Operations Sacred Band

8 men under G. Alexandris operate with the Special Air Service behind German lines in Cyrenaica.

December 4^th, 1942 – December 23^rd, 1942

Abandoned due to redeployment enemy forces.

60 men of the Sacred Band move towards Benghazi to perform sabotage raids, but the mission is cancelled due to the rapid advances of the British.

March 10^th, 1943 – March 19^th, 1943

Capture of Ksar Rillan

Capture of Ksar Rillan under the command of General Leclerc of the Free French 2^nd Armoured Division, with the duties of Light Mechanised Cavalry.

Colonel Tsigantes inspects German prisoners after the battle at Wadi Akarit.

April 9^th,1943

Liberation of the city of Sfax

Liberation of the city of Sfax as part of the 2^nd New Zealand Division.

April 12^th, 1943

Liberation of the city of Sous.

Liberation of the city of Sous as part of the 2^nd New Zealand Division.

April 13^th, 1943 – April 16^th, 1943

Reconnaissance patrols during the battle of Enfidaville

Reconnaissance patrols during the battle of Enfidaville.

Aegean Sea

October 30^th, 1943 – November 25^th, 1943

Battle for the island of Samos

On October 30^th, 1943, 200 members of Section I of the Sacred Band of the Sacred Band parachute into Samos. The next five days the remaining troops of ections II and III land by fishing boat on Samos. Samos was the first part of Greece to be liberated during World War II. Following the capitulation, a collaborative administration was established involving the guerilla forces, the metropolitan bishop of Samos, Erenaios, and the Italian forces. Bishop Erenaios assumed the role of president of the Temporary Government.

However, this period of liberation was short-lived. On November 17^th, 1943, the German air force launched heavy bombardments on the capital city and other towns on the island, inflicting significant damage. As a result, the majority of the guerilla and Italian forces evacuated to the Middle East via Turkey between November 19^th, 1943 and November 22^nd, 1943. The last members of the Sacred Band leave the island of Samos on November 25^th, 1943, leading to Samos falling under German occupation for the following year.

March 7^th, 1944 – March 18^th, 1944

Raid against the island of Samos

Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band, Special Boat Squadron

Raid against Samos.

April 19^th, 1944 – April 25^th, 1944

Raid on Santorini (Thera)

Special Boat Squadron, Sacred Company

Nineteen men from the British Special Boat Section and the Greek Sacred Company led by Major Anders Lassen. Their mission was to destroy Axis naval observation posts and radio stations on the Cycladic islands. At the same time similar raids were conducted on the islands Of Ios, Mykonos and Amorgos.

The Santorini team set out from Balisu bay, Turkey aboard two schooners. After landing near Cape Columbo on April 19^th, 1944, they marched towards the village of Vourvoulos, hiding in a nearby cave. Greek Lieutenant Stefanos Kasoulis gathered intelligence in Fira, leading to a plan to attack the barracks, residence of the German commanding officer, and radio station in Imerovigli.

On April 24^th, 1943, the team executed their plan, surprising the garrison at the barracks and destroying the radio station. During the raid, Greek Lieutenant Stefanos Kasoulis and Sergeant Frank Kingston were killed. In reprisal, on April 29^th, 1944, German forces surrounded Vourvoulos, executing five civilians. Despite casualties, the operation tied down German forces in the Aegean for the remainder of the war.

April 27^th, 1944- April 29^th, 1944

Raid on the islands of Ios, Faos and Amorgo.

Raid on on Ios and Amorgo.

March 8th, 1944

Raiding a German sailing ship

Raiding a German sailing ship carrying ammunition and food.

March 29th, 1944 – March 31st, 1944

Raid on the island of Psara

Neutralising the garrison and destroying a lighthouse and radio.

April 3rd, 1944 -April 4th, 1944

Raid on the island of Mytilini

Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band, Special Boat Squadron

30 men perform a diversionary attack, killing or wounding 13 members of Gestapo, seizing its archive and liberating those held in its prisons and the building of the city’s school.

