Well I've just learnt about a battle that I'd never heard of before. I thought that Crete '41 was the last use of Fallschirmjager too. I was looking for info on Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1940 on their website and saw mention of the 2nd Bn in Leros in '43. History of the Royal Irish Rangers* The Royal Irish Fusiliers Which lead me to look here, http://leros2002.bravepages.com/leros_war2.html a pdf file here. http://www.leros.org/lerostouristhttp/ageanmis.pdf A few story on BBC Peole's War has this excellent quote. BBC - WW2 People's War - Leros 1943 and the aftermath The Germans were decent fighting soldiers — they were an elite unit of the regular army. The commanding officer said to us in English ‘Hard luck, good fight. Come and have a cup of coffee’. There I was thinking by November '43 everything was going the Allies way and here is a defeat reminiscent of 1941. Bit of German footage here. YouTube - Operation "Leopard" capture from Leros 1943 A holiday idea is now taking shape.
Funny you should bring this up, Owen. I just read the section on the air war over Cos, Leros and Rhodes during this period in "The Armed Rovers - Beauforts & Beauforts over the Mediterranean" by Nesbit, and responded to a query about some losses on another forum. Really 'thrilling' stuff.
Just found another book to buy too. Churchill's Folly Anthony Rogers http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/233196/Churchill-Folly/Product.html I'm sure Leros must have been mentioned in Alanbrooke's Diaries , if it was I didn't take that in. Next question, anyone been to Leros for their holidays? Got any photos?
There is an edition of ATB magazine about Leros. Our local WFA branch meets in Leros Barracks in Canterbury; this was the pre-WW2 barracks of the local Buffs TA Battalion who got hammered here.
I must say I find the battle at Leros very interesting. I have both publications mentioned above. Following link is a part of a book. I have printed it and still kept it as it is a very good read. http://www.leros.org/lerostouristhttp/roadleros.pdf Onother good read is 'Kampf um die Ägäis' by Peter Schenk (the same one who wrote the artickle in ATB
Can anyone give a good order of battle for the Germans? There is one on one of those links but to be honest it doesn't mean much to me. What FJ units were dropped? How many men would that have been? I ought to read articles more closely , I know. (I never did buy that issue of ATB either.)
The Fallschirmjäger dropped on Leros were 1st battalion of 2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment and 15th Company 4.th Brandenberg Regiment. I will make a lost of the other units and will post it in the weekend
In general the troops were from 22 (Luftland) Infantry Division with some units of Brandenberg and Fallschirmjäger attached... Kampfgruppe Muller 2nd Battalion 16th Infantry Regiment 2nd battalion 65th Infantry Regiment 2nd battalion 22 Luftwaffe –Jager- Regiment 3rd Battalion 440th Infantry Regiment 2nd Coy Pionier battalion 22 1st Coy ,Kustenjäger Abteilung of 1st Brandenburg Regiment 3rd Battalion of 1st Brandenburg Regiment 3rd Light Battery, Flak Regiment 22 3rd Heavy Battery, Flak Regiment 22 3rd Battery Artillery Regiment 22 4th Battery Artillery Regiment 22 Pionierlandungskompanie 780 Airborne Troops:- 1 Battalion 2nd Fallschirmjäger Regiment 15th Coy of the 4th Battlion, 1st Brandenburg Regiment
I believe to recall that in one of Trojca's books - Kuestenjaeger - you could see some photos of the German troops as well (although only very little text).
If of interest, a platoon level board wargame on Leros was published by The Gamers (now MMP), with a very detailed map. Easy to pick up 2nd hand.... TCS - Leros Leros
