Operation Washing was the successful destruction of the railway bridge over the Asopos River in Central Greece by four British SOE saboteurs. It took place on 21 June 1943, as part of Operation Animals. [1] The British agents included Geoffery Gordon-Creed and Donald Stott. This was detailed in the book Rogue Male by Roger Field.
The SS Division Hitlerjugend or 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" was a German armoured division of the Waffen-SS during World War II. The majority of its junior enlisted men were drawn from members of the Hitler Youth, while the senior NCOs and officers were from other Waffen-SS divisions. Most of the enlisted men were teenagers, starting from the ages of 16 or even 15.
Kalavryta is a town and a municipality in the mountainous east-central part of the regional unit of Achaea, Greece. The town is located on the right bank of the river Vouraikos, 24 kilometres south of Aigio, 40 km southeast of Patras and 62 km northwest of Tripoli. Notable mountains in the municipality are Mount Erymanthos in the west and Aroania or Chelmos in the southeast. Kalavryta is the southern terminus of the Diakopto-Kalavryta rack railway, built by Italian engineers between 1885 and 1895.
The National Republican Greek League was a major anti-Nazi resistance group formed during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II.
Geoffrey Edward West Household was a prolific British novelist who specialized in thrillers. He is best known for his novel Rogue Male (1939).
The Kalavryta massacre, or the Holocaust of Kalavryta, was the near-extermination of the male population and the total destruction of the town of Kalavryta, Axis-occupied Greece, by the 117th Jäger Division (Wehrmacht) during World War II, on 13 December 1943.
The occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers began in April 1941 after Nazi Germany invaded the Kingdom of Greece in order to assist its ally, Italy, in their ongoing war that was initiated in October 1940, having encountered major strategical difficulties. Following the conquest of Crete, the entirety of Greece was occupied starting in June 1941. The occupation of the mainland lasted until Germany and its ally Bulgaria withdrew under Allied pressure in early October 1944, with Crete and some other Aegean islands being surrendered to the Allies by German garrisons in May and June 1945, after the end of World War II in Europe.
Army Group E was a German Army Group active during World War II.
Rogue Male, by Geoffrey Household, is a classic thriller novel, published in 1939. The book was reissued in 2007 with an introduction by Victoria Nelson.
The Museum of the Kalavryta Holocaust is a museum in Kalavryta, Greece dedicated to the history of the Massacre of Kalavryta in 1943. The museum contains artifacts of the German occupation of the town and documents the massacre.
Nonacris or Nonakris was a town of ancient Arcadia in the region of Pheneatis northwest of Pheneus, situated in what is now Achaea, southern Greece.
117th Jäger Division was a German infantry division of World War II. The division was formed in April 1943 by the reorganization and redesignation of the 717th Infantry Division. The 717th Division had been formed in April 1941. It was transferred to Yugoslavia in May 1941, to conduct anti-Četnik and anti partisan and Internal security operations.
Greek National Road 31 is a national highway of southern Greece. It connects Aigio with Kalavryta.
Hartwig von Ludwiger was a German general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Ludwiger was responsible for numerous atrocities committed throughout the Balkans. After the war, he was charged with war crimes in Yugoslavia, convicted, and executed.
Günther Tribukait was a German officer in the Wehrmacht during World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. After the war, Tribukait was tried for war crimes in Yugoslavia; he was convicted and executed in 1947.
Karl Hans Maximilian von Le Suire was a German general during World War II who commanded the XXXXIX Mountain Corps. He was responsible for the Massacre of Kalavryta, in Greece.
Major Donald John Stott, DSO & Bar was a New Zealand soldier and military intelligence agent during the Second World War.
The Battle of Meligalas took place at Meligalas in Messenia in southwestern Greece, on 13–15 September 1944, between the Greek Resistance forces of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and the collaborationist Security Battalions.
Mega Spilaio, formally the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, is a Greek Orthodox monastery in the municipality of Kalavryta, in the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece.
The Battle of Sarantaporos on 21 June 1943 was a successful ambush by the guerrillas of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) against a column of the German 117th Jäger Division. The ambush, carried out as part of Operation Animals, was one of the most successful operations against the Germans during the Axis occupation of Greece.
