of the Army.

Germany

The first German presence in Rhodes had begun in January 1943, when several attempts to put Egeomil under German control, with no success. In the same time, however, German commands reached an agreement with the Italian Air Force, to place two 88 mm Flak batteries two strenghten the anti-aircraft defense of the air bases. The German personnel was to teach the Italians how to use them and then to leave the island, but they prolonged their stay, with the excuse of the planned shipment of more batteries. Towards the end of January 1943, four German officers, experts of coastal fortifications, visited the island, and in April a panzergrenadier battalion was landed in Rhodes; during the following month, two more panzergrenadier battalions were sent.

At the end of June 1943, the German general Ulrich Kleemann was sent to Rhodes, where he formed the Sturmdivision Rhodos.,^[2] which began military exercise near the Italian defenses about 11 km from the city of Rhodes. The Sturmdivision Rhodes had a strenghth between 6,000 and 8,000 men, and a communication network that was separated from the Italian one. Its command was established in Campochiaro (today Eleousa); the Division included four panzergrenadier battalions with about a hundred cannons, anti-tank guns and 60-70 mortars; a reconnaissance unit with 1,500 men equipped with armed sidecars and nearly 60 armoured cars; a tank battalion with over 25 Panzer IVs; four batteries of self-propelled guns, two of them equipped with Wespes and two with Hummels; five 8,8 cm Flak batteries placed near the air bases; and one unit of about 300 Greeks in German uniform. The latter, whose tasks were not clear, caused heavy complaints by the Italian command.

Overall, the German forces had about 150 armoured fighting vehicles, including Panzer IIs, Panzer IVs, StuG IIIs and fifteen 150 mm self-propelled guns.

September 8

The announcement of the armistice took the Italian leadership and soldiers in Rhodes completely by surprise; the memorandum with the instructions from the Italian Supreme Command to Egeomil was to be sent by air, but bad weather had prevented this, and the messenger was still in Pescara on 9 September.

On the evening of 8 September, Campioni asked General Forgiero to contact Kleeman to exhort him not to give orders that could cause Italian reactions, and Kleeman reacted calmly, stating that he would cooperate. Around 20:30, as soon as the news of the armistice came, Campioni announced a meeting at the Palace of the Grand Master, but, as there were no precise orders about how to act, no decisions were taken. Lieutenant colonel Marcello Fossetta, in charge of the Maritsa air base, informed the command that the German troops guarding the airport were gathered without weapons and watching a film show, so a sudden attack would be easy to carry out, but he was ordered not to act, based on the previous promises by Kleeman. Campioni only had the Badoglio Proclamation, which had been broadcast to the other Dodecanese islands, highlighting the last sentence, which ordered to react "to eventual attacks from any other source [than the Allies]".

Admiral Daviso gave different orders: all ships that were at sea were to reach Leros, except for the MAS and motor torpedo boats, that were to stay in Rhodes; all the ships that were in Rhodes were to get ready to move in a short time (except the gunboat Caboto, which was immobilized by an engine breakdown); the coastal batteries were to be alerted; the guard at the Rhodes Naval Command was to be strenghtened, and the naval landing force to be readies; the Naval Commands of Syros, Leros and Astypalaia were to be informed of the situation; any aggressive action by German forces was to be opposed by arms. These instructions later turned out to be in line with the directives issued by Supermarina (the Italian Navy General Staff) on 9 September. At midnight Kleeman, now raher upset, asked Forgiero for permission to freely move his forces in order to be able to quickly oppose a possible British landing, but received a refusal.

Battle

September 9

During the night, Campioni and Kleemann had a heated argument about what should be done with the German troops on the island; according to some (there is no certainty about what was decided) it was agreeded that the “Rhodos” Division would take position near Campochiaro, while the German troops at the air bases were to remain outside of their perimeters, and any movement of German troops would need authorization by the Italian command. According to others, it was decided that the Germans would stay inside the air bases, and would not disarm them if no Italian unit left Rhodes.

Meanwhile, a British plane dropped over Rhodes thousands of leaflets signed by General Henry Maitland Wilson, head of the Middle East Command, who ordered the Italians to take control of the German positions and to move their ships and aircraft to British bases; Campioni, however, did not comply, also because the origin of the leaflets was dubious.

At 9:00 a German officer went to the harbour of Rhodes (which the Italians had closet) and asked to occupy it, but the port commander, Captain Francesco Bagnus, refused; the German steamer Taganrog, loaded with ammunition, was moored in the harbour and asked for permission to leave the island, but admiral Daviso denied authorization, and instead posted sentries to guard the ship. After some dozen of minutes, however, the harbour was opened, and the Germans unloaded the crates containing the ammunition.

