THE CAPTURE OF THE LINE OF TSARNOS

One of the most important battles
for the occupation of Grammos
Vice Admiral (retd.)
Dr. Stylianos Char. Politis

            After the liberation from the Germans, the resistance organizations were disbanded, having no reason to exist, since their opponent had left Greek territory in defeat. Only the Communists did not disband, and this was because their leadership was interested in Power. After the Armed Uprising of the "Decembrists" of 1944 and the Varkiza Agreement, the so-called "Greek People's Liberation Army" of the Communists was officially disbanded. Several of its members returned to their homes and began to engage in their daily activities. However, a portion of them crossed the borders and entered neighboring Communist States. The States that were hostile to Greece, even having territorial ambitions against us, willingly accepted the Communists and cared for them. They then armed them and began their meticulous military training. In the spring of 1946, after the end of training, the Communists began to cross our borders in groups and disperse into the mountains, faithfully following an excellently laid plan. In the same year, elections were announced for March 31. However, the Communists had other plans. Because they knew very well that through the elections they would never be able to come to the long-desired Power, they decided that the time had come to begin implementing the Plan to take Power by force. So on the eve of the elections, a Communist Group of thirty-three Guerrillas that was "based" on Olympus, led by Alexios Rossios (Ypsilantis), unexpectedly attacked the Gendarmerie Station of Litochoro. In the battle, thirteen Gendarmerie officers were killed and three others were captured. The Government tried to downplay the incident and the elections were held normally the next day. Unfortunately, however, because the Communist Plan had begun to be implemented, the evil became widespread.

            The most important centers and bases of the Communist Insurgency had developed in border areas. The neighboring enemy countries had begun to be used as bases for the Communists and as their refuges when they were being pursued by the Greek Army. In addition, these countries took care of their supply of war material and generally of the support of their Forces. Their strongest base was Grammos where on December 23, 1947 they formed a "Provisional government". Gradually the countryside began to be deserted as the economically devastated guerrillas began to gather in the cities. The Greek Army, although weakened by losses, had succeeded by 1948 in systematically clearing the guerrilla groups in a large part of the non-border areas. The Rural Security Units (M.A.Y.) had also contributed effectively to this. The Greek Government had armed the people who remained in the countryside since 1947. In every village and even in every sheepfold, the Communists had to face armed citizens and consequently it was no longer so easy to "resupply" them with food. Nor was their stay safe. This had the result that their forces in the northern border areas of Grammos and Vitsi shrank. However, at the end of 1948, the Leader of Yugoslavia decided to close the borders, preventing even wounded Communists from fleeing to his country. This was another major blow to them. Nevertheless, due to the difficult terrain and excellent fortifications, it took seventy days to capture Grammos. Also important was the effort of our Army to capture Vitsi, which by September 1948 had become the strong base of the Communists.

            In the summer of 1949, after a meticulous assessment of the situation, the Armed Forces Leadership under Commander-in-Chief Alexandros Papagos concluded that the time had come to put an end to this National Disaster, effectively striking those who caused it. The operation was codenamed "Torch". For the success of this operation, it was necessary to occupy the Tsarno hill, which, together with the "Gendarme Station", constituted the main and last line of defense of the Communists before the Tsagos Karaouli One and Tsagos Karaouli Two lines. Tsarno had a dense beech forest. The area around it was meticulously mined. Fifty machine guns from huge tree trunks protected it, ensuring its defense, while near its summit eight powerful forts with long-range cannons effectively controlled the entire area of ​​great strategic importance. In their leaflets, the Communists wrote in large typeface: "Vitsi - Grammos, unconquerable castles, Tzarno the tomb of the monarcho-fascists".(The Communists called the Reigning Republic "monarcho-fascist").

