The Struggle For Greece 1941 1949

Woodhouse's prime position as commander of the Allied Military Mission to the Greek guerillas in German-occupied Greece enabled him to write the definitive history of the Greek civil war--an account of the turning point in Communist fortunes in Europe that has achieved the status of a classic. He analyzes the characters, ideologies, and events behind one of the longest and most bitter civil wars of modern times. With an Introduction by Richard Clogg.

As commander of the Allied Military Mission to the Greek guerrillas in Greece in 1943-4, C.M. Woodhouse has to hold an uneasy balance between the communist and government sides. Against a background of conflicting communist doctrine, shifting foreign alliances, territorial disputes and personality differences, the communist struggle for Greece unfolded in three rounds. The first began in 1941 with the German occupation of Greece when the National Liberation Front attempted to regain control of the country and overthrow the monarchy. In the second round, the communists tried to seize power at the end of the German occupation in December 1944 and were frustrated by the intervention of British forces. The third round (1946-9) was marked by US intervention, UN fact-finding missions, and the shift from guerrilla tactics to conventional warfare. The communists were weakened by internal feuding and overcome by the US forces. The author based his research on interviews with participants, documentary sources and his own experience. He analyzes the characters, ideologies and events behind one of the longest and most bitter civil wars of modern times.

This book focuses on the turbulant period of Greek history from 1941 to 1949 which was full of fights and political upsets. Its beginning includes, in brief, the defense of Greece against Italy and Germany. It follows the triple Occupation with many atrocities of occupational forces because of the Greek National Resistance. Many citizens mainly in Athens died because of famine. The lack of food in Greece was due to the British navy block of supplies to incommode the Germans. Also, the occupational forces retained a great amount of agricultural production for their needs.There were many resistance groups in Greece but the biggest one was the left EAM and its military counterpart ELAS. The leaders of EAM-ELAS were communists (Siantos, Tzimas, Velouchiotis) but there were many non-left guerrillas among them because initially, the leadership from communists was not apparent.We can distinct three successive phases of a bloody civil war. The first phase began in the middle of 1943 and lasted till the liberation in October 1944. ELAS tried to exterminate all the other resistance groups in Western Greece (EDES under N. Zervas), in Macedonia (PAO), in Midland (EKKA of D. Psaros), in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (EOEA group of A. Fosterides), in Peloponnese (NGO anticommunists) and in Athens (X organization of G. Grivas). In the same period, the Security Battalions were organized by PM John Rallis to fight against the ELAS. In Kilkis in Central Macedonia and in Meligalas in Peloponnese after fights with ELAS, 2-4 thousand non-communists (guerrillas) and civilians were executed despite being captives.The second phase includes the fights of ELAS from December of 1944 till early January 1945 in Athens (Decembriana) against the G. Papandreou government. British troops participated as well against ELAS which was finally defeated and signed an agreement at the Varkiza suburb. The third phase was the long-lasting civil war (1946-1949), when the communist's guerrillas self-named as Democratic Army fought against the National Army of the Greek state.The guerrillas recruited male and female adults but even young children 15-16 years old and after short-term training send them to battle. Also, more than 28.000 kidnapped children 4-15 years old were transferred to countries of Eastern Europe. Some children came from guerrillas' families but most of the parents were against childrens' separation from them. Queen Frederica was actively involved in the organization of 53 child camps, where children of villagers were housed, educated, and lived in a safe environment avoiding the danger of kidnapping from the guerrillas.From May of 1947, the Greek state organized a special military camp on the island of Makronisos where leftist unarmed soldiers lived, and the circumstances were very depressing for them.The communists were defeated at the end of August 1949. The guerrillas who survived went to Eastern European countries and in ESSR (mainly Taskendi).The years 1941-1949 left indelible traces of blood and lamentation in almost every Greek family, while the consequences were overall tragic: many dead and injured people, lots of burned villages, and infrastructure irreversibly damaged. During the Occupation of Greece, the Germans send 69,151 Jews to death camps in Germany and Poland (mainly to Auschwitz) and only a few people of them came back alive. During the Occupation and the subsequent 4 years, a left organization named OPLA murdered selected persons (anticommunists but also the Trotskyists).I believe that the knowledge of our history is a key so as the succeeding generations avoid the mistakes of their ancestors and prevent our nation's disunity in the future.My main aim is to offer to Greeks who live abroad ─especially the second or third generation─ an opportunity to learn what happened in that critical period of Greek history. Pou

Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z

The papers published in this volume were originally read at the Conference on the Greek Civil War 1945-49 which was held at the Vilvorde Conference Centre in Copenhagen from 30 August to 1 September 1984.

The complicated and dramatic course of the Civil War in Greece had, for lack of parties interested in reconstructing the truth of its events, never been narrated prior to the appearance of this volume. It closed a gap in the history of our times, and did so with thoroughness and vivid journalistic immediacy. In addition to the known sources and unpublished documents, the author relied on testimony painstakingly collected from survivors of the tragedy who were scattered throughout the world. It remains the authoritative account of the kapetanios, the guerrilla chiefs who organized the partisans in the Greek mountains.