Greek Civil War 1946-1949 Lessons from the Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War (December 3, 1946 - August 31, 1949) was the first major armed conflict in Europe, which began even before the end of World War II immediately after the liberation of Greece from the Nazi occupiers. The confrontation took place between the communist partisans, popular among the people, and the monarchists (royalists), supported by a narrow circle of oligarchs, as they are now called. The latter had interests oriented towards Great Britain and the USA.

Geopolitically, the Greek Civil War was the first round of the Cold War between UK and USA on the one hand and USSR and its allies with another.

Great Britain did not want to accept the loss of its colonial empire and the growing influence of the USSR in the Balkans after the victory over Nazi Germany. British Prime Minister Churchill issued a decree to brutally suppress, including execution, any popular demonstrations directed against the dominance of Western powers interested in maintaining a “managed monarchy” in Greece. The Greek royal family was of Germanic origin. After bloody battles, the British were able to take control of the country's two largest cities - Athens and Thessaloniki. The rest of mainland Greece was under rebel control.

The chronology of events was as follows:

• On December 1, 1944, six “red” ministers in the government of Georgios Papandreou resigned.
• On December 2, a general strike began.
• On December 3, police opened fire on participants in a banned demonstration, and a wave of violence swept across the country.
• On December 4, the communists captured all police stations in Athens. Churchill gave the order to British troops to suppress the communist uprising. Large-scale fighting began in Athens.
• By December 8, the communists had gained control of most of Athens. The British had to transfer troops from the Italian front.
• In January 1945, the rebels were driven out of Athens.
• On February 12, 1945, the Varkiza ceasefire agreement was signed. The communists agreed to lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty, general elections and a referendum on the return of King George II to the Greek throne.

The latter was the rebels' mistake. Immediately after disarmament, a real hunt for the Reds began. Hundreds of them were arrested and shot without trial or investigation. Accordingly, this led to a new round of civil war. The communists created the Democratic Army of Greece (com. Markos Vafiadis). Rebels and partisans periodically retreated to border socialist-oriented countries (SFRY, Albania, Bulgaria), receiving moral and material support from there.

In 1947, the US Army invaded Greece, and the local Greek War became part of the Cold War between the world's two superpowers. Communism was outlawed, and a certificate of political reliability became mandatory, the provision of which was in effect until 1962. The certificate certified that its holder did not hold leftist views - without this certificate, the Greeks did not have the right to vote and could not get a job. The American humanitarian aid and international development program hardly provided any real assistance in stabilizing the situation in the country.

In 1949, when it seemed that victory was all but won by the rebels, central government troops began to push the DAS out of the Peloponnese, but fighting continued in the Epirus mountains until October 1949, when Yugoslavia fell out with the USSR and stopped supporting the DAS.

The civil war had disastrous consequences for Greece itself. Already an economically backward country, Greece was thrown back several decades as a result of military operations on its territory. Some 700,000 desperate people have become refugees just 20 years after Greece accepted 1.5 million refugees from Turkey. About 25 thousand Greek children ended up in Eastern European countries. About 100 thousand people (50 thousand from each side of the conflict) died during the battles. Greece received economic assistance from the United States, although most of it went to import food from the United States and Western European countries. At the same time, even after the unification of Greece within the framework of a conventionally capitalist system, the United States and Great Britain sought to resist the real strengthening of the Greek state in the region. Thus, during the conflict in Cyprus, which sought to complete enosis with Greece, Great Britain and the United States did not make concessions to Greece, tacitly supporting divided Cyprus as part of the “divide and rule” policy. At the same time, the 18% Turkish minority received 37% of the island's territory. In response, anti-American and anti-British sentiment spread in Greece and continues to this day.

At the same time, the attitude towards Russia in Greece is also ambiguous.The defeat of the communists, whom the Soviet Union failed to provide adequate support, culminated in the so-called Interest Agreement, which ultimately led to the entry of Greece and Turkey into NATO (1952) and the establishment of US influence in the Aegean until the end of the Cold War.

The situation is actually very reminiscent of the events in Ukraine. Here, the troops of major powers have not yet come to the point of open entry, although the Internet is replete with reports that there are Russian soldiers and American mercenaries (they have already come up with a name for this - hybrid war). BUT WHATEVER YOU CALL IT, the principle is to oust Russian influence from the territory (then Greece, now Ukraine). The consequences will also be similar: throwing the economy back for many years, loss of life, moral depression and embitterment at the same time.

Plus the state’s huge dependence in the future on war sponsors. The latter, by the way, did not save Greece from the most difficult situation in Europe in the last two years; the new crisis affected them very much. But the Greeks are not discouraged - tourists say that they have a fiesta there and don’t care about the crisis, they are relaxing. But nevertheless, Greece of the forties is another reminder not only of Ukraine - gotta stick together. To whom? For example, the Slavs!

As soon as one gets dirty, it becomes weak and is eaten

And people are always told that it will be better later. In Ukraine, for many years they have been telling how good it is in Europe, that only Russia is in the way, not letting us into a prosperous future. And what about yourself? Officials stole yours, but you didn’t throw them away, you let them into the government. What to mow down on Russia - they themselves could not restore order within the country. And the Anglo-Saxons are not our friends, they have been living on robbery for centuries - or what do you think the crusades are, the conquest of America, World Wars I and II - all for the sake of enrichment, and a lot of people have died, but those who organize it don’t care.

