Her deportment and execution of language and the use of expressions were deliberate and perfect. She spent little time on history and religion. Even less time was spent on questions and answers.
Ms Peppas took the class out to a paddock nearby. The class was supplied with pencils and thick white paper used to wrap meat and vegetables, which she had obtained from the local vendors.
The children were requested to draw the scenery with words, particularising anything they observed. The snow, trees, sheep, goats and flowers were all there to be drawn.
When the class completed the afternoon lesson in the field, the class gathered in the classroom for the end of the lesson. She collected the finished papers. She then bid the class good evening and extended her salutations and best wishes to the families of her class whom she had not yet met.
As the class left the classroom, she stood in the path of Andreas and requested that he wait. He slavishly complied.
She said, ‘I have a file note here from Mr Mavros in relation to your progress.’
He was relieved that Mavros had left a note of their discussions.
Ms Peppas continued, ‘Whilst I continue to teach you, your focus will be to achieve the necessary marks to matriculate into the Skolarhio [the leading school] at Patras in the next six years. Once we have achieved that end, it is then up to you to sit for the examinations to advance your education at university level in Athens. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, of course, Miss. Whatever you say,’ Andreas replied.
‘Do you have any idea what you want to study at tertiary level?’ she enquired.
‘I think philosophy and perhaps law interest me most!’ Andreas acknowledged.
‘I thought so,’ she replied and went on to state, ‘From what I have read from Mr Mavros, you strike me as a young mind that needs to develop training in the operation of systems balanced by the intellectual vigour of the relationship between mind, body, spirit, and soul.’
‘I come from village stock, and I am afraid the task ahead will be difficult to achieve,’ Andreas answered cautiously.
‘Master Kapelis, you are pushing an open door, with me directing your intellectual future,’ she quipped dismissively. She went on to say, ‘Trust in me to guide you to fulfil your academic achievements. I will support you in the future when we both agree that you are ready to sit for the exams to study in Patras. I promise you that, with your help and desire to achieve, I will do everything within my power to set you on your destined course of scholastic success. Now, there is no further matter I wish to discuss with you tonight. Goodnight and God bless. See you tomorrow.’
Andreas left, filled with excitement and hope as he walked the path home.
That night, like so many other nights before, he retrieved the newspapers under the floorboards in his room and continued to read the news, which was filled with political tension but satisfying.
He read about the political changes that had occurred in all the countries of Europe. There was fear of the Germans and Turks occupying and controlling domestic affairs and challenging the might of imperial Britain.
A symptom of this disease for power was the ever-growing threat that had focused around control of Constantinople.
The Russians, who were predominantly Orthodox, had a wider interest in the strategic interplay between their position as a world power and the control of the Dardanelles.
Turkey had experienced unfettered dominance in the Balkans, including the despotic cruelty of power exercised over the Greeks until the revolution by the Greeks in 1821, which commenced only kilometres from the village.
The Balkan Wars and the ousting of the Ottomans from Greece had had its toll on a battle-weary and wounded Turkish mindset. But the Turks were resurfacing as a world power with a new-found friend, Germany.
In August 1914, when the Great War broke out, Greece remained a neutral country for at least two reasons. First, it was depleted of state funds. Second, the king of Greece, King Constantine I, was a German sympathiser.
The German command directed the Turkish fleet to raid Odessa and bordering Russian targets in the Black Sea with a view of challenging the might of imperial Russia and closing the southern access of Russia to Europe.
Greece had signed a defence treaty with the Kingdom of Serbia in 1913 that obligated Greece to come to Serbia’s aid if it was attacked by Bulgaria.
When Bulgaria raised forces against Serbia in 1914, the Greek prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos believed that he could get Greece to join the war on the side of the Allies as long as the force consisted of fifteen battalions of infantry.
King Constantine betrayed the Greek people, and the corrupt politicians were opposed to joining the war and regarded the treaty as void. The Anzacs and Britain were permitted by the Hellenic government to use the island of Lemnos as a base.
Back in Athens, Venizelos was unconstitutionally removed from office by the king on 5 October 1915, only to return to the political scene in October 1916. In August 1916, Bulgarian forces invaded Greece as an act of war towards the Greek people.
Joint ally forces from Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and Serbia fought alongside the Greeks to resist the invasion. The military protagonists were General Danglis and Admiral Kountouriotis, both loyal to the prime minister, Venizelos, and wary of the king.
Whilst World War I was unfolding, both parents were concerned that Andreas would be conscripted by the state to fight in the war. Andreas was now sixteen years old and had completed his junior high school in Akrata, where the high school was located.
Andreas was billeted by Kostas Kapelis’s very much younger second cousin Yiannis and his family—Marika and their three younger children. Yiannis had a general store, selling goods, and upstairs he had his home.
Kostas had ensured that Andreas had learnt the trade of a hat-maker to safeguard his future and that he had the skill of an artisan in case he needed to call on that skill.
Akrata was down the mountain from Vrostena and by the Corinthian Sea. Kostas had made it clear, as Andreas was maturing, that the kings of Greece were never to be trusted.
