04/06/2026
On 12 November 1943, German forces launched Operation Leopard, a fierce airborne and amphibious assault on the island of Leros in the Aegean Sea.
After Italy’s surrender two months earlier, the British saw a chance to seize the Dodecanese Islands and create a new front in the eastern Mediterranean, a move Churchill hoped might bring Turkey into the war.
Leros, with its natural harbour and strong Italian fortifications, was seen as the key to the region.
The garrison on Leros was a mix of British infantry, Italian defenders, and elite Commando and Special Boat Squadron (SBS) troops, many linked to the LRDG network active across the Aegean.
They faced overwhelming odds: isolation, constant Luftwaffe air raids, and a determined German assault led by Fallschirmjäger paratroopers.
At dawn on 12 November, German aircraft bombarded the island before waves of paratroopers and landing craft attacked from air and sea.
Over the next four days, the defenders fought desperately among the rocky hills and coastal batteries. British Commandos and SBS and LRDG raiders launched daring counterattacks, but the superior German air power slowly ground them down.
On 16 November, with ammunition low and communications shattered, Brigadier Robert Tilney surrendered.
More than 3,000 British and 5,000 Italian troops were taken prisoner.
The fall of Leros ended the British Dodecanese campaign, a bold but doomed gamble that Churchill later called “a tragic venture.”
Yet the courage of those who fought there, including the LRDG, SBS raiders, and Italian sailors turned allies, remains one of the lesser-known but most valiant chapters of the Second World War.
Come and learn their story this Sept.
https://soeexpeditions.com/island-of-leros-sbs
