Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Von Schadewald · Post by **Von Schadewald** » 02 Oct 2005 20:44

On which island is "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" supposed to be based?

Did the events depicted ever take place eg Germans invading in 1943, fighting Italians, massacre of Italians etc?

Andreas · Post by **Andreas** » 02 Oct 2005 20:54

Yes

http://www.hri.org/news/greek/mpab/2000 ... ab.html#08

[08] THE REAL "CAPTAIN CORELLI" WILL VISIT KEFALONIA
Kefalonia, 19 September 2000 (15:30 UTC+2)

An Italian government delegation, headed by the Italian minister of defense, will be in the Ionian island of Kefalonia on September 29 on the occasion of the 57th anniversary of the Italian soldiers' massacre that was committed by the Germans during WWII, a few days before Italy's armistice on the island

Among the members of the delegation will be 90yearold Amos Pambaloni, the real "captain Corelli" played by Nicholas Cage in the film that was recently shot in the Ionian island.

The tragic epilogue of those events were the deaths of thousands of Italians, 390 officers and 9.640 soldiers, who served in the Akui Division, the 33rd Artillery Regiment and an Italian navy unit. Specifically, 1.315 were killed in battle, 3.000 were drowned when the German ships taking them to concentration camps were sunk by mines, and 5.325 were executed in cold blood by Wermacht, while they were giving themselves up in Kefalonia.

The German units involved were a fortress regiment and 1. Gebirgsdivision.

There is another thread in the HWC section discussion this: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=675 so I will lock this one. Please continue the discussion there.

All the best

Andreas