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The Battle of Pesti Ioannina, November 29 and 30, 1912

Today, November 29, 2020, marks 108 years since the Greek Army liberated the village of Pesta, Ioannina, from the Turkish occupier., after a fierce battle that went down in history as "the Battle of Peston». It was one of the glorious pages of the history of the Greek Army, which is why the name "Pesta" is engraved  on the upper left side of the Monument to the "Unknown Soldier" in Syntagma Square in Athens. Also, many streets in our Homeland bear the name of this Historical Village, such as in Kypseli in Athens, in Thessaloniki, in Larissa, etc. 

During the military operations of that time, after the liberation of the Pests on the Epirus front, only the otherwise mighty fortress of Bizani remained.  for the occupation of Ioannina, that the liberation of the City from the Turkish yoke took place immediately after 3 months, on February 21, 1913.

The following attachment is a timeless publication from the October 2013 issue of the magazine Epirus – Infinite Country, presented in an excellent manner by the Epirus Educator – Writer Mr. Socrates Vassiliou, to whom I had given a relevant interview at my home in Pesta Village where he was my guest.

The article mentions historical events of this battle and proves once again the greatness of the Greek soul and that thanks to the unity and togetherness of the Greek People, Freedom is won. Thus, thanks to this unity, heroism and togetherness of the Freedmen mentioned in the article, the Village of Pesta was liberated from the Turkish conqueror. 

For those who are not familiar with the area, the historic village of Pesta is located 25 kilometers from the city of Ioannina, on the slopes of Makryvouni, at an altitude of 750 meters and a short distance from Hani Emin Aga, where, after the successful outcome of the Battle of Pesta, on January 15, 1913, the Commander-in-Chief, Crown Prince of the Throne Constantine, established his Headquarters and the capture of Bizani followed, which was the key to the liberation of the city of Ioannina. as well as the entire wider region of Epirus from the Turkish yoke and the surrender of the City by the Turkish Military Commander Essat Pasha to Commander-in-Chief Constantine, on February 21, 1913.

The residents of Peston Village, honoring the Heroes who fought and sacrificed for their liberation, as a sign of gratitude, have established November 29th as Anniversary Day.

Spyridon Moulias

Honorary President of SEKPY

An. Axcos n.a

Diploma M-H Engineering NTUA

                  The Battle of Pest, November 29 and 30, 1912

to Preveza, which they liberated on October 21 and organized as their supply base.

    Fierce fighting followed, during which the Greek divisions occupied the strong location of Pente Pigadia on October 28 and continued towards the plain of Ioannina, where the bulk of the Turkish forces had been concentrated.

    After the Five Wells, the Turks retreated and occupied fortified positions in Pesta.

There, in the battle of Pesti on 29-11-1912, the Sacred Company of Cretan volunteer students will receive its baptism of fire and will be the first to enter the village, under the brave Captain Stavros Rigas. In the battle of Pesti, the volunteer student Apostolos Hazirakis is distinguished for his bravery, as “having found himself face to face with a Turkish officer and almost engaged in a duel, he killed him with his lance, taking his sword and pistol…”, as the newspaper “Anexartos” of 20/1/1913 confirms.     In the battle of Pesti, the Sacred Company of Cretan Students will have its first death, the law student Nikolaos Samaritakis, while the captain of the student company, Stavros Rigas, was also injured "with a penetrating wound on one cheek coming from the lower part of the ear...", as published by "Archoleon" in 1971. The funeral of the heroic deceased took place the next day in the village cemetery, with widespread participation.

Regarding the Sacred Company of volunteer Cretan students, which belonged to the 1st Cretan Battalion of the Independent Cretan Regiment, the sacred company priest Ioannis K. Hatzidakis, and later an agronomist, in his book “Heroon Polemiston” which he published in 1927, gives us a complete and concise picture of the organization and actions of this heroic company.

    "The Cretan Volunteer Battalion was formed by 250 students who, abandoning their desks, immediately rushed, after the declaration of the Balkan Wars, to spontaneously shed their blood as the Hierolochi of 1821, in favor of the liberation of our brothers suffering under the Turkish Yoke.

    They took part from beginning to end in the giant battle of the Continental Struggle, they played a major role in the battle of Pesta, capturing two cannons and being the first to enter Pesta..."

    Another volunteer, Yiagos Tornaritis, from the large island of Cyprus, a warrior on the Epirus front and in the Battle of Pest, in those glorious days of November 1912, gives a shocking testimony.

    "But what shook my soul to the core and made tears flow abundantly was the weak, but piercing voice of an eleven-year-old child, cheering for Hellenism. That resonant wave of childish cheering still echoes in my ears. We moved towards the village of Pesta, but I held tightly by the hand that little Epirus, which in that flood of emotions, symbolized so much in my imagination. When dreams are embodied in tangible reality before the great internal earthquake, the soul itself is displaced..."!

