Greek Resistance

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The Greek Resistance (Greek: Εθνική Αντίσταση, i.e. "National Resistance") is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece during World War II.

Contents 1 Origins 1.1 First resistance acts 1.2 Resistance groups' establishment 2 Risks involved 3 Resistance in the mountains -"Andartiko" 4 Resistance in the cities 5 Table of resistance groups 6 Activities 7 Notable resistance members 8 See also 8.1 Greece & World War II 8.2 Allied involvement in Greece 8.3 Other WW II resistance movements 9 External links 10 Further reading

[edit] Origins

The rise of resistance movements in Greece was precipitated by the invasion and occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany (and its allies Italy and Bulgaria) from 1941 to 1944. Italy led the way with its attempted invasion from Albania in 1940, which was repelled by the Greek Army. After the German invasion, the occupation of Athens and the fall of Crete, King George II and his government escaped to Egypt, where they proclaimed a government-in-exile, recognised by the Western Allies, but not the Soviet Union. The Western Allies actively encouraged, even coerced, the King to appoint center-wing , moderate ministers; only two of his ministers were members of the dictatorial government that had governed Greece before the German invasion. Some in the left-wing resistance claimed the government to be illegitimate, on account of its roots in the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas from 1936 to 1941. Regardless of its pretensions, or of the dissenters, the government's inability to influence the governance of Greece rendered it irrelevant in the minds of most Greek people.

Germans set up a collaborationist government in Athens as soon as they entered the city; but this government, too, lacked legitimacy and support. The puppet regime was further undermined when economic mismanagement in wartime conditions created runaway inflation, acute food shortages, and even famine, amongst the Greek civilian population. Some high-profile officers of the pre-war Greek regime served the Germans in various posts.

[edit] First resistance acts

The first resistance act in Greece took place in Athens, on the night of May 30, 1941. Two young students, Apostolos Siantas, a law student and Manolis Glezos, a student at the Athens University of Economics and Business, secretly climbed the northwest face of the Acropolis and tore down the swastika which had been placed there by occupation authorities.

The first mass resistance rebellion arose in Eastern Macedonia, Drama, where the Germans had allowed Bulgarian troops to occupy Greek territories. The last had started to apply large-scale Bulgarization policies causing the Greek population’s reaction. The night of 28 - 29 September 1941 the people of Drama and it’s skirts rose and broke down Bulgarian authorities. This spontaneous rebellion was repressed by the Bulgarian Army, which executed 3,000 patriots in the city of Drama and the village Doxato.

Also, large demonstrations were organized in Greek Macedonian cities by the Defenders of Northern Greece (YBE), a right wing organization, in response to the Bulgarian invasion in Greek territories.

After the events in Drama and the massive executions of the habitants of the villages Mesovouno (24 October 1941) and Cleisto, Kidonia and Ambelofito (25 October 1941) by the Nazis, it became a commonsense notion among the Greek population that an armed resistance movement was necessary to face the Axis forces.

[edit] Resistance groups' establishment

The lack of a legitimate government, that created a power vacuum, and the will to organize the internal resistance against the occupation forces led to the creation of several resistance groups. The first to be founded was the National Republican Greek League (EDES), led by a former army officer, Colonel Napoleon Zervas ,and by General Nikolaos Plastiras. The largest resistance group was the National Liberation Front (EAM), founded in 27 September 1941. Following the Soviet policy of creating a broad united front against fascism, EAM won the support of many non-Communists. It became a large popular organization which, although completely controlled by Greek Communist Party (KKE), tried to appear solely as a democratic republican movement.

Later, the National and Social Liberation (EKKA), led by Georgios Kartalis (as its political speaker) and Colonel Dimitrios Psarros was founded. EKKA was a classical liberal movement, with strong opposition to monarchy. EDES initially bore a republican ideology, but from 1943 its leader turned into a royalist.

Another organization, controlled by the KKE, was the mainly terroristic OPLA (Organization for the protection of the people's fighters). In the area of Florina there also was the Slavo-Macedonian organization NOF, which changed its name to SNOF during the third phase of the civil war.

[edit] Risks involved

[edit] Resistance in the mountains -"Andartiko"

In February 1942, EAM’s central Committee decided to form a military corps, called National People's Liberation Army (ELAS), that would first operate in the mountains of Central Greece, with Aris Velouchiotis as their chief captain.

Later, in 28 July 1942, Napoleon Zervas announced the foundation of the "National Groups of Creek Guerrillas" (EOEA), as EDES' military arm, to operate, at first, in the region of Aetoloakarnania. EKKA also formed a military corps under Dimitrios Psarros, that was mainly localized in the area of Mt. Giona.

