Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes 10 February 1947, the Treaty of Peace with Italy, one of the Paris Peace Treaties, determined that the recently established Italian Republic would transfer the Dodecanese Islands to Greece. In 1948, Rhodes and the rest of the Dodecanese were transferred as previously agreed. The palace was then converted to a museum, and is today visited by the millions of tourists that visit Rhodes. In 1988, when Greece held the rotating presidency of the European Economic Community (as the European Union was then known), Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and the other leaders of the EEC held a meeting in the
Dodecanese Regiment the Greek liaison at Mackay’s HQ ordered the Dodecanese Battalions I and III to march to Kleisoura Pass and Battalion II to be brought by British vehicles to Vlasti Pass. This order made also clear that the withdrawal had to be completed by 18:00 and that the Allied Command would bear no responsibility if the Greeks failed to withdraw in time. Due to the lack of transportation, the mounting German pressure and the order’s strict timeframe, the regiment ordered the field battery to destroy their guns on the spot and the battalions had to destroy all materiel unable to be