The Raid on Symi also known as Operation Tenement took place from 13 to 15 July 1944 as part of the Mediterranean Campaign in World War II. The action was a combined operation conducted by two Allied special forces, the British Special Boat Service and the Greek Sacred Band, who raided the German and Italian garrisons at the island of Symi in the Aegean Sea. During the incursion the German and Italian troops in the island were overwhelmed and the military facilities and German vessels destroyed within a few days. After achieving a total success, the British and Greek forces evacuated Symi as planned. Background In September–October 1943, during the Dodecanese Campaign the Germans ousted the British from the Italian-held Dodecanese islands. In the course of these operations, on 12 October 1943 the island of Symi was occupied by German troops. In April 1943, 1st SAS was divided into two, with 250 men from the SAS and the Small Scale Raiding Force forming the Special Boat Squadron under the command of Major the Earl Jellicoe. They moved to Haifa and trained with the Greek Sacred Band for operations in the Aegean. They hid in Turkey—officially neutral, the Turks knew about and tolerated these operations—and used the small offshore islands as their bases. The force allocated to raid Symi was 100 men of the SBS led by Major Ian "Jock" Lapraik and another 224 men from the Greek Sacred Band trained and armed by the British. They were split into three forces and had objectives to take, one of which was a heavily defended castle. Raid The British and Greek forces from ten motor launchers and supported by schooners and caïques landed unopposed and by dawn all three forces were overlooking their respective targets. As soon as light took effect the attack began, first on the harbour defences with mortars and machine guns; the German garrison was taken by surprise. Two German barges which had followed the British boats came into the harbour only to be overwhelmed by gunfire, after which they were sunk. The other objective was the high point known as Molo Point: SBS men took the hill without much opposition but they were counterattacked by a German force retreating from the main town. Running up the hill, the Germans soon encountered heavy small arms fire and grenades. A Greek platoon below cut them off and as a result