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50-591: The Inter-Service Topographical Department (ISTD) came out of the near-fiasco of the British invasion of Norway (9 April – 9 May 1940). Prior to that time, the Army and Royal Navy had different intelligence units that were independent of each other. The ISTD was established at Manchester College, Oxford . Working together with members of each arm and the Allies, this unit was able to bring together zero-elevation aerial photography , which

100-648: A British protectorate . In 1803, the Royal Navy dropped the idea since the island's small harbour was not comparable to Malta's larger and well-fortified Grand Harbour . However, reports stated that the island could be useful in supplying Malta, especially with the threat of Sicily falling to the French. In 1810, Gatt leased the island to Alexander Fernandez of the Army Commissariat in the Mediterranean, who established

150-422: A farm with cattle and sheep, and employed 28 workers to turn the island's surface into pasturage. A small detachment of 26 men of the 14th Regiment were sent to the island in 1811 to support Fernandez, who was planning to build a fort on the island. By 1813, the island had a population of almost 200 Maltese workers. A royal commission stated in an 1812 report that there would be considerable difficulties in turning

200-545: A few pelagic endemic species. The Isola dei Conigli (literally "Rabbit Island"), close to the south coast of Lampedusa, is one of the last remaining egg-laying sites in Italy for the loggerhead sea turtle , which is endangered throughout the Mediterranean . The beach and the neighbouring island are part of a nature reserve : here the singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno spent his vacations, and died in 1994. Next to Parise Cape

250-557: A few workers. A Neapolitan warship visited the island in 1841 as a show of force, but nothing changed until 11 September 1843, when two warships arrived and landed 400 soldiers on the island. They replaced the British flags on the island with Neapolitan flags. A royal decree was read out proclaiming the island as part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies . A few of the Maltese settlers remained on

300-523: A large portion of the holding facility on 19 February 2009. In 2011, many more immigrants moved to Lampedusa during the rebellions in Tunisia and Libya . By May 2011, more than 35,000 immigrants had arrived on the island from Tunisia and Libya. By the end of August, 48,000 had arrived. Most were young males in their 20s and 30s. The situation has caused division within the EU, the French government regarding most of

350-549: A motor launch, he was told that the island's garrison wished to surrender. Mussolini had given the garrison his permission to surrender because it lacked any water. The Governor's formal surrender was accepted in the island's underground command-post by a combined Army/Navy delegation sometime before 9:00 pm on 12 June 1943. During this process, the governor handed his sword to the Coldstream company commander, Major Bill Harris. A second unofficial claim has also been made regarding

400-609: A plant for the production of the prized fish sauce known as garum . In 812 (or 813), directed by the Aghlabids , the island was sacked by Saracens during the Arab–Byzantine wars . By the end of the medieval period, the island had become a dependency of the Kingdom of Sicily . In 1553, Barbary pirates from North Africa under the command of the Ottoman Empire raided Lampedusa and carried off 1,000 captives into slavery . As

450-560: A priest and six Maltese men, who often traded with pirates. A structure known as marabuto , probably a mausoleum commemorating a member of the Marabouts , also existed on the island at this time, and it was visited by many Muslim devotees. On 25 June 1800, Prince Giulio Maria Tomasi leased Lampedusa in perpetual emphyteusis to Salvatore Gatt, a Maltese merchant, on the condition that the latter would build two coastal watchtowers at Cala della Galere and Cala della Madonna . Gatt settled

500-577: A result of pirate attacks, the island became uninhabited. In 1565, Don García de Toledo made a brief stop at Lampedusa while leading a relief force to break the Great Siege of Malta . In subsequent centuries, the Hospitaller fleet which was based in Malta sometimes used Lampedusa's harbour as a shelter from bad weather or from corsairs. In 1667, the island was given to Ferdinand Tomasi of Palermo, who acquired

550-673: A structural member of the African continent , lying on a structural high called the Lampedusa Plateau . Lampedusa essentially is a tilted block of limestone , the highest point being on the NW coast and the lowest on the SE coast, the island being soft limestone, of a white to creamy-yellow. This area lies on a seismically active part of central Mediterranean , the Sicily Channel Rift Zone . From

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600-599: A structural point of view, Lampedusa belongs to the Pelagian Block, a foreland at the northern edge of the African Plate , and is inside the Sicily Channel . Lampedusa has a subtropical semi-arid climate ( Köppen : BSh ) characterized by very warm, almost rainless and humid summers, very mild and frost -free winters, a powerful seasonal lag and a small diurnal temperature range . The constant sea breezes moderate

