27 April 1941 Proven

The pilot could not land at Souda Bay before 06:30 and had too little fuel to stay in the air all night. So after midnight, in the night of 26 to 27 April 1941, the Sunderland with Wilson, Prince Peter, Admiral Sakellariou, minister Konstantinos Maniadakis and others taxied along the coast in a choppy sea until it was time to take off. When it landed at Souda Bay on Crete, 55 people stepped out.

Read the full story: 1941, war in Greece: Myloi from above

Where
The pier and harbour
Who
Henry Maitland Wilson, Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark, Alexandros Sakellariou, Konstantinos Maniadakis
Threads
War and occupation, Harbour and pier
Certainty
Proven confirmed by primary sources

Pictures

  • A Short Sunderland of No. 230 Squadron RAF, based in Greece, over the Greek islands, c. 1941. General Wilson left the pier of Myloi on 26 April in a flying boat of this type (digitally restored)

    A Short Sunderland of No. 230 Squadron RAF, based in Greece, over the Greek islands, c. 1941. General Wilson left the pier of Myloi on 26 April in a flying boat of this type (digitally restored). Imperial War Museum CM 294 · public domain

Sources

  • H. M. Wilson (Field-Marshal Lord Wilson), Eight Years Overseas 1939–1947, London: Hutchinson 1950, pp. c. 95–98 Open (opens in a new tab)
  • W. G. McClymont, To Greece (Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War), Wellington 1959, p. 427 Open (opens in a new tab)
  • A. Heckstall-Smith and H. T. Baillie-Grohman, Greek Tragedy 1941, London: Anthony Blond 1961, pp. 126–127, 157–159 Open (opens in a new tab)
  • J. O. Iatrides (ed.), Ambassador MacVeagh Reports: Greece 1933–1947, Princeton 1980, diary April 1941 Open (opens in a new tab)

Also in this period

  1. 13 December 1940

    A soldier from Skafidaki falls on the Albanian front

    The Greek Army's roll of the dead of 1940–45 records Sokratis Papanastasopoulos, born in Skafidaki in 1916, killed at Golemi on the Albanian front on 13 December 1940.

    ProvenWar and occupation

  2. 28 December 1940

    A soldier born in Myloi dies in the military hospital of Mesolongi

    Private Panagiotis Lymperopoulos, son of Epameinondas, born in Myloi in 1915, died in the military hospital of Mesolongi on 28 December 1940, during the Greek-Italian war. He is listed in the Greek Army's roll of the…

    ProvenWar and occupation

  3. 1941–1942

    A second German reconnaissance flight photographs the bay

    A German strip flight of 1941–1942 (film 93) photographed Myloi again: the curve of the bay, the village along the main road at the foot of Pontinos, the station and the pier.

    ProvenWar and occupation

  4. 1941–1943

    A coastal gun near the tower of Bouboulina

    Among the occupation defences of Myloi was a coastal gun next to the tower known as the tower of Bouboulina. The base of the gun emplacement could still be seen in 1994.

    ProbableWar and occupation