Threads
War and occupation
April 1941, the occupation and the years after.
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10 July 1694
A Venetian field camp 'at the Mills of Argos'
On 10 July 1694 the Venetian commander-in-chief in the Morea, Marino Michiel, dated a dispatch to the Senate 'from the camp at the Mills of Argos'. Venetian and French writers used that name both for Kefalari near Argos…
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21 July 1715 – 4 August 1715
The Ottoman army camps at the mills of Tziveri
On 21 July 1715, the day after Nafplio fell to the Ottomans, Grand Vizier Damat Ali Pasha moved his army away from the stench of the dead to the western end of the gulf, below a hill with the remains of an ancient city.…
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21 July 1715
The captured Venetian commander Bon is found in the camp
In the same camp the Venetian provveditore generale of the Morea, Alessandro Bon, was found in the tent of a janissary, wounded in the shoulder, and put in chains. On 29 July he, General 'Zaco', Balbi and other officers…
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1 August 1715
Five Venetian officers are executed at the camp
On 1 August 1715, in the camp at Tziveri, Osman Aga received the rank of pasha of two horsetails, the governorship of Erzurum and the command of Nafplio. The same day five Venetian officers of the Nafplio garrison were…
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4 August 1715
The army leaves over the pass towards Achladokampos
On 4 August 1715 the Grand Vizier left the camp at Tziveri for Modon (Methoni). Brue describes an hour through fairly flat land and then three hours over a narrow, difficult pass through rocky mountains: the road from…
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21 September 1715 – 5 October 1715
Back at 'the camp of the Mills'
After conquering the rest of the Morea, the Grand Vizier returned on 21 September 1715 to Tziveri, 'the camp of the Mills', west of the gulf and three leagues from Nafplio. On 23 September the troops received three…
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22 September 1715
The Sultan's gifts for the conqueror of the Morea
On 22 September 1715, in the camp of the Mills, the Sultan's sword-bearer (silahdar) handed the Grand Vizier an imperial decree, a sable fur and a sabre set with diamonds and turquoises, as a reward for the reconquest of…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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1941–1943
Men rounded up in Argos work on the Myloi fortifications
The occupation authorities set up roadblocks in Argos, seized the men they found and took them away in a lorry that the people of Argos nicknamed 'Bogia', the dog-catcher. Most of this forced labour went to the airfield,…
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1941–1943
The Italian garrison fortifies the coast: anti-tank ditch and barbed wire
Myloi had its own Italian garrison. The Italians took over the fortification of the village against an Allied landing: they dug an anti-tank ditch, laid barbed wire and set up an anti-aircraft unit and gun batteries…
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1941–1943
Myloi in the Italian zone of occupation
From the summer of 1941 until September 1943 Myloi lay in the Italian zone of occupation, which covered most of the Peloponnese; Italian troops of the 'Siena' division held Argos and Nafplio from May to September 1941.…
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23 April 1941
King George II leaves Greece from Athens, not from Myloi
On 23 April 1941 King George II, members of his government and the British Minister flew by Sunderland flying boat from Skaramangas near Athens to Souda Bay on Crete. A later reader's letter claimed that the king left…
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24 April 1941
A flying boat waits in the bay for General Mackay
Just before dusk on 24 April 1941 a Sunderland of No. 228 Squadron RAF, flown by Flight Lieutenant Alex Frame, came down in the Gulf of Nafplio to collect RAF men. They had already gone, so it took on board about 25…
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24 April 1941
Advanced headquarters of W Force moves to Myloi
On 24 April 1941, with the evacuation of Greece under way, the Advanced Battle Headquarters of W Force, the British and Commonwealth army in Greece, settled in at Myloi. The village lay on the road from the plain of…
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25 April 1941
Australian 2/2nd Battalion lies up at Myloi during the day
The war diary of the Australian 2/2nd Infantry Battalion records: arrived Myloi at 06:00 on 25 April 1941, lying up during the day, and left at 20:00 for Kalamata via Tripoli. On 26 April the men were embarked at…
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25 April 1941
The Allen Group, 6,000 men and 600 vehicles, hides around Myloi
At daylight on 25 April 1941 the Allen Group arrived at Myloi after a night drive from Eleusis: about 6,000 men and 600 vehicles of the 16th and 17th Australian Brigades under Brigadier A. S. Allen. The vehicles were…
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25 April 1941
The Australian column leaves Myloi at 8 p.m.
