The history of the Acqui Kefalonia Division

Kefalonia as well as being a beautiful island from all points of view is also remembered for the terrible massacre of the Acqui Division, an Italian garrison present in the area during the Second World War.

In 1940 Mussolini decided to invade Greece to have influence on the Balkans but with bad results as the Greek army certainly more stubborn and with an excellent knowledge of his land, pushed the Italian army back to Albania. In 1941, however, the German troops had the upper hand over the Greeks, thus forcing them to surrender and submit to the Italo-German occupation.

This task was entrusted to General Antonio Gandin who with the 18th mountain infantry regiment took the garrison in Corfu and with most of the division in Kefalonia with a total of 12,000 men divided among various corps.

The purpose of the settlement was to control access to Patras, the Gulf of Corinth and all strategic points to enter Greece.

The personnel of the Regia Marina was stationed in Paliki with artillery batteries, anti-ships and around the whole coast. Acqui was made up of inexperienced personnel and mostly soldiers recalled to duty who had not fought for years.

Until 1943 the coexistence between Italian soldiers and German soldiers was very quiet until the famous 8 September when the commander Badoglio signed the armistice with England and America, thus dropping the Italian-German alliance.

The Italians were very happy with this truce thinking that the war had almost come to an end but the hostile act by the German to point a cannon at the Patrizia minesweeper forced the general in charge Vecchiarelli to inform Gandin of the incident to immediately take precautions. of the case as the German behavior was a clear beginning of forced disarmament towards the Italians.

The 17th battalion was immediately moved to Argostoli together with three batteries of the 33rd regiment in order to protect the Italian headquarters, as well as an infantry company to guard the crossroads of Kardakata strategic area above the two hills that dominated the east coasts of Kefalonia. At 5 am on 9 September various German platoons from Lixouri tried to pass but the Italian soldiers aimed their weapons at them, preventing him from proceeding and forcing them to turn back. At 10.00 in the morning, however, the order came from the Athens command to hand over collective weapons and all artillery to the Germans.

In the deployment of the Acqui division, the officers did not all agree on this decision as the thoughts were different, some were clearly anti-German, others pro-German. The Greek resistance also increased the doubts through leaflets in which the Italians were exhorted to fight against the Germans with the promise of support from the Hellenes which was not then kept. In the meantime, two officers and Colonel Ottalevi are killed, executed by the Germans for having opposed the order to surrender weapons voluntarily. Both sides were confused, General Gandin was waiting for a clarification with instructions from the Supreme Command and possible reinforcements which did not happen, and the German general Barge who was trying to obtain disarmament without bloodshed but, unfortunately, after a telegram from the Heeresgruppe they began to shoot those who did not want to hand over their weapons.

On 11 September the Germans sent an ultimatum in nine points asking for the total disarmament of the division with the relative delivery of weapons to Argostoli by 12 September at 18.00 with the threat of drastic interventions against those who refused to "surrender". Gandin's response was that he was unable to do what was required within the specified time frame. Having learned of this imposition, the entire Acqui garrison decided to refuse the ultimatum by organizing together with the Greek partisans of the Elas for a plan against the Germans.

On September 13th at 6 am the Germans bombed the Italian steamships that had departed from Patras and two motor boats full of men and vehicles tried to dock at the quay near the command of the German division.General Apollonia then gave the order to hit the two ships by sinking one. The second escape from the danger landed and Barghe contacted the Acqui headquarters for the ceasefire on both sides and promising embarkation for Italy for the soldiers present in Onocefalo. Obviously it was all a lie as Hitler's plan was very different. In the meantime, the Germans tried to lower the Italian flag in Arrostatoli, which they were unable to complete as the Acqui soldiers disarmed them and raised the tricolor again.

The next day, Gandino informed the Germans that after a "referendum" between the Italian forces he had come to the conclusion that he placed little faith in the promises of repatriation and that the division preferred to fight rather than surrender. Unfortunately, the division had not yet been officially informed that they would find themselves alone in this undertaking as for political reasons no help would have been sent.

On 15 September the Germans brought in new troops under the command of Major Harald Von Hireschfeld and with Gandin's decision to abandon the heights of the center of the island, the Italians found themselves in great difficulty. For a whole week the clashes were very hard until some campaign batteries were abandoned as the ammunition ran out.

On September 22nd Gandin surrendered by waving the white tablecloth where the commanders usually ate, hoisting it on the balcony of the Tactical command.

Hitler outraged by the Italian resistance, despite the surrender ordered that all Italian soldiers be considered traitors and that they were to be shot without distinction. Thus began the roundups throughout the island with the consequence of the killing of the soldiers. Famous became a villa called the Red House where 129 officers were executed. The figures for this massacre are appalling, about 7,000 soldiers and about 2,000 dead at sea. The Germans tried to cover up the atrocity by burning the bodies and throwing the remains into the Ionian Sea.

A terrible historical episode, which still has not had the deserved justice but which Kefalonia wanted to honor with a Memorial dedicated to the Acqui Division in the southwestern part of the island on the hill of San Teodoro.