Ambelakia
At the village of Ampelakia, at Tempe, Ms Logan was in for a surprise when she met Vassa Solomou-Xanthaki. Ms Solomou - Xanthaki was 7 years old in 1941 when a group of Allied soldiers camped at Ampelakia on the 17th of April 1941. Vassa's family, with the contributions and assistance of the whole village, prepared a meal for the soldiers, and her father, a headmaster at a local school, turned some classrooms into soldiers' sleeping quarters.
The night before the battle
That night, in the shadow of Mt Olympus, the Aussie diggers and their comrades from New Zealand and Britain tasted the true spirit of Greek hospitality: the limited supplies of food, accompanied by copious amounts of local wine were served on tables covered by hand-made tablecloths. But Greek hospitality is not complete without song, music and dance even in the midst of war. And soon, the entertainment started.
Ms Solomou -Xanthaki describes the scene, still vivid in her memory: 'my father had a flute on a shelf, and David, the soldiers' commander from Wales, took the flute and started playing. A few soldiers had harmonicas and soon everyone started singing and dancing. Everyone was like one soul that night, Greeks, Australians, New Zealanders, British, Cypriots*, we'd all become one soul."
For the children, the atmosphere was full of fun and merriment. The adults, however, were fully aware of the reality of war and what the likely fate would be for the young soldiers destined to clash in a few hours with the unstoppable Nazi Army and its panzer divisions who had descended on Greece. Soon the children started to grasp the gravity of the situation.
Ms Solomou-Xanthaki (L) with Ms Logan (R), Australian ambassador to Greece Source: Supplied/Kostas Tsegas, deputy mayor of Tempe
From a father to the son
"My father" said Ms Solomou -Xanthaki "that night, in the middle of this wonderful atmosphere, took aside my brother and said to him 'Yiorgaki, remember everything you see and hear tonight and every and each one of these soldiers. Tomorrow these young men will die'. My brother told us what my father said. We froze. During the night we had to abandon the village because of the impending battle. The next day, when the sounds of battle had stopped we returned. We found the soldiers dead, all but two. The same people who ate the night before at my parents' house, who sung and danced with us, were dead. We buried them just outside the village, close to a windmill. I'll never forget that." Ms Solomou-Xanthaki told SBS Greek.
The Tumulus
Ms Logan gave a commemorative plague to Ms Solomou - Xanthaki who wrote about the battle of Tempe in her book "Tymvos" (tumulus). The book relies largely on Yiorgos Solomos' recollections which he recounted and discussed many times with his sister, Vassa, over the years. It was translated in English for the occasion.
"We remember those brave young men and the battle as another Thermopylae, the battle of some 2,500 years ago, where the outcome was predetermined. They knew they weren't going to win the battle and yet, they stayed and fought for the free peoples of the world" said Ms Solomou -Xanthaki to SBS Greek reflecting on the ANZACs' sacrifice 77 years ago.
The ANZAC Corp was formed for the second and last time after WW 1 in Greece in early April 1941 for the Greek Campaign.
The Battle of Tempe, or Pinios Gorge as it is known, and its significance in ANZAC history is discussed at length in Peter Ewer's groundbreaking work Forgotten ANZACS: The Campaign in Greece 1941.
*Cyprus was a British colony at the time. Cypriots had joined the ranks of the British defense forces and fought against the Nazis on many occasions.
Πατήστε Play στο Podcast που συνοδεύει την κεντρική φωτογραφία για να ακούσετε τη συνέντευξη της κ. Logan και απόσπασμα απ΄την συνέντευξη της κ. Βάσσας Σολωμού -Ξανθάκη (στα Ελληνικά)
Article, research, interviews: Dina Gerolymou
Technical/online assistance: Argyro Vourdoumpa
Photos: courtesy of Mr Kostas Tsegas, deputy mayor of Tempe
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