650-419: Is a small beach accessible only by sea, through a low grotto . Other species living along the island's coast include mantas and smaller cetaceans such as dolphins and Risso's dolphins . Waters nearby Lampedusa are the only area in the Mediterranean with sightings of pregnant great white sharks and newly born individuals. Recent studies revealed that the waters of Lampedusa are a wintering feeding ground for

700-417: Is both the southernmost point and the southernmost island of Italy. Politically and administratively, Lampedusa is part of Italy , but geologically it is part of Africa since the sea between the two is no deeper than 120 m (390 ft). Lampedusa is a semi-arid island, dominated by a garrigue landscape, with maquis shrubland in the west. It has no sources of water other than irregular rainfall. Overall

750-475: Is photography taken as close to the wave tops as possible, in order to bring the views of the beach landscape, which were then made into continuous horizontal strip photographs. These files were marked with military targets such as bridges, marshalling yards and the like, and up-to-date photos and intelligence were used to up date obsolete maps. From these new maps, and from older maps, magazine illustrations, and old family photographs taken on holiday collected from

800-495: Is that this word was also used by the Greeks for a kind of oyster and the island was called that, due to the abundance of this kind of oyster. Other scholars believe that the name derives from λαμπάς ( lampás ), which means 'torch', because of the lights which were placed on the island for sailors. Historically, Lampedusa was a landing place and a maritime base for the ancient Phoenicians , Greeks and Romans . The Romans established

850-575: Is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea . The comune of Lampedusa e Linosa is part of the Sicilian province of Agrigento which also includes the smaller islands of Linosa and Lampione . It is the southernmost part of Italy and Italy's southernmost island. Tunisia , which is 113 kilometres (61 nautical miles) away, is the closest landfall to

900-673: The Ministry of Supply , the Ministry of Economic Warfare , the Ministry of Works and Buildings , the Imperial War Graves Commission , the Ministry of Information , the Ministry of Aircraft Production , and to the scientific liaison officers of the Dominion Governments. Manchester College, Oxford Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

950-671: The ISTD's effectiveness, the department received compliments from General Dwight D. Eisenhower for its support to the allied landings in French North Africa." "Although direct foreign procurement could not be undertaken at this time, substantial amounts of material were received from the British Inter-Services Topographic Department and the Royal Naval Intelligence Division 5 , respectively

1000-700: The Italian government to reception centres in mainland Italy. Many were then released because their deportation orders were not enforced. In 2009, the overcrowded conditions at the island's temporary immigrant reception centre came under criticism by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) . The unit, which was originally built for a maximum capacity of 850 people, was reported to be housing nearly 2,000 boat people . A significant number of people were sleeping outdoors under plastic sheeting. A fire that started during an inmate riot destroyed

1050-611: The Libyan and Italian governments reached a secret agreement that obliged Libya to accept African immigrants deported from Italian territories. This resulted in the mass repatriation of many people from Lampedusa to Libya between 2004 and 2005, a move criticised by the European Parliament . By 2006, many African immigrants were paying people smugglers in Libya to help get them to Lampedusa by boat. On arrival, most were then transferred by

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1100-530: The Mineral economics of West Africa, the Belgian Congo , Mozambique and Angola , and accounts of the geology and mineral resources of other territories prepared the staff of Naval Intelligence Division were checked prior to printing off. In addition to the contributions made to the work of these two service Departments, assistance and information was given from time to time to various Government Departments such as

1150-519: The Museum staff or by the staff of the I.S.T.D. from bibliographies, maps and texts supplied to its Library Liaison Service from the Museum. The work was of a highly confidential character but, in special circumstances, of great importance and interest, and it is now permissible to state that the Museum and Library staffs provided information relating to every considerable military operation in Africa and Europe from

1200-507: The Sicilian mainland. In the summer, there are additional services to Rome and Milan , besides many other seasonal links with the Italian mainland. In 2013, Spiaggia dei Conigli ("Rabbit Beach"), located in the southern part of the island, was voted the world's best beach by travel site TripAdvisor . Since the early 2000s, the island has become a primary European entry point for migrants , mainly coming from Libya and Tunisia. In 2021,

1250-987: The Western Allies. Further, the British developed the Inter-Service Topographic Department (ISTD) in October 1940. The ISTD responded to the British topographical intelligence shortage before the April 1940 German invasion of Norway. In fact, the paucity of topographical intelligence on Norway resulted in Royal Air Force Bomber Command pilots relying on 1912 revised Baedeker 's guides—commonly used by foreign travelers— for navigation when attacking airfields in Norway. This lack of intelligence also caused Royal Navy carrier pilots to rely on contourless Admiralty charts during their attack on Narvik 's port. Later,

1300-525: The activities of the Inter-Services Topographical Department (ISTD), a special department responsible for supplying topographical intelligence for all combined operations, and, in particular, for preparing reports in advance of military operations overseas. It relied in large measure upon the Museum and Library organization for the provisions of the geological information incorporated into the reports, such information being written up by