April 27^th, 1944- April 29^th, 1944

Raid on the islands of Ios, Faos and Amorgo.

Raid on on Ios and Amorgo.

May 18th, 1944

Raid on the island of Paros

Partnership with commandos where a German airstrip is damaged, and several Germans killed.

May 17th, 1944- End May

Raid on the island of Samos

31 men raid Samos and attack the garrison of Marathokampos.

May 28^th, 1944

Raid on west coast of the island of Chios.

Blowing up of the dry dock and the destruction (or serious damage) of thirteen small ships; also, the blowing up of the small building housing the cable heads, the destruction of four of them and the death of an unknown number of men from the crews of the blown up German ships.

June 18^th, 1944 – June 19^th, 1944

Raid on the island of Chios

Neutralised a German outpost in the village of Langadia, on the island of Chios.

June 20^th, 1944

Raid on the island of Lesbos

Attack on a German outpost by the Bay of Gera, in Lesbos, destroying three enemy vessels, the dry dock and the adjoining storehouse.

June 29^th, 1944

Raid on the east side of the island of Kalymnos

Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band

Attack on the German garrison at Vathy, killing nine and wounding ten, including their commander. In Cooperation with the British.

July 1944

Reconnaissance and obeservation mission on the island of Aghios Efstratios, Aegean Sea, Greece

Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band, Special Boat Squadron

An eight-man party of the British Special Boat Squadron and the Greek Sacred Band, led by British officer Jimmy Lees. The force includes Corporal Densham and two Greek officers, Lieutenant Cocavessi from Alexandria and Captain Taniskides. They travel onboard the converted caique Merano, captained by George Paspati, sails from its secret harbour on the Turkish coast to Cape Kopania on Aghios Efstratios. The Merano is part of the Levant Schooner Flotilla, responsible for transporting Allied raiding forces across the Aegean.

Upon arrival, the party sets up a temporary observation post on a hill to monitor German convoy movements. They diligently radio these observations back to headquarters in Egypt, providing crucial intelligence for the Allied operations in the region.

July 13^th, 1944 – July 15^th, 1944

Operation Tenement

Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band, Special Boat Squadron

Operation Tenement is a British and Greek special forces raid on the island of Simi in the German-occupied Dodecanese islands on July 13^th, 1944 and July 14^th, 1944. The Special Boat Squadron (SBS), led by Major Ian “Jock” Lapraik, and 224 men of the Greek Sacred Band, led by Syntagmatárches Christodoulos Tzigantes, carry out the operation.

The combined force lands on Simi without opposition and quickly takes control of key targets, including the harbour, Molo Point, and a heavily defended castle. The operation is marked by swift attacks and effective demolition of German military assets, including sinking 19 German caïques and other vessels.

Despite some resistance and Luftwaffe attacks, the Allied forces secure the island, plant demolition charges, and eventually evacuate with booty and prisoners. The operation is a success with minimal Allied casualties and significant German losses, prompting the Germans to increase garrisons in the region.

Operation Tenement is the last Special Boat Service raid in the Aegean Sea, after which the Greek Sacred Band takes over raiding operations. By 1944, the SBS and Greek Sacred Band effectively pin down six German divisions.

August 7th, 1944

Raid on the island of Lesbos

Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band

Successful attack on the German garrison in the area of Perama, at the entrance of the Bay of Gera. A 35-ton sailing boat loaded with twenty tons of sugar was captured and taken to the base of the unit, around Deremen, on the Turkish coast.

August 25th, 1944

Reconnaissance mission on the islands of Karpathos and Kasos

Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band

The mission ended with the dead of two members of the Sacred Band and wounding three others in a minefield. These were captured but two managed to escape near the Greek-Yugoslav border.

August 29^th, 1944

Raid on the island of Santorini

Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band

Destruction of telephone and other installations around Thermes Piges and neutralising the small German-Italian garrison and blowing up the installation’s outpost at Thermiano.

End of August 1944- Beginning September 1944

Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band

Ten-men detachments send to Chios, Lesbos, Mykonos, and Samos to replace the withdrawing Axis troops.

