The Massacre of the Italian Acqui Division on Cefalonia in 1943
The Massacre of the Acqui Division, also known as the Cephalonia Massacre, was the mass execution of the men of the Italian 33rd Acqui Infantry Division by the Germans on the island of Cephalonia, Greece, in September 1943.
The Massacre of the Acqui Division
The Massacre of the Acqui Division, also known as the Cephalonia Massacre, was the mass execution of the men of the Italian 33rd Acqui Infantry Division by the Germans on the island of Cephalonia
Massacre of the Acqui Division
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Massacre of the Acqui Division
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CRHnews - Stravros Fawlty sorts out Hotel Appocalypso
Despite the spartan conditons our Cephalonia holiday villas gave us superb hilltop panoramic views of the bustling port of Argostolio.
Each evening we sat on our balcony and watched a shimmering blood red or orange sun dip behind the hills towering over Lixuri across the bay.
But this was not the holiday accomodation we had originally booked up with cut price Sky Travel back in 2003.
Sky Travel, who didn't do brochures, had told us to pop into Thomas Cook and pick up a Greek Island holiday brochure in order to take a look at our chosen hotel on Kefalonia and then give them the green light to book it .
But the gleaming Hotel Apollopse we saw in the brochure bore no resemblance to the higgledy piggledy collection of fawlty villas that confronted us and other holidaymakers as we decamped from the airport coach.
There wasn't even a sign at the entrance to identify the place, which in Greek was probably known to locals as ελαττωματικό πύργους and were in fact the similarly named Apocalpse Apartments.
Inside our shabby shack we were horrified to discover that not only wasn't this the hotel we had booked, the toilet, kitchen,or floors had not been properly cleaned.
With a little bit of holiday Greek and British Sign Language we asked Manual the Albanian gardener where the manager was as we would all like a friendly little chat with him.
Manual shrugged his shoulders and replied Unë e di asgjë
But he did very kindly find some hedge clippers and cut back the massive bush that had blocked the view from our balcony - suddenly we had a magnificent view that made us decide to stay on regardless.
The next morning we tackled the holiday reps who said they would contact the owner, one Aristotle Economedis, and promised that somebody back in the UK would be shot for the mixup.
Mr Economedis arrived the next day (that's him with his staff sheltering from the midday sun) and began flapping around apologetically, but I could not resist playing a small part in this unfolding Greek drama.
I decided to pretend to an angry Geordie couple that I was not a holiday Brit, but indeed one Stavros Fawlty, the Apocolyptic's manager, able to carry out minor repairs having been fully trained to Watchdog level.
The grateful pair were completely taken in, I think, and told the other guests about my DIY skills and soon I was fixing cupboards, toilet doors and blinds with some tools I found in a shed.
One night I awoke with a start, looked through the shutters and saw a giant rat sitting on our balcony table eating the pistachios, if you please.
Still, every Aegean cloud has its silver lining.
The smart villas pictured in the brochure that we should have stayed did not afford the wonderful views we enjoyed, and probably had a rat or two.
Kefalonia or Cephalonia is a shimmering jewel in the Hellenic crown, it isn't barren thanks to its many springs, and its people are typically warm and friendly, especially if you make the effort to string together a few words, even 'kalimera' (good morning) and 'kalinikta' (good night), raise a cheery reposte.
Thanks to my DIY efforts a grateful Mr Economeedis offered to put us up at one of his three other holiday homes the following summer, gratis.
We said we would let him know, in our best English.
What was sobering and shocking, in start contrast to our bit of fun, was walking down a sunny lane during a lovely stroll around the headland and seeing a Memorial Stone that told of the cold blooded murder and burial of 136 Italian officers, by the Gestapo, because they dared to swap sides and protect the Cephalonians.
The Massacre of the Acqui Division (Italian: il massacro della divisione Acqui; Greek: Η Σφαγή της Μεραρχίας Άκουι, Hi Sfagi tis Merarchias Akoui), also known as the Cephalonia Massacre (Italian: Eccidio di Cefalonia, German: Massaker auf Kefalonia), was the mass execution of the men of the Italian 33rd Acqui Infantry Division by the Germans on the island of Kefalonia, Greece, in September 1943, following the Italian armistice during the Second World War
About 5,000 soldiers were machine gunned and others drowned or were otherwise murdered - their heroism and slaughter was made famous by the novel and movie, Captain Corelli's Mandolin.