1350-523: The area around the island was the scene of multiple attacks. On April 15, 1986, Libya fired two Scuds at the Lampedusa navigation station, in retaliation for the American bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi , and the alleged death of Colonel Gaddafi 's adopted daughter. However, the missiles passed over the island, landed in the sea, and caused no damage. On 4 January 1989 , U.S. Navy aircraft from

1400-415: The arrivals as economic migrants rather than refugees in fear of persecution. In July 2013, Pope Francis visited the island on his first official visit outside of Rome. He prayed for migrants, living and dead, and denounced their traffickers. In October 2013, the 2013 Lampedusa disaster occurred; a boat carrying over 500 migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Somalia , sank off the coast of Lampedusa with

1450-451: The capitulation of the island, when earlier that same day elements of the garrison had also attempted to surrender in unusual circumstances when Sergeant Sydney Cohen, the pilot of a Royal Air Force Fairey Swordfish aircraft landed having run low on fuel and suffering problems with his compass. Cohen's exploits were commemorated in a Yiddish play The King of Lampedusa that ran for six months. The first telephone connection with Sicily

1500-513: The carrier USS John F. Kennedy shot down two Libyan fighters approximately 200 km (110 nmi) from the island. The NATO base was decommissioned in 1994 and transferred to Italian military control. Since the early 2000s, Lampedusa, the European territory closest to Libya, has become a prime transit point for migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia wanting to enter Europe. In 2004

1550-742: The course of a visit to the United States in 1944 by a member of the Museum staff, the opportunity was taken to establish contact with the Military Geology Unit of the US Geological Survey , with most helpful results. Considerable assistance was also given to the Naval Intelligence Division, whose handbooks are extensively used by the Services, by Government Departments, and by British embassies abroad. Chapters were contributed on

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1600-472: The daytime summer temperatures. Lampedusa (along with coastal Pantelleria , Kasos , Karpathos , Kastellorizo and coastal Malta ) is one of the very few areas along the Mediterranean Sea coast, which have never recorded frost. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Lampedusa was 2.2 °C (36 °F) on February 1, 1999. The fauna and flora of Lampedusa are similar to those of North Africa, with

1650-610: The deaths of at least 300 people. From January to April 2015, about 1,600 migrants died on the route from Libya to Lampedusa, making it the deadliest migrant route in the world. The 2017 Oscar-nominated Italian documentary film Fire at Sea documented a part of this migrant crisis and was filmed entirely on the island in 2014 and 2015. The film also won the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin Film Festival . In September 2023, over 120 boats, carrying roughly 7,000 migrants—more than

1700-455: The details below. Request from 172.68.168.151 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 397673038 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:51:05 GMT Lampedusa Lampedusa ( / ˌ l æ m p ɪ ˈ dj uː z ə / LAM -pih- DEW -zə , US also /- s ə / -⁠sə , Italian: [lampeˈduːza] ; Sicilian : Lampidusa [lambɪˈɾuːsa] ; Maltese : Lampeduża )

1750-727: The first landings in North Africa. Of special significance, not always apparent at the time that they were supplied, are the reports of North Africa and other Mediterranean territories in 1942; on Yugoslavia , Crete , the Dodecanese , and Möhne Valley , Lampedusa , Pantelleria , the geology of certain Alpine tunnels , and various regions of the Far East in 1943; and those on the flying bomb sites in France in 1944. In connexion with this class of work and in

1800-416: The island (together with Linosa and Pantelleria ) into a supply base for Malta. The commission found Fernandez's situation to be very strange, and the treasury demanded an explanation of his conduct. In November 1813, the sloop HMS Partridge was infected with yellow fever, and was sent to Lampedusa until convalescence. This caused most of the population to flee back to Malta, leaving only 50 to 60 people on

1850-624: The island did not see any military engagements until June 1943 when, as a precursor to the Allied invasion of Sicily , the island was secured without resistance in Operation Corkscrew by the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Lookout and ninety-five men of the 2nd Battalion the Coldstream Guards . White flags had been sighted in the port, and when Lieutenant Corbett of Lookout approached the port in

1900-436: The island has two slopes, from west to east, and from north to south of the island. The south-western side is dominated by deep gorges, while the southeastern part is dominated by shallow valleys and sandy beaches. The entire northern coast is dominated by cliffs: gently sloping cliffs on the east coast, and vertical sheer cliffs on the west coast. Lampedusa geologically is part of the " Pelagian Province " ( USGS definition),

