The Greek navy has found the exact spot where the submarine Katsonis was sunk by German forces in the Aegean in September 1942.
According to media reports, the Hellenic Navy’s Hydrographic Service used state-of-the-art electronic equipment to find the Katsonis’ location six nautical miles northwest of the Aegean island of Skiathos.
It is resting at a depth of 253 meters (830 feet).
Katsonis was torpedoed by a German warship north of the Sporadic island.
The submarine had participated in the 1940-41 Greco-Italian War and had sunk one Italian vessel and carried out four war patrols.
Following the German invasion of Greece in April 1941, Katsonis fled to the Middle East with the rest of the fleet.
On July 2, 1942, the submarine was damaged while exiting a dry dock at Port Said.
Following an overhaul, the submarine went on a further three patrols in the Aegean. On September 14, while trying to intercept a German troop transport, the submarine was attacked and sunk by the German submarine chaser UJ-2101 (ex Greek mine sweeper Strymon, Cdr Kptlt. Vollheim).
Thirty-two men of the crew, including its commander, went down with the submarine, and 15 were captured.
Among them was Konstantinos Stamoulis, a survivor who was considered dead for decades.
However, Lt Elias Tsoukalas, the ship’s XO, and petty officers Antonios Antoniou and Anastasios Tsigros, managed to swim for nine hours and reach Skiathos.
There they hid and managed to return to Egypt and rejoin the Greek fleet.
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