Today, Sunday 8 March 2026, the Deputy Minister of National Defence, Thanasis Davakis, as representative of the Hellenic Government, attended the historical commemoration event for the 85 th Anniversary of the Battle of Hill 731, in Trikala. The ceremony was also attended by the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, Nikitas Kaklamanis.
Mr. Davakis, accompanied by the Army Inspector General/EU – OHQ, Lieutenant General Stavros Papastathopoulos, initially visited the Career NCO Academy, where the Academy’s Museum, as well as the hall of memorabilia of Colonel (Inf) Spyridon Theodoropoulos, were inaugurated. There, they were greeted by the Academy Commandant, Brigadier General Konstantinos Kotakos.
Subsequently, accompanied by the Chief of the Hellenic Tactical Air Force, Lieutenant General (HAF) Panagiotis Georgakopoulos, he went to the Memorial to the Fallen of Hill 731, where a memorial service was held and wreaths were laid.
In his address, Thanasis Davakis stated, among others:
“731, a number also engraved on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Syntagma, isthe Hill where the Hellenic soul stood up to fascism and violence.
Major Dimitris Kaslas, a hero of World War II, was he, who alongside his brave men, demonstrated what it means to resist totalitarianism, fascism, and all those who seek to deprive peoples and nations of the sacred right to liberty.
Kaslas, in his Order of the Day, shortly before the final battle, wrote:
“We will defend the positions we are holding to the end. Nobody will retreat; the enemy will only capture our positions once we have all been slain thereon”.
It brings to mind the Order of the Day of General Katsimitros, the legendary leader of the 8 th division, 2 days after the declaration of war, when he pronounced near identical words:
“We will put up a stout defence of our positions, let no one consider retreat; we will fight upon our positions, and if need be, die to a man defending them”.
These phrases, these short sentences spoken in battle, at a time of danger, when you know not if you will survive, awaken memories of Thermopylae, Marathon, Salamis, they bring to mind the gate of St. Romanos, the rise of March 1821, the golden epic of ’40, all those moments which make us proud.
As we should be proud now. For now, our country’s strategic footprint, with assets provided to our Armed Forces through the sacrifices of Greek citizens, enables it to be present in the Eastern Mediterranean, in our Cyprus, in the Balkans, as a factor of might and security.
May the heroes of Hill 731 be immortal”.