Andreas excelled during junior high school. Late in 1916, he was invited to sit for exams and was highly successful to attend Skolarhio in Patras, a large shipping town approximately sixty kilometres from Akrata.
Andreas was competing with all the candidates in the prefecture of Ahaias. There were only thirty seats or places for senior high, the Skolarhio, and Andreas took one of those seats.
The problem with Andreas living in Patras was that Kostas did not know anyone that could billet Andreas.
Miss Peppas was still teaching in the village. She heard that Andreas had no place to stay in his final years of senior high. On the last day in the village before he left, Miss Peppas came to the family’s home. Her words were few.
She said ‘Andreas, here are fifty gold sovereigns. Keep twenty-five sovereigns. Exchange the rest for drachmas. Go to Dimitri Kospetas at the new building by the port. Tell him that I sent you. Tell him to give you a one-bedroom apartment for two years for the twenty-five sovereigns you have kept. Tell him that I said not a payment more.’
Andreas hugged and kissed Ms Peppas for what seemed an eternity. The family left behind were eternally thankful to Ms Peppas for her kindest of gestures. The next day, the family, full with tears, bid farewell to Andreas.
As instructed, Andreas did what Ms Peppas told him to do. Kospetas welcomed Andreas, and he took the twenty-five gold sovereigns in exchange for the very neat and well-lit room.
Quite quickly, Kospetas became a friend and almost a parent to Andreas. Kospetas watched his every move.
Andreas immediately applied himself to his studies and was a responsible and diligent student. The teachers were of a very high quality, as were the students. Andreas felt privileged to be at the Skolarhio. He had a great debt to repay to his
parents, Mr Mavros, Ms Peppas, and now Kospetas.
Kospetas would quite often ask Andreas to join him and his family for dinner so the young man did not drain his funds. There were times after dinner with the Kospetas family that Mrs Kospetas would prepare a plate of leftovers for Andreas to eat for the next few days.
He finished the first year of senior high with excellent results. His parents and Ms Peppas would visit him from time to time, and he would go to the village during holidays.
During the second year, he was more studious and visited his parents less. He sat for his matriculation exams for university.
When the result came out, he did not come first. This upset him greatly. He was eleventh on the list of matriculants.
He was advised formally by the headmaster that he could study philology and then study law as the students of Ahaias had topped the state examinations.
When he bid farewell to Kospetas, he asked him a few questions.
Andreas said, ‘Why did you do the bidding of Ms Peppas, and how did you know her?’
Kospetas said, ‘She was my nanny here in Patras when one of my children was very ill. She was always by the side of my child and cared for my child until it died. She was very gentle and caring. The second question of why I did her bidding needs no answer.’
Andreas agreed.
As Andreas left and thanked Kospetas and his family, Kospetas said to Andreas, ‘How many gold sovereigns did Ms Peppas give you?’
Andreas said, ‘Fifty.’
Kospetas said, ‘How many do you have left?’
Andreas said, ‘Five after I gave you twenty-five and spent twenty on food, school books, and other items during the two years I was here.’
Kospetas said, ‘Here, Andreas, put these forty-five sovereigns with the five you have left and give the fifty sovereigns back to Ms Peppas and thank her from you and me.’
Andreas nodded, embraced Kospetas and his family, and said goodbye.
Andreas returned after a long journey back to the village. Andreas was eighteen years old and had grown into a very handsome young man.
Upon his arrival at the village, he found Ms Peppas and handed to her the fifty sovereigns.
Ms Peppas said jokingly, ‘Where is my interest for the loan?’
Andreas did not know what to say.
Ms Peppas quipped, ‘A hug and some kisses will satisfy the debt, Andreas.’
Andreas did as she requested, which was more for his own satisfaction than Ms Peppas’s.
University was soon to start. Andreas prepared for yet another journey and new start in his life. He would attend the University of Athens in Athens.
Both his parents were very concerned about Andreas going to Athens. There was the war still raging. Their fear was that he may get conscripted.
There was political turmoil between the king, the corrupt politicians, the prime minister, and the generals, and the city was always prone to have its own and other dangers. These were matters that Andreas was not accustomed to in his insulated life.
Word was sent to Kostas Kapelis’s first cousin Vasiliki, who lived in Koukaki, a suburb near the centre of Athens, behind the Acropolis, and about a ten-minute walk past Parliament House to the University of Athens.
There had been an attempted coup d’état by Venizelos in late 1916. There was immense tension in Athens before Andreas arrived.
The obstinacy of the king in refusing to assist the Allies had caused the unnecessary breakdown of relations between Greece and the Allies.
There was fighting between the Greek and French troops in Athens. The king had the support of the Russian tsar, and his removal was impossible. The tsar of Russia, and King Constantine were related.
After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Greek landscape changed. In June 1917, King Constantine abdicated from the throne, and his second son, Alexander, assumed the throne as king of Greece. He chose his second son, as his first son was weak and juvenile.
Venizelos took control of the country, and those loyal to the king were exiled to the Peloponnese and as far as France and Italy.