1950-472: The island received the Jan Karski Eagle Award , as the first and only time that the award was given out three times in a year. The name Lampedusa derives from the ancient Greek name of the island, Λοπαδούσσα or Λαπαδούσσα ( Lopadoússa/Lapadoússa ). It has been suggested that the name derives from the word λέπας ( lépas ), which means 'rock', due to the rocky landscape of the island; another story

2000-467: The island with some Maltese workers, and he imported livestock and began cultivating the land. The old castle was reconstructed, and a windmill was also built. Gatt hoisted the British flag for protection. On 27 June 1804, the prince conceded the island to Giuseppe Bugeja, another Maltese, although Gatt remained in control of the island. At the time, the British were considering taking over Lampedusa, possibly as an alternative to Malta, which had just become

2050-469: The island, but what happened in subsequent years is unclear. Salvatore Gatt is believed to have died or disappeared sometime between 1813 and 1821, and the island was taken over by Fortunato Frendo, who had murdered Giacoma Gatt, Salvatore's wife. An official expedition was sent to the island from Naples in 1828, and the island was found to be inhabited by members of the Frendo, Gatt, and Molinos families along with

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2100-616: The island, while others returned to Malta or went to Tunisia. In the 1840s, the Tomasi family formally sold the island to the Kingdom of Naples. In 1861, the island became part of the Kingdom of Italy , but the new Italian government limited its activities there to building a penal colony . During the Second World War , the island was Axis territory, held by a small Italian garrison. Despite its proximity to Allied-held Malta and North Africa,

2150-824: The island. The Governor of Malta, Sir Thomas Maitland , visited Lampedusa and found that Fernandez was running a business venture, so on 15 September 1814 he announced the withdrawal of British troops stationed on the island. The same notice also stated that "it is not the intention of [the British] Government to have any further concern or connection with [Lampedusa]". At this point, Greek privateers deposited provisions and took refuge at Lampedusa while being pursued by Tunisian vessels. Fernandez had left for Gibraltar in 1813, but he continued to make claims on his title in Lampedusa. The British Government refused to compensate him in 1818, and Sicilian courts deprived him of his title soon afterwards. The Gatt family retook possession of

2200-522: The islands. Sicily is farther at 205 kilometres ( 110 + 1 ⁄ 2 nautical miles), while Malta is 176 kilometres (95 nautical miles) east of Lampedusa. Lampedusa has an area of 20.2 km ( 7 + 13 ⁄ 16  sq mi) and a population of about 6,000 people. Its main industries are fishing , agriculture , and tourism . A ferry service links the island with Porto Empedocle , near Agrigento , Sicily. There are also year-round flights from Lampedusa Airport to Palermo and Catania on

2250-411: The public, new maps could be produced for the planning staffs and operations forces. "Inadequate topographic intelligence could result in troops encountering impenetrable terrain, amphibious assaults landing on impassable beaches, or airborne assaults dropping into water. The U.S. Army's plan to provide photographic mapping support to advancing troops illustrates topographical intelligence's importance to

2300-708: The publishers of the ISIS reports and the Geographic Handbooks. Colonel C. Bassett , R.M., and Admiral John Henry Godfrey , directors respectively of the ISTD and Naval Intelligence, RN, assisted in establishing map exchanges between the Allied planning staffs; subsequently a working alliance was maintained through the London Map Division of the OSS." As the war progressed, the Museum and Library staffs participated more and more in

2350-502: The title of Prince of Lampedusa from King Charles II of Spain . Tomasi was the ancestor of the writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa . A century after acquiring the island, the Tomasi family began a program of resettlement. In the late 18th century, the Order of St. John maintained a small establishment on Lampedusa, which included a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary . This was manned by

2400-593: The topographical intelligence produced by the ISTD proved invaluable to the Royal Navy midget submarine attack and the Royal Navy torpedo aircraft attack during September 1942 and late 1944, respectively, on the German battleship Tirpitz based in Norway. It was also invaluable during the November 1942 Allied North African landings, and the St. Nazaire commando raid in March 1942. In tribute to

2450-665: The total population of Lampedusa—arrived on the island within the span of 24 hours. Some of the migrants were relocated to Germany . According to the Irish Examiner , the majority of the September 2023 migrants arrived from Tunisia and were "young men or unaccompanied minors." Reasons for migration varied, but the Irish Examiner listed a worsening of the "socioeconomic situation in Tunisia" and fleeing danger or persecution. Lampedusa

2500-420: Was installed only in the 1960s. In the same decade an electric power station was built. In 1972, part of the western side of the island became a United States Coast Guard LORAN-C transmitter station . In 1979, Lt. Kay Hartzell took command of the Coast Guard base, becoming "the first female commanding officer of an isolated duty station". The 1980s, and especially 1985–1986, saw an increase in tensions and

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