The War

It was two days after Saint Dimitriou Day. PaPou was 11 yrs old and getting ready for school when he heard the shouts "The Italian's are coming!". The whole village fled to a nearby cave in which 300 or so people huddled in anxious wait until it was safe to return to the village. During this time the Greek Army drove the Italian's back before they could even reach Giannachori, an act of defiance against the fascists that from that day forward would be known as "Oxi" or "No" Day (28th, October 1941).The fighting continued all winter before the German Army finally came to join forces with the Italians at the Albanian border. The combined force was too much for the Greek Army to manage and they were forced to fall back in retreat...

Yiannis Tsitsanis (the Hero Cook)
Early one morning Yiannis awoke to perform his morning ritual of collecting water for breakfast from a nearby spring. The breakfast was for one of the many outposts of Greek soldiers monitoring the Greek-Albanian border - these were known as "Filakio". It was on his return to the Filakio that Yiannis was fired upon by Italian/German soldiers. Afraid that the other 12 soldiers in the Filakio would be attacked in their sleep, Yiannis went at woke them from their slumber. There was no time to even get dressed. Half-naked, these 12 soldiers fled in desperation, finding the river Aliakmanos which would then take them to the safety of Giannachori.

Greece was forced to surrender. From this point on Geurilla warfare ensued and the "EAM" or "KKE" (Kommunistiko Koma Ellada) (Communist Party Greece) was formed. Fighting continued for 4 years up to 1945 with most villagers in Giannachori having to hide out in nearby caves, one particular place was called "Doupki".

A rubbish bombing
In 1943, bombs were dropped on Giannachori. PaPou recalled the Italians dropping an "Embristiki Bomba" (Air-exploding bomb) on Giannachori which exploded in the air before reaching ground level. This was to warn the villagers that real bombs were on their way and to get out of there. The villagers fled. PaPou peered out at the village from a nearby hill. Italian bombers came in low along the river, rising up over the village and letting the bombs drop. PaPou remembers saying "Look, they're throwing eggs!".
With such a drop, it meant the high-situated buildings on the village were hit - that was PaPou's house and both his neighbours.
Luckily it turned out that the buildings bearing the brunt of the impact were a barn storage building and a rubbish store. Almost every house in the village was left with rubbish on top of it!

Next... the escape from Greece...