Dodecanese campaign lies in the south-eastern Aegean Sea, and had been under Italian control since the Italo-Turkish War in 1911. During Italian rule, the strategically well-placed islands became a focus of Italian colonial ambitions in the Eastern Mediterranean. Rhodes, the largest of the islands, was a major military and aerial base. The island of Leros, with its excellent deep-water port of Lakki (Portolago), was transformed into a heavily fortified aeronautical base, "the Corregidor of the Mediterranean", as Benito Mussolini, the Italian leader, boasted. An early British attempt to contest Italian control of the Dodecanese, codenamed Operation Abstention, was thwarted in February 1941,
Greek settlement in the Philippines Greek settlement in the Philippines Greek settlement in the Philippines is a small community of descendants of ethnic Greeks who settled the country since the Spanish colonization of the country. According to some historical accounts, there were already Greek settlers in the country as early as the 18th century, most are sailors and traders, and fishermen. During the early 20th century, a number of Greek sailors and immigrants came to the country and settled. One group came to the city of Legazpi on the island of Luzon who kept their Greek identities and have become distinguished public figures and intellectuals