A. There was perhaps the possibility, as I heard afterwards it didn't take place. The possibility did not exist that all the men of the village would be shot, but that some of them would be recognized as guilty and would have to atone with their lives. That is, those who had, themselves, killed people.
Q. And at the time you made that proposal to the partisan, did you also believe that there was a danger that the village would be burned down?
A. At least some houses.
Q. Did you mention only some houses when you spoke to him or did you use the word "village?"
A. Mr. Prosecutor, in such a situation, mental excitement in which one was at the time, one does not weigh my words and it is impossible for me after such a long time to remember exactly one single word.
Q. You also said that you proposed that 40 hostages would be released from the hostage camp if you and your comrades were set free. Did you know about hostage camps?
A. I in my capacity as divisional chaplain, I had nothing to do with hostage camps. It did not belong to my sphere of tasks.
Q. You knew that they existed, though, did you not?
A. I did not know whether hostage camps existed.
Q. Did you know of a hostage camp, singular?
A. I knew that in Tripolis hostages were kept in a camp.
Q. How big was the camp?
A. I don't know. I could only again make a statement of what I perhaps assume but not facts. I don't know.
Q. You never saw the camp yourself?
A. I was never in this camp. I was never allowed to visit such a camp.
Q. Who prevented you from visiting that camp?
A. It did not belong to my tasks as divisional chaplain and the troops did not want me to overstep the limits of my sphere of duties, and to get mixed up in affairs which did not belong to my own tasks.
Q. And you mention the figure of 40 hostages when you were negotiating with the partisan. Why did you mention that number rather than tel or one or one hundred?
A. It was quite arbitrary. I just picked it out by chance, and not from any particular reason.
Q. Well, you said that you would try to have 40 hostages released from the hostage camp if the partisans would free you. You didn't know whether or not there were any members of that particular village held in the hostage camp at Tripolis at the time you made your proposal, did you?
A. They did not have to be inhabitants of the village but other hostages. The partisans were interested in other hostages who were somehow captured were released again.
Q. Were hostages who did not live in the village from which the attack came likely to be executed in reprisal for that attack?
A. Mr. Prosecutor, I was not present one single time at a single "so-called" reprisal measure or at any shooting of hostages. I don't know.
Q. How did you know at the time you made the proposal that the partisans would probably be very much interested in securing hostages, securing the release of hostages from that camp whether or not they were hostages from that particular village from which the attack came?
A. My intention was to attract the partisans by the most favorable proposal possible and to prepare an advantageous basis for a negotiation with them.
Q. Was it common knowledge among the staff of the 117th Division that there was a hostage quota which was used in case of reprisal measures for attacks upon German troops?
DR. MUELLER-TURGOW: I object to this question. The witness cannot know whether it was generally known in the staff or not.
THE PRESIDENT: Sustained.
BY MR. FENSTERMACHER:
Q. Did you ever hear, Chaplain, about the execution of hostages at given ratios in reprisal for each German wounded, I mean or killed?
A. I knew that there was a Fuehrer Order which decreed the ratio of one to fifty but I don't know of one single case in which this ratio was actually adhered to. On the contrary, it seems to me as if where reprisal measures were carried out, not even half of the ratio ordered was carried out.
Q. That 50 to one order in the hands of the division-
THE PRESIDENT: Pardon me, sir. Is the subject of a matter which was considered in direct examination?
MR. FENSTERMACHER: Perhaps it was not, your Honor, I will discontinue.
BY MR. FENSTERMACHER:
Q. Chaplain, you said that when your convoy reached the village from which the attack upon the convoy came, that the village was deserted and that you saw no men around. How large a village was it? Were there many houses? Could you approximate the number of inhabitants perhaps?
A. I can only give an approximate estimate. Perhaps there were one hundred to two hundred families living in this village. At any rate, not more.
Q. Was there no one on the streets at the time the convoy passed through?
A. Nobody.
Q. Was the convoy on a reprisal mission?
A. No.
Q. You said the civilians ran away when the convoy approached. Is that why you called them "suspicious?"
A. Not when the convoy approached the village. We didn't see anybody in the village at all. It was at the exit of the village and outside the village and into the mountains that the civilians disappeared.
Q. From your experience, was it usual for civilians, Greek civ ilians because to the civilians this was the safest means of travel and transport.
