On the Footpaths of War

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In this, his fourteenth book, Zachos Hadjifotiou lays bare his soul to write about the war years as he -and the 40s generation to which he belongs- experienced it.

The story begins in 1941 when at the age of 17 he left occupied Greece and found himself a soldier in Africa - for eight months at the siege of Tobruk, and then for another ten months in the desert, through the battle of El Alamein and the long march to El Ageila, by the Tunisian border.

There followed a period of "rest and recuperation" in Cairo, Alexandria and Beirut before he left on tank carriers for the landing in Italy. The fighting there lasted for eight months and ended with the capture of Rimini. He returned to Greece in 1944, during the turbulent month of December. We see him fighting in the trenches of the capital just a few blocks from his house, avoiding pointless bloodshed in this civil tragedy that was so hard on the country and divided it for years to come. He was finally discharged in 1946 after five years of continuous war, always on the front line.

The book describes the most hard-fought battles of this war in all their tragic detail, as experienced by the author. A 32-page appendix with photographs from the young warrior's journey is included.

  • ISBN 9604100599