WWII - Escape from The German Invasion of Greece - remarkable typescript prepared by Lt Col W J McDonnel, Royal Engineers, being a detailed account of his escape together with a party of 40 officers and other ranks, from the Island of Kos, in advance of the German invasion of the island in 1943. Folio 18pp in good condition. Together with a printed return of all personnel on active service from Ludlow in 1940, ten printed forms with ms insertions being returns of officers in the Royal Engineers, and two WWII vintage large scale maps - one of Palestine and the other of the coast of Egypt. McDonnel, an experienced airfield engineer, describes being ordered from Jerusalem to the island on September 19th1943 in order to prepare a landing strip near the town of Kos for use by Dakota aircraft in night landing operations. When he got there, he was told there was no Army plant on the island, no Royal Engineers and the only military assistance he could be given would be a small working party but could be assisted by the Italian forces. He then goes into detail describing aerial actions, bombing, and the eventual successful invasion by the Germans of the island, prompting a desperate attempt to escape. What is quite remarkable is that a large contingent of the British forces gave themselves up to the Germans in order for their fellow officers and men to have a better chance to escape - which they did by constructing a raft with the help of local Greek patriots with a daring plan to raft to the safety of Turkey. However, they had a fortuitous encounter with an officer of the SBS who told them that a Naval caique was due to rendezvous with him - and they escaped that way. This remarkable document will yield much new information on a theatre of WWII which is often overlooked. The German invasion led to one of the worse of their many war crimes. On 3 October 1943, 1000, German troops invaded Kos and 3000 Italian and 2000 British troops surrendered the following day. On 5 October 1943, the Germans executed near Linopotis, more than 100 (106 or 110 according to records and witnesses) Italian officers, who were unwilling to cooperate