Following the Italian surrender in September 1943 , thousands of soldiers from the division were executed on the islands during Operation Achse , in what became known as the " Cephallonia massacre " . One of the largest prisoner of war massacres of the war , and one of the largest-scale German atrocities to be committed by Wehrmacht troops , this event provided the historical background to the novel '' Captain Corelli ’s Mandolin '' , which later became a Hollywood film
German atrocities
War crimes of the Wehrmacht
33rd Infantry Division Acqui