    On one of our visits to Pesta, as guests of Colonel Spyros Moulias, when the conversation turned to the history of his village, he told us:

"The highlight of the history of Pesti is the famous battle, which was recorded as one of the most decisive battles of the war operations in Epirus. Pesti was under Turkish occupation until November 29, 1912. At that time, my grandfather, Spyros Moulias, a young man of 20-22 years old, was already married, they had their first son, Panagiotis, my father, and they also had an infant, a few weeks old, unbaptized. When the Turks had already left, chased by the Evzonians, the infant had to be baptized.     The grandfather, out of enthusiasm and to honor the liberation of his village,

He asked his uncle to give him the name “Eleftherios.” Thus, my grandfather’s second son, my uncle, received the name Eleftherios.

 And continuing, Mr. Moulias mentioned that, on November 29, 1912, when the Cretan volunteers were entering Pesta, then a Pestiote, Mitro-Vlachos, ran with precautions towards Makryvouni. He looked over and happily saw the Evzonos, with their flags on their heads, arriving quickly towards our village.

    He immediately returned to the village, where he met Papa-Georgi.

-Papa-George, quickly ring the bells! The Greek army is coming! The Evzones are coming!

    What happened then is indescribable. The bells began to ring out the joyful message of liberation! Finally, the Fallen were free!

    A folk festival was held in Pesta. It didn't take long for Papa-Georgis, Mitro-Vlachos, my grandfather Spyros Moulias and many other Pestiotes to gather in the square: Theodoros Andrikos, who was the president of the village at the time, Goula-Tasoulas, Elias Flokas, Grigoris Katsanos, Nikolas Katsanos, Grigoris Zisopoulos and many more."

    This is what our friend the Colonel told us at the time, regarding the battle and the liberation of Pest, as his uncle Lefteris Moulias had told him, to whom his father Spyros Moulias had told it, who later lost his life in the Asia Minor campaign in 1922.

At this time, the last ten days of November 1912, the conditions of that struggle had changed significantly, had become more dramatic. Winter was approaching every day and was getting heavier. The Turkish forces of Epirus had been reinforced with new forces from the area of ​​Monastir. Thus, the advance of the Greek army was becoming more and more difficult. In fact, after the victorious battle of Pesti, the opponents were limited to an exchange of fire and a fight between the outposts. At this same time, the last ten days of November, the pressure on the army to seek and achieve, as quickly as possible, the liberation of Epirus, had intensified, even before the conclusion of a peace treaty between the belligerents. The Government itself was pressed for time and it in turn was pressing the army, which it reinforced with the XNUMXnd Division, which it transferred from Thessaloniki.     "In Pesta we found great resistance. A Turk from Arabia with his cannon

killed many of our children, destroyed a field cannon, killing the gunners. There, in the plain of Terrovo, many young men remained. When we arrived at Pesta, we were greeted by an old priest named Papagiorgis, with a stick and a white cloth tied to a flag, shouting: “Long live the Greek Army”!

And this old Papageorgi showed us where the position of Arapis' cannon was, which was installed in the Pesti location "Avlotopos". We managed with great difficulty to approach the gun emplacement, I with two others, and to kill Arapis, who killed so many of our children. After killing Arapis, the Turks fled. The Evzoni, unrestrained, advanced. With great ferocity. A significant advance for the course of the war. Now only Bizani remained, the impregnable Bizani, the mighty fortress. The hardships due to the very harsh winter were devastating, inhuman. "People sleeping for so many years on a bed, sleeping on the icy ground, getting wet, getting up in the snow, not feeling like we have legs in the morning, because they become like crystal. We are rarely allowed to light a fire to warm ourselves, because the Turks immediately beat us. The weapon is always in our hands," recounts Epirus native Konstantinos Tsianos, who had come as a volunteer from America.     He describes the harsh daily conditions of the Evzone soldiers on the front lines.

dramatically with his lyrics, the unknown folk creator.

"You write me a letter and ask me what I'm doing."

In the frost of Bizani, I will die in the cold!

In Pesta and Bizani, my God, how cold it is!

At Pesta in Manoliasa, where we couldn't catch our breath..."!

From the front, Michael Stivaros wrote to his old teacher at Limassol Junior High School: "What I feel these days since I became a soldier, I have never felt before. I feel that my body and my soul have doubled. I am tireless with all the heavy weapons. The Cypriot student group, be assured, will honor both the homeland and the parents and the schools from which we were taught great patriotism..."!      Michael Stivaros took part in the decisive battles of Pest and Aetorahis and, according to the official lists of the Ministry of Military Affairs, he fell heroically in the battles of Bizani on December 5 or, according to other information, on December 16, 1912.     Among those who fell at Pesta was Miltiades Salonikios from Chalkida. In the great battle of Pesta, the priest Ioannis Rovatsos was wounded, while Vasilakis Nikolaos from Kardamyla, Chios, was slightly wounded in the shoulder blade by a shell and was promoted to lieutenant.

The Monument to the Fallen in Pesta