The first German attacks started around noon; the Italians returned fire, but a swift action against the “Regina” Division led to the capture of General Scaroina, who ordered his men to surrender.^[3] The Rohdes Military Command, however, was warned of what had happened; Forgiero was ordered to move to the city of Rhodes to avoid complete capture of the command, but some vehicles of his escort were intercepted by German forces, and Forgiero only reached the city around 15:00, half an hour after the Germans had occupied the Maritsa air base. Daviso proposed to send the destroyer Euro, which was in Leros, to bombard the air base with her guns, but the suggestion was rejected; general Briganti, however, obtained permission by Campioni to use the artillery. The artillery fire destroyed the German batteries and tanks that had occupied the airport, but also hit the Italian planes that were still there. When the noise of the shelling was heard in the harbour, Bagnus ordered the capture of Taganrog. The ship had a mixed Greek and German crew; the Greeks were released, while the Germans were taken prisoner and brought to the city, and a new Italian crew was placed aboard the ship. On 10 September, Taganrog would leave Rhodes for Symi.

The Bianco battery inflicted losses on the German vehicles in the Maritsa air base, but was in turn seriosuly damaged, and had to be abandoned; the Dandolo battery was encircled and defended itself for a short time, returning fire, after which its personnel was taken prisoner. The artillerymen, however, freed themselves in the afternoon of 10 September.

September 10

On the night between 9 and 10 September the British majors Julian Dolbey (who spoke Italian and also acted as an interpreter) and George Jellicoe and a sergeant with a portable radio were parachuted over Rhodes; they were brought to the Palace of the Grand Master, where they had a consultation with Campioni. They asked how long could Rhodes hold on, and explained that the first British reinforcements would not arrive in less than a week; Campioni suggested diversory air strikes and landings in the southern part of the island to divert German attention from the city of Rhodes, but Dolbey replied that there weren’t enough means to meet these requests. At 13:00 Dolbey, whom had been wounded in landing with his parachute, was given a letter from Campioni to Wilson (where the former asked for help) and was evacuated to Symi on a motor torpedo boat.

Meanwhile, early in the morning a German motorized formation moved towards Maritsa, although its advance was sloved down by artillery fire from Mount Paradiso and Mount Fileremo, where there were Italian Army units that had remained isolated. At 9:00 a German plane dropped leaflets that asked for surrender in exchange for safe passage to Italy, and an hour later the destroyer Euro arrived with 200 reinforcements from Kos. As units from the inland part of the island were already reinforcing the garrison of the city of Rhodes, Euro was sent back to Kos with its men. In the afternoon the Maritsa battery, which was firing on the tanks that occupied the Maritsa air base, returned fire against some German 88 mm guns; together with the Melchiori battery and some mortars, they silenced the German guns, inflicting heavy casualties and losing six men.

In the evening, the German forces captured the positions on Mount Paradiso and Mount Fileremo, and later more positions were taken. At 19:45 Jellicoe and the British sergeant, together with the Italian colonel Fanizza and an Italian major, were sent to Kastelorizo, where they were to further discuss the situation and the dispatch of reinforcements to Rhodes.

During the night, Campioni was informed of the surrender of the Italian forces in Greece and Crete, which further weakened his position.

September 11

At 7:00 German air strikes damaged the Majorana battery and put the Navy radio station out of action. A British colonel arrived and immediately met Campioni, who once more asked for diversory actions and asked at least for some fighter sto oppose the Luftwaffe. The colonel asked if he believed that a German attack on the city of Rhodes was imminent and how long could the Italian garrison resist, then he was accomanied to the harbour and sent to Kastelorizo. Shortly thereafter, at 8:00, an officer of the “Regina” Division, escorted by a German officer of the “Rhodos” Division, came with a message from General Scaroina, asking to end the fighting in the southern part of the island, but Campioni replied that the battle would go on, while he waited for a meeting with Kleemann. At 10:30 two more German officers told the Italian command that the surrender conditions dictated by OKW were the cessation of the hostilities in the entire island, the release of the German prisoners, and the unconditional surrender of the Italian forces. One of the German officers added that the final conditions would be arranged with Kleemann, and that Campioni had half an hour to decide, after which the city of Rhodes would be bombed.

