Battle of Chora - Agorelitsa (1944)
| Battle of Chora - Agorelitsa (1944) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Second World War, Greek Resistance | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| ELAS | Nazi occupation forces | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 18 dead, 8 wounded | 78 dead Germans, 30 captured, war material captured or destroyed | ||||||
The Battle of Chora - Agorelitsa was fought on July 19, 1944 between Greek Peoples' Liberation Army (ELAS) against the Nazi occupation forces.
Broader Context[edit]
After Aris Velouchiotis' descend to Peloponnese (based on commands of the Political Committee of National Liberation), the Greek Resistance became more active in central and southern Peloponnese to the extent that Peloponnese was considered war zone by the Nazis.[1]
The battle[edit]
The National Liberation Front's political organization had informed ELAS that a battalion of the German occupiers would leave Pylos and head towards Gargalianoi - Kyparissia.[2] Based on this information, ELAS forces hid on July 17 between Ampelofyto (Agorelitsa) and Chora to ambush the Nazi forces. On July 19, the German military left Pylos and when they reached the location of ELAS forces, the battle started.[3] The victory of ELAS was decisive: ELAS suffered 18 casualties and 8 wounded while the Germans suffered 78 casualties (according to some 180[4]), 30 Germans where taken prisoners and vehicles and war material was captured or destroyed by ELAS. Among the casualties of ELAS was Ilias Sfakianakis, the leader of the battalion that made the ambush.[5][6]
Commemoration[edit]
Each year an event in memory of the fallen of ELAS takes place. The names of ELAS' casualties are:[7][8]
- Ηλίας Σφακιανάκης, Ταγματάρχης (Ilias Sfakianakis, Leader of the Battalion)
- Γεώργιος Μανωλάκος (Georgios Manolakos)
- Νικόλαος Δημητρακόπουλος/Πλαστήρας (Nikolaos Dimitrakopoulos/Plastiras)
- Χαράλαμπος Χάτζος (Charalampos Chatzos)
- Γεώργιος Μούντανος (Georgios Mountanos)
- Ηλίας Πατικόπουλος (Ilias Patikopoulos)
- Παύλος Παυλίδης (Pavlos Pavlidis), nickname Κανάκης (Kanakis)
- Γιώργης ΦΙλιππόπουλος (Giorgis Filippopoulos)
- Νίκος Στατηγουλέας (Nikos Statigouleas)
- Γιάννης Οικονομέας (Giannis Oikonomeas)
- Νέστορας Κολοκάθης (Nestoras Kolokathis)
- Βασίλης Βασιλικός (Vasilis Vasilikos)
- Μιχάλης Παπαθεοδωρακάκης (Michalis Papatheodorakis)
- Νικόλαος Σταματελόπουλος (Nikolaos Stamatelopoulos)
- Νικόλαος Βλαχαδάμης (Nikolaos Vlachadamis)
- Πέτρος Κατελάνος (Petros Katelanos)
- Πέτρος Τσαπέκης (Petros Tsapekis)
- Παναγιώτης Κομποχόλης (Panagiotis Kompocholis)
References[edit]
- ^ MEYER HERMANN-FRANK (2022). ΑΠΟ ΤΗ ΒΙΕΝΝΗ ΣΤΑ ΚΑΛΑΒΡΥΤΑ (in Greek). p. 578.
- ^ "19/7/1944: Η Μάχη στου Μανούσου το Γεφύρι". ethniki-antistasi-dse.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2022-12-02.
- ^ MEYER HERMANN-FRANK (2022). ΑΠΟ ΤΗ ΒΙΕΝΝΗ ΣΤΑ ΚΑΛΑΒΡΥΤΑ (in Greek). p. 579.
- ^ "19/7/1944: Η Μάχη στου Μανούσου το Γεφύρι". ethniki-antistasi-dse.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2022-12-02.
- ^ "1944: Μάχες του ΕΛΑΣ στην υπόδουλη Ελλάδα | Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών | online έκδοση". 2014-08-18. Archived from the original on 2014-08-18. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ MEYER HERMANN-FRANK (2022). ΑΠΟ ΤΗ ΒΙΕΝΝΗ ΣΤΑ ΚΑΛΑΒΡΥΤΑ (in Greek). p. 577.
- ^ "Η μάχη Χώρας - Αγορέλιτσας". Αυγή (in Greek). 2016-07-20. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
- ^ "ΜΕΤΑΞΥ ΧΩΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΜΠΕΛΟΦΥΤΟΥ Εκδήλωση της ΠΕΑΕΑ – ΔΣΕ Μεσσηνίας στο Γεφύρι του Μανούσου". Archived from the original on 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2014-02-01.