The Second World War and the occupation of Greece seemed to have bypassed Kommeno. People cultivated their fields and tended to their orchards. There was a lively black market trade in foodstuff with the tacit approval of the local customs officer, who had been appointed by the Italian occupation authorities in Arta. In early 1943 groups of resistance fighters appeared on the scene and demanded food, but the Italian authorities were not alarmed. On August 12th, though, just as a group of partisans rested in the shade of the tree in the village square, a German reconnaissance unit happened to see them. They left immediately but the villagers abandoned their homes and spent the night in the countryside, afraid of what might happen next.