Gavin Mortimer describes how

men from the Special Boat Squadron defied

the Germans in Greece, at great personal cost.

SBS
Courage
M and M
Endurance
N
ovember 1943 had not been a successful month for the Special Boat Squadron (SBS). Stationed on the
Greek Dodecanese islands of Leros and Samos as garrison troops, they had been helpless when the Germans
launched a full-scale invasion by sea and by air. The only saving grace had been their skilful evacuation of the
two islands, while thousands of Allied soldiers from other regiments fell into enemy hands.
Nonetheless it had been a humiliating debacle for SBS commanding officer Major George Jellicoe, one that was felt
just as keenly by his men. The chance for revenge came in February 1944 when Jellicoe ordered ‘S’ Squadron, under
the temporary command of Captain Walter Milner-Barry on account of David Sutherland’s jaundice, to the Aegean.
“Planning targets in the Cyclades,” Milner-Barry confided to his diary. “There is certainly great scope and I’m looking
forward to it.” Attached to 'S' Squadron was Captain Bill Blyth, who was inexperienced in combat but had proved an
efficient and reliable administrative officer. 

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 SPECIAL FORCES | SECOND WORLD WAR

RIGHT George Miller, with

obligatory cigarette in his mouth.
(ALL IMAGES VIA AUTHOR)

S www.britainatwar.com 101
 complained to his diary, following an
instruction he was to head to England
on leave while Sutherland resumed
control of the unit.
Shortly after arriving on the
remote stretch of Turkish coastline,
Sutherland received a signal from
George Jellicoe informing him they’d
been instructed to destroy the radar
station on Scarpanto, an island around
125 miles (200km) south of the SBS
base. Sutherland studied the map and
focused on the small islands of Calchi
and Alimnia, approximately 40 miles
north of Scarpanto, as possible halfway
houses for the raiding party.
Sutherland appreciated the risk
entailed in the operation. Alimnia was
only five miles west of Rhodes, on
which was garrisoned an elite German
division, so discretion was required.
He selected a reconnaissance patrol of
four of his most experienced operators,
three of whom had been awarded
ABOVE On 2 March, Milner-Barry and 24 SBS to their target island, and once Military Medals. They would be led
A group of SBS other ranks of 'S' Squadron sailed from the commandos were ashore, the LSF by Captain Bill Blyth, a little raw in
men aboard the Haifa in the Middle East (today part would sail off to another island and combat, but coolly efficient from what
‘Takiarkis’, the of Israel). “We left at 5pm in some lie low under camouflage netting on a Sutherland had observed of him.
schooner that disquiet as there was a gale warning,” secluded stretch of coastline until the The reconnaissance patrol departed
served as their wrote Milner-Barry. Six days later they appointed rendezvous hour. on the afternoon of 5 April in LS24,
floating base arrived at Port Dereman, in the Gulf Bad weather frustrated SBS a converted sponge-fishing boat
during operations of Cos, on the Turkish mainland, and operations for the rest of March, skippered by Sub-Lt Allan Tuckey,

SBS
in the Aegean replaced the men of ‘L’ Squadron, who forcing delays and postponements, and a 21-year-old law student from St
in 1944. had spent several weeks harassing the to Milner-Barry’s chagrin by the time Albans. The vessel’s crew comprised
small German garrisons stationed on the conditions improved at the start of three Greeks and a telegraphist called
the islands. April, David Sutherland had recovered Ronald Carpenter from Surrey,
from jaundice. “Rather annoying that, who had recently celebrated his 20th
GETTING READY as I was enjoying my command,” he birthday. “Only with the Old Man
FOR BATTLE
RIGHT Milner-Barry established his command
Dick Holmes, post on board the Tewik sailing
left, was a good vessel while his men made themselves
friend of George at home on another schooner, the
Miller, who he Takiarkis. Just around the corner of
remembered as the bay was the command ship of
one of the unit’s the Levant Schooner Flotilla (LFS),
most skilled LS9, skippered by Lt-Commander
operators. John Campbell. The LFS had been
formed by the Royal Navy following
Germany’s conquest of Crete in
May 1941 under the command
of Lt-Commander Seligman. The
fleet comprised 30 wooden caïques,
sturdily-built vessels measuring
32ft (10m) in length and powered
by a 90hp diesel engine. The crew,
mainly Royal Navy volunteers with
a contingent of Greeks, consisted
of a skipper, a stoker, a coxswain, a
gunner and a wireless operator and
each fishing boat was equipped with
a 20mm cannon mounted in the bow,
two 0.5in Browning machine guns
in the waist at either beam and a pair
of 0.303in twin Vickers. The LSF’s
role was to transport small parties of

