Greek Resistance
The
Greek 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.
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 invasion of
Albania in
1940. After 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.
First resistance acts
The first resistance act in Greece took place in
Athens, the night of
May 30,
1941, when two young students,
Apostolos Siantas, student of
Law school, and
Manolis Glezos, student of
ASOEE, secretly climbed on NW side of the
Acropolis and tore down the
Swastika.
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 Bulgarizaton 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 Fascists, who executed 3,000 patriots in the city of
Drama and the village
Doxato.
Also, large demonstrations were organized in Greek Macedonian cities by (
Defenders of Northern Greece), 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 common sense among the Greek population that an armed resistance movement was necessary to face the Axis forces.
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 found was the Greek National Republican League (
Ethnikos Dimokratikos Ellinikos Syndesmos, or EDES), led by a former army officer, Colonel
Napoleon Zervas ,and by General
Nikolaos Plastiras. The largest resistance group was the National Liberation Front (
Greek,
Ethniko Apeleftherotiko Metopo, or 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 KKE, tried to appear solely as a democratic
republican movement.
Later, the National and Social Liberation (
Ethniki Kai Koinoniki Apeleftherosi, or the EKKA), led by
Georgios Kartalis (as its political speaker) and Colonel
Dimitrios Psaros 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
Greek Communist Party, 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.
In February
1942, EAM's central Committee decided to form military corpses, called "Greek National Liberation Army" (
Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos, or ELAS), that would first operate in the mountains of
Sterea Ellada, with
Aris Velouchiotis as their leader.
Later, in
28 July 1942,
Napoleon Zervas announced the foundation of "National Troops Of Creek Guerrillas" (
Ethnikes Omades Ellinon Antarton or
EOEA), as
EDES' military arm, to operate, at first, in the region of
Aetoloakarnania.
EKKA also formed a military corps under
Dimitrios Psaros, that was mainly localized in the area of Mt.
Giona.
Despite the rivalry that rapidly burst among resistance armed organizations there was one rare occasion of cooperation between ELAS and EDES to blow up Gorgopotamos bridge, in
25 November 1942 with the