The Greek Flag and the Australian soldier... Together in World War II

In war zones soldiers develop a special relationship with the flag of their country, they give it a dimension above and beyond their own caliber, in most cases they do not hesitate to die holding it in their arms so that it does not fall into hands that will not respect her.

In the premises of the new Coventary Library of Kozani, in the basement area where the treasures, heirlooms, antiquities, maps and engravings dating back to the 14th century are kept, a special place has a Greek flag that during the Nazi invasion of Kozani was at the city's Valtadorio Gymnasium but then disappeared without anyone knowing anything.

It took 19 years to find out what happened to our national symbol from the man who, on April 13, 1941, put it in his sack so that it would not fall into the hands of the Germans. The flag wandered with its owner on all the fronts of the war, from the Greek countryside, to the Cretan and Libyan Seas to the Pacific Ocean.

This is the soldier Reginal Tresise of the 6th Division of the Australian Expeditionary Force, where in April 1941 he took part in the battle of the Key in Amyntaio, Florina, and during the retreat he stayed for a few hours of rest at the bombed school in Kozani. The young soldier always had the flag with him, he never parted with it, even in the bloodiest battles he had to fight until the end of the war. Who knows, deep down he might have hoped for the favor of the Olympian gods for the warriors who protect the sacred symbols of their friends and allies on the battlefield.

The if. Head of Archives, Museums and Galleries of Koventareio Library of Kozani, Eleni Margariti, opens the document's envelope and carefully leaves on the table the canvas package in which the flag that arrived in Kozani from Melbourne, Australia, with the then mayor as its recipient, is kept to this day Kozani Vasilei Matiaki. Also, his handwritten frugal letter to the mayor, a military hat from his personal belongings.

"I wish to return this proud flag to its old school because the twenty-year-old men and women who were then children during those difficult days must know this flag" he noted in June 1959 in his letter.

The story of this flag

The Germans have just broken the Greek resistance at Rupel's forts and on April 10, 1941 they have occupied Thessaloniki. The Allies, in their attempt to delay the invaders, lined up a mixed formation of Australian, British, New Zealand and Greek soldiers, known as the "Mackay Force" at the narrow passage of the Key at Amyntaio in Florina which had been considered of strategic importance. A force of Australian soldiers of the 6th Division was lined up as the first line of defense along with Greek, English and New Zealand soldiers.

Against the defenders of the straits, the 40th Armored Corps of the Nazi army was lined up and the difficult part of breaking through the main front of the straits where the Australians were defending, was undertaken by the "SS Adolf Hitler" which was hurriedly transferred to Florina.

Reginal Tresise and his Division arrive on April 5th in Piraeus from the allied Front of Egypt and is transferred by road to the front of Florina.

The Nazi attacks began from midday on 11 April but the main German attack came on 12 April where, with the help of light snow, the attackers managed to gain an advantage. Late in the afternoon, the allied command, realizing that it cannot stop the power of the Nazis, gives the signal to retreat. The Australians who have taken the brunt of the German attack will also leave most of the dead on the battlefield.

The young Réginal Tresise with some of his colleagues during the retreat camp for a few hours at the Valtadorio Gymnasium. As he reports, the school is two-story and has been bombed by the Nazis "the statue in front of the school entrance has been blown up. On the ground floor of the school, among the dust, on the stones of the small room, there is also a flag made of silk with fringes and string".

The soldier is impressed by the image he sees, the shape and color of the flag. In order not to fall into the hands of the Nazis advancing on the city, he decides to take her with him. “She looked so proud, defiant and unyielding in the dust and mess of war. I took her off the pole, placed her in my sack. With the idea of ​​not handing over such an emblem to the Germans where they would send it home as a souvenir".

Retreating, they blow up the Aliakmonas bridge in Servia in an attempt to delay the German advance in the South. On April 28, together with the rest of the men of his Division from the area of ​​Monemvasia, he boarded a British destroyer bound for Crete. From then until the end of the war, the Greek flag of Valtadorios Gymnasium will be in his sack and will never be parted from it.

In Crete, the battles that followed were probably the toughest of the war. The young Australian describes in completely simple terms the hell he lived through, from which he came out alive with his amulet, while other fellow soldiers died or were captured. "The war in Crete was fiercer than ever. There I lost everything, but I kept the Greek flag, tying it around my body to keep me warm. The only thing I left Crete with was my flag and my life".