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 SPECIAL FORCES | SECOND WORLD WAR

tension heighten as they sailed at seven LEFT

[Tuckey] and me as Englishmen,”
Carpenter wrote in his diary. “He is
a decent chap, so we got on all right.
Four Special Boat Squadron men and
their officer came on board at 1600
hours and at 1630 we started off on
our operation. Everything seems to
have to be a rush for me.”
SAILING INTO DANGER
LS24 sailed west out of the Gulf of
Gökova and then rounded the Datça
Peninsula before heading southeast
towards the Loryma Peninsula, which
was when the utmost vigilance was
required. The Germans patrolled these
waters, and Carpenter could feel the
knots towards a small bay. “In order David Sutherland
to get here we had to pass between (far left), the CO of
Rhodes and Simi, both occupied by ‘S’ Squadron, off the
the enemy,” he wrote in his diary. “So Turkish coast in the
we steamed straight through under spring of 1944.
the Turkish flag, which seems rather
cheap, but was safer.”
They arrived in the bay at 4.15pm on
6 April and were met by an agent from
Force 133 who provided them with
the latest information concerning the
islands of Alimnia and Calchi. Tuckey
told his crew they would leave for
Calchi at 8pm that evening.
Even though they were ostensibly BELOW
on a reconnaissance mission, the five A fortnight after
SBS men were heavily armed with a the capture of the
cache of weapons including a captured Alimnia patrol, the
MP40 submachine gun, a Tommy gun, SBS’s Andy Lassen,
a Bren light machine gun, three rifles foreground, led
and three US M1 Carbines stashed an attack on the
on decks. Each man also carried two island of Santorini
grenades, a pair of Lewes bombs and that resulted in the
a dozen spare magazines for their deaths of dozens of
particular weapon.  Germans.

“SUTHERLAND RECEIVED A SIGNAL FROM GEORGE JELLICOE

INFORMING HIM THEY’D BEEN INSTRUCTED TO DESTROY
THE RADAR STATION ON SCARPANTO, AN ISLAND

S
AROUND 125 MILES SOUTH OF THE SBS BASE”

www.britainatwar.com 103
 George
Evans, an Eastender by
birth, had joined the SBS at
the start of the year but he was an
experienced soldier who had been
RIGHT awarded a Military Medal serving
Ray Jones, with the Sherwood Foresters. Also
back row third hailing from London was George
from left, and Miller MM, a talented boxer who
Leo Rice front was rarely seen without a cigarette in
row right. his mouth. “Miller was a very strong
personality and well thought of by his
patrol,” remembered Dick Holmes, a
member of 'S' Squadron not required
for this particular mission. “I did a lot reserve and spent the rest of the midnight it was Carpenter’s turn on
of training with him in Beirut in the decade farming before receiving his watch. “This was a good reason for
latter part of 1942 and early 1943, and call-up papers in 1939. taking advantage, to climb over the
was very impressed by him.” LS24 sailed out of the small bay gun and to sit down in the dinghy
Ray Jones was an artilleryman from at 8pm on the 6th, heading in a and to do nothing other than…” The
Birmingham, who had earned his MM south-westerly direction towards diary entry came to an abrupt halt,
for his part on the raid on Crete the the island of Calchi. Travelling at 7 almost certainly because Carpenter was
previous July, and the fourth member knots per hour Tuckey expected to called away from his lookout duties
of the patrol was Leo Rice, a popular cover the 50 miles in around seven to decode a message that was sent
Australian known to his friends as hours. “Everybody at battle stations,” from David Sutherland at 12.34am.

