Of great importance, not only for the history of the Evelpidon Military School (SSE), but also of the Greek Army, was the voluntary participation of the first in military operations. It was about 300 first-year Ewelpides together with their Officers, who, after crossing the Peloponnese by road, managed to get on board from Gythio in boats and set sail for Crete. On April 29, 1941, after many difficulties, the Evelpides arrived in Kolymbari, Chania.
Source:Memories of a Hope (1940-1944), Hyptgou e.a. Georgiou Berdeklis
The news that the Evelpid School had left for Crete caused a sensation. The German-controlled Athens radio station, in its attempt to misinform, broadcast continuous reports that the School was completely destroyed by German forces. Of course, despite the bombing of a small part of Evelpida, the news was completely false and misleading. The bold action of the young Euelpidians to voluntarily go to Crete to continue the fight against the invaders was favorably commented on by foreign radio stations:
"300 Euelpides and their officers came to reinforce the fighters of Crete, who after a glorious march through the Peloponnese and in spite of the Germans, who sought (without succeeding) their destruction, from today occupy a position in the ramparts of Fortress of Crete". [R/F London BBC Station:Broadcast of 30 April 1941 (09:15)]
"The soul of the heroes of ancient Greece was not missing from the modern Greeks either. After Albania and the fortresses, Crete will give the last blow to Hitler's Nazis. Her lads, those who arrive daily from Greece to Crete, will fight decisively if Hitler dares to strike there... 300 Euelpides crossed from Greece to Crete with the decision to sacrifice themselves, but not to let the enemy pass through the stern free land". [R/F Moscow Station:Broadcast of May 2, 1941 (10:20 a.m.)]
"The heroes of Thermopylae, Marathon and Salamis could not remain today without imitative, worthy descendants. The example of the 300 Euelpids, who, despite the reaction of their administration, left like birds from their cage, together with their glorious flag for Crete and have now definitely arrived there to contribute with their forces to the defense of the island, will surely convince Hitler, that if he ever ventures there, his hordes will be crushed, just like Xerxes's, by the inexorable power of the younger Greeks.
"Because like the indomitable 300 Euelpides, it has many, the fortress of Crete has thousands, young, old, women, children, a whole myriad, who will prove, just like to his gangster partner in the mountains of Epirus and to him yesterday in its fortresses Macedonia, that the new Greeks know the same, as their ancient ancestors, to create Marathons, Salamis, Plataea for the barbarian raiders".
D. Kaklamanos (Ambassador of Greece in London) Radio comment of May 1, 1941 (21:15)
Upon its arrival in Megalonisos, the School was directly subordinated to the Ministry of Military Affairs in Chania. After it was formed into a Battalion of two (2) Companies, it immediately began intensive training which was to last until May 20, 1941, where the swearing-in ceremony would take place and the Euelpides would receive their marching papers to be distributed numerically to the Infantry Regiments of Crete. The duties of the Commandant of the School had been assumed from May 2, 1941, by Infantry Lieutenant Colonel Kitsos Loukas.
From the morning of May 20 – the day of the scheduled swearing-in of the first-year students, which ultimately due to the development of events did not take place, and after a heavy bombardment, German paratroopers of the units of the 7th Airborne Division began to drop in the areas of Maleme Airport, Chania , Rethymno and Heraklion. The Evelpides faced the airborne offensive of the enemy with calmness and immediately moved towards their defensive installation, in the area between the Monastery of Gonia and the town of Kolymbari, on the Rhodope Peninsula.
While the German parachute drops continued in the Maleme area, a company reinforced with heavy weapons moved towards Kolymbari to cover the flanks of the German divisions on the airfield and on the vital Hill 107. As a consequence, the enemy company, soon, came into contact with the defending 1st Company of the School on the heights of Moni Gonia, and essentially it was then that the young Evelpides received their "baptism of fire", facing with vigor, courage and determination the first attacks of the Germans.
Worthy of mention is the heroic effort of Evelpidos Iis Petros Kostopoulos, who lowered the Hitlerian flag from a position and, fighting bravely, neutralized four German paratroopers who tried to raise it again. The dangerous cordon of the Germans around the defensive arrangement of the Euelpids made it completely impossible for the latter to remain in their initial positions, as in the absence of ammunition, their extermination or capture was more than certain. Thus, it was decided to withdraw the School and move southward at night under the cover of darkness. On the evening of May 20, the quiet retreat through German-held areas began. After a long march, the Evelpides reached the village of Deliana, where they established themselves defensively.
Source:Memories of a Hope (1940-1944), Hyptgou e.a. Georgiou Berdeklis
After the capture of Chania, the Ewelpid Battalion moved to the White Mountains in the hope of escaping to the Middle East and continuing the fight from there. His dangerous journey through the steep crossings of the White Mountains lasted eight days following the general route:Deliana – Kakopetros – Sembronas – Hosti – Meskla – Lakkoi – Therisos – Drakona – Ramni. From there, after receiving a relevant order, the School moved towards Sfakia.
Source:The Euelpides in the Battle of Crete, Z. Simandirakis
In a parking lot before the Sfakias, the commander of the School gathered the Evelpides and said to them:"Hope of the Nation, you looked towards the freedom of our tribe. You have faith in her. The 29th of May, a day of remembrance for the second time, decides the fate of our Motherland. Hopes of the Nation, on this day, dissolve in the cornerstone of Greece, the Sfakia of Crete, of our no longer existing free country. You are the only Greek organized armed Department. It was your lot to claim our freedom to the last speck of Greek land. I wish you to be the liberators of the Motherland. Mr. Deputy Commander will give you instructions right away. Hopes of the Nation. Caution. You looked towards the freedom of the Motherland. You are free to go. Mars!!” From that moment the School was dissolved.