Therefore, it is not so important who is in power - Putin, Poroshenko. It is more important that the peoples stick together and do not even give anyone a reason to think that they can separate us into corners and then push our heads together.

Not there and not then. When did World War II begin and where did it end? Parshev Andrey Petrovich

“Only donkeys cannot fight well in the mountains.” Greek Civil War 1946–1949

On the morning of April 6, 1941, the German army invaded Greece. The Germans delivered the main blow in the direction of Thessaloniki with subsequent advance to the Olympus region.

Greek troops, with the support of the English expeditionary force under the command of General G. Wilson, tried to stop the invaders, but their resistance was quickly broken. On April 9, the Germans captured the city of Thessaloniki. On the same day, the Greek army of Eastern Macedonia capitulated. Three other armies - “Western Macedonia”, “Central Macedonia”, “Epirus” and British units, suffering heavy losses, retreated along the entire front.

On April 13, at a meeting of the Greek and English commands, it was decided to retreat to the Thermopylae-Delphi line and begin preparations for the evacuation of the English corps from Greece. The withdrawal of Greek troops to a new line allowed the enemy to capture the entire northern part of the country, and the English evacuation plan became the cause of mistrust and disagreement between the allies.

In Directive No. 27 of April 13, A. Hitler clarified the further plan of the German troops. The directive provided for "the delivery of two attacks in converging directions from the area of ​​Florina and Thessaloniki to Larissa in order to encircle the Anglo-Greek troops and thwart attempts to form a new defensive front." After the rapid advance of motorized units, it was planned to capture Athens and the rest of Greece, including the Peloponnese. In addition, the directive ordered that special attention be paid to disrupt the evacuation of the English corps.

On April 23, 1941, Greek troops completely stopped armed resistance. 225 thousand Greek soldiers and officers were captured. King George II and the Greek government moved to the island of Crete, from where they soon fled to Egypt and then to England.

By this time, the evacuation of General Wilson's corps began in the small ports of Attica and the Peloponnese. The Germans, with intensive air raids, prevented the loading of British units onto ships and transport vessels, but were unable to completely disrupt the evacuation. The British managed to transport more than 50 thousand of their soldiers by sea.

On April 27, German troops entered Athens, and a couple of days later reached the southern tip of the Peloponnese, thereby completely occupying Greece. The remaining free Greek territory, the island of Crete, was captured by the Germans in early June 1941 during Operation Mercury.

In the occupied country, the Nazis formed a puppet government headed by General G. Tsolakoglu. The gendarmerie, general and special asphalia went into service with the occupiers. Also, with the help of the Nazis, Greek pro-fascist organizations were created: the National Union of Greece, the National Socialist Party of Greece, etc.

Greece was officially divided into zones of occupation. The German zone included: Central Macedonia, the nome (Greek territorial-administrative unit) of Evros, the nome of Megaris, the Attica Peninsula, the northern coast of the Peloponnese, the port of Piraeus, the islands of Crete, Milos, Salamis, Aegina and a number of others. German allies Italy and Bulgaria received zones in Thessaly, Central Greece, Peloponnese, Eastern Macedonia and Western Thrace. The 5th German, 11th Italian armies and two Bulgarian army corps were stationed in the country. The total number of occupation troops was 300 thousand people.

From the very first days of the occupation, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) called on the people to unite and organize resistance to the invaders. The communists created the first combat detachments “Sacred Company” and “Assault Groups”. The activity of the KKE in this direction increased significantly when it became known about the German attack on the Soviet Union and the partisan detachments of General Mandakas operating on the island of Crete.

At the beginning of July 1941, a plenum of the Central Committee of the KKE took place in Athens. The decisions of the plenum noted that the Nazi occupation regime “and its lackeys, the anti-national government of Tsolakoglu, are leading the Greek people to disaster. Under these conditions, the most important task of the Greek communists is to organize the struggle of the people (...) with the aim of overthrowing foreign, fascist slavery. The Greek Communist Party calls the Greek people, all parties and organizations into a united national liberation front to expel the German-Italian occupiers from Greece, overthrow the puppet government of Tsolakoglu and provide daily support to the Soviet Union."

On September 27, the KKE, together with the Agrarian Party, the Socialist Party and the Union of People's Democracy party, founded the National Liberation Front of Greece (EAM). By the end of 1941, EAM created an underground military organization - the National Liberation Army of Greece (ELAS). The leaders of the bourgeois-monarchist parties K. Kafandaris, G. Papandreou, P. Kanelopoulos and others withdrew from participating in the national struggle.

In the fall of 1941, the first armed uprising against the invaders took place. On the night of September 28–29, an uprising broke out in the zone of Bulgarian occupation. More than two thousand residents of the villages of Drama, led by local communists, attacked the occupation authorities and dispersed them. However, the uprising was brutally and quickly suppressed by Bulgarian military units and gendarmerie.

In 1942, a powerful wave of strikes swept through Greece, and the first ELAS partisan detachments began to operate under the command of A. Velouchiotis. Thus, in February 1942, a sabotage partisan group blew up German vehicles at the Depot base in Thessaloniki. By April, the mountainous regions in Rumelia, Central and Western Macedonia had completely come under the control of the partisans. As the English historian J. Ehrman notes, by this time EAM - ELAS had won widespread support from the masses. From September 7 to 14, under the leadership of EAM, a major strike took place in Athens and Piraeus, in which up to 60 thousand people took part. And on September 22, partisans blew up a building in Athens that housed the office of a Greek pro-fascist organization recruiting volunteers to participate in battles against the Red Army. The explosion killed 29 employees of this organization, including its leader Sterodimos, as well as 43 German officers and soldiers.