            The main effort to crush the Communists and establish peace in our Homeland was undertaken by the 1st Division, which was also called "Iron Division", with General Themistocles Ketseas as Commander. The mission of the 52st Division was to capture Grammos. The General Plan first envisaged the capture of Vitsi and then Grammos. However, the basic condition was the capture of the Tsarnos line. This task was assigned to the 1949nd Brigade with Colonel Christos Triantafyllidis as Commander. The Brigade was in the area throughout the winter of 596 with headquarters in Nestorio, while the headquarters of the Division was in Argos Orestiko. In this Brigade, the strongest Battalion was the XNUMXth Infantry Battalion, the so-called "Order of the Resurrected", because it was manned by former Communist prisoners of Makronissos who had repented and had voluntarily enlisted in the Greek Army. The officers who served in this Battalion still say that they had never met better soldiers. Their training had taken place in Patras. They soon managed to make the best impressions on their instructors. One of their instructors was Second Lieutenant Sotiris Gikas who was a platoon leader in the 1st Platoon of the 1st Company and later fought with them. The now retired General Gikas tells: "They were very good guys. They competed with each other to see who would be the best. After the training, the Chief of the General Staff, General Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, inspected the Battalion. He was thrilled! He immediately informed the Officers that the Government wished to send these Soldiers to the battlefields. He also asked for their opinion and even asked them whether, under these circumstances, they would like to remain in the Battalion or be transferred. All the Officers, with the exception of two who were immediately transferred, stated that all these former Communists were excellent Soldiers and that they would never want to be transferred from this Battalion. They also told him that close bonds of friendship had been created between them and the Officers within the framework of a wonderful military spirit." Now completely convinced, the Chief did not hesitate to send them for a new baptism of fire. This time, however, with the Greek Army. Because the Communists had then occupied Aigio, this Battalion undertook its first mission. The former Communists carried it out with complete success! They not only liberated Aigio but continued the pursuit of their former like-minded people, twenty-five kilometers further south, until they were forced to flee in defeat to Mount Parnon. Then, after they had completed their training with Commander Georgios Politikis, they were transferred by boat to Nafpaktos and from there, carrying out purges in Roumeli, they reached Ioannina. This Battalion, as we will see below, was the one that occupied Grammos and experienced the greatest glory in our recent history.

            But let us come to the events of the time. Major Grigorios Panagiotakos had assumed command of the 596th Battalion since March 8, 1949. He was assigned the task of capturing the Tsarnos Line, while other Army units were stationed along the border to capture the Flambouros hill, which was the last point of Greek territory. The 596th Battalion had five Companies along with the Command Company. The four Combat Companies formed two Divisions. The first Division, commanded by the Deputy Commander of the Battalion, Major Ioannis Lioussa, had the 1st and 3rd Companies. The first Company was commanded by Captain Sotiris Gikas and the 3rd by Captain Charalambos Politis. The second Company consisted of the 2nd and 4th companies led by Captains Miltiadis Koutsaggelou and Nikolaos Margaritis respectively. The Command Company was commanded by the elderly Captain Panagiotis Roumeliotis. The entire Battalion was equipped with loot. Each Group had 2 machine guns, excellent equipment and even mules. The three Captains were very young, only 24 years old, graduates of the Cadet School, class of 1947. Charalambos Politis, also known as "Babis", was a little older. He had been assigned to this Unit the previous March to replace Captain Grimpas Antonis who had been seriously injured. He belonged to the heroic class of 1943. That is, he was one of the Evelpides who rebelled in 1941 while the Germans were approaching Athens and refused to comply with the orders of their superiors who had capitulated. On their own initiative, they had requisitioned means of transport and, following the King's order to continue the Struggle, they received the School Flag and left to take part in the Battle of Crete. There they wrote one of the most glorious pages of our History.