September 24^th, 1945 – September 25^th, 1945

Liberation of the Island of Mykonos

25 men of the Sacred Band with liberate Mykonos after neutralising its garrison.

September 26th, 1944

Landing on the island of Kythera

Landing on Kythera.

October 2nd, 1944

Landing on the island of Poros

Landing on Poros.

October 4^th, 1944

Liberation of the island of Samos

A small Allied force of 15 Greek Sacred Squadron troops, led by British Major Maurice Cardiff, comes ashore and is met by the local resistance. They are guided into the wooded mountains of central Samos to the village of Platanos. There, they meet the leader of the 300-strong ELAS resistance on Samos, a 22-year-old charcoal-burner named Kosta Zafiris, known as Achilles.

By this time, around 60 of the 600 German soldiers on the island have already surrendered to the resistance. The remaining Germans withdraw to Rhodes. Major Cardiff, supported by the resistance and the threat of an imminent Allied invasion, leads the final negotiations for the surrender of the Italian forces on Samos. Except for a small group of 25 committed Italian fascist soldiers who escape to Leros, the remaining estimated 1,300 Italian troops surrender. News of the surrender brings cheering crowds to Vathy’s harbour front.

Thus, Samos is formally liberated on October 4^th, 1944. Soon after, more soldiers of the Greek Sacred Squadron, under the command of Brigadier Turnbull and Colonel Kristoudolos Tsigantis, land at Karlovasi, securing the island’s freedom.

October 9^th, 1944

Actions on the island of Tinos

Establishment of a base on the Bay of Panormos with the purpose of conducting further reconnaissance patrols on neighbouring Cycladic islands.

October 13^th, 1944 – October 15^th, 1944

Raid on the island of Naxos

German garrison was forced to surrender. 69 prisoners and captured a mortar, thirteen machine guns, rifles and ammunition.

October 14^th, 1944

Liberation of Athens.

Landing at Piraeus. Liberation of Athens.

The liberation of Lemnos by the Sacred Band.

October 25^th, 1944 – November 4^th, 1944

Raid on the island of Kimolos

Surrender of Garrison Base for the raid on Melos.

October 26^th, 1944 – November 4^th, 1944

Raid on the island of Melos

Commandos, Levant Schooner Flotilla, Sacred Band

In cooperation with commandoes of the Special Service Brigade. Withdrawn on November 4th, due to heavy fortifications.

Lieutenant Hainemann, acting commander of Tilos, with Captain Hillman, after the failed first attempt of the Sacred Band at the liberation of the island

December 5th, 1944

Raid on the island of Melos

German commander of Melos, Bernhard Kuhn, and four other people (including the philhellene doctor Hans Loeber and a Greek nurse) are killed.

December 10^th, 1944

Raid on Melos

Blowing up a damaged German car, terrorising its passengers who had been awaiting a service crew.

December 23^rd, 1944

Raid on the island of Melos

Assault on a German patrol in the area of Theiorycheia. The ensuing struggle resulted in the death of its commander and the arrest of all soldiers.

February 11th, 1945 – February 12th, 1945

Liberation of the island of Nisyros

Arrest of twenty Germans at village of Emporio, on the island of Nisyros.

February 25^th, 1945

Liberation of the island of Tilos

The Sacred Band with the help of an Indian company, the unit neutralises the 200-strong German garrison of Tilos and re-captures the island. 142 German prisoners and twenty dead.

February 28^th, 1945 – March 1^st, 1945

Liberation of the island of Tinos

513 men of the Sacred Band attack and liberate the island of Tinos

May 1^st, 1945 – May 2^nd, 1945

Raid on Rhodes

217 men in three assault groups are tasked to neutralise all German coastal garrisons of Rhodes. They successfully attack the outpost at the village of Heimarasi, killing twelve men, capturing another thirteen. Successful attack on the outposts at Foka and Steli. Successful attack the outposts in Noti and Vounara.

Troops of the Sacred Band after their raid at Alimnia.

May 3^rd, 1945 – May 4^th, 1945

Raid on the island of Milos