The leading role of the communists in resisting the occupation regime alarmed the Greek exile government and King George II, who were by this time in Cairo. The British also showed significant concern, who saw “in the person of EAM-ELAS a force capable of uniting the entire nation around itself, expelling the occupiers and achieving the national, political and economic independence of the country.”

At the beginning of September 1942, a secret emissary of the exiled government, Colonel I. Tsigandes, arrived in Athens, carrying a large sum of money to finance activities to undermine EAM - ELAS. In October of the same year, the English Military Mission (BMA), led by Colonel E. Myers, settled in Greece, dropped by parachute in the area of ​​​​the Gion mountain range, controlled by partisans. With significant support from the HSA, Greek bourgeois-monarchist circles created their own underground military organization, the National Democratic Greek Society (EDES), under the leadership of N. Zervas and K. Piromaglou.

In December 1942, the second Panhellenic Conference of the KKE took place, which in its significance was equal to the congress. The adopted resolution stated that “the central task of the party is the fight against the occupiers, the liberation of Greece and its people from any external and internal oppression.” The resolution particularly emphasized the need for “the formation, immediately after the expulsion of the invaders, of a provisional government by all parties and organizations that carried out the struggle in accordance with the goals of the EAM.”

At the end of 1942 - beginning of 1943. EDAS detachments numbered 6 thousand fighters in their ranks, of which about 3,500 were part of regular detachments. The partisans' actions became more systematic and covered almost the entire continental part of Greece.

On the night of November 25, 1942, a joint sabotage detachment (150 ELAS fighters, 60 EDES fighters and 12 British commandos) attacked an important strategic facility - the railway bridge over the Gorgopotamos River. During a fierce battle, the resistance of the Italian guards was broken and the bridge was blown up. The railway line that supplied supplies to fascist troops in North Africa was out of action for six weeks. After this successful operation, partisan attacks on the occupiers became more frequent. Only in December 1942, ELAS troops attacked (unsuccessfully) a large railway bridge over the Vardar River, attacked the guards of the Pigi mines in Macedonia and defeated several Italian units from ambushes.

In February 1943, ELAS partisans carried out a number of successful operations, as a result of which the enemy lost over 300 people killed, wounded and captured. Thus, on February 11–12 in Western Thessaly, partisans surrounded two companies of Italians in the village of Oksinia. As a result of the battle, 120 enemy soldiers and officers were killed, and 147 surrendered. All weapons and other military equipment of the enemy fell into the hands of the partisans.

On March 4–6, 1943, ELAS detachments successfully operated in the Bugazi gorge and the town of Fardikambos in Western Macedonia. On the morning of March 4, partisans attacked an Italian convoy in the gorge, consisting of 10 trucks with ammunition and food for the garrison of the city of Grevene. In the battle, the Italians lost 15 people killed, and the remaining 133 soldiers surrendered. 9 cars were captured, one truck managed to escape from the gorge. An Italian infantry battalion with heavy weapons came to the aid of the convoy from Grevene, which the partisans surrounded in the town of Fardikambos. On March 6, after a stubborn battle, having lost 32 people killed, the invaders laid down their arms. 603 people were captured, including the battalion commander and 16 officers. The partisans captured three 65-mm guns, 12 heavy machine guns, 39 light machine guns, 8 mortars, 640 rifles, 30 pistols, 300 artillery shells. 12 trucks, 57 mules and much other equipment were also captured.

On April 7, 1943, ELAS carried out one of its most daring operations in Athens. On this day, 35 partisans, with the help of several police officers - members of the EAM, freed 55 arrested KKE activists from the prison hospital. These successes contributed to the influx of new fighters into ELAS and the further development of the armed struggle against the occupiers.

By the spring of 1943, ELAS was a significant force. There were about 12.5 thousand people in the army. From the beginning of the armed struggle against the invaders until the beginning of May 1943, ELAS units fought 53 battles, in which the enemy lost about 900 people killed, 500 wounded and 950 prisoners. Three 65-mm guns, three heavy and 10 light mortars, 19 heavy machine guns, 70 light machine guns, 64 machine guns, 930 rifles, 39 pistols, 7 thousand hand grenades, 19 vehicles, 5 motorcycles, 2 boats and 103 units of other vehicles. During the fighting and sabotage, 13 locomotives, 177 carriages, 26 cars, 1 boat, 1 plane, 4 mines, 2 large and 2 small bridges were destroyed.

The growing effectiveness of the partisan movement was recognized by the occupiers themselves. For example, the German intelligence and counterintelligence report “1-C” dated April 9, 1943 said the following:

“Starting in November 1942, ever-growing partisan forces began to operate in areas occupied by German troops and attack gendarme posts in order to supply themselves with weapons and ammunition. In total, from December 1942 to the present day, 30 such raids were recorded in the territory of the Thessaloniki-Egeo military district alone. At the same time, acts of sabotage and murder are committed daily. The culmination of these actions was the capture by partisans of an Italian detachment of more than 500 people and its artillery near Ciatista on March 4, 1943.