In the convoy in which I was traveling, there were also civilians, a Greek civilian, a merchant from Tripolis. He had been detained by the partisans for many months simply because he had dared to use a German convoy. In the same convoy there was also a woman, and children.
Q. Excuse me. Chaplain, I think we'd better not go into that particular incident. Let me ask you whether you considered the civilians who ran away "band suspects."
A. Certainly?
Q. You considered them suspects because they ran away at the approach of your convoy?
A. They were certainly the same partisans who had already lain in their prepared ambush and were waiting for the convoy. These partisans sent out reconnaissance patrols to find out when and where the convoy was coming.
Q. I don't believe you have quite answered my question. Did you consider the civilians whom you saw run away band suspects for that reason--that is because they had run away at your approach?
A. Yes, certainly.
Q. The partisans who captured you, you stated, wore no uniform insignia. Did they wear any insignia at all that you could observe?
A. I can't remember that they wore any kind of insignia. In the main, I had to deal with men who were clothed in dirty town civilian clothes. Only the so-called officers were better dressed.
Q. Didn't all the men wear Soviet stars?
A. Now and again, I noticed this among some of the soldiers.
Q. Did they wear-
A. I remember that one partisan had a Soviet star painted on his rifle.
Q. Did they wear arm bands?
A. No.
Q. In the course of your conversations with these Partisans did they make any references to belonging to a company or regiment of Partisans?
A. I don't remember this and if this had been the case then they probably wouldn't have made any such statements as this to prisoners.
Q. Now, you also referred to other Partisans who were called officers, is that right?
A. I mostly found that out afterwards. Often the man who questioned me or with whom I had something to do - I discovered that he was an officer and I found out later on that he was rather better dressed than the others. Mostly he wore boots, while the others had no shoes at all.
Q. Did he tell you what rank he was?
Q. Well, now and again one of them told me that he had some kind of military rank, but whether that was true, of course I couldn't check.
Q. Did you hear any of the Partisans refer to other Partisans as captain or colonel?
A. Well, captains or, as the Greeks said, capitanos -- these were designations for all those people who were, to them, officers. They spoke about the great capitanos and the small capitanos. Probably these ranks were rather vague and unclear to them.
Q. How many Partisans were there in the group that captured you?
A. The question is rather difficult to answer, Mr. Prosecutor. I can only estimate how large the groups were on the strength of their fire, but I can't say with certainty. I only had to do with those few who took me away afterwards. The statements of the Partisans themselves were very contradictory.
Q. How many Partisans were there when you were captured? How many did you see yourself?
A. About thirty to, at the most, 50, but the figure is only approximate.
Q. You couldn't tell, could you, whether or not the civilians who had run away at the approach of the convoy had also participated in the attack?
You couldn't know that?
A. No, I can't prove that, but I don't know what else they were doing. They certainly weren't going for a walk.
Q. You didn't see then firing though, did you?
A. During the firing one saw nobody at all. The Partisans were all ready in very well prepared ambushes and we were the only ones who weren't well hidden. We were the ones who had been surprised, and who had no cover.
Q. Chaplain, in the course of your conversations with the Partisans who captured you, did you speak Greek?
A. Yes, as well as I could. I know ancient Greek and my knowledge of ancient Greek helped me very much.
Q. Did the Partisans say anything about why they had attacked your convey?
A. They said nothing at all about it. They didn't need to say anything about it. It was quite clear that the main motive - or one of the main motives - was to plunder. They knew exactly that hero comes a convoy which brings supplies and food to the troops and that this attack would be worthwhile. The civilian population of Chora took part very zealously in the plundering of the convoy and they fought with the Partisans about the spoils.
Q. Your's was a convoy that was taking food and ammunition to other troops?
A. I know mainly that tho convoy carried food. Whether and how much munitions was also there I really don't know.
Q. You said in the course of your conversations with the Partisans one of the Partisans had mentioned that a relative of his had been shot. Did any of the other Partisans comment to you about things which the German troops had done either to them or to their relatives?
DR. MUELLER-TORGOW: I object to this question. As far as I remember, the witness didn't say anything about it.
MR. FENSTERMACHER: If Your Honor please, the witness can take care of himself in this regard. If he didn't mention it, he can certainly say so.
THE PRESIDENT: I believe it was the subject of direct examination. The objection will be overruled.
