Nikolaos Papadopoulos was born in 1890. He fought in the Balkans and World War I, while he was a company commander in Asia Minor. In 1940, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he commanded the 28th Infantry Regiment. He fled to the Middle East and was appointed deputy commander of the 3rd Mountain Brigade. After the liberation, he was placed in various positions and ended up commander in the Civil War of the glorious 2nd Infantry Division, having a catalytic role in the defeat of the "Democratic Army of Greece" (DSE) in the battle of Florina and then in the final battles of the civil war.
Papadopoulos, the one chosen by "Grandpa's" men, undertook the drafting of a report on the infamous events around and in the city of Kalamata between January 18-22, 1946, i.e. the eve of the official start of the civil war. The political point of view from which he examines the events is a given, but this does not deprive the document in question of historical value. In his report, Papadopoulos also refers to the well-known episode with Evangelos Magganas.
Thus, Grandpa reports:"From January 8th of this year strikes were declared in the city of KALAM by various classes of the local Labor Center, developing into full-time and partial Civil Servants. During the strike, the strikers organize illegal mini-demonstrations shouting "bread and oil for the people" "General amnesty, let the Hittites be dissolved". These actions and events incited nationalism.
"That's how things were in the city of KALAM, when the information was received about the alleged murder of six (6) nationalistic citizens by the communists outside SPARTIS. The above information apparently infuriated the Nationalists, and at 20:00 on the 18th of this month, unknown people probably belonging to the Nationalists approached the local cafe of N. KATSAROS, looking for communists and especially those who had been released from prison, and shooting with automatic weapons. with a weapon they killed the owner of the cafe N. Katsaron and the Agronomist Athanasios Lafazanon and wounded 4 of the other patrons. The Prosecutor's Office of the city immediately began investigations.
"On the following 19th of the current year, as a result of the above events of the Katsaros cafe, the pro-communists gathered in front of the labor center, without permission from the authorities, and marched to the Nomarch in protest. Store, a multi-member committee submitted a protest to the Prefect, I attributed the responsibility of the events of the previous one to the Gendarmerie and the Prosecutor of KALAMON.
"The Prefect and Metropolitan spoke to those gathered in a spirit of appeasement, while on the other hand, members of the inter-party committee of the inter-communist Kalamons spoke in a spirit of exception. After that, the protestors forming a small group surrounded the city, closed the shops and expropriated the national flag they called Hitas. During the events, the law enforcement agencies maintained an effective and pacifying attitude, trying to persuade them to prevent the protesters from using the law.
In the afternoon, the funeral of the two victims took place under the command of the communists in the known provocative manner. And the funeral procession followed the route indicated by the Police, but along the way various actors did not stop throwing inflammatory and provocative slogans such as Revenge "For a hundred, etc."
"All the above actions of the communists enslaved the nationalist faction and gave it the impression that bloody events were imminent, and the nationalist villagers who entered the city of Kalamis to buy food and returned to their villages presented the situation in Kalamis as tragic and very dangerous on the part of the communists. This resulted in the irritation and indignation of the nationalistic villagers who killed outside the village of THOURIA in the evening of the 19th century those who had come from Athens to Kalamas 1) Kakolidi Dion. newspaper agency car attendant, resident of Athens and 2) Dedousin Athan. resident of Kalamon.
"On the morning of the next day, the 20th of the current day, a Sunday, the villagers of the Kalamon region, under the impression that a massacre of the nationalists was being prepared in Kalamas by the communists and pushed out especially by the victims, began to gather in the villages closest to the city of Kalamon with the aim, in principle, to intervene in order to prevent the activities of the self-communists.
Taking advantage of this gathering, the irritation and the excitement of the spirits, the villain Maganas expelled them and they proceeded to the following acts of energy, as follows:
1) A group of them led by Magganan himself, with a force of about 100 men, armed and mostly dressed in military uniforms, went to the detention centers of the 1st Police at around 17:45. Department of Kalamon, where 32 nationals were detained, charged with common crimes, including three arrested as suspects for the tents of the Katsaros cafe, and managed to free them, without the Department's guard reacting to the detention center of that department, apart from the above 18 others (mostly communists) were kept and they were not touched.
2) Other groups, also armed, with a total force of approximately 600 people entered during the early hours of the night in various parts of the suburbs of the city and arrested 36 citizens (men and women) whom they kidnapped and took to the village of Kurt-Chaousi around 8 thousand outside the town of Kalamon. These groups executed on the spot, at the time of the arrests, six (6) citizens, and
3) Another group found at the entrance of the town of Thuria arrested the lawyer Kalamons and KKE executive Korman, who was coming from Athens to Kalamas by car, and executed him on the spot. of various reputations, who numbered 3,000 and entered the city armed, misjudged the situation and limited themselves to guarding the prisons where about 700 elastais were kept and the public offices and shops.
"On the 21st of this year, the Metropolitan of Messinia, accompanied by the Mayor of Kalamon, went to the village of Kurt-Tsousis, where the armed thugs were with the kidnapped citizens, to mediate for the release of the kidnapped, but he returned without result.
"At the 11th hour of that day, the armed men were informed that army units had passed from Tripoli heading to Kalamas and that Armistice had been declared. Law in the Prefectures of Messinia-Lakonia, they hastily left the village of Kurt-Tsaousi after the kidnapped hostages headed for the village of GARDIKI. On the way, six (6) of the hostages who took a detour, either due to ignorance of the itinerary or with the intention of escaping, were shot by the escorts and killed.
"That was the situation when they arrived in Kalamas around 2:00 p.m. that day and took over my duties. They went to the Office of the Directorate of the Land of Kalamon and, being informed of the situation, I immediately called to a meeting with them:Prefect, Prosecutor, Metropolitan, Senior Director of the Land Co-Chief Loukakin, the English Chief Cobble, Police Advisor of the Supreme Directorate of the Peloponnese Land and the Director of the Land of Kalamon Tagrhin Alexiou and after we discussed the situation with them they suggested that it was accepted that before any other action I should seek the release of the kidnapped hostages without a conflict.
"In order to achieve this, I called two nationally-minded citizens and sent them to the armed men with the order to convey to them my order that by 10 o'clock of the following day they should release the abducted persons because otherwise I will pursue them without sparing the lives of the hostages. The following morning, the above mentioned citizens were notified that the abducted persons would be released, and indeed at 10 o'clock on the 22nd, 15 men and 9 women were released, but their return was not noticed by the law enforcement agencies because they entered the city without public road but through roads.
"Since the morning of the 22nd, they had mobilized detachments which were located around the village of Gardiki, ready to move in case the armed men did not keep their promise, and at 11 o'clock, having no information about the release of the abductees, I ordered the detachments to move in pursuit of criminals. At 12 o'clock the English Captain Noble came to my office and begged me to stop the pursuit, because the armed thugs had left some of the hostages (the above mentioned 15 men and 9 women) and would also leave the rest. Following this information, I ordered the detachments to stop, sending Captain Corinan to this end, and around the evening time of the same day, the rest of the abductees, amounting to 46, were released and transported from Thuria to Kalamas by car in the evening time of the same day.
I personally examined one of the hostages and they informed me that, apart from the murder of the six (6) above hostages, which took place under the circumstances, they were also exposed to 5-6 beatings and the rest suffered no other abuse. After that I sent them to the houses of the two cars. After the release of the hostages, I ordered the detachments to move towards finding and arresting the criminals.