The explosion of the bridge over the Gorgopotamos River on November 25, 1942 marked the beginning of direct gang attacks on communications, combined with increased sabotage. The central railway artery of Thessaloniki - Lamia was disabled 6 times during 1943. These facts irrefutably demonstrate the danger arising from the actions of the partisans to our supplies and the vulnerability of the supply system of our troops.”

In order to strengthen the fight against partisans, the Nazis, together with the puppet government of I. Rallis (became prime minister on April 7, 1943, replacing Prime Minister Logofetopoulos) began creating security battalions. At the end of May, the first battalion was formed in Athens. Soon two more battalions appeared, which were consolidated into a regiment under the command of Plidzanopoulos. During punitive operations, the military personnel of these units were particularly cruel. Later, the security battalions were called “security” battalions. In addition, a special motorized unit of Burandas, armed units of the Panhellenic Liberation Organization (GTAO), National Social Defense (ESD), and the Greek Army (ES) acted against the partisans.

On May 2, 1943, the main command of ELAS was formed. S. Sarafis was appointed commander of the partisan forces, A. Velouchiotis was his first deputy, V. Samariniotis was the commissar (later this position was given to the first secretary of the KKE Central Committee G. Syandos).

On May 27, a representative of the VSA turned to Commander Sarafis with a request to carry out a series of operations against German-Italian troops by ELAS forces in order to divert the Nazis’ attention from the impending landing of Anglo-American troops in Sicily. ELAS units successfully completed this task. The operations began on the night of June 20-21, 1943. The partisans attacked motorized columns, trains, railway stations, and enemy garrisons, destroyed communication lines, mined bridges, railroad tracks, station equipment, and ammunition depots. Many objects were mined with delayed action mines, which caused confusion in the ranks of the enemy. The German-Italian occupiers suffered significant losses and, fearing an Allied landing on the Greek coast, were forced to transfer three German divisions here that were intended to be sent to Italy. The commander of the allied ground forces in the Middle East, General G. Wilson, highly appreciated the operations of the ELAS detachments:

"Thanks to the brilliant operations of the Greek partisans, the attention of the Axis powers was diverted from the advance of large transports and the concentration of troops intended for the operation in the Mediterranean."

British Prime Minister W. Churchill also noted the successes of the Greek partisans:

“At the same time, Greek agents carried out brilliant and daring sabotage operations against Axis ships stationed in Piraeus. The success of these operations prompted the Middle East command to send new British groups with stocks of explosives and weapons to Greece.”

On July 5, 1943, the WSA, ELAS and the two bourgeois military organizations EDES and the National and Socialist Liberation (EKKA) created that month entered into an agreement among themselves recognizing both ELAS and both bourgeois military organizations as parts of the allied army.

The day before the signing of the agreement, King George II addressed the Greek people on the radio with a statement in which he promised to hold general elections after the liberation of Greece and his return to the country. He indicated that "the Greek government abroad will resign upon its return to Athens so that a broad-based government can be established." George II's announcement marked the beginning of infighting and power struggles between Greek political factions. “To the benefit of the common enemy,” as W. Churchill noted.

In August, the British ruling circles invited representatives of EAM-ELAS and bourgeois-monarchist parties to Egypt to discuss Greek problems. At the negotiations, Greek representatives, primarily from the EAM coalition, demanded from George II guarantees that after the expulsion of the occupiers, he would not return to Greece until the people resolved the issue of the form of government. The offended monarch immediately sent a letter to W. Churchill and F. D. Roosevelt. In his message, George II, in particular, wrote:

“Now I suddenly came across a very curious proposal, when some individuals arrived from Greece, allegedly representing various partisan detachments; In addition, a representative of a number of old political parties came, insisting that I announce that I will return only after a plebiscite, which will determine the shape of the future regime. In these circumstances I should be very grateful for your advice on the policy which is best for the present time from the point of view of the cause of Greece and the United Nations."

The answer of W. Churchill, who had special obligations with the Greek monarch as the head of state fighting as an Anglo-American ally against a common enemy, was as follows:

“If significant English forces take part in the liberation of Greece, the king must return with the Anglo-Greek army. This is perhaps the most likely possibility. If, however, the Greeks prove strong enough to drive out the Germans on their own, we will have much less say in the matter. It follows that the king should demand equal representation for the monarchists with the republicans, as is now supposed. In any case, he would have made a great mistake if he had in any way expressed his consent to remain outside Greece while the fighting for liberation continued and while conditions precluded the possibility of holding a plebiscite in a peaceful atmosphere.”

Meanwhile, by the fall of 1943, the vast majority of the adult population of Greece - about 2 million people - supported the EAM coalition, and the ELAS partisan detachments turned into a regular army consisting of the 1st, 3rd, 8th, 9th, 10th 1st, 13th divisions and cavalry brigade, with a total number of 35–40 thousand soldiers. An ELAS reserve officer school was also organized. In addition, after the surrender of Italy in September 1943 and the disarmament of Italian troops in Greece, ELAS managed to capture the bulk of Italian equipment, including the weapons of an entire division. At the same time, the military formations of EDES and EKKA had no more than 3–5 thousand people in their ranks.

Such significant changes in the balance of political and military forces did not suit the Greek émigré government and the ruling circles of England, primarily because of the real danger of a communist takeover after the expulsion of the Germans.