Despite the rivalry that rapidly developed among the armed resistance organizations there was one rare occasion of cooperation between ELAS and EDES. Following British mediation, 12 British saboteurs and a joint ELAS-EDES force succeeded in blowing up Gorgopotamos bridge, on 25 November 1942 (Operation "Harling"). This successful operation disrupted the German transportation of ammunition via Greece to the Nazi Africa Corps under Rommel, but its main result was a huge moral boost for the Greek guerrillas.

Greece is a country very favorable to guerrilla operations, and by 1943 the Axis forces and their collaborators controlled only the main towns and connecting roads, leaving the mountainous interior to the resistance. By 1943 ELAS had about 30,000 men under arms^{[citation needed]}, and effectively controlled large areas of the mountainous Peloponnese, Crete, Thessaly and Macedonia (a territorry of 30,000 km². and 750,000 inhabitants). EDES had about 10,000 men^{[citation needed]}, nearly all of them in Epirus. EKKA only had about 1,000 men.

[edit] Resistance in the cities

Resistance in the cities was organized quickly, but of necessity groups were small and fragmented. The cities, and the working-class suburbs of Athens in particular, witnessed appalling suffering in the winter of 1941-2, when food confiscations and disrupted communications caused widespread famine and perhaps hundreds of thousands of deaths. This caused fertile ground for recruitment, but lack of equipment, funds and organization limited the spread of the resistance. The main roles of resistance operatives were intelligence and sabotage, mostly in cooperation with British Intelligence. One of the earliest jobs of the urban resistance was helping stranded Commonwealth soldiers escape. The resistance groups stayed in touch with British handlers through wireless sets, met and helped British spies and saboteurs that parachuted in, provided intelligence, conducted propaganda efforts, and ran escape networks for allied operatives and Greek young men wishing to join the Hellenic forces in exile. Wireless equipment, money, weapons and other support was mainly supplied by British Intelligence, but it was never enough. Fragmentation of groups, the need for secrecy, and emerging conflicts between right and left, monarchists and republicans, did not help. Urban resistance work was very dangerous: operatives were always in danger of arrest and summary execution, and suffered heavy casualties. Captured fighters were routinely tortured by the Abwehr and Gestapo, and confessions used to roll up networks. The job of wireless operators was perhaps the most dangerous, since the Germans used direction-finding equipment to pinpoint the location of transmitters; operators were often shot on the spot, and those were the lucky ones, since immediate execution prevented torture.

[edit] Table of resistance groups

Group name	Political affiliation	Political leader	Military arm	Military leader	Estimated peak membership
National Liberation Front (Ethniko Apeleftherotiko Metopo/ΕΑΜ)	Communist group affiliated with the KKE	Giorgios Siantos	National People's Liberation Army (Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos/ELAS)	Aris Velouchiotis, Stefanos Sarafis	100,000 armed guerrillas[citation needed]*
National Republican Greek League (Ethnikos Dimokratikos Ellinikos Syndesmos/EDES)	military anti-communist, Venizelist, republican	Nikolaos Plastiras	National Groups of Greek Guerillas (Ethnikes Omades Ellinon Antarton/EOEA)	Napoleon Zervas	14,000
National and Social Liberation (Ethniki Kai Koinoniki Apeleftherosis/EKKA)	anti-communist, Venizelist, republican, liberal	Georgios Kartalis	5/42 Evzones Regiment	Dimitrios Psarros and Evripidis Bakirtzis	1,000

[edit] Activities

[edit] Notable resistance members

• Dimitrios Psarros
• Aris Velouchiotis
• Napoleon Zervas
• Alexandros Svolos
• Evripidis Bakirtzis
• George Psychoundakis
• Mikhail Demertzis
• Iannis Xenakis
• Elias Degiannis

[edit] See also

[edit] Greece & World War II

• Timeline of modern Greek history
• Greco-Italian War
• Battle of Crete
• Battle of Greece
• Battle of Leros
• World War II
• Greek Civil War
• Axis Occupation of Greece

[edit] Allied involvement in Greece

• OSS
• SOE

[edit] Other WW II resistance movements

• French Resistance
• Armia Krajowa
• Partisans (Yugoslavia)

[edit] External links

• Andartikos - a short history of the Greek Resistance, 1941-5 on libcom.org/history

[edit] Further reading

• W. Byford-Jones, The Greek Trilogy: Resistance-Liberation-Revolution, London 1945
• R. Capell, Simiomata: A Greek Note Book 1944-45, London 1946
• W. S. Churchill, The Second World War
• N.G.L. Hammond, Venture into Greece: With the Guerillas, 1943-44, London, 1983. (Like Woodhouse, he was a member of the British Military Mission)
• Reginald Leeper, When Greek Meets Greek: On the War in Greece, 1943-1945
• C. M. Woodhouse, Apple of Discord: A Survey of Recent Greek Politics in their International Setting, London 1948 (Woodhouse was a member of the British Military Mission to Greece during the war)
• M. Mazower, Inside Hitler's Greece Yale University Press 1995.