Throughout April and May Australians and Hellenes will again commemorate the Greek campaign of 1941. Services will be held across Australia and Greece, as well as in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This year will see a new addition to these commemorations – the screening of ANZAC The Greek Chapter in Greece.
Readers will be aware of this important new documentary. It tells the story of the ANZACs in the Greek campaign of 1941 in their own words, drawing on an over 130 hour archive of veteran interviews created by Greek campaign historian Dr Peter Ewer. Other archival footage and still photographs have been researched and included in the film, such as the photographs of Victorians Private Syd Grant and Sergeant Alfred Huggins who served in the campaign.
This unique documentary reveals the veterans experiences of the campaign as they traversed over mainland Greece and on to Crete. The film is narrated by journalist and author Barry Cassidy –who will be well known to many readers – whose father served in the campaign.
Funded by the Australian Government and supported by the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee, the film was created for the Committee by Dr Ewer and filmmaker John Irwin assisted by myself as Associate Producer and communications consultant Vicki Kyritsis on behalf of the Committee. The film was launched at the Greek Film Festival in Sydney and Melbourne last year to great praise.
Athens
The screening by invitation at the Athens War Museum is the work of the Australian Embassy in Greece, working in collaboration with the Committee and the Museum itself.
The Australian Ambassador to Greece, Ms Alison Duncan, looked forward to the screening.
“The Embassy is proud to be associated with this commemorative project. Funded by the Australian Government’s Veterans Affairs’ Department, the documentary provides a unique, personal perspective on this enduring connection between Greece and Australia. The screening in Athens will stimulate greater awareness of these linkages and will honour those who served in the campaign and the brave civilians who assisted them”, she said.
The Athens screening will see the return of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee to the prestigious Athens War Museum. In 2015 the Museum’s impressive auditorium played host to a special Anzac Centenary presentation as well as a major display by the Committee of archival photographs vividly depicting Lemnos’ role in the Gallipoli campaign. It was my privilege to curate this display and to deliver this presentation before a packed auditorium which include members of the Hellenic and Australian defence forces, diplomatic corps and the public.
President of the Committee, Lee Tarlamis OAM MP, said that it was great that the Committee’s commemorative work was returning to the Athens War Museum.
“We all have fond memories of the Anzac Centenary event at the Museum in 2015. It is fantastic that our new documentary will be shown in such an appropriate venue. We are very grateful to the Australian Ambassador in Greece, Alison Duncan, for organising and hosting this event”, he said.
This important screening in Greece follows its recent screening in Australia’s national capital, Canberra, at the Hellenic Club.
Kardamyli and Kalamata
The screening in Athens will be followed in May by two further screenings across the Peloponnese – at Kardamyli (12 May 2025) and Kalamata (13 May 2025). That in the former will be held in the grounds of the famous Patrick Leigh Fermor House, the former home of the wartime veteran and philhellene which is now part of the prestigious Benaki Museum of Geece. The venue for the Kalamata screening is being finalised.
These screenings are planned to coincide with two major commemorative events which will see two new Greek campaign commemorative plaques installed, one at Trahila near Kardamyli and the other at Kalamata. The creation of these plaques has been a major project, lasting many years. It was my honour to propose the plaques and to be supported by Melbourne’s Pammessinian Brotherhood Papaflessas in their creation and transportation to Greece. The last few months has seen the local municipalities – of West Mani and Kalamata respectively – finalise arrangements for their installation and unveiling.
The Trahila plaque will commemorate the evacuation by the British Royal Navy of over 200 Allied troops from this and other nearby villages at the end of April following the fall of Kalamata. During their wait for evacuation these Allied soldiers were hidden and given hospitality by the brave local civilian villagers. This represents the last major evacuation of Allied forces from mainland Greece in the campaign. The plaque commemorates both the evacuation and the local assistance received by the evacuees.
The plaque will be installed at the Trahila waterfront in the presence of a number of relatives of the people who assisted these Allied soldiers in their hour of need. Some of Syd Grant’s wartime photographs of Trahila and Kalamata may also be on display. The Australian Ambassador will attend this ceremony.
The Kalamata plaque commemorates the battle of Kalamata Waterfront that took place on 28 April 1941. This saw Allied troops, including Anzac and British troops awaiting evacuation, engage and defeat a German force that had taken control of central harbour front at Kalamata, thereby threatening further evacuation. The bravery shown by the Allied soldiers in this engagement – the last on mainland Greece – would be recognised by a number of military awards for bravery. The main part of the engagement took place on Navarino Street at the Kalamata Waterfront. The plaque will be installed nearby this location and will complement the existing Greek campaign memorial in Kalamata erected at the former railway park through the advocacy of the British Greek Campaign Veterans Brotherhood. The Australian Ambassador will also attend this ceremony.
Steve Gotsis of the Pammessinian Brotherhood Papaflessas said that it was an honour for the Brotherhood in Australia to have assisted in the commemoration of these two important but often overlooked events in the Greek campaign.
“We did so to respect both the Anzacs and other Allied soldiers and the local people who supported these brave soldiers in the final days of the Greek campaign in the mainland. They also honour the role of the Peloponnese region in the campaign. With these plaques – and the screenings – we honour both our Hellenic and Australian heritage”, he said.
The screening of the documentary will take place at Kardamyli and Kalamata, coinciding with these commemorative events. Details of the locations for the screenings are being finalised.
Duncan added that the combination of these unveilings and the screenings reinforces the Australian connection to Greece and will help make more tangible this connection.
“It is fitting that we are honouring the people of the Trahila for their support and the friendship they shared with the Anzacs and other Allied troops during the dark days of the Greek campaign. The plaques will serve as a reminder of the unbreakable bond forged at a time of war”, she said.
It has been my pleasure to build on my experience in Australia to work with organisations in Greece to propose and bring these community screenings to a reality over many months. On a personal level I would like to thank the Australian Ambassador to Greece, Alison Duncan, and her staff, as well as the Municipalities of Kalamata and West Mani and their staff for their commitment and work in organising these screenings and associated commemorative events.
Screenings have already been held in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra – and Adelaide to be held soon – and proposals put forward for community screenings in Canada and the United Kingdom. Discussions on a possible screening in Crete are also underway. The Committee also remains hopeful of broadcast or streaming service screenings in Australia, Greece and elsewhere in the future.
Those seeking more information on the screenings can email – jimclaven@yahoo.com.au
Jim Claven OAM is a trained historian, freelance writer and published author. The Associate Producer of the Anzac The Greek Chapter documentary, Jim is also the author of Grecian Adventure, Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed, From Imbros Over The Sea and a contributor to the Australian Embassy’s publication Mates & Allies. He thanked the Australian Ambassador to Greece Alison Duncan, Peter Patisteas and Steve Gotsis for their support.