“In the event of the evacuation of Greece by the Germans, we must be able to send 5 thousand British soldiers with armored vehicles and Brenov self-propelled guns to Athens: transport and artillery are not needed. Greek troops in Egypt will accompany them. Their task will be to provide support to the legitimate government of Greece restored to power in this center of the country. The Greeks will not know how many more troops will follow them. It is possible that some squabbling will flare up between the Greek partisan detachments, but the British will be shown every respect, especially since saving the country from famine depends entirely on our efforts in the first months after liberation. In raising these troops it must be assumed that they will not have to deal with anything more serious than a riot in the capital or a raid on the capital from the villages. Once a stable government is in place, we can leave.”

According to Churchill's recollections, this letter was one of the first recognitions that the British would have to intervene in the internal affairs of Greece at the time of the expulsion of the Germans.

In the autumn of the same year, at the Moscow meeting, Churchill “at great cost” achieved the decision that Greece would move into the British sphere of influence. At the same time, it was specifically stipulated that the British undertake to support the provisional government in which EAM will be represented.

In October 1943, the struggle for power between Greek political factions resulted in armed clashes between the troops of ELAS and EDES - EKKA. On October 10, in Epirus, EDES units provoked serious incidents against units of the 8th ELAS Division. A civil war was brewing in the country. However, on February 28, 1944, a ceasefire agreement was concluded between the warring factions, through the mediation of the Allied Military Mission (the former British military mission, transformed into an “allied” mission in 1943).

On March 10, the KKE and EAM formed the Political Committee for National Liberation (PEEA), which was entrusted with the functions of a provisional government. The committee included socialist A. Svolos (chairman), left liberals N. Askoutsis, A. Angelopoulos, S. Hadzibeis, communist G. Syandos, colonels E. Bakirdzis, E. Mandakas and others. On March 15, PEEA notified the exile government in Cairo of its creation, emphasizing that “its goal is to unite national forces to coordinate the national liberation struggle on the side of the allies and, first of all, to form a government of national unity.”

However, at the insistence of George II, the emigrant government not only did not respond to the PEEA’s appeal, but also hid the fact of its formation.

The creation of the committee, in Churchill's opinion, was a direct challenge to the future power of the émigré government of E. Tsouderos. The announcement of the establishment of PEEA caused unrest in the Greek army and naval forces that form part of the British armed forces in the Middle East. By this time, there were 30 thousand people in the Greek military formations, of which 18 thousand served in infantry units, 7 thousand in the navy and 5 thousand in aviation. Moreover, 90–95 percent of the military personnel were supporters of EAM - ELAS.

According to the historian G. D. Kyriakidis, the unification of the left forces of the Greek emigration with the local pro-communist coalition was most feared by George II, “his government and their English patrons.” True, the beginning of the actions of the Greek military in support of PEEA were quickly suppressed by the British. The 1st and 2nd brigades, a field artillery regiment, an armored vehicle regiment, an anti-aircraft artillery division, an anti-tank artillery division, transport units, all training centers and the navy were disarmed and disbanded. During disarmament, armed clashes occurred between Greek and British units, with losses of killed and wounded on both sides. The instigators of protests in support of PEEA were arrested. The British imprisoned about 20 thousand former Greek military personnel in concentration camps.

On April 26, a new emigrant government headed by G. Papandreou appeared in Cairo (E. Tsouderos resigned on April 6). Only after this were negotiations started with PEEA on the creation of a government of national unity.

At the initiative of the British government, from May 17 to 20, negotiations were held in the Beirut area between delegations of the exile government, PEEA, EAM, KKE, EDES - EKKA and a council of bourgeois parties. After heated discussions, the so-called Lebanese Agreement was signed, the main points of which were the following: condemnation of the participation of armed forces in the Middle East on the side of PEEA; providing the government and the British command with full initiative in resolving the main issue - the fate of the armed forces, mainly ELAS; liberation of the country through joint actions with allied forces; giving the coalition government the right to decide constitutional and dynastic issues at its own discretion. Moreover, the delegations of PEEA, EAM and KKE agreed to receive only 25 percent of the minor portfolios in the cabinet of the government of national unity.

In the summer of 1944, the Central Committee of the KKE decided to widely mobilize the country's patriotic forces to fight the German occupiers. By this time, the partisan forces included: 1st Division of Thessaly, 8th Division of Epirus, 9th Division of Western Macedonia, 10th Division of Central Macedonia, 13th Division of Rumeli, 16th Division of Eastern Thessaly, 3rd I Peloponnese Division, 5th Crete Division, 5th Attica-Boeotia Brigade, Cavalry Regiment, parts of Eastern Macedonia and parts of the Islands. In addition to these troops, the partisans had the 1st Army Corps, numbering up to 10 thousand people, but with only two thousand weapons, as well as reserve units. In total, ELAS numbered about 50 thousand people, controlling most of mainland Greece.

In the period from July 2 to July 22 and from August 7 to the end of August 1944, the German command undertook several large punitive operations against the partisans in Northern Pindus and in the western regions of Central Greece. German troops were reinforced by the 1st Alpine Rifle Division "Edelweiss", specially trained to fight partisans in mountainous areas.

During a punitive operation in July, ELAS units dealt a powerful blow to the Nazi garrison in the city of Amfilochia. The command of the 8th Partisan Division, taking advantage of the decrease in enemy forces in the Epirus region and in the west of Central Greece, from where part of the German units were transferred to participate in the operation in Northern Pindus, decided to capture Amphilochia. On July 12–13, having reliably blocked Amphilochia, ELAS sent its main forces against the German garrison. After fierce street fighting, the partisans occupied the city. During this operation, 450 Nazis were killed and 37 captured. As trophies, the partisans captured three cars, a radio transmitter, small arms, 5,000 mines, a large amount of ammunition, uniforms, food, as well as 38 horses and 70 mules. The 8th Division's losses were 42 killed and 54 wounded. The purpose of the operation was fully achieved.