BY MR. FENSTERMACHER:
Q. Do you remember the question?
A. Mr. Prosecutor, the Partisan crowds consisted, for the most part, as far as my observations went, of people eager to plunder, of youths who were seeking adventure.
Q. I'm afraid that isn't quite responsive to my question. Do you recall the question or would you like me to repeat it?
A. I remember the question. I just wanted to answer you. You interrupted me.
For the main part, the Partisan bands were composed of the people I have just mentioned. By far the lesser part of the bands were composed of people who participated out of revenge because their houses had been set on fire during reprisal measures or they had been personally hit by some kind of reprisal measures, but this was the very smallest part of the Partisan bands. The majority were people eager to rob and out for adventure. Mostly youths. I myself have often seen 14 year old boys going around with rifles and even women, and women who took part in shooting and often took part in the raids.
Q. Chaplain, my question to you was, during the course of your confinement by the Partisans, whether any of them spoke to you about themselves or their relatives having been injured by the Germans? Was that the subject of your conversations with any of the Partisans?
A. Not very often. Now and again such a conversation took place, but very infrequently. In general.....
THE PRESIDENT: Pardon me just a minute. The matter which was gone into on direct examination, as I remember it, referred to a particular statement which, if I remember, was made by certain Partisans to this witness.
Now, let's limit out examination to that phase of it.
BY MR. FENSTERMACHER:
Q. Chaplain, you testified also during the course of your march from the place where you were captured to another place that you had been beaten by the Partisans. Was that because you had tried to escape?
A. No, I was beaten at the time of the first transport, quite near to Chora.
Q. Were you beaten too badly to continue marching?
A. No, but so much that for several weeks I suffered a very deep bad septic wound.
Q. You also testified that you had never been given any blankets during the several days of your march. What was the climate like in July in that area of Greece? Did you need blankets?
A. During the march by day through the mountains we were almost completely naked and exposed to the burning sun. Our backs hurt so much that we could scarcely go on. The nights, on the other hand, were just as cold as the days were hot and, in addition, because of our sun burnt backs we could scarcely lie.
Q. Then you talked about arriving at the destination of your march and seeing a man in a British uniform. Were there other persons there also in British uniform?
A. Now and again, but mostly there were the so-called Partisan officers.
Q. Were they dressed in khaki uniforms?
A. Not all the Partisan officers wore English uniforms, but amongst them there were also many who wore a very different kind of clothing but there was one amongst them who had such clothing and it was mostly,--not always but mostly,--one of the so-called officers.
Q. Did you see the Soviet Star on the uniforms of those persons there?
A. Now and again I saw the Soviet Star, but not always.
Q. Your commander, General von Le Suire -- do you happen to know whether or not he was ever promoted from a divisional commander to a higher post?
DR. MUELLER-TORGOW: I object, Your Honor. This question was not a subject of direct examination.
THE PRESIDENT: Sustained.
BY MR. FENSTERMACHER:
Q. The four prisoners who were with you during your confinement by the bands - are they all still alive today?
A. I am convinced that out of the twenty-two prisoners......
Q Excuse me, Chaplain. Would you answer my question? I spoke particularly about four prisoners who you testified were with you one time and then again at another.
AAmongst the four prisoners at the beginning there was a Master Sergeant - I don't remember his name. He had a very serious thigh wound and when we were transported away through the mountains, he collapsed. Then he was put onto a mule, a Partisan remained behind with him a little, and we heard shooting from a machine gun and I didn't see him again. What happened to the other three I don't know.
Q How many prisoners were there with you when you were transferred from, I believe you said Kalamata, to Athens?
AAt the same time, 150 Italian Partisans who were to be sent back home were handed over and, in addition, in Kalamata there were nine to ten German prisoners including myself- I think 10. Later on, during the journey through Tripolis and Corinth a few more German prisoners were added, so that altogether, when we arrived in Athens, we were probably about 15 to 16.
Q Of your comrades who were captured along with you on the day of this attack, how many are still alive today, if you know?
A I can be certain about three - probably five, but certainly three.
Q Excuse me, Chaplain. That will be all.
No further questions, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: May I inquire of the witness, of the twenty-three or twenty-two captives, how many of those twenty-two or twenty-three were with you when you went back to Athens?
THE WITNESS: Including myself, five.