On 30 June 1917, Greece officially declared war on the opposing powers, sending ten divisions for the Allied effort, alongside the Royal Hellenic Navy.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ATHENS, 1918
Andreas arrived in Athens to stay with his aunt in March 1918. He was warmly greeted by his aunt and shown to his room. He went to the university with his matriculation documents to enrol.
About three weeks later, the local police commander and a junior officer knocked on the door of his aunt’s home. There were carrying official papers with them with Andreas’s name on them.
His aunt said, ‘What has my nephew done? He has only been here for three weeks.’
The commander said, ‘It is not what he has done but what he is about to do.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘We have now entered the war against Turkey and Germany. We need fit young men like Andreas to fight on the front. These papers are served on Andreas as an official conscription for him to serve his country, being a man of seventeen years and older. He is to attend and show his presence at the barracks in Likavito at 17.00 hours next Monday for basic training. A month thereafter, he will be deployed to the battlefront at the far north of Greece.’
His aunt said in distraught reaction, ‘He has just come from the village to my arms. How do I tell his parents that you have taken him away? I am heartbroken.’
‘Any failure to attend will be regarded as an act of treason during the declaration of war and punishable by jail or worse.’ The commander directed his attention to Andreas. ‘Do you understand, Andreas?’
‘Yes, sir.’
That night, it was a dark night for both his aunt and himself. They simply could not speak to each other or eat or drink. Both his aunt and Andreas were frightened.
Andreas said, ‘Please, Aunt, get word to my parents as soon as possible.’
Andreas’s aunt sent a message to Andreas’s parents. Andreas’s entire family was inconsolable. Learning of the news, Ms Peppas was terrified.
The folks of the village showed their sympathy to the family and were also horrified that one of their sons could be next to go to the battlefront of war.
Andreas went to his barracks for basic training in April 1918. The training took a month. Andreas was mortified at the thought of going to the north of Greece to fight.
On 30 May 1918, a huge contingent involving several divisions of Greek forces in the great Battle of Skra-di-Legen defeated an enormous Bulgarian force.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
FRONT-LINE, BULGARIA, 1918
In July 1918, Andreas was now a corporal in Gamma Platoon in the infantry, ready for deployment to the north of Greece. He was immediately made a corporal, jumping ranks from being a private, because of his higher level of schooling.
The infantry was to be sent by Greek naval ships as a matter of expedition.
As Andreas waited in the lines, he heard a familiar voice in the background of his barracks, and everyone stood to attention, waiting for the brigade major to enter and inspect the lines. A brigade major was a significant rank as the primary field and combat officer.
Andreas lifted his head and saw that it was Mr Mavros, his former teacher from the village.
Mavros immediately saw Andreas and said quite openly and with transparency, ‘I know this young soldier. I was his teacher. There will be no favouritism. If I hear or find out anyone saying so, they will be punished by me. Does everyone understand?’
The whole platoon said, ‘Yes, Brigade Major.’
Mavros said, ‘Prepare arms for departure at 17.00 hours tonight.’
‘Yes, sir!’
That night, the troops were transported to old Piraeus and boarded a Greek naval ship headed for Our
anoupoli near Mount Athos. The journey was almost two days. The ship was loaded with supplies, weapons, cannons, mules, horses, food, ammunition, and signals for communications.
Mavros took Andreas aside and had a wonderful discussion with him about his life since Mavros had left the village. Andreas also told him that he was about to commence university in Athens to study law and philology before he was conscripted.
Mavros said, ‘Despite all that formality about no favours, I will see what I can do about putting you in a position that reflects your education in a less dangerous position.’
Andreas thanked him.
Mavros said, ‘I will also read carefully the protocols on ranks to elevate your rank under my direction, given your education. Understood?’
Andreas acknowledged Mavros.
The Greek forces went to the border. Andreas was elevated in rank to sergeant, keeper of the maps, communications, and plans for the higher ranks to strategise. His immediate chain of command, to whom he was directly answerable, was Brigade Major Mavros.
At the front lines, where the Greek command post was situated, Andreas was providing input and logistic analysis to assist Mavros. Mavros was instrumental in developing battle plans and rules of engagement for the Greek forces.
One day during the battles, a French general, Franchet d’Esperey, entered the barracks and asked if anyone spoke French. Major Mavros spoke French. He acted as interpreter between the Greek commanders and the general.
The general made it clear that the planned offensive of the Greek forces was to enter occupied Serbia. The commanders agreed. The plan was discussed, and he left after thanking Major Mavros for his service in translating the discussions.
The general was fleetingly introduced to Andreas, and they chatted briefly. As he left, the general said, ‘Officers and all men alike, when they wear a uniform and fight in war, they are an asset. Look after your sergeants.’
In September of 1918, Allied forces (French, Greek, Serb, Italian, and British troops) under the command of the French general d’Esperey broke through and then controlled Austro-Hungarian, German, and Bulgarian forces along the Macedonian front.
Kapelis- The Hatmaker Page 10