The Gorgopotamos ( el, Γοργοπόταμος, "the rushing river") is a river in the southern part of

Phthiotis Phthiotis ( el, Φθιώτιδα, ''Fthiótida'', ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia. It is borde ...

Central Greece Continental Greece ( el, Στερεά Ελλάδα, Stereá Elláda; formerly , ''Chérsos Ellás''), colloquially known as Roúmeli (Ρούμελη), is a traditional geographic region of Greece. In English, the area is usually called Central ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

not far from the border with

Phocis Phocis ( el, Φωκίδα ; grc, Φωκίς) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Var ...

. The river is host to the ''Ellinopygosteos'' fish ''( Pungitius hellenicus)''. According to ancient philosopher Herodotos, the river was called Dyras in ancient times.

Geography

The Gorgopotamos rises 4 km north of

Pavliani Pavliani ( el, Παύλιανη) is a village on Mount Oeta, and a former community in Phthiotis, Greece. It is divided into two settlements, Pavliani proper or Ano Pavliani (Άνω Παύλιανη) and Nea Pavliani (Νέα Παύλιανη) or Ka ...

and west of

Koumaritsi Koumaritsi ( el, Κουμαρίτσι) is a village on Mount Oeta in Phthiotis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Lamia LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mé ...

in the Oiti mountains with two streams. The river flows through a steep forested valley. It passes under OSE's

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

railway line and through the village

Gorgopotamos Gorgopotamos ( el, Γοργοπόταμος) is a village and a former municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lamia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an are ...

, where it enters the plains. It empties into the river

Spercheios The Spercheios (, ''Sperkheiós''), also known as the Spercheus from its Latin name, is a river in Phthiotis in central Greece. It is long, and its drainage area is . It was worshipped as a god in the ancient Greek religion and appears in some c ...

near Ydromilos, 5 km southwest of

Lamia LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...

History

The railway bridge over the river is famous for one of the biggest sabotage acts of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, "

Operation Harling Operation Harling, also known as the Battle of Gorgopotamos ( el, Μάχη του Γοργοποτάμου) in Greece, was a World War II mission by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), in cooperation with the Greek Resistance groups ...

". Operation Harling was a British mission and 150 Greek partisans blew it up on 25 November 1942, cutting off

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

supplies being transported between

and

(mostly headed for

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

). The blast destroyed two of the six piers of the bridge. The IV Ferrovieri Battalion, of the Ferrovieri Engineer Regiment of the Royal Italian Army repaired the bridge in 19 days, replacing the destroyed piers with the still existing steel girders. The area around the bridge is now a monument. The engineer who designed and built the original bridge was an Italian immigrant and Gorgopotamos local by the name of Agostino Tacconi, who used clever engineering at the time utilising unique parts making the bridge difficult to reconstruct in a timely manner. The British forces found this to be ideal as the Germans could not reconstruct it.

References

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Geography

History

References

See also