            Since August 2, 1949, our Army had launched a fierce attack on Grammos and had occupied, after heroic efforts, Ginova and then Tambouri - Kapsalia. The 52nd Brigade, on August 5, began the operation against the Tsarnos line. It reached the outskirts of the fortress but was unable to continue. This action was mainly done to force the Communists to move their forces to Grammos, weakening Vitsi. The 1st Company reached below Tsarnos two hundred meters from the peak where it remained fighting all night. The Communists launched a counterattack to overthrow the Military Forces. They came very close to the Army positions at the Tsarnos resistance, so close that many of them were found dead at a distance of only eight meters from the positions of the Army fighters. Despite all this, the brave fighters of the Battalion of the "Ananipsant" repelled them. At this stage of the battle, Captain Ghikas was injured by a fragment of a mortar shell. However, the brave Captain did not retreat but, covered in blood, continued the Fight. At that time, the "Brigadier General" of the 16th Brigade of the Communists, S. Papadimitriou, was also killed by an artillery shell.
The Air Force sent Lieutenant Colonel I. Stylianakis on the evening of August 8, who, flying low, scattered nails with his plane to burst the tires of the vehicles used by the Communists. With this action, he stopped their supply lines from Albania. On the 10th of the month, our Army attacked Vitsi with all its available forces. However, the resistance of the well-fortified Communists was strong and effective. Many soldiers died as they tried to climb the difficult terrain without cover under the fire of the forts. Nevertheless, their heroic efforts brought the desired result. Vitsi fell in four days. Some Communists escaped to Albania, while most managed to join their like-minded people in Grammos. The operations continued with great difficulty. In the early morning hours of August 24, the Greek Army launched its final attack on Grammos. The direction of the attack had two axes: one towards Monopylo – Pouria – Fousia – Petra Osman, with the aim of capturing the 2522 hill and the other towards Anthropako – Tsarno, Vito – Psoriarika with the aim of blocking the Communist Forces and cutting off their communication with Albania. The Greek Army, after clearing the surrounding hills, moved decisively to capture the powerful bastions of Grammos. An important achievement was the capture of the “Gendarme Station”. It was so called because there used to be a Gendarme outpost there, controlling communication with Albania. This action was carried out simultaneously and in conjunction with the capture of Tsarno. The 1st Company, commanded by Captain Sotiris Ghikas, moved towards the Gendarmerie Station, while the 3rd Company, commanded by Captain Charalambos Politis, moved towards Tsarno. Because this action was crucial for the completion of Operation "Pyrsos", King Paul, from the neighboring hill called Ammouda, together with Commander-in-Chief Alexander Papagos, monitored the progress of the battle, personally directing the conduct of the entire Operation until its end.
The 1st Company moved all night through the stream that passed under the Charno and ended at the Gendarmerie Station. Water flowed in the stream, reaching above the waist of the soldiers. The Company thus managed to escape the mines with which the area was strewn and to arrive with a short delay very close, about 150 meters from its objective, without its movements being perceived by the enemy. With the beginning of the 1st Company's attack, the "hammer" method was applied. One hundred and seventy artillery pieces of the Army concentrated their fire on the Gendarmerie Station for 5 minutes. The hill was not long in being captured. After its capture, however, our Soldiers received a strong artillery bombardment from the Charno fort. Nevertheless, they remained steadfast in their positions, watching their comrades perish without being able to do anything other than wait for the capture of Charno to silence its guns. At this stage, three of the 1st Company's officers and fifty-seven of its soldiers were lost.