At the end of August, the British General Staff developed a detailed plan for the landing of expeditionary forces in Greece. The operation plan, codenamed “Manna,” provided for the sudden occupation of Athens and its airfield with the help of an airborne assault, the capture of Piraeus harbor to deliver new reinforcements from Egypt, and the urgent arrival of the government of G. Papandreou in Greece. The operation involved the 2nd Parachute Brigade from Italy, the 23rd Armored Brigade, which acted as infantry, rear units and Greek troops loyal to the Papandreou government. The total number of troops was 23 thousand people. The command of the expeditionary forces was carried out by General R. Scobie. The expedition was supported by the 15th cruiser squadron with a flotilla of minesweepers, as well as 7 Anglo-Greek air squadrons and American transport aviation.

“It is most desirable that the blow be struck like a bolt from the blue, without any preliminary crisis. This is the best way to anticipate EAM,” Churchill pointed out during the development of Operation Manna.

On September 26, in Italy, where by this time the Papandreou government was located, a meeting of representatives of ELAS and EDES - EKKA took place. At the meeting, an agreement was signed according to which the English General Scobie was appointed commander-in-chief of all Greek armed forces, including ELAS. This document, known as the Caserta Agreement, determined, according to Churchill, the further actions of the British in Greece.

In October 1944, the German command ordered the retreat of its troops from Greece. On October 4, the British occupied the city of Patras, located in southern Greece. On October 12, British paratroopers landed at the capital's Megara airfield near Athens. On October 15 they occupied the city itself. English naval forces entered the port of Piraeus, delivering General Scobie and the bulk of his expeditionary forces. On October 17, the government of G. Papandreou arrived in Athens.

By the 10th of November 1944, the entire territory of Greece was completely cleared of German invaders.

ELAS units also actively participated in the expulsion of the occupiers, inflicting sensitive blows on them. For example, on October 3–4, the partisans derailed two German trains transporting troops and military equipment near Kurnovos and Stirfaki. On October 24, ELAS units destroyed 20 German vehicles on the bridge over the Alyacmon River. “During the retreat, the Germans suffered serious losses from partisan raids and Allied aviation. About 5 thousand people were killed, about the same number were wounded and captured. In addition, the partisans destroyed and captured up to 100 locomotives and over 500 vehicles with weapons and ammunition. The enemy withdrew his main forces from Greece, but at the same time suffered significant human and material losses,” writes military historian D. Erman.

In November, an emergency message from the ELAS commander, General E. Sarafis, said, in part:

“The enemy, under pressure from our troops and relentlessly pursued by us, left Greek territory. The long-term and bloody struggle of ELAS culminated in the complete liberation of our homeland.”

From the beginning of hostilities until the expulsion of the invaders, ELAS pinned down from 8 to 12 enemy divisions on Greek territory and inflicted significant losses on them, which, according to incomplete data, exceeded 22 thousand people killed. The partisans captured 6,500 German troops.

ELAS's own losses were estimated at 28 thousand people killed in battle. Another 50 thousand people related to the partisans were executed by the occupiers and their accomplices.

The number of ELAS during the period of expulsion of the invaders exceeded 130 thousand people, of which 80 thousand were fighters of regular detachments. In addition, at the time of the liberation of the country, 412 thousand people were in the ranks of the KKE.

Meanwhile, a rather tense situation was developing in Greece.

Immediately after the expulsion of the Germans, G. Papandreou demanded the dissolution of ELAS. The same demand was expressed by General R. Scobie during a meeting with General E. Sarafis. At the same time, the British military authorities took measures to preserve the “security battalions” and other units that fought on the side of the Germans. Under the supervision of British soldiers, these formations were concentrated in the Athens area and on the islands off the eastern coast of the Peloponnese, where they were in good conditions and could maintain their combat effectiveness. Soon, the personnel of the “security battalions” were secretly transported from the islands to Athens and placed in the Goudi barracks. The British also searched throughout the country for officers and privates of the gendarmerie, sent them to the capital to the Makriyannis barracks, where they formed them into battalions and armed them. In addition, in many hotels around Omonia Square, which occupied a dominant position in the area of ​​the central streets of Athens, “security battalions” and other detachments of former Nazi collaborators were stationed.

The ELAS command resolutely rejected the government's demand for dissolution. Indignant ELAS supporters began protesting in the country, protesting against the Papandreou government and the presence of British troops in the country.

"1. In my opinion, considering the price we have paid to Russia for our freedom of action in Greece, we should not hesitate to use British troops in support of the Greek royal government headed by Mr. Papandreou.

2. This means that British troops must certainly intervene to prevent outrages. Mr Papandreou could certainly close down the EMA newspapers if they called for a strike by newspaper workers.

3. I hope that the Greek brigade will arrive soon and, if necessary, will not hesitate to open fire. Why there (to Greece. – Note auto.) send only one Indian brigade from the Indian division? We need another 8-10 thousand infantry soldiers to hold the capital and Thessaloniki for the current government. Later we must deal with the question of expanding Greek power. I fully expect an encounter with EAM, and we should not shy away from it, if only the soil is chosen correctly."