THE PRESIDENT: That's all.
Any further questions from defense counsel.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY DR. MUELLER-TORGOW:
Q Witness, you have told us about one attack on the Peloponnes. Did you yourself experience all the other attacks in Greece?
A No.
Q Then how do you know that, in the most cases of these attacks, reprisal measures were taken?
A I only know this from hearsay, not for certain.
Q Thank you very much. I have no further questions.
THE PRESIDENT: I take it there's no further questioning by either defense counsel or the prosecution. That being true, the witness, subject to questioning by members of the Tribunal..... Judge Carter?
(None indicated)
JUDGE BURKE: I have no questions.
THE PRESIDENT: The witness may be excused.
DR. MUELLER-TORGOW: Your Honor, I would now like to present my last witness and, with the permission of the Tribunal, I call Professor Dr. Stadtmueller to the witness stand.
GEORG STADTMUELLER, a witness, took the stand and testified as follows:
THE PRESIDENT: The witness will raise his right hand and be sworn.
I swear by God, the Almighty and Omniscient, that I will speak the pure truth and will withhold and add nothing.
(The witness repeated the oath.)
You may be seated.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY DR. MUELLER-TORGOW:
Q Witness, would you please state your full name?
A Georg Stadtmueller.
Q When and where were you born?
A On the 17th of March, 1909, in Burstadt in Hesse.
Q What is your profession?
A I am a university professor.
Q Where are you living at the moment?
A I am now living in Scheuern near Munich.
Q What is your sphere as a university professor?
A Since late autumn 1938 I was professor of Balkan history at the University of Leipzig, the only one of this kind in Germany.
Q Professor, would you please - I think this would be rather good for your legitimation - would you please state, as briefly as possible, your training?
A It was the usual one. After humanistic high school, I studied for four and one-half years at the Universities of Freiburg and Munich. I mainly studied history and comparative languages, particularly Balkan languages. Since 1928 I was very interested in Balkan history and geography and specialized in this. The external dates of my academic career are the usual ones. I took my referandar examination, my doctor's examination, my assessor examination. I had a position as assistant in a historical seminary and then I became a lecturer and then a professor,
Q And even before the war, did you travel to the Balkans and especially to Greece for scientific purposes?
A Before this war I made a few extensive journeys and stayed in certain places for the purpose of studying various countries in SouthEastern Europe, especially in the Southern Balkans, Albania, Greece, Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Q When and how long each time were you in Greece?
A Here I would only like to state my longer stays. In 1932.....
Q How long?
AAbout two, three to four months. 1934, 1936 and 1938. Then, in 1943, I went again to Greece in the service of the army.
Q And were you also active as a writer in that sphere in which you specialized?
A Well, to this I can only say that this is the only sphere in which I have done any scientific work at all. I published about this four independent books and some twenty special investigations in journals.
Q Professor, then you were drafted into the army in the last war, were you?
A First of all, in 1940, I was drafted for military basic training for four months and then I was given leave again in order to continue my teaching activity at the university. In May 1943, I was again drafted as an interpreter for Greek and Bulgarian.
Q Might I interrupt here? How many languages do you speak?
A Well, of course, this is rather a problematical question. It depends on what you mean by "speak".
Q I mean so that you can make yourself understood.
A So that I can read a scientific book without a dictionary?
Q No, so that you can make yourself understood.
A So that I can read a scientific book without a dictionary, all the languages of South-Eastern Europe, with the exception of Turkish.
Q And which languages are these?
A That is Czech, Hungarian, Roumanian, Serbo-Croat - of course, that's only one language - Bulgarian, Greek, and a little Albanian.
Q And then you spoke Modern Greek?
A Yes, Modern Greek.
Q And then when did you come to Greece, witness?
A I arrived in Athens on 18 June 1943 and reported at 1200 hours of the following day to General Felmy in the headquarters in Megalopefke.
Q Where is that?
A That is on the road from Megara to Athens, about seven kilometers east of Megara.
Q Witness, would you please show us where that is on the map?
A It is here opposite Salamis.
Q And then did you meet General Felmy for the first time?
A Yes, at that time I saw General Felmy for the very first time.
Q And what sphere of tasks was then alloted to you in the staff of the LXVIII Corps?
A I arrived as a Greek interpreter and then General Felmy kept me as his personal interpreter.
