"In memory of the fallen in armed struggle to defend the motherland"


Much Greek blood has been shed in the name of freedom and Karitsiotes have contributed just dues in all the national struggles from the revolution of 1821 to more recent times.

Local lore recounts hideous episodes of unsurpassed bravery and horror.  Specific details and names, however, are hard to come by save a written account of the time that tells of the 1825 foray by a detachment led by Imbraim Pasha intent on annihilating and terrorising Laconian people and destroying their land.  They slaughtered, captured young men and women and torched villages and hovels in their path.  Panic-stricken Karitsiotes sought refuge in the thickly wooded forest of Tsouka opposite the village.

In the afternoon of 11 September 1825 one of Imbraim's detachments torched the village and the forest.  It is reported that a Georgakis Tsembelis and Irini, possibly his wife, were captured and killed in enemy hands.  It is is also said that on Tsouka the Turks captured, raped and in the end killed two other young women from the Tsembelis family.  Earlier that day a fierce battled between Imbraim's troops and Kolokotroni fighters was waged on a peak opposite Agios Yannis.  Many Turks, perhaps more than 200, were killed.  Since then the locals call that area "Mnimata", (meaning Graves) because the Turks are very likely to have buried their fallen there.  It is said that Karitsiotes also joined in that battle.  One of their dead, a Katsambis, was actually carried on a rigged up stretcher back to the village for burial

Some 90 years later many young Karitsiotes were conscripted to fight in the wars of 1912 and 1913 and later in the Asia Minor expedition from 1917 to 1922.  14 brave young men lost their lives and in 1929 the village council in their honour erected a war memorial.  It is situated in front of the main church and was privately funded by Ioannis Kostandinou Lambrou.  The following inscription is carved onto its marble column.

1912 - 1922
ΕΠΕΣΟΝ ΥΠΕΡ ΠΑΤΡΙΔΟΣ
ΜΑΧΟΜΕΝΟΙ
(trans: Fallen in battle for the fatherland)


IOANNIS MIHALI GEORGANDONIS

DIMITRIS IOANNOU KATSAMBIS

PANAYIOTIS HRISTOU KATSAMBIS

PANAYIOTIS GEORGIOU LAMBROS

DIMITRIS ANASTASIOU MALAVAZOS

KOSTANDINOS PANDELI MALAVAZOS

PANAYIOTIS GEORGIOU MALAVAZOS

ANDONIS KOSTANDINOU TOUNDAS

ILIAS ANASTASIU TOUNDAS

LAMBROS GEORGIOU TOUNDAS

IOANNIS DIMITRIOU I TZOVANIS

PANAYIOTIS DIMITRIOU P TZOVANIS

GEORGIOSLEONIDA HAGIAS

NIKOLAOS DIAMANDI HAGIAS


Lower down the column are added the names of the fallen in the war against the Italian and German fascist occupying forces from 1940-1944.


STILIANOS ATHANASIOU ANDONIOU

KOSTANDINOS PANAYIOTI TOUNDAS

GEORGIOS SPIROU HAGIAS


It is an onus here also to mention the names of Karitsiotes that were killed during the heartbreak of the civil war


ANDREAS ANDONIOU
KATERINA ANDONIOU

THEODOROS TOUNDAS

PANDELIS MALAVAZOS

ANDONIS MALAVAZOS

THEODOROS STAVRIANOS


PANAYIOTIS MALAVAZOS

MITSOS MALAVAZOS

PANAYIOTIS KRITIKOS


The following were killed by rebel fighters of Parnonas:

IOANNIS ANDONIOU

LEONIDAS G TOUNDAS

LEONIDAS H TOUNDAS

MIHALIS TOUNDAS

DIAMANDIS ANDONIOU

GEORGIOS KRITIKOS

SPIROS KRITIKOS

THEOFANIS TOUNDAS


The last four lost their lives in the "Battle of Karitsa" on New Year's day 1947.

Unhappily Karitsa, as all of Greece, paid in blood for the struggle against the Nazi occupation and in the heartbreak of the civil war.  All for freedom and independence. They shall not be forgotten.

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