Greece, October 1941

A rainy day of October came to an end in the Aegean Sea.
Low clouds hid the sky over the coast of Greece. The whitecaps
of the turbulent sea and the bleak spume of surf reinforced
the gloomy impression of unpleasant autumn weather.
Lights were already burning in the barracks of the small frontline
airstrip of Kalamaki, not far from Athens' harbour of Piraeus,
when mission order was received for the two Heinkel HE 111 fighter
bombers of the 4th Unit of the 26th Bomber Wing of the German
Luftwaffe. As its emblem the Wing bore a seated red lion with the
motto Vestigium leonis -The Lion's Track -, for that reason it was
also known as the Lion's Squadron

Photographed by Sir Alfred Edward Pease around 1893