Editing Lemnos (section)

===Modern period===
[[File:Ottoman vs Greek fleet, 1913.png|thumb|200px|Diagram by the French ''[[L'Illustration]]'', depicting the Greek and Ottoman fleets and the warships that participated in the [[Battle of Lemnos (1913)]]]]
[[File:View of Mudros showing French wine store. In the background is the French hospital. Lemnos Island, Aegean Sea.... - NARA - 533107.tif|thumb|200px|View of Moudros during the [[Gallipoli campaign]] in WWI, with a French military wine store in the foreground and a hospital in the background.]]
[[File:Allied cemetery, Moudros, Lemnos.jpg|thumb|200px|WWI Allied cemetery in Mudros]]

On 8 October 1912, during the [[First Balkan War]], Lemnos became part of [[Greece]]. The Greek navy under Rear Admiral [[Pavlos Kountouriotis]] captured it [[Capture of Lemnos (1912)|after a brief action]] without any casualties from the Ottoman garrison, who were returned to Anatolia. [[Peter Charanis]], born on the island in 1908, and later a professor of [[History of the Byzantine Empire|Byzantine history]] at [[Rutgers University]], recounts when the island was liberated and Greek soldiers were sent to the villages and stationed themselves in the public squares. Some of the children ran to see what Greek soldiers looked like; "What are you looking at?", one of them asked; "At Hellenes", the children replied; "Are you not Hellenes yourselves?", a soldier retorted; "No, we are [[Byzantine Greeks|Romans]]", the children replied; which might seem odd at a first glance, but indicates that in parts of Greece the locals self-identified as a continuation of the Eastern, Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire ([[Names of the Greeks#Romans (Ῥωμαῖοι)|Ρωμιοί]]), along with their Greek identity.<ref>Kaldellis, Anthony (2008). Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0521876885}}. pp. 42–43.</ref>

[[Moudros Bay]] became a forward anchorage for the Greek fleet, which enabled it to keep watch on the [[Dardanelles]] and prevent a foray by the [[Ottoman Navy]] into the Aegean. The Ottomans' two attempts to achieve this were beaten back in the battles of [[Naval Battle of Elli|Elli]] and [[Naval Battle of Lemnos|Lemnos]]. Thus the Ottomans were prevented from supplying and reinforcing their land forces in [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]] by sea, a critical factor in the success of the [[Balkan League]] in the war.

During [[World War I]], in early 1915, the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] used the island to try to capture the [[Dardanelles]] Straits, some {{convert|50|km|0|abbr=off}} away. This was done chiefly by the British and largely due to the urging of [[Winston Churchill]]. The harbour at Moudros was put under the control of British Admiral [[Rosslyn Wemyss]], who was ordered to prepare the then largely unused harbour for operations against the Dardanelles.

The harbour was broad enough for British and French warships, but lacked suitable military facilities, which was recognized early on. Troops intended for [[Gallipoli]] had to train in [[Egypt]], and the port found it difficult to cope with casualties of the [[Gallipoli campaign]]. The campaign was called off in evident failure at the close of 1915. Moudros' importance receded, although it remained the Allied base for the blockade of the Dardanelles during the war. The town of [[Lemnos, Victoria]], Australia, established in 1927 as a [[Soldier settlement (Australia)|soldier settlement]] zone for returning First World War soldiers, was named after the island. There are three [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]] (CWGC) cemeteries on the island, the first one for the 352 Allied soldiers in [[Portianou]], the second one for the 148 Australian and 76 New Zealander soldiers in the town of Moudros and the third one for the Ottoman soldiers (170 Egyptian and 56 Turkish soldiers).<ref>[http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ottoman-military-graveyard-found-on-greek-island-off-gallipoli-81491 Ottoman military graveyard found on Greek island off Gallipoli]</ref>

In late October 1918, the [[Armistice of Mudros|armistice]] between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies was signed at Moudros.

After the Red Army victory in the [[Russian Civil War]] in 1920, many [[Kuban Cossacks]] fled the country to avoid persecution from the Bolsheviks. A notable evacuation point was the Greek island of Lemnos where 18,000 Kuban Cossacks landed, though many later died of starvation and disease. Most left the island after a year.

During [[World War II]], the island was occupied by the Germans on 25 April 1941, in the wake of the [[Wehrmacht]]’s invasion of Greece, by the Infanterie Regiment 382/164 Inf.Division under the command of Oberst Wilhelm-[[Helmuth Beukemann]]. The same bay of Moudros used by the Allies in WWI served as a base for German ships controlling the northern Aegean sea. An important fact is that the occupation forces included German punitive bataillon, the famous 999 units, in this case the [[999th Light Afrika Division (Wehrmacht)]] and its Afrika Schützen Regiment 963 (later Festungs Infanterie Bataillon 999). These included many German and Austrian antifascist political prisoners enrolled by force, many of whom then joined the [[Greek People's Liberation Army]] (ELAS), such as [[Wolfgang Abendroth]]. Partially evacuated since August 1944, the island was liberated on 16 and 17 of October 1944 by the Greek [[Sacred Band (World War II)]] or Greek Sacred Squadron under the command of the British Raiding Forces (as part of the SAS or [[Special Air Service]]).

Today the island has about 30 villages and settlements. The province includes the island of [[Agios Efstratios]] to the southwest which has some exceptional beaches.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sand Dunes on the Greek Isle of Lemnos |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lemnos-sand-dunes |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en}}</ref>