Dodecanese Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; , "Dodekánisa" , literally "twelve islands") are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea, off the coast of Asia Minor (Turkey), of which 26 are inhabited. Τhis island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete. They belong to the wider Southern Sporades island group. The most historically important and well-known island, Rhodes, has been the area's dominant island since antiquity. Of the others, Kos and Patmos are historically the more important; the remaining eleven are Agathonisi, Astypalaia, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Leipsoi, Leros, Nisyros,
Dodecanese campaign Allies lost six destroyers sunk and two cruisers and two destroyers damaged between 7 September and 28 November 1943. After the fall of Leros, Samos and the other smaller islands were evacuated. The Germans bombed Samos with Ju 87 ("Stukas") of I "Gruppe, Stukageschwader" 3 in Megara, prompting the 2,500-strong Italian garrison to surrender on 22 November. Along with the occupation of the smaller islands of Patmos, Fournoi and Ikaria on 18 November, the Germans completed their conquest of the Dodecanese, which they held until the end of the war. Only the island of Castellorizo off the Turkish coast was