The Italian government surrenders to the Allies , and the Italian troops happily prepare to return home . However , their erstwhile allies , the Germans , insist on disarming them , intemperately and violently . The Greeks are also exposed to the brutality of the incoming Germans , and arrange with the Italians to use their arms in a brief but futile resistance . For this , the German High Command has thousands of the Italian troops shot as traitors . Corelli survives when one of his soldiers shields him from the fusillade of the German executioners ' bullets with his body , and falls dead on top of him . Mandras finds Corelli , still alive among the pile of massacred soldiers , and takes him to Pelagia and the doctor for treatment and recovery , and then to a boat to escape the island . As a result of Pelagia 's questioning , Mandras admits that he rescued Corelli from the heap of dead soldiers because he wanted to re-kindle their love . But it does no good and the couple part . Earlier , on one of Mandras 's return visits to Cephallonia , he admits to Pelagia that the reason he never replied to her many love letters is because he is illiterate
shot as traitors
Massacre of the Acqui Division
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (film)