Campioni took stock of the situation with his staff; as no British reinforcements would come soon, the military situation was considered to be critic (only four artillery batteries were left, the Majorana battery and three anti-aircraft batteries, although Army units kept resisting and the city and harbour were still in Italian hands) and a German bombing of the city would cause civilian casualties, it was decided to negotiate the surrender. Meanwhile, wrong news circulated that some German tanks had entered the city, so some ships left the harbour on their own initiative and were followed by others, that believed they were carrying out orders that could not be received; Admiral Daviso later ordered them to reach Leros (according to others, they were ordered to leave Rhodes by Campioni, or by Lieutenant commander Corradini). At 15:30 Campioni, Forgiero and Daviso met Kleemann near the city. It was decided that Campioni would retain his position as governor; the Italian units would not be disbanded, but would be disarmed (except for the officers, who would be allowed to keep their weapons); the German command would remain outside of the city of Rhodes and no German units would enter it, except in specific occasions. The Italians destroyed code books and secret documents, but kept a secret radio station in a farmer house; the Italian government in Brindisi was also informed.

The Italian troops reacted with anger and incredulity to the news of the surrender, since in some areas they had successfully contained the German attacks, and they believed that the latter were by then left with little fuel and ammunitions; some soldiers even believed at first that the news were referring to a German surrender, such was the apparent advantage of their units on the Germans that they were facing (some German units had been forced to surrender during the battle and imprisoned in the Italian barracks, and were now released and given back their weapons, much to the indignation of the Italian soldiers whom had fought against them).^[4] Many cried, said that Rhodes had been "sold out" or their commands had "become crazy", accused Campioni of being filo-German, and shattered the butt of their rifles before throwing them in the heaps.^[5]

Aftermath

The Italian surrender confronted the Germans with the problem of how to deal with such a high number of prisoners, also because there were no ships available to move them all to other islands. The Navy and Air Force contingents were disarmed first, as they were firmly determined not to co-operate and therefore potentially more dangerous than the Army, where some officers were instead showing signs of friendship towards the Germans. Kleemann had Campioni order the garrison of Karpathos to surrender, threatening to bomb the island otherwise; however, when Kleemann ordered him to give the same orders to Kos and Leros, Campioni refused. Soon the Germans installed themselves within the Italian command and the Italian officers, Campioni included, were evacuated.

During this period many Italians tried to flee by sea to escape captivity, but often these attempts did non end well, and the fugitives died at sea or were discovered by the Germans. Some succeeded, however, and managed to reach Kos and Leros. The Alimia garrison, commanded by Sub-Lieutenant Cinicola, was ordered to surrender by an Italian general, but refused; Cinicola gathered his men and a number of scattered soldiers that had reached the small island, and they moved to Leros with their weapons, ammunition and provisions.

On 19 September 1943, between 1,584 and 1,835 Italian prisoners, all Navy and Air Force personnel, were herded into the captured Italian motorship Donizetti which then sailed for mainland Greece; during the voyage, however, the ship was intercepted and sunk by HMS Eclipse, unaware of her human cargo, with no survivors. On 12 February 1944 the old steamer Oria, crammed with over 4,000 prisoners from Rhodes, ran aground during a storm and sank off Cape Sounion; only 21 prisoners were rescued, while at least 4,062 were lost in the sinking.

Some soldiers were given civilian clothes by their officers, to avoid capture, and mixed with the local population. A small number adhered to the German cause or to the Italian Social Republic. Overall, about 1,580 Italian soldiers managed to escape from Rhodes after the surrender; 6,520 were declared missing after the war. Most of them had died in the sinking of the ships that carried them to Greece, some others starved to death in German prison camps set on the island (the famine severely affected also the civilian population of Rhodes between 1944 and 1945). 90 were executed after the surrender, 40 of them without a trial.^[6] Admiral Campioni, initially imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Poland, was later handed over to RSI authorities, tried and executed for having defended Rhodes against the German invasion.^[7]

Isolated episodes of resistance continued during the German occupation, both by Greek civilians and some Italians who had escaped capture; sergeant Pietro Carboni of the Italian Navy, helped by an Italian civilian and by a carabineer, hid in the inner part of the island and committed several acts of sabotage against the German forces, until he was discovered and killed on 26 December 1944 (he was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor).^[8]

Bibliography

• Aldo Levi, Avvenimenti in Egeo dopo l'armistizio (Rodi, Lero e isole minori), Roma, Italian Navy Historical Branch, 1993.
• Luciano Alberghini Maltoni, Rodi 1943, in Storia Militare N° 105 (June 2002), pp. 25 – 43

References

1. ↑ 50ª Divisione di fanteria "Regina"
2. ↑ Sturm-Division Rhodos
3. ↑ Dodecaneso
4. ↑ Rodi settembre 1943
5. ↑ Buio nell’isola del sole. Rodi 1943-1945.
6. ↑
7. ↑ Inigo Campioni
8. ↑ Pietro Carboni