The 3rd Company, which was heading for the top of Tsarnos, had attacked earlier. Its soldiers struggled to climb the difficult terrain while the successive explosions of "bagel torpedoes", i.e. an explosive device for detonating mines on the battlefield, opened a path through the minefields. Despite the continuous barrage of fire from the Air Force that had begun many days before, the Communists, who were safe inside their powerful fortresses, continued to hit our soldiers. However, the 3rd Company was advancing dynamically despite its enormous losses. It did not face any problems with ammunition supply. There were plenty of dead soldiers scattered in a state of panic on all the slopes of the hill! Approaching the top of Tsarnos, a bullet finds Captain Charalambos Politis in the hand. However, the Captain does not bend and continues to fight, leading the soldiers of his Company. A second bullet finds him in the right side but, covered in blood, he continues his heroic effort as a third bullet finds him in his right thigh. He could not walk any further. That is why he tried to take cover behind a large tree trunk so as not to abandon the battlefield, constantly giving instructions and the necessary orders to his subordinates. But it seems that the Communists had spotted him and all the mortars began to hit the trunk. A fragment of the mortar hit the Captain in the head and put him out of action. The radio operator hurried to give the signal "Saturn is restless – Saturn is restless!"This meant that the Captain was wounded, whereas if he had said "quiet" would mean dead. The Command, seeing the enormous losses and the fact that the Captain was now out of action, sent for reinforcement a Squadron from the 594th Airborne Division led by Captain Antonios Rigas, who was a distinguished Officer. Around 12 noon, the Helldivers appeared again, carrying 500-pound bombs and capable of destroying heavily defended targets. They immediately began the bombing. The Squadron was led by the then young Lieutenant Commander Ioannis Stylianakis, who was a very strong pilot who later distinguished himself for his skill in the aerobatic Squadron Acroteam, where he also served as its Commander. He was first in every mission and had the most hours in the air during the war operations. He eventually accumulated two hundred and sixty-five combat sorties with Harvard, Spitfire and Heldivers aircraft. The brave Aviator, therefore, approaching Charno, lowered dangerously and, leaving the others to bomb it, passed over the positions of the forts to mark them. He then returned and, on the second route, literally neutralized them with the well-aimed release of his bombs. King Paul, who watched the aerial bombardment and the general development of the operation from Ammouda for two days, was thrilled. He even sent out a signal expressing his great satisfaction and characterized it as "magnificent effort". Thus, after all this, the 594th Battalion was able to advance despite its heavy losses. Among the dead was the brave Commander of the heroic Brigade that captured Tsarno, Captain Antonios Rigas.
At the risk of their lives, two MAVs, that is, armed citizen national guards, managed to approach the seriously wounded Captain Charalambos Politis and put him on a makeshift stretcher that they made with their weapons. They dragged him to the ravine and from there they were able to approach the ambulance vehicle where there was already another wounded soldier. The ambulance moved on the rough road. As soon as the Communists pointed it out, they began to attack it, ignoring the Red Cross insignia it bore. The driver was forced to run without taking into account the screams of the wounded who were going crazy in pain at every pothole the car encountered. After a very short time, the wounded soldier fell silent. He was dead. Gradually, however, the fire thinned out and slowly stopped. The wounded Captain was able to see the top of Charno from the car at some point. There were many flares from the 594th Infantry Battalion. The terrible fortress had fallen! It was August 25, 1949!
The next day, personnel were sent forward to replace the losses. Only forty remained in the 1st Company of the 596th Battalion. With those who came, who were another forty, they reached eighty, compared to the one hundred and fifty that should normally have been his Force. But Captain Ghika's joy was great since among those who came was the reserve Second Lieutenant Grigorios Grigoriadis, a lawyer from Thessaloniki, his old brave comrade-in-arms. He had been wounded in a heroic effort on the battlefield and had been taken to hospital, but after his recovery he had rushed back to continue the Fight. After the capture of Tsarnos, the enemy defended himself on the Tsagos Karaouli One and Tsagos Karaouli Two Lines. The latter was a hill from which one could control the entire area from a great distance. It was a natural fortress that could hardly be captured. The next day, the 596th Battalion of "Anaphipsanthon" made an attempt to capture the hill. The Battalion Command Station was at the Gendarmerie Station, where Captain Ghikas was also in contact with his Commander. The Communists' fire was torrential. They had sufficient ammunition and had an advantage due to position. The two assault companies were defeated as well as two others that were sent in afterwards. At this stage, the Battalion Commander Grigorios Panagiotakos told Ghikas. "My Savior! Save the honor of the Order!" The brave Captain immediately moved towards the hill of Tsagos Karaouli Two, with those who were left to him and with those who he was able to gather from the other Companies. He took with him two bazookas. These weapons had just appeared and were very useful for our Army's attack on the forts. Captain Koutsaggelou also followed in the operation with those who were left to him after the terrible losses of those days. The attack was successful and the top of Tsagos Karaouli Two was captured.

