Massacre of Kommeno

By the summer of 1943, Greek partisan organizations such as ELAS and EDES had assembled strong armed bands which frequently attacked the Axis occupation forces.

As the partisans relied upon civilians for food and intelligence,[1] the Wehrmacht applied collective responsibility to entire communities and systematically used mass reprisals to intimidate the population.

Fearing reprisals, the locals spent the night in the fields and sent a delegation to the Italian commander in Arta to explain the situation.

On the evening of 15 August, a marriage had taken place in Kommeno and many people from the village and the surrounding area stayed up late celebrating.

[2] On the previous night, the regiment commander Oberst Josef Salminger [de] had given them a short, fierce speech alleging that they were going to wipe out a partisan nest and ordering them to spare no one.

[3] The official Wehrmacht reports about the events in Kommeno falsely claimed that the village was in partisan hands who opened heavy fire against the Germans.