Q And on what occasion did you interpret?
A In the three and one half months when we were on the Peloponnes, I accompanied General Felmy daily on his inspection trips and interpreted the necessary discussions and conversations. In addition to the Greek at that time were the Italian conferences with the Italian commanders. This was before the Badoglio capitulation.
Q And to which detachment of the Corps staff did you formally belong?
A I belonged to the Ic department.
Q Professor, now as a first subject, I would like to talk about the band situation as you found it when you arrived in Greece. I would ask you to describe the developments of this situation also from the point of view of a historian?
AAs I said, I arrived on 19 June in Megalopefke and remained with the staff about two weeks and then the staff went to the Peloponnes to Vitina in Masere, which is in the middle of the Peloponnes and here we remained until the 1st of October, about three months.
If I am supposed to characterize the partisan situation, then first of all for an introduction, I can say, along about this time on the Peloponnes there was no partisan problem at all for the Germans, but only for the Italians because it was like this and for me it was not surprising because I had known the Balkans for many years and I knew that the natives supported the antipathy of the Balkan population even more by their contempt for the Italians.
MR. FENSTERMACHER: May I interupt please. The witness is merely giving his personal conclusions. I don't believe they are at all admiseable or material. In addition, I don't believe he is qualified to describe what the band situation was. From the evidence which has been elicited so far, I think he is just a professor who arrived in Athens and he is not qualified to speak for the band situation.
THE PRESIDENT: This witness has to the satisfaction of the Tribunal qualified himself as an expert. We have heretofore admitted testimony of this character. The objection will be over-ruled.
BY DR. MUELLER-TORGOW:
Please continue professor.
THE WITNESS: This question is closely connected with the development of the partisan problem therefore the Italian and Greek relations must be mentioned in connection with it. Under all circumstances. When during the first days of July we arrived on the Peloponnes, we were told by the Italian headquarters very much about it, that in the mountain districts there were strong bands of partisans and there had already been a number of major attacks on Italian units and how for our troops, it was the greatest surprise that no partisan attacks took place on Germans.
Q How do you explain that?
A I explain this to myself, but I don't need to explain that to myself at all because the Greeks explained this to me in numerous discussions. They told me, we are happy if the Italians leave and are substituted by a German occupation. I remember especially one visit in Maseka. Maseka is about here on the map. In this district, which was thought to be the main center of the partisans, General Felmy right at the beginning of July went there in order to inspect a German company, which was stationed there.
I accompanied him as usual as his interpreter. The German company commander there reported about the situation and the Italians had warned us about partisan danger. He himself had information that all around there were certain bands, but attacks against German troops did not take place. When the report of the German company commander was finished, the Greek Mayor and the Greek priest of the village, as is the custom as Greece is a country which is very hospitable, these two people came to visit the General and after the ceremony of such a visit, then they came with a request which told us at once what the situation was. In a neighboring village an incident had taken place. Some Italian soldiers had raped Greek women, thereupon four Italian soldiers fell victims to the Greek revenge.
Q Was there still fueds and vendettas for revenge in Greece?
A Greek follow student of mine from my Munich days around about 1930 at the university of Munich wrote a paper on the subject when taking his doctor degree.
THE PRESIDENT: Just a minute, it seems to me this witness in the capacity in which he comes here should restrict himself to his observation, rather than that which has come to him in the form of hearsay. He is here testifying as to Balkan history and Balkan background and the result of his observations and study. Necessarily we should not go into that which is purely hearsay, at least as to incidents. With that restriction, you may proceed.
BY DR. MUELLER-TORGOW:
Q Would you please continue then Professor?
A The Italians thereupon set up a punitive expedition and burned down this village. The Greek priest and the Mayor......
MR. FENSTERMACHER: I object to the testimony of this kind unless it is especially shown what the nature of this man's information are in that regard.
THE PRESIDENT: Sustained.
THE WITNESS: My information arises from the fact that I interpreted this conversation.
BY DR. MUELLER-TORGOW:
Q Therefore you are explaining what the Mayor and Priest told you and General Felmy?
A Yes, I literally interpreted this conversation from Greek into German. The Priest and the Mayer asked the General to see to it that these Italian attacks should not take place anymore. The General told me as interpreter that I should avoid the subject. On the return journey from Masoka, he said to me in the car, unfortunately at the moment we cannot do anything against this because the Italians have territorial sovereighty in Greece that is a political admission, which we must make to the Italians in order to keep them in line somehow.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will recess at this time until 9:30 tomorrow morning.