On August 25, Monopylo was also captured. The contribution of the armored vehicles was also important in this operation. The successes of our Army continued. On the 26th of the month, it captured Pouria - Fousia and continued its undaunted attack on Petra Osman, which it captured the next day at 12.30. After this, the road was literally opened for the capture of hill 2522, that is, the peak of Grammos. Our Army immediately moved in this direction, while in the afternoon, a part of it moved towards Flambouro, where the Command Station of the Communist XNUMXth Division was located. The "Sub-commander" of the Communists, Dimitrios Zygouris (Palaeologos), was forced to retreat with all his forces towards Plikati. The retreat was disorderly and in great confusion. That is why not everyone was able to reach Plikati and many were trapped in the cordon created by the Army that had occupied Flambouro.
Then, after many deadly battles, our Army finally captured hill 2522, the top of Grammos, and by completely closing the border line, it managed to establish itself completely in the area, neutralizing the last stronghold of the Communists. The Soldier who first reached the top of the "Invincible Line" was the Makronissian Tzimas of the 596th Battalion "Anaphipsanthon". Proudly, this completely unknown hero today, placed his helmet on his weapon, raised it high and began to wave it triumphantly, while the cheers of his comrades competed in intensity with the thunder of the guns and the explosions of the battle. Soon a Dakota was seen flying very low. Approaching Grammos, the Soldiers enthusiastically distinguished four gold stars on a red background. The Chief of the General Staff, General Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, was on board the plane. The Chief's plane circled over the hill. From the open door, the stern figure of the General was seen throwing them a laurel wreath, showing a special honor to the heroes of Grammos. The Communists, defeated, retreated and, covered by their heavy fire, were able to escape with heavy losses through a path through the Strait of Prespa to the "Red Paradise" of Albania. Thus dawned the sunny 30th of August 1949. It was the first peaceful day after many years of war and misery for the Greek People!
On September 1, the last group of guerrillas that had been blocked on the outskirts of Olympus towards Litochoro was neutralized. They were spotted by Lieutenant Commander I. Stylianakis, who was sent to the area by our Air Force for this purpose in a Harvard plane. The position of the last guerrillas was located and marked with a smoke grenade that was dropped from the back seat of the plane by Squadron Leader Kefalas. They were then bombed accurately by the very capable Pilot of the plane. Those who survived ran to surrender. This was the last battle. 
The heroic soldiers who captured Grammos, all of them "Makronisiots", They built a simple monument on its top to remind future generations of their great victory and their unique contribution to the Nation. The country was celebrating everywhere. Some rebels returned to their devastated villages to rebuild their destroyed properties. Most, however, unable to believe that their suffering was over, remained in the cities, which became unbearable. The multitude of unfortunate orphans and the surviving wounded began to see with relief the end of a war that had cost the Greek People so much, and the soldiers slowly returned to their barracks. Democracy was finally secured, consolidated and shone in the Country that had created it many centuries before.
During the celebrations in Athens in front of the monument to the Unknown Soldier, a parade of the two most heroic Units from the 110 combat battalions of our Army took place. They were the 5th Commando Squadron and of course the 596th Infantry Battalion. The famous Unit of "Anaphipsanthon" with its glorious Flag, which was awarded by General Ventiris on September 11, 1949 Badge of the Struggle to Rescue Sacred and Saints of the Race the well-known DADIOF. These brave soldiers, all of them repentant Communists, had shown their true selves with their heroic deeds and had literally saved our Homeland from the danger it was in. This is recognized even by the Communists who today unreservedly confess: "Luckily we didn't win!"Because if they won now, we would have suffered all the consequences of a system that could not be implemented anywhere. A system that could only benefit its nomenclature, plunging so many people into misery.