GROWING UP DURING WORLD WAR II AND THE ITALIAN AND GERMAN OCCUPATION

My parents and I went on home leave to Greece during March 1940, and it was planned that we would be returning to India in late November. 

  

Photos of the Athenian Riviera

We had a wonderful time with our relatives and friends in Athens, visiting the Parthenon and the National Museum.  We swam in the refreshing blue waters of the Saronic Bay, stretching from Phaliron, until Glyfada and Vouliagmeni, now called the “Athenian Riviera.”  We went to “open air” cinemas in the evenings and enjoyed the most fabulous food at Plaka, a neighbourhood in the shadow of the Acropolis, and delicious ice creams which were, then, the passion of my life.

Loutraki

Kefalonia

Kefalonia

Platis Yialos

Makris Yialos

Argostoli

After visiting Loutraki, for ten days we sailed to our beautiful island of Cephalonia, in the Ionian Sea. There we were welcomed by my parents’ brothers and sisters and relished their warm hospitality. We swam every day at Plati Yialos and went on various fascinating excursions at the most interesting parts of the Island.

This House resembles Ours

But the most important event was that my parents bought a lovely house with a large garden in Argostoli. Central heating was installed and by August the house was beautifully furnished, and the garden was in full bloom.  We installed ourselves in the house and enjoyed every moment, but I was slightly troubled because autumn was coming, and I wouldn’t be able to swim anymore. 

On the morning of the 28^th October, my parents seemed extremely anxious and they told me that Italy had declared war on Greece.  Apparently, most Greeks lived, then, in a fool paradise as they could not believe that this was happening, that war was at their doorstep. My parents were thinking of returning to India by land, but as we would have to sale to Port Said, and numerous ships were sunk each day in the Mediterranean, they considered it safer to remain in Greece.

   

Meanwhile, a ferocious war was raging in the rest of Europe, which was described as the "deadliest conflict in human history".  Tens of millions perished due to this deadly war in the battlefields and during the Blitz, where the German planes bombarded London to smithereens.  Unfortunately, the worst of all was the Holocaust, the genocide of the European Jews by the Nazi Germans who murdered about six million innocent European Jews in gas chambers, in their notorious concentration camps. Unheard of savagery and brutality by these hideous monsters, which must be mentioned often, lest we forget.

On the 28^th October the Italian prime minister, Benito Mussolini, issued an ultimatum to Greece, demanding the cession of Greek territory, which the Greek prime minister, Ioannis Metaxas firmly rejected.  The Italian army invaded Greece before the ultimatum expired,  however, the invasion was a disaster, as the 140.000 Italian troops, in Albania encountered an entrenched and determined army.  The Italians had to put up the harsh and mountainous terrain, the atrocious weather, and the unexpectedly tenacious resistance of the Greek army.   The Greeks counter-attacked and pushed the Italians deep into Albania. The Italian invasion and the Greek counter-offensive of 1940, have been called “the first Axis setback of the entire war” by Mark  Mazover,  “the Greeks, surprising everyone with their tenacity and their resistance”.  Also, Winston  Churchill,  the British prime minister apparently said: "Greeks don't fight like heroes but heroes fight like Greeks", showing his admiration for the Greek army that managed to triumph over the Italian troops, which greatly outnumbered the Greeks. 

While originally content to simply let the Italians win the war by the summer of 1941, as he wrongly predicted, Hitler was obliged to send German troops to help his fascist allies.  So, unfortunately, Greece was subsequently occupied by the German, Italian and Bulgarian troops.

 

In Cephalonia, we were occupied first by the Italians and then by the Germans.  Our house was requisitioned first by the Italians and later by the Germans, so we moved to a friend’s apartment at the centre of the town, and tried to make ends meet like most of our compatriots until the end of the war.

A Memorial for the Italian Slaughtered by the Nazis

On the 8^th of September, the Italians surrendered to the Allies and the alliance of Hitler and Mussolini fractured, and the Italians in Cephalonia decided to fight against the Germans.  Unfortunately, the Germans won and on the 21^st of September 1943 they slaughtered 5.200 Italians who had already surrendered without compassion or mercy. When the Cephalonians saw how cold-bloodedly the Germans killed the Italian soldiers, they were shocked and horrified. So former enemies became allies and the Greeks hid the Italians to save them from death while risking their own lives.

This terrible massacre is tragically described in “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” by the British author Luis de Bernier.          

 To be continued in a future post.