Macedonian Warriors Dovista Municipal Park

On July 14, 1907, during the Macedonian War, the Battle of Dovista Serres (today’s village of Emmanuel Pappa) took place. In the area of Dovista, a group was operating that took orders from the Consulate of Serres and Orpheus and was led by Captain Andreas Makoulis . The group was mainly limited to the organization of the protection of the surrounding villages from Bulgarian attacks. The battle of Dovista was tough, about 40 patrolling cavalrymen of the Turkish gendarmerie turned against Makoulis’ group. Apart from them, Ottomans also arrived from the nearby village of Sokol (today’s Sykia). Thus, Captain Makoulis and the Greek rebels found themselves surrounded. In their attempt to gather, Nikolaos Tsiapos is killed. In the 5-hour battle that follows, only two rebels managed to escape. All the others, the leader Andreas Makoulis, Chrysafis from Soubaskioi (today’s Neo Souli), Vasilios Tzitis, Anastasios Ambliamis and Vangelis Hatzielebertiou were killed. Also rescued from the battle was Sotiris Siosios from Neo Souli who headed for Topouliani (today’s Chrysos) and escaped to Athens to return to his village after the proclamation of the Turkish Constitution. This was followed by brutal torture and arrests of approximately 200 residents of Dovista, Pentapolis and the surrounding villages. Priests, priests, teachers were arrested and tortured to testify about their relations with the Greek rebels. However, the terrorism of the Turks did not weaken the morale of the Greeks, on the contrary, it was the reason for the inclusion of several young people from the surrounding villages in the rebel bodies of the area. The Macedonian fighters of Dovista were a strong example of national patriotism.