Three times in the history of Hellas elite military units received the title of Sacred Band. The first was the Sacred Band of Thebes, first unit to ever defeat the Spartan army in a civil war. The sacred Band of Alexander Ypsilandes, fought the Ottoman Empire and perished until the last man in the muddy battle of Dragatsani. The third Sacred Band was a Special Forces unit formed from Greek soldiers after the German Occupation in WWII and fought in all great battles between 1942 and 1945.