The next day, Churchill wrote a letter to General Wilson:

“In view of the increasing threat from communist elements in Greece and in view of the fact that they intend to seize power by force, I hope that you will consider strengthening our troops in the Athens area by immediately sending the 3rd Brigade of the British 4th Division or any other connection."

On November 15, General Scobie received instructions to be prepared to counter “Communist elements.” If necessary, he was to declare Athens a military zone and demand that all ELAS units leave the city immediately. The 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade and the 4th Indian Division were hastily transferred from Italy to Thessaloniki, Athens and Patras. The Papandreou government and the British took the necessary measures to create and equip “security battalions” of 500 people each. A total of 30 such battalions were created. In early December, the 3rd British Army Corps, consisting of the 2nd Indian Division, the 23rd Armored Brigade and the 5th Infantry Brigade, landed in Greece.

On December 1, 1944, six ministers representing PEEA resigned from the Papandreou government. The remaining members of the cabinet decided to disband all partisan units, especially ELAS.

On December 2, a general strike was declared in Athens. The headquarters of the KKE moved from the capital to another location.

General Scobie addressed the Greek people with a message in which he declared that he would strongly support the current government "until a Greek state has been established with a legitimate armed force and until free elections can be held." W. Churchill made a similar statement from London.

On December 3, up to 500 thousand residents took to the streets of Athens and Piraeus to protest against the arbitrariness of the British military authorities. In Athens, a bloody clash occurred between police and communist demonstrators. An eyewitness wrote:

“The police struck from the palace. Since I did not believe and could not even imagine that the police could kill unarmed people with such composure, I wanted to think that the fire was carried out with blank cartridges. Thirty steps from the place where we stood, I saw the rising head of a man, muffledly shouting: “Help!” Blood was pouring from his mouth. Grenades were exploding next to him... When the shooting stopped, I realized how real the bullets were.”

This incident actually became the beginning of the civil war. “The stakes in the ongoing struggle were more than high. For the communists, it was not only about political, but also physical survival. For the British, their influence in the entire Balkan region was in question,” write domestic historians S. Lavrenov and I. Popov.

On December 4, General Scobie ordered ELAS to immediately leave the Athens-Piraeus area and move beyond the Elefsis-Kifissia-Koropi line within 72 hours. Otherwise, he promised to restore order with an iron fist. Shortly before the ultimatum was presented, British troops disarmed one of the regiments of the 2nd ELAS division in Psychico. In response to the general's order, ELAS troops and armed groups of citizens attempted to seize the capital by force.

Initially, the British and their allies in the city were opposed by parts of the 1st Army Corps of Athens - Piraeus and groups of armed townspeople, supporters of EAM - ELAS. During the fighting, the 13th Central Greek Division and four battalions of the 8th Peloponnese Division arrived in Athens.

“Having learned that the Communists had already captured all the police stations in Athens and killed most of the people there who did not agree to support them, and that the Communists were at a distance of half a mile from government offices, I ordered General Scobie and the British troops, numbering five thousand people (...) open fire,” recalled W. Churchill.

Parts of the English garrison and troops loyal to the Papandreou government, numbering approximately 11 thousand people - the Mountain Brigade, the Sacred Company, "security battalions", gendarmes and part of the police personnel - acted against the ELAS detachments. Soon after the fighting began, the British received reinforcements - the 5th Division and the 2nd Brigade of the 6th Infantry Division.

In total, General Scobie's forces in Athens-Piraeus numbered 26 thousand British and 11 thousand Greeks. In the rest of Greece there were 7 thousand British troops and 11 thousand soldiers from EDES - EKKA, “security battalions” and other government forces.

The number of ELAS troops during this period was 90 thousand soldiers and approximately 50 thousand reservists. ELAS units were deployed basically as they were during the Nazi occupation.

There were fierce street battles in the capital of Greece. On December 8, General Scobie reported to Prime Minister Churchill about the scale of the fighting:

“The intensification of rebel activity and widespread shooting from around the corner did not allow us to achieve great results in the battles that lasted all day yesterday. By mid-day, the total number of rebels taken into custody by the troops was 35 officers and 524 other ranks. This figure does not include persons detained by the police, as it is difficult to obtain accurate data from them in this regard.

The 23rd Brigade, which spent the afternoon clearing each house, achieved some success. The parachute brigade cleared a new area in the city center.

Marine reinforcements had to be landed from the English warship Orion to combat numerous rebel snipers who had infiltrated the area south of Porto Leonto and were operating against the naval department building in Pira. Due to strong resistance, our troops were forced to retreat in one area.

In an area being cleared by the Greek mountain brigade, the rebels launched a flank attack. The attack was repulsed, but delayed the brigade's advance."

As a result of fierce fighting, ELAS units cleared most urban areas of the enemy. They occupied the heavily fortified buildings of the Polytechnic Institute and Vastiles, a complex of buildings of the main asphalia and its special service. ELAS fighters blocked the barracks of Goudi and Makriyannis, where parts of the “security battalions” and the gendarmerie were concentrated. The Elasites captured the complex of buildings of the general military school, broke into the barracks of the 25th British brigade, where they destroyed all the heavy weapons and captured 100 English soldiers.

By December 10, the situation of British troops and government units in Athens became critical. They held the defense in the city center, practically under siege. The British units engaged in heavy street fighting had a six-day supply of food and a three-day supply of ammunition. English Field Marshal G. R. Alexander, who arrived in the city on December 11, reported to London that “the situation in Athens is much worse than he imagined before his departure from Italy.”

