The soldier who was killed in the first minute of the Italian attack

He fell fighting for his homeland, at 5:30 in the morning of October 28, 1940. Hoplite of Boukouvala, George of Demetrios. That morning, he found himself in the trench, in the chapel of Agios Georgios in Aidonochori, Konitsa. He was serving in the conscripted 51st Infantry Regiment.

Μέσα από μαρτυρίες, ακολουθήσαμε μαζί με το Δημήτρη Μαλάμη από το Αηδονοχώρι, τα τελευταία βήματα του ηρωικού οπλίτη, που καταγράφεται ως ένας από τους τρεις πρώτους νεκρούς του μετώπου. Φτάσαμε στο Μπουραζάνι και από εκεί, ακολουθήσαμε έναν δύσκολο χωματόδρομο κα ανεβήκαμε στο ξωκλήσι του Άη -Γιώργη, όπου ήταν τα χαρακώματα. Σήμερα, η πυκνή βλάστηση έχει καλύψει τα λίγα απομεινάρια από τα ορύγματα. Ωστόσο ένα προσκυνητάρι με ένα αναμμένο καντήλι, στο σημείο όπου τραυματίστηκε θανάσιμα ο Γεώργιος Μπουκουβάλας αποδίδει ευγνωμοσύνη και τιμή στους άγνωστους ήρωες του Έπους του 1940.

​14 Ιουλίου 1993: Οι 6 όροι του Κωνσταντίνου Μητσοτάκη προς την Αλβανική Κυβέρνηση

From kastritsa To the front line

His fellow villager, Mr. Savvas Siatras, conveys to us his last words to the village.

"As my mother used to tell me and confess, on October 27, returning from the vineyard with the grapes loaded on the donkey, she met George, he was in a hurry and told him.

"-What's up, George?"

"What will happen to Panagiotis, with the first bang?"

He was going at full speed to his unit. On the border in Konitsa, in Aidonochori. Giorgos Boukouvalas had already been drafted since the summer of 1940 and had taken leave to celebrate his father's Agios Demetrios, but also his one-year wedding anniversary with his wife.

The hoplite's words proved to be prophetic.

On the pre-coverage line in Aidonochori.

Arriving in Konitsa, his position is in the trenches at the chapel of Agios Georgios in Aidonochori. That is where the first Italian shells fell. Giorgos Boukouvalas was mortally wounded. in the trench

The testimony of the elderly Dimitris Bonios, a retired military man, about that morning in Aidonochori is revealing.

«Το ξημέρωμα εκείνο μας βρήκε κάτω από τις Λακιές, το ύψωμα όπου είχε στηθεί γραμμή άμυνας στου στρατού. Κάποιοι από το χωριό μαζί η οικογένεια μου βρεθήκαμε εκεί για προστασία. Βομβάρδιζαν τα ιταλικά κανόνια από το αλβανικό έδαφος. Περνούσαν οι οβίδες πάνω από τα κεφάλια. Φώναζαν όλοι να γίνει συσκότιση στο χωριό για να μην βλέπουν. Σβήστε τους φανούς. Το χωριό οργανώθηκε Η μάνα μου είχε τα ζώα στο δάσος. Πήγαμε σπίτι και πήραμε ό,τι μπορούσαμε για να φύγουμε Δύσκολη πορεία. Στην ανηφόρα του Αη- Λιά πέταξε τον μπόγο που ήταν φορτωμένη. Τον έκρυψε μέσα στο δάσος σε ένα δένδρο. Με 4 παιδιά στα χέρια δεν μπορούσε να περπατήσει. Συνεχίσαμε μέσα από μονοπάτια και την 3η μέρα φτάσαμε στα Ζαγοροχώρια.

"In Dovra, we met the battalion that was in the village. The forces had been ordered to withdraw to the rear of the Katsimitro defensive line."

Hoplite Georgios Boukouvalas was left dead in the trench

The Italian Conqueror entered aidonochori, konitsa, early in The morning.

According to oral testimony from Apostolos Natsis to Georgios Donopoulos, who spoke to APE-MPE, the soldier was hit northwest of the Church of Saint George at the Mega Longos location, in a spot that is now inaccessible.

"The then 10-year-old Apostolos Natsis was coming down from the mountain where he was with other villagers to get some flour and blankets from the house. An Italian soldier, entering the village, met him and said. "There, in the small church, you have a dead one of yours." The boy turned back and found him. Together with his mother, they buried him in the trench. At the spot there is a small shrine. Everyone still lights a candle there today in his memory."

The return to Karitsa

The hoplite of Boukouvala remained buried in Aidonochori for 7 years. For the residents of the village, as they tell us, he was "their own lad."

In 1947 the family transferred his bones to Karitsa.

"The bells rang mournfully all day long. I cannot forget the lamentation and mourning that day," recalls his sister's daughter, Dionysia Tsiouri, who was a little girl at the time.

The hero's father, Dimitrios Boukouvalas, honoring his memory, added an arch to the bell tower of the church in Karitsa.

His niece Dionysia Tsiouris commissioned the sculptor Theodoros Papagiannis to create the bronze statue of the fallen soldier. In 1998, it was placed in Karitsa Square and unveiled with all the honors.

George Boukouvalas was a lawyer and was born in 1906 in Karitsa, Ioannina.

He attended his village school. Despite the difficulties and poverty of his family, he managed to study at the Athens Law School. To make ends meet with his studies, he worked in a technical office in the morning and in a cafe in the afternoon. He practiced his profession at the Zitsa Magistrate's Court. In August 1940, he was drafted due to the events of the period.

Source: Mary Tzora / APE-MPA