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groups of ten in front of their relatives. On the same
day and during similar operations, 12 and 25 civilians
were respectively executed in the nearby villages of
Ayia and Kyrtomado.
Two months after the first executions, the Germans
gathered 118 civilians at a bridge over the Keritis River
near Alikianou and shot them after forcing them to dig
their own graves. Twelve of those killed were from Alikianou, whereas the rest came from the nearby villages
of Fournes, Skines, Vatolakos, Koufo, Prases, Karanou,
Lakkoi, Orthouni, Nea Roumata and Hosti.”1
The father of Sergeant Peroulakis’ wife Argyro, George
Varypatakis, as well as his brother John Varypatakis,
were among those murdered by the Germans on August
1, 1941. They were both in their 60s, and were rounded
up by the Germans at gunpoint with other doomed villagers at the Saints Peter and Paul Church at Vatolakos,
loaded into the back of a truck and taken to Alikianou
to their doom. Peroulovaggelis’ cousin Stylianos Peroulakis, age 51, was also among the doomed.
Nikos Peroulakis, then a young boy, recalls his Uncle
pr
kis and the Greek soldiers endured frostbite, ragged
clothing, wounds and meager supplies. In spite of these
conditions, the Greeks inflicted blow after blow on the
invading Italian fascists and won the very first victory
of World War II for the Allies against the fascist Axis
powers.
Vaggeli Peroulakis was severely ݽչ