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Churnat

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Churnat
Native name
Τσουρνάτ
Founded1943
FounderAlekos Papageorgiou
Defunct1945
FateMerged with EAM - ELAS
ProductsWeapons

Churnat (Greek: Τσουρνάτ), founded in 1943 and helped the Greek resistance by manufacturing and repairing weapons until the end of World War II.[specify]

Overview

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From December 1943 until the end of the war, the first ELAS war industry operated in the location of Tsournat in Othrio. The factory was located on the road connecting the mountainous village of Anavra (Goura) with the city of Almyros. The factory manufactured high-powered defensive hand grenades, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, but also carried out repairs on weapons of all types, from pistols to cannons.

Alekos Papageorgiou, founder of the churnat industry.

It was the only ELAS war material manufacturing factory in the entire country and supplied all the guerrilla units to the extent possible. The Germans who knew or suspected its existence made titanic efforts to discover it and initially placed its location somewhere near Karpenisi. Over 100 guerrillas worked in the above factory, all of whom had the specialty of technician.

The founder and director of the factory was Alekos Papageorgiou from Volos. The specialties of the technicians employed by the factory were machinists, turners, pyrotechnicians, fitters, artillery shell unloaders, grenade loaders, mortar manufacturers and repairers, telephone repairers, etc. During the factory's operation, an accident occurred with three victims of technicians from Volos. The deceased were Antonis Ath. Glavanis, Vangelis Margaritis, then railway technicians, and Giannis Patousis, technician and football player for Niki Volos. All of them worked as pyrotechnicians.

Technical and Personnel

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The following is a list of the names of the technicians who made up the factory's workforce by specialty:

Churnat grenade, anti-tank mine

Gen. Director: Alekos Papageorgiou

Projectile Loaders: Alekos Papageorgiou, Homer Baboukis, Spyros Grammatos, Georgios Kontos

Grenade Loaders: Antonis Glavinis, Evangelos Margaritis, Yannis Patouchis, Georgios Karelos, Fotis Kalambalikis, Dimitris Koulazas, Theodore Triantafyllou

Weapon Manufacturers: Dimitris Synatikas, Georgios Moustakas, Nikos Zifkos, Nikos Pyspyris, Dimitris Tzouvaras

Mine Manufacturers: Dimitris Poulios, Stefanos Doulekaroglou, Stefanos Dimitriou, Apostolis Christodoulou

Weapon Repairers: Modis Koutsorevithis, Stergios Dadiotis, Dimitris Vagenas, Giannis Angelopoulos, Theodoros Saltas, Michalis Pergamalis

Applicants: Eleftherios Plastaridis, Stefanos Papageorgiou, Apostolis Matsolis, Charalambos Ioannidis, Georgios Kostis, Kostas Koutzinopoulos, Giannis Voudouropoulos, Nikos Papachatzis, Apostolos Tzelipis

Electricians and telephone operators: Georgios Hatzielefteriou, Kostas Liakopoulos, Apostolis Katsouras, Dimitris Ionas

Motion Engineers: Vassilis Fragis, Nikos Harmanis

Welders: Alekos Dimopoulos, Vassilis Katsaras, Dionysis Kapandritis, Kostas Xenos, Nikos Alexiadis, Kostas Karasmanoglou, Kostas Eleftheriou, Kostas Argyropoulos, Georgios Damianos, Kostas Tentas, Antonios Machairas, Zisis Halias.

Foundry: Spyros Tsitouras, Alekos Alexandridis, Vasilis Angelopoulos, Kostas Stefanakos

Turners: Themistoklis Dimitriou, Nikos Pinatsis, Grigoris Laskos, Georgios Pamboukis, Yiannis Papakyritsis, Tsatsaris

Chimney Sweepers: Euripides Markopoulos, Dimitris Tsoutsas, Apostolos Gialamas

Carpenters: Diamantis Tsirtoglou, Elias Kapetas

Cobblers-Cobblers: Anthimos Zanaplidis, Onoufrios Makris, Christos Kosmas, Athanasios Koutsos, Georgios Axarlis

Tailors: Fotis Pinatsis, Alekos Raftopoulos, Athanasios Schinas

Baker: Kyriakos Karagiannis, Miltiadis Karathanasopoulos

Barber: Priamos Chiotakis

Carpenters: Panagiotis Moustakas, Anastasios Madytinos, Artemis Pergamalis, Kostas Mavropoulos, Diomedes Kapandritis, Apostolis Katharios, Vasilis Dimakis, Dimitris Vlioras

Material collection workshop: Spyros Livadiotis, Nikos Rizothanasis, Christos Bardas, Panagiotis Paschos, Georgios Avgoulas, Nikos Chomatidis, Polymeros Tsatsopoulos, Moses Mordos, Athanasios Efstathiou

Caterers: Eleni Papageorgiou, Nikos Sinatikas, Panagiotis Fragoudis, Nikos Polyzos, Costas Georgoulas, Stamoulis Vasiliou, Apostolis Papageorgiou, Dimitris Thomos, Apostolis Toufexis, Dimitris Galanis, Euripides Koltsidopoulos, Agathoklis Matzafleris, Georgoulas, Theodoros Chalkias

Guardhouse: Alekos Meikopoulos, Costas Kitzanis, Giannis Georgiadis, Charalambos Arabiadis, Costas Fountoukidis, Georgios Tsionis, Panagiotis Kalamakidis

Health: Grivas, Anargyros Vogiatzis, Eleftheria Gaitana,, Kalliopi Georgantzopoulou, Litsa Lagou, Georgios Xifaris (pseudonym of Costas Pantelis) , Maria Kelesi, Dimitris Karagounis, Kostas Igoumenis, Annoula Bakali, Varvara Panteli, Maria Koutsopina, Dimitris Skoutaris.[1]

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References

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  1. ^ Τσαμπίρας, Θανάσης (2001). Ο Αλμυρός στις φλόγες [Almyros in flames]. Αλμυρός: Πανελλήνια Ένωση Αγωνιστών Εθνικής Αντίστασης (ΠΕΑΕΑ). Παράρτημα Αλμυρού. pp. 133–135. ISBN 9605150360.