Mass Grave Italian Officers Kos

The Agnus Dei Church cemetery contains the mass grave of 66 Italian Officers killed by the German Wehrmacht in 1943.

Kos island had been occupied by Italy since 1912. When Italy capitulated and joined the Allies in 1943, British troops were also stationed on the island. On 3 October 1943, a German invasion force landed from Crete and the Italians and British surrendered after a short battle and were made prisoners of war.

148 Italian officers commanded by Colonel Felice Leggio who were accused of falsely resisting the Germans were sentenced to death after a short trial. Some of them joined the Germans, escaped, or ended up in hospital, but Colonel Leggio and 101 other officers were shot dead between 4 and 7 October.

The memorial stone reads:

"Piamente sottratti alle fosse di Linopoti
riposano ovi dal Marzo 1945
i Resti Mortali
di sessantasei
dei piv che sento Ufficiali
che la mitraglia tedesca
clandestinementi trucidava
nell Octobre 1943"

"Originating from the pits of Linopoti, the remains of 66 of the principal officers who were unlawfully slaughtered by German machine-gun fire in October 1943 have been located here since March 1945"

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: TracesOfWar.com