Orders came in the afternoon of 25 April 1941. At 20:00 the Allen Group set off from Myloi over the mountain road to Tripoli and on to Kalamata, where the troops were to be taken off by the Navy. Australian military…
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25 April 1941
General Freyberg moves to a new headquarters near Myloi
Early on 25 April 1941 Major-General Bernard Freyberg, commander of the New Zealand Division, was on his way to 'a new headquarters near Miloi'. In the next days Myloi was described as the headquarters of both W Force…
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25 April 1941
General Mackay leaves by flying boat at dawn
Early on 25 April 1941 Major-General Iven Mackay, commander of the 6th Australian Division, flew to Crete in a Sunderland; the New Zealand official history says he left 'from Miloi'. At dawn the bay was full of smoke…
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25 April 1941
An Australian medical unit waits in an olive grove west of the bay
The Australian official medical history tells of a medical unit that moved with the 17th Brigade by Corinth and Argos 'to an olive grove west of Miloi Bay', and from there by Tripoli to Kalamata. The men left their…
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25 April 1941 – 26 April 1941
Patrick Leigh Fermor arrives in the armed caique Aghia Varvara
Lieutenant Patrick Leigh Fermor, then an intelligence officer with the British Military Mission, sailed the armed caique Aghia Varvara from near Sounion to Myloi, to evacuate General Wilson and Prince Peter if other…
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25 April 1941 – 26 April 1941
General Wilson drives from Athens to Myloi through the night
General Henry Maitland Wilson, commander of all British and Commonwealth forces in Greece, moved his headquarters south of Argos in the night of 25 to 26 April 1941. His party crossed the bridge over the Corinth Canal…
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26 April 1941
New Zealand 25th Battalion guards the approaches to Myloi
In Freyberg's new arrangement of 26 April 1941 one New Zealand battalion went north of Argos and one to Tripoli, while the 25th Battalion stayed in reserve at Myloi. Its companies took position between the village and…
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26 April 1941
Dive bombers hit the 24th Battalion camp: four New Zealanders killed
The New Zealand 24th Battalion reached Myloi early on 26 April 1941 and rested in a dried-up riverbed. Australian lorries driving to the camp in daylight were spotted, and dive bombers attacked the area at intervals for…
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26 April 1941
Prince Peter and Greek ministers wait at the headquarters
Baillie-Grohman's report lists who was at the headquarters at Myloi on 26 April 1941: General Wilson, Major-General Heywood, Rear-Admiral Turle, Brigadier Salisbury-Jones, Prince Peter of Greece, Admiral Sakellariou, the…
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26 April 1941
German paratroopers seize the Corinth Canal: Myloi is cut off
Shortly after seven in the morning of 26 April 1941 German paratroopers landed at the Corinth Canal and seized the crossing. The headquarters at Myloi was suddenly cut off from all troops still north of the canal.…
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26 April 1941
Stukas bomb the Crown Prince's yacht in the harbour
The Greek Crown Prince had handed his motor yacht over to the Royal Navy, and it was waiting at Myloi to help with the evacuation. In the afternoon of 26 April 1941 German dive bombers spotted it in the harbour and put…
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26 April 1941
A New Zealand dressing station at the foot of the Tripoli pass
At the request of the 6th New Zealand Brigade, A Company of the 4th Field Ambulance set up a dressing station 'at the foot of the pass leading over the ranges to Tripolis' on 26 April 1941. The rest of the unit crossed…
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26 April 1941
Wilson hands command in the Peloponnese to Freyberg
Later on 26 April 1941 Wilson told Freyberg that he would leave that night. Freyberg would take command of all troops still in the Peloponnese. 'From Myloi General Wilson departed in a Sunderland flying-boat for Crete…
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26 April 1941
Wilson's headquarters in an olive grove at the Tripoli road
On 26 April 1941 the headquarters of W Force was hidden in an olive grove at Myloi, where the trees gave cover from the German dive bombers. Wilson himself wrote that it lay 'close to where the road to Tripolis leaves…
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26 April 1941
Around 8.30 p.m. a Sunderland flying boat lands in the bay
A Sunderland flying boat sent from Souda Bay came to collect General Wilson at about 20:30 on 26 April 1941. It did not take off straight away: it lay in the bay off the pier until after midnight.
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26 April 1941
At sunset the headquarters is abandoned and the party goes to the pier
'At sunset we abandoned our H.Q. and the whole party proceeded to Myli pier,' wrote Baillie-Grohman. The flying boat and the caique were there, but the destroyer that was to take off the rest of the staff had not yet…
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26 April 1941 – 27 April 1941
Which destroyer called at Myloi: Nubian or Havock?