(A recess was taken until 0930 hours, 10 December 1947.)
Official transcript of Military Tribunal V, Case VII, in the matter of the United States of America, against Wilhelm List, et al, defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on December 10, 1947, 0930, Justice Burke presiding.
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the Courtroom will please find their seats.
The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal V.
Military Tribunal V is now in session. God save the United States of America and this Honorable Tribunal.
There will be order in the Court.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Marshal, will you ascertain if all the defendants are present in the Courtroom?
THE MARSHAL: May it please Your Honor, all of the defendants are present in the Courtroom with the exception of von Weichs who is in the hospital.
THE PRESIDENT: Judge Burke will preside at this day's session.
PRESIDING JUDGE BURKE: You may proceed, Dr. Torgow.
DIRECT EXAMINATION (continued) GEORGE STADTMUELLER BY MR. MUELLER-TORGOW:
Q Professor, before you continue with your statements would you please tell us quite briefly the sources from which you, as collaborator on General Felmy's staff, not as historian yet, where you obtained your own knowledge about events which happened in Greece while you were there.
A If I testify under oath here as a witness, then I confine myself to those facts, which I myself experienced with my own eyes and with my own cars, or which I remember from my immediate knowledge of the affairs. As an eye witness and an ear witness, I experienced the following things:
I accompanied General Felmy as his personal interpreter on the inspection trips and there I interpreted the discussions with Greeks and Italians.
The most important discussions were in Department 1-C, which I experienced for the most part. I learned to know without exception all of the Italian generals in the Peloponnes since October 1943. In Athens I was present at the negotiations with the most important officers of the Greek Government, and I led these discussions on behalf of General Felmy, and with relative independence. Especially there were present the following Greek officers: The Prime Minister Rallis, the Minister for the Interior, and for the Police Taboularis; the Education and Welfare Minister; the Minister for Defense, Ferdilis; the Commander of the Gendarmerie General Dakkos; the Minister for Police, Colonel Zeronikos.
In addition, I often heard discussions with Minister Neubacher, who came over from Belgrade to Athens, with the Deputy Envoy in Athens, Herr von Graevenitz, and in addition I know a number of Greek men and numerous Greek scientists from peacetime, in whose families I often visited.
In order to complete the whole thing I would like to mention that in the great retreat from Greece to Hungary, for about 6 weeks I belonged to the Staff of Army Group E surrounding General Loehr, and therefore when I testify here about Greece, and especially political events, then this is testimony on the basis of ear and eye witness, and when I talk about political considerations which were made by the German side, then these are not my own private views, but principally the views of General Felmy, which he expressed in numerous discussions with me. Under the Greek point of view, from conversations with Greek agencies or Greek friends.
The second group of facts about which I can testify on the basis of knowledge of files, so far as I can still remember, this is knowledge. The following files were available to me, the official files from Department 1-C; Also the top secret matters, -- that is, I was able to read them.
I didn't have to read them all, and furthermore, if I talk about general events, then I base my statements on the scientific knowledge which I gained from former scientific research. I will testify nothing from hearsay.
Q Professor, I would then like to ask you to continue in your testimony about the development of the band situation in Greece at the time of the German occupation.
A Yes.
Q Can you describe the Greek-Italian relations? Would you please continue?
A The Staff of the 68th Army Corps arrived on the first or the second of July on the Peloponnes. The situation was such that the Italians told us about numerous attacks by the partisans and told us that already numerous Italian units had been attacked by partisans. Here I would only like to talk about the most important of these attacks and I would like to characterize them.
As an example of the situation on General Felmy's first visit to the Italian Corps Command of General Maginotti, in Xylocastron, -this is here on the map, -- in which I interpreted the discussion, General Maginotti described the most recent attack. It took place in the rear of Patras. The bands had formed there, and they presumably came from the center of Greece, via the Gulf of Corinth.
An Italian company had been attacked in Gursumistra, -- which is here on the map, -- and the Italians capitulated after slight resistance, and they were taken prisoner. The partisans took their clothes off and sent them away naked. For centuries in the Balkans this was the usual custom as a gesture of contempt for the enemy.