Significant reinforcements were sent to help the British troops in Greece. For their fastest transfer, the American command allocated 100 transport aircraft to the British. The fighting broke out with redoubled force. On December 18, ELAS fighters attacked and occupied the fortified Cecil Pallas and Apregi hotels, where 600 British Air Force personnel were captured. On the night of December 18-19, after heavy two-day fighting, ELAS troops completely captured the fortified complex of the Averof prison. An attempt by the British to regain lost positions was repulsed. British troops, with the support of aviation and artillery, inflicted significant losses on the ELAS fighters, but could not completely defeat them.

“Based on the assumption that ELAS will continue to fight, I believe that it will be possible to clear the area of ​​Athens, Piraeus and firmly hold it, but by doing so we will not yet defeat ELAS and force it to capitulate. We are not strong enough to go beyond this and undertake operations in mainland Greece. During the period of German occupation, the Germans maintained six to seven divisions in the continental part of the country and, in addition, troops on the Greek islands equivalent to four divisions. With all this, they could not constantly provide themselves with uninterrupted communications, and I doubt that we will be opposed by fewer forces and less determination than the Germans.”

On December 25, Prime Minister W. Churchill and Foreign Minister A. Eden arrived in Athens. They tried to find the possibility of a compromise between the warring parties. On December 26–27, a conference convened by representatives of the Papandreou government and EAM-ELAM took place. Speaking to its participants, Churchill said that “the guns will thunder if no agreement is reached.”

However, it was not possible to reach a full agreement. Government representatives rejected the rather moderate demands of EAM-ELAM to give 40-50% of ministerial portfolios to the left forces in the government of national unity. But on the issue of appointing Archbishop Damaskinos as the regent of the country and General N. Plastiras as the new prime minister, both sides came to an agreement.

On December 31, the appointment of an archbishop to the regency took place. “The role that Damaskinos intended,” writes the historian Kyriakidis, “was to temporarily create the appearance of beginning to realize these aspirations, but in reality to prepare the return of the king to power.”

On January 3, 1945, Prime Minister Plastiras, known as an opponent of the monarchy and an ardent anti-communist, formed a government. The new cabinet included moderate liberals P. Rallis, I. Makropoulos and others. In his first official statement, Plastiras announced that “his program includes the restoration of statehood by organizing order, punishing all those who committed crimes during the occupation, satisfying the urgent needs of the population, providing food, restoring communications, stabilizing the currency and providing assistance to the working population.”

Meanwhile, while negotiations were ongoing, the British continued to continuously transfer additional forces to Greece. By the beginning of January, the size of the British military group in the Athens-Piraeus region reached 60 thousand people, equipped with the most modern weapons. Soon, British troops and their Greek allies, supported by 290 tanks, aircraft and artillery from warships, went on the offensive in the capital's Psirri region. Athens was subjected to brutal bombardment by Spitfire and Beaufighter aircraft and intense artillery fire. On January 5, ELAS detachments were driven out of the Athens-Piraeus area and retreated to the mountainous regions of the country. During the battles for the capital, ELAS losses amounted to about 1,000 people. Of the civilians, 4,200 people were killed and 8,500 were wounded. As a result of bombing and artillery shelling, 1,800 buildings were destroyed.

On January 11, a truce was signed between the warring parties. According to this document, 2/3 of the country's territory remained under the control of ELAS, while other areas, including Attica with Athens - Piraeus and the city of Thessaloniki, were under the control of the British. The joys of ELAS in the Peloponnese received the right to go home without hindrance. The British troops pledged to cease fire and remain in their positions. Both sides agreed to the exchange of prisoners of war. These agreements came into force on January 14, 1945. On this day, one of the leaders of the KKE, G. Syandos, informed the communist parties of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, with which the Greek communists had close ties, that “due to losses on the part of the fighting units and delays in supplies we are forced to sign an unfavorable truce in order to gather reinforcements and reach the necessary acceptable political solution.”

Thus ended the 33-day armed struggle in Athens between ELAS units, on the one hand, and British troops and their Greek allies, on the other. However, if hostilities stopped in the capital, this did not mean at all that they stopped throughout the country as a whole. On the contrary, the civil war that had begun in Greece continued, becoming more and more fierce every day.

England's unceremonious intervention in the internal affairs of Greece caused a negative reaction in the leading countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. The overwhelming majority of the American press sharply condemned the actions of the British, “claiming that they discredited the purpose for which the Americans entered the war.” Even the English Times and Manchester Guardian condemned their own government's policies, calling them reactionary.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union remained indifferent to Greek problems. “Stalin, however, strictly and loyally adhered to our agreement reached in October, and during all these long weeks of fighting with the communists on the streets of Athens, not a word of reproach was heard from Pravda and Izvestia,” testifies General R. Scobie.

The position of the Soviet Union remained unchanged and at the beginning of 1945, on February 8, at the Crimean Conference of the leaders of the three allied powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain - I. Stalin, citing his alleged ignorance, asked Churchill about what was happening in Greece. He replied that he “would have to talk about Greece for a very long time, and he is afraid that this story would spoil the taste for the upcoming dinner with Marshal Stalin.” The next day, W. Churchill, in his “Note on Greece,” outlined the situation rather vaguely, assuring that the resolution of internal conflicts in this country would be carried out by peaceful means.