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War, occupation, civil war · War and occupation · Ancient Lerna

A German survey aircraft photographs Myloi from the air

13 July 1941 Proven

On the morning of 13 July 1941 an aerial survey unit of the German air ministry flew over Myloi at about a thousand metres with camera no. 741 pointing straight down. The photographs, a strip from north to south along the coast, were released with restrictions to the Archaeological Institute in Berlin because of the interest in Lerna. They are now in the archive of the German Archaeological Institute in Athens and are the clearest picture of the village in wartime.

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

Where
Myloi (the village), Archaeological site of Lerna
Threads
War and occupation, Ancient Lerna
Certainty
Proven confirmed by primary sources

Pictures

  • Aerial photograph of Myloi from 13 July 1941: village, fields and coast seen from about 1,000 metres (digitally restored)

    German aerial photograph of Myloi, 13 July 1941 (frame 116) (digitally restored). © D-DAI-ATH-Archiv, LB-RLM-EB-5-11-017, courtesy of the German Archaeological Institute, Athens

  • The back of a 1941 aerial print, with the pencilled place name Myli, an arrow for north and a red release stamp

    Back of a 1941 aerial print with the pencilled name Myli and a release stamp to the Archaeological Institute in Berlin. © D-DAI-ATH-Archiv, LB-RLM-SF-3-05-042, courtesy of the German Archaeological Institute, Athens

  • The heart of Myloi from the air in 1941: houses along the main road, the spring ponds of Lerna, orchards and the railway with its bridge (digitally restored)

    The heart of Myloi from the air on 13 July 1941: houses along the main road, the spring ponds of Lerna, orchards and the railway bridge (digitally restored). Reichsluftfahrtministerium (Sonderluftbildabteilung); DAI Athens Archive

Sources

  • German Archaeological Institute Athens, archive, Film 14, LB-RLM-EB-5-11-001 to -020 (Reichsluftfahrtministerium, 13 July 1941)
  • Visit Myloi, '1941, war in Greece: Myloi from above' Open

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