The Euelpides. after hiding the School's flag in a safe place, they left, dispersing in the wider area of Embros Nero - Askifou. After a last-ditch effort to board several Evelpids on British warships, only twelve led by Second Lieutenant (PZ) Konstantinos Prassas managed to escape to the Middle East. The rest dispersed in groups and wandered for several days in Crete. Many were arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in concentration camps of Maleme, Aghii Apostoloi and Souda Chania, and Rethymnon.
The Euelpides, loyal to the long-standing traditions of the Nation, did not stand as mute spectators. From the beginning, they too, together with the Greek people, straightened their youthful stature with one and only purpose:the continuous and merciless struggle against the conquerors for the liberation of the enslaved homeland, either by fighting through the lines of the national resistance, or by fighting with the units of the new Greek Army of the Middle East in North Africa, Italy and the islands of the Aegean Sea.
In conclusion, about the battle of Crete, we could say the following:the gaps in the defense organization of the island which was the sole responsibility of the British, the absence of the men of the 6th Division of Crete - the natural defender of the island, which was blocked in the mainland Greece-, the complete lack of organization and equipment of the militia, the absolute aerial dominance of the Germans, and the lack of communications from the Allied side, were what tipped the scales in favor of the Nazi troops.
However, despite its negative outcome, the Battle of Crete managed a powerful blow to the German military machine. The elite corps of paratroopers, which, until then, had achieved important feats at little cost, having been surprised by the resistance shown by the people of Crete, experienced losses far greater than expected. Crete became "the grave of the German paratroopers", as the Commander of the XI German Air Corps, Lieutenant General Student, was also forced to confess, and the reason for their subsequent decommissioning. Since then and despite the needs that arose, the Germans did not make large-scale use of paratroopers and airborne troops.
The Battle of Crete destroyed one of Hitler's most valuable weapons, shattered the myth of the invincibility of the Axis Powers and contributed significantly to the upheaval of Germany's strategic plans. The historical reality of the participation of the Euelpids in the Battle of Crete is reflected through personal testimonies, as they are recorded in the book of the Army History Directorate "Memories of War":
Chersonissos Rhodope Chania, May 20, 1941. Dimitrios Provatas Narration
In the afternoon, the pressure of the Germans on the SSE Division was strong, they sought to unite with the paratroopers who had landed in the rear of the division in the area of Kastelli Kissamos.
At that time, the snipers of the Rhodope Peninsula slipped with wonderful fluency, from routes that only they knew, in the rear of the Germans, and the results were not long in coming.
By nightfall, the German pressure against the SSE Division, which had reached the point of breaking, slowly began to subside, which allowed the Division to withdraw during the night hours of 20/21 May 1941 from the Rhodope Peninsula and to settle defensively in Deliana after succeeding, throughout the 20th of May, in preventing the gathering of the German paratroopers in the Tavronitis and Kastelli areas, as well as the expansion of the airlift, the main objective of the first day of operations.
Kostas N. Hadjipatera - Marias S. Fafaliou, Days of Crete 1941 "Operation Mercury", EFSTATHIADIS GROUP S.A., Athens 1992, p. 112.
Chania area, May 22, 1941. From Takis Akrita's book Flaming Skies – German parachutes in Crete
Anth/stis - Evelpis II Piperis, was killed in a raid in front of the Agiya Prisons. His tragic death always brings tears to the eyes of those who hear about it. Think, slowly save your being, yourself. To feel that the precious fluid of your life, your blood that sustains you, is flowing, that it is leaving, that it is being lost, and with despair you cannot react. Just like that, in this tragic way, how many young men perished with the complete lack of wounded bearers in the battle and in general with the lack of any hospital and medical treatment!!... Not even first aid could be offered to these unfortunates.
"It was impossible to do anything under the heavy bombardment and shelling of the airplanes which, as if furious, for hours spewed people, iron and fire over our heads!! In Galata, those who buried Piperis told me the following touching story:They found, they say, in his wooded hands a card (a kind of business card), written with a thin piece of wood and with his blood! (what macabre ink!) which read:"I'm bleeding to death!.. Go to the street (so and so in Chania). Please them to send my things home... And tell them that I died for the Motherland... In Crete...".
Georgiou P. Berdeklis, Memories of an optimist (1940-1944), Papazisi publications, Athens 1995, p. 109.
Rodopos, Chania, May 20, 1941. Excerpt from a letter of Evelpidos I Class Dimitris A. Papadimitriou
When I came to, I was lying on a sofa in a poor country house, with my wound already bandaged. In front of me stood an old man, an old woman with her eyes puffy and my colleague. This one was wearing my bloody shirt and smiling at me. He bent down, kissed me and hurried to continue the battle.
Georgiou P. Berdeklis, Memories of an optimist (1940-1944), p. 82.
FALLEN EUELPIDES IN THE BATTLE OF CRETE
1. III (Anthstis) Piperis Michael
2. III (Senior) Moralis Georgios
3. III (Anthstis) Karampatis Ioannis
4. ΕΙΙ (Anthstis) Koutsias Dimitrios
5. III (Anthstis) Papageorgiou Antonios
6. III (Anthstis) Papapanagiotou Ioannis
7. III (Anthstis) Katsoulakos Dimitrios
8. III Miaoulis Nikolaos
9. III Kouvelidis Georgios
