The Battle of Kos was fought from 3 to 4 October 1943 during the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II. The Germans quickly overwhelmed the Italian garrison on Kos and its British reinforcements, denying the Allies a base to attack the German presence in the Balkans and leading to the expulsion and death of the island's Jewish population.
Following Italy's armistice with the Allies in September 1943, German forces in the Balkans and Mediterranean moved to take over the Italian-held areas. At the same time, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill endeavored to occupy the Dodecanese islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea, hoping to use them as a base against Axis positions in the Balkans and pressure neutral Turkey into the war on the Allied side. While Rhodes quickly fell to a German mechanized brigade, British forces landed on Kos and Leros, from which they hoped to recapture Rhodes. On 13 September 1943, 38 Liberators from North Africa bombed the three airfields on Rhodes, grounding the Luftwaffe aircraft and enabling the Special Boat Service to land on Kos and occupy its port and airfield. Soon, 1,600 British troops and 3,500 Italian servicemen prepared for an invasion of Rhodes.
The Germans counterattacked on 17 September, heavily bombarding Kos and using "butterfly bombs" to make Antimachia unserviceable. The Luftwaffe flew 100 aircraft into the Aegean area, bringing their strength up to 360 aircraft, and the Allied aircraft defending the island suffered heavy losses from bombardment of the airfield and in air combat. The British paratroopers suffered heavy losses, forcing them to be withdrawn on 25 September. On 1 October 1943, a kampfgruppe from the German 22nd Infantry Division on Crete and Brandenburgers' special forces from mainland Greece was dispatched to assault Kos. 1,200 Germans attacked the island at 4:30 AM on 3 October 1943, and additional German paratroops were dropped west and south of Antimachia. By that evening, 4,000 German troops were on the island. The RAF Regiment was forced to destroy its guns before withdrawing to the hills to join the Durham Light Infantry. The Italians and British surrendered by 6 AM on 4 October, and the Germans proceeded to massacre 103 Italian officers. The Germans later deported the small, long-established Jewish congregation to the European death camps; none of them survived.