One version, followed until now on this website, says that HMS Nubian called at 'Myli' in the night of 26 to 27 April 1941 to collect General Wilson and found him already gone. The official despatch in the London Gazette…
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27 April 1941
The caique with Wilson's luggage is bombed and sunk off Leonidio
After Baillie-Grohman transferred to HMS Havock, the caique Aghia Varvara sailed on south from Myloi with Smith-Dorrien, Leigh Fermor and Wilson's aide. At dawn it reached Leonidio, where German dive bombers sank it in…
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27 April 1941
At midnight Baillie-Grohman sails in the caique; HMS Havock takes him off
As there was still no sign of the destroyer, Rear-Admiral Baillie-Grohman left the quay at Myloi at midnight with his staff and beachmasters in the caique chartered by Colonel Smith-Dorrien, heading for Monemvasia. Later…
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27 April 1941
Shortly after midnight the New Zealand rearguard passes Myloi
Shortly after midnight on 27 April 1941 the rear party of the New Zealand Division, the 6th Brigade, passed Myloi going south towards Tripoli. After that there was nothing between the flying boat in the bay and the…
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27 April 1941
After midnight General Wilson leaves Myloi by flying boat
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…
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28 April 1941
German advance guard enters Myloi at 6.10 p.m.
On 28 April 1941 the 5th Panzer Division, with two companies of paratroopers, pursued the British through Argos towards Tripoli and Kalamata. According to messages from the Luftwaffe, its advance guard entered Myloi at…
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20 May 1941
The telephone cable from Myloi to the Argos airfield is cut
In May 1941 a German telephone line ran from Myloi along the railway, under the Xerias bridge and past the Aspida to the airfield of Argos; it served the airfield's anti-aircraft defence. A small group of young men from…
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21 May 1941
After the sabotage, the men of Argos must guard the cable at night
On 21 May 1941 the Germans found that the cut cable had disrupted the anti-aircraft defence of the airfield. They gathered the people of Argos in the square of Agios Petros and threatened to execute 30 leading citizens…
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13 July 1941
Aerial photo: the long pier, the likely boarding place of April 1941
Frame 112 of 13 July 1941 shows the long railway pier with fields running down to the coast. Eleven weeks earlier this was the most likely place where Wilson's party went aboard; a smaller jetty further north is the…
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13 July 1941
Aerial photo: a goods train of about 25 wagons on the pier siding
The photographs of 13 July 1941 show the station yard in use under the occupation: the two-hall locomotive shed, a turntable, two round water tanks, the station buildings and the goods shed with wagons. A goods train of…
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13 July 1941
Aerial photo: a zigzag trench in the eucalyptus wood
In the eucalyptus wood by the station the photographs of 13 July 1941 show a zigzag trench. It was probably dug in April 1941, when Allied troops sheltered under these trees.
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13 July 1941
A German survey aircraft photographs Myloi from the air
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…
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30 November 1943
ELAS attacks the German post at Andritsa station
On 30 November 1943 a small ELAS group attacked the German guard of Andritsa railway station, on the line from Myloi to Tripoli, and killed about ten German soldiers.
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5 December 1943
Germans hang about fifty prisoners at Andritsa station
In reprisal for the attack, on 5 December 1943 German forces hanged about fifty men from the beams of the station shelter at Andritsa and from nearby trees. Most sources say they were prisoners brought from the prison of…
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October 1944
The Security Battalions of Tripoli are disarmed at Myloi and shipped to Spetses
Under an agreement made at the end of September 1944, the collaborationist Security Battalions of Tripoli under Dionysios Papadongonas marched in formation, with their personal weapons, to Myloi. There they handed their…
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11 January 1945
Truce terms: ELAS must withdraw 'beyond Myloi'
The truce of 11 January 1945 between EAM, the British forces and the government required the ELAS fighters to leave Argos and withdraw 'beyond Myloi'. British troops entered Argos on 19 January 1945. Witnesses remembered…
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May 1945
An Australian war photographer returns to the beach of 1941
In May 1945 the Australian war photographer V. J. Krauth travelled through the Peloponnese to record the places of 1941. At Myloi a resident showed him the beach and the row of eucalyptus trees under which Australian…
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26 January 1947
Two armed men with landmines appear in Myloi
In the night of 26 to 27 January 1947 two armed men carrying two landmines appeared in Myloi, the newspaper Rizospastis reported. No casualties were mentioned. The mines were probably meant for the railway, which became…
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June 1948
A rural militia unit is ambushed in the Myloi area
The army communiqué printed in Eleftheria on 9 June 1948 reported that a group of the MAY, the rural security militia, fell into an ambush of the Democratic Army in the area of Myloi. Nine militiamen were killed and four…
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June 1948
Partisans blow up a railway bridge between Myloi and Tripoli
The army communiqué of 19 June 1948 reported that partisans of the Democratic Army had blown up a railway bridge on the line between Myloi and Tripoli. In the fighting one government soldier and nine partisans were…
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November 1948
The Corinth–Tripoli passenger train hits a mine near Myloi
In November 1948 the passenger train from Corinth to Tripoli struck a mine in the area of Myloi and was damaged. The army communiqué, printed on 25 November, reported no casualties.
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14 December 1948
Operation 'Peristera': Myloi as a boundary point in the Peloponnese
In the army's plan for operation 'Peristera' against the Democratic Army in the Peloponnese (14 December 1948), the IX Division was to secure road and rail traffic in its zone and the works on the road…