page_title: Battle of Meligalas
section_title: Reprisals and executions
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Meligalas / Events in Messenia / Reprisals and executions
caption_attribution_description: English: Greek lawer and Communist Vasilis Bravos. Member of Greek Resistance (1941-1944). During the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), he was captured by monarchists and beheaded.
context_page_description: The Battle of Meligalas took place at Meligalas in Messenia in southwestern Greece, on 13–15 September 1944, between the Greek Resistance forces of the Greek People's Liberation Army and the collaborationist Security Battalions.
  During the Axis occupation of Greece, ELAS partisan forces began operating in the Peloponnese from 1942, and in 1943 began to establish their control over the area. To confront them, the German occupation authorities formed the Security Battalions, which took part not only in anti-guerrilla operations but also in mass reprisals against the local civilian population. With the liberation of Greece drawing near in 1944, the Security Battalions were increasingly targeted by ELAS.
  Following the withdrawal of German forces from the Peloponnese in September 1944, a part of the collaborationist forces in Kalamata withdrew to Meligalas, where a force of about 1,000 Battalionists gathered. There they were quickly surrounded by ELAS detachments, some 1,200 strong. After a three-day battle, the ELAS partisans broke through the fortifications and entered the town.
context_section_description: The end of the battle was followed by the invasion of Meligalas by civilians, and an unchecked plunder and massacre. According to a contemporary report preserved in the archives of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), these were inhabitants of the village of Skala, which had been torched by the German army. Among the captive Battalionists held in the bedesten, Velouchiotis—who arrived at Meligalas shortly after the end of the battle with his personal escort—recognized a gendarme whom he had previously arrested and then released, and ordered his execution. The first reprisal wave, tacitly encouraged by ELAS through the deliberately loose guarding of its captives, was followed by a series of organized executions.
  A partisan court martial was set up in the town, headed by the lawyers Vasilis Bravos and Ioannis Karamouzis. This court summarily condemned not only the c. 60 officers and other leaders of the Battalions—lists with their names had been provided by local EAM cells—but also many others, including for reasons having more to do with personal differences rather than any crime committed. The executions took place at an abandoned well ("πηγάδα") outside the town. According to usual practice, to avoid the executioners being recognized, the executions were carried out by an ELAS detachment from a different area, most likely a squad of 8th Regiment, whose men were from the area of Kosmas and Tsitalia in Arcadia.
  On 17 September, Velouchiotis moved to Kalamata, where Perrotis and other collaborationist officials were also brought. At the central square of the city, the enraged crowd broke the ranks of the ELAS militia and lynched some of the prisoners, while twelve of them were hanged from lampposts.
caption: The lawyer Vasilis Bravos, head of the ELAS court martial that ordered the executions at the well
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