SBS
‘Digger’. The men were all in their 20s,
whereas Blyth was 31. Commissioned
into the Scots Guards in 1933 he
was immediately put on the officers’
wrote Carpenter in his diary. “Sighted There was a change of plan: they
two enemy E-boats when we were were to reconnoitre Alimnia first and
between Rhodes and Simi but we then Calchi. LS24 reached its new
were lucky, they did not see us.” At destination at 2am and Blyth and his

RIGHT
Some of 'S'
Squadron off the
Turkish coast.
Hank Hancock,
back row right,
was the unit’s
unofficial war
artist and a
keen amateur
photographer.

RIGHT
Australian Leo
Rice, photographed
by Hank Hancock,
on Leros in 1943.

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 SPECIAL FORCES | SECOND WORLD WAR

“…THE GERMAN COMMANDER ON RHODES HAD LEARNED

S
FROM ONE OF HIS INFORMANTS THAT A BRITISH
COMMANDO PARTY WAS IN THE VICINITY”
four men were put ashore onto a small vessels sailed into the cove. They of Calchi and an observation post ABOVE
jetty in a cove on the south side of the weren’t there by accident. General being established on Alimnia – but George Evans,
island. Alimnia was small, just three Kleemann, the German commander nevertheless it prompted Kleemann to second from the
square miles, with a population of 60 on Rhodes, had learned from one of despatch a fleet of four caïques and a right, was awarded
hardy souls. his informants (who has never been motor launch to investigate. On board the Military Medal
The SBS expected its reconnaissance identified) that a British commando the vessels were soldiers of the coastal while serving with
would last several hours, possibly the party was in the vicinity. The raiding unit of the elite Brandenburger the Sherwood
whole day, so LS24 should have sailed intelligence wasn’t entirely accurate unit and they identified “a very well Foresters, before
away from the jetty to await a message – it talked of an attack on the island camouflaged motor sailing ship”.  volunteering for
from Blyth requesting collection. But the SBS.
Tuckey was inexperienced and his
crew tired after sailing through the LEFT
night. Blyth should have insisted George Evans, far
Tuckey leave the area and return right on the front
later at a pre-arranged hour but he row and Ray Jones,
was unfamiliar with the situation. second left back.
Whatever the reason, instead
of departing and hiding up on a
remote stretch of coastline, Tuckey
camouflaged the vessel and with
his crew settled down to
await the return of the
commandos.

DISCOVERY
Shortly after dawn, as
the sun dappled the sea
in the first shards of
sunlight, five German

www.britainatwar.com 105
 RIGHT
Kurt Waldheim
in 1971.

RIGHT
Prime Minister
Margaret
Thatcher’s letter
regarding the
patrol’s fate. There was a brief exchange of fire
but the British stood no chance as the
German caïques brought their cannon
to bear, wounding two of the Greeks.
Realising the futility of their situation,
Tuckey ordered his men to surrender.
The SBS patrol heard the commotion
as they made their way over a ridge of
high ground on Alimnia called Point
123. According to a German report,
because the SBS insisted during
interrogation they had forced
their way aboard at gunpoint). The
reconnaissance party were handed
over to Major Curt Kronsbein,
operations officer of the Rhodes
division, whose headquarters was
a plain grey stone building on
Demokratias Street in Rhodes Town.
Blyth and Tuckey were immediately
The pair said nothing other than to
give their name, rank and number,
and the next day Blyth was put on
an aircraft and flown to Athens at
the instruction of the Interrogation
and Counter-Intelligence branch of
Army Group E. Tuckey was driven
to the local gaol and imprisoned with

SBS
a soldier on board one of the caïques separated from their men and the other eight men. Three days later
spotted a figure “eastwards of Point driven to Demokratias Street where the four SBS soldiers were flown to
123”. From their position the British they dined with Major Kronsbein. Salonika where they were met by
soldiers would have seen events unfold Afterwards they were taken to Oberleutnant Straud and Sonderführer
in the cove and also spotted on the different cells and questioned Helmut Poliza of Army Group E’s
other side of the island a small fishing independently of each other. Interrogation and Counter-Intelligence
boat that had just landed containing
RIGHT three locals and the 1,100lb (500kg) of
Ferrying supplies fish they had caught.
from the mainland The SBS patrol hurried down the
towards the Tewfik other side of the high ground and with
and Takiarkis. great courage the three fishermen
quickly ushered the soldiers on board.
By now the area was swarming with
Germans and the fishing boat put to
sea in the hope of being able to put
enough distance between itself and the
island before it was spotted.
But the Germans had already loaded
the five sailors into the motor launch
and were on their way to Rhodes to
deliver them for interrogation. As the
vessel left Alimnia, the skipper spotted
a fishing vessel sailing northeast
towards Turkey. Changing direction,
the motor launch fired a shot across
the bows of the boat and forced her
to stop, and on boarding the craft
it didn’t take the Germans long to
discover Blyth and his men hiding
under the tarpaulin.
Once in Rhodes, the three fishermen
were separated from the others and
taken for questioning (all survived

106 www.britainatwar.com

branch. And then they vanished from
the face of the earth.
PLIGHT OF
THE PRISONERS
In the summer of 1944 Walter Milner-
Barry visited the wife of Bill Blyth in
S
England. She had recently learned her
husband was in a German prisoner of
war camp, and by his own admission
he was bearing up tolerably well to
his new life. The families of Leo Rice,
George Evans, Ray Jones and George
Miller, Ronald Carpenter and
Allan Tuckey had received no
news for several months.
The mother of Allan Tuckey
had started writing to the
relevant authorities for news
of her son. The War Office
couldn’t help her, nor the
Special Boat Squadron, and not
even the Red Cross could shed
any light on his disappearance
or that of his comrades.
A year later Bill Blyth was
reunited with his wife after his
liberation, but for Mrs Tuckey
and the families of the other
missing men the agony was
unending. They continued
their campaign to discover
the truth but in April 1946
the parents of George Evans
received a letter from the War
Office, stating “as no news has
been received which would
indicate he and his comrades
are alive…there can no longer be any
hope for their survival.” The letter
concluded by saying: “It has been
decided to record officially that Private
A G Evans is presumed to have died
while a prisoner of war, on or shortly
after 7th April 1944.”
Bill Blyth emigrated to South Africa
– though he and David Sutherland
met each year at Royal Ascot – and the
mother of Allan Tuckey grew old and
died. The fate of the Alimnia patrol
might not have been solved had Kurt
Waldheim decided not to run for
the Austrian presidency in
the mid-1980s.
UNCOVERING
THE TRUTH
Throughout his tenure
as the Secretary General
of the United Nations,
Waldheim had been
subject to whispers that
his war record wasn’t
quite what it seemed. He
claimed he had served “in a
reconnaissance unit, and I
served on horseback in its
cavalry element”
before a
wound
SPECIAL FORCES | SECOND WORLD WAR
allowed him to resume his law LEFT
studies at Vienna university where he Evans’ mother, here
graduated in 1944. with George, wrote
In 1986 his political enemies repeatedly to the
did some digging during the War Office in an
presidential campaign and discovered attempt to discover
that Waldheim had served as an the fate of her son.
intelligence officer in Army Group E,
based in Salonika. Soon investigative
journalists were on his trail and among
the reams of German intelligence
documents they examined were a
handful relating to the capture of
LS24 in Alimnia Bay. Waldheim was
on leave at the time, and played no
part in this war crime, but his fellow
intelligence officers were complicit in
events outlined in a series of chilling
reports and cables.
George Evans, Leo Rice, George
Miller, Ray Jones, Allan Tuckey and
Ronald Carpenter hadn’t drowned
attempting to escape from Rhodes,
nor had they met with some other
‘accident’. For a week they were
interrogated and while the Greeks
and Carpenter co-operated, Tuckey
and the SBS quartet proved “very
obstinate”, particularly George Miller
“who declined any questions having
military content, despite repeated
attempts” according to the reports.
As for Tuckey, his interrogating
officer said: “he talks in an ironical,
often conceited manner and makes
demands with respect to his treatment.
He belongs to that class of young
intellectual Englishmen who show
their self-confidence by ironical
and sarcastic superiority.”
Helmut Poliza of LEFT
Army Group E’s George Jellicoe,
Interrogation seen here in the
and Counter- 1960s, commanded
Intelligence the SBS in the
branch was Second World War
becoming and attended the
exasperated but memorial service
he was instructed to the men of the
to persevere with Alimnia patrol
his questioning along with David
until 26 April Sutherland in 1991.
when he sent a
further telex stating
that interrogation
had proved
“fruitless”. 
www.britainatwar.com 107
 Kendrick, whose mother mourned
her big brother for rest of her life,
believes the men were murdered
shortly after they were ordered to be
handed over to the SD for “special
treatment.”
The revelations failed to end
Waldheim’s political career. In 1986 he
was elected president of Austria and
that same year British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher ordered an
inquiry into the extent of Waldheim’s
involvement in the execution of the
RIGHT Alimnia patrol.
The ‘Tewfik’, the The Ministry of Defence report
180-ton schooner concluded that Waldheim would have
that served as the “been aware of their interrogation
SBS officers’ mess but there is no evidence that he was
and HQ. involved in the fruitless interrogation
in Salonika, either personally or by
He asked what should be done with command to murder all captured advising on treatment”. The report
the prisoners and was told the men Allied special forces personnel. Burger concluded that: “It is very much
were to be transferred to the SD, the wouldn’t be party to such barbarism regretted that in spite of extensive
intelligence branch of the SS, “for any and he ignored a second order to hand research during this review it has not
further interrogation still of interest over Blyth; a third was never issued, proved possible to obtain any definite
to them, and for subsequent special probably because Blyth’s name got evidence as to the final fate of the
treatment in accordance with the lost in German bureaucracy and on missing men.”
Fuhrer’s order.” such small twists of fortune were lives In May 1991 a memorial service
decided in the Third Reich. was held for the Alimnia patrol in St
HITLER’S MURDEROUS The only information missing Paul’s Anglican Church in Athens.
INTENTIONS from the files unearthed during the Among the congregation were relatives
A similar telex was sent to Colonel investigation into Kurt Waldheim’s of Allan Tuckey, Ray Jones and

SBS
BELOW Otto Burger, commandant of Stalag wartime activities was the circumstance George Evans. The Greece Minister
A current day 7A, where Captain Bill Blyth was a of the SBS soldiers’ deaths. “It’s pretty of Defence was present, so too the
image of the cove prisoner, but it was ignored; Burger certain that George and the others with British Ambassador to Greece. George
on Alimnia island knew full well that ‘special treatment’ him were executed close to the HQ of Jellicoe read the first lesson, and then
where the SBS was the Nazi euphemism for execution the Intelligence Branch Army Group E David Sutherland gave the address.
came ashore. in accordance with Adolf Hitler’s 1942 at the town of Arsakli, near Salonika,” “Their courage and endurance under
says Holly Kendrick, the niece of interrogation was incredible,” said
George Evans. Sutherland. “I am proud to have served
with them.” 

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