Dodecanese campaign (surrender), the Italian garrisons on most of the Dodecanese Islands either wanted to change sides and fight with the Allies or go home. Anticipating Italian surrender, German forces, based largely in mainland Greece, had been rushed to many of the islands to maintain control. The German forces were part of Army Group E commanded by "Luftwaffe" General Alexander Löhr. The most important German force in the Dodecanese was the 7,500-strong "Sturm-Division Rhodos" (Assault Division Rhodes, "Generalleutnant" Ulrich Kleemann) commanding. This division was formed during the summer on the island of Rhodes, which was the administrative center of the Dodecanese Islands
Refugees of the Greek Civil War up for the refugees, Buljkes. Most of these refugees were ELAS members and the so-called "Greek Commune" was established. Although many were Greeks, it is known that a large proportion of the "Greeks" were in fact Slav Macedonians. The first group of refugees to come to Buljkes was from Kumanovo on May 25, 1945. The group included 1454 refugees, mainly partisans. By June 1945 another group of 2,702 refugees had been transferred to Vojvodina. In the spring of 1946 a group of refugees from Greek Macedonia numbering around 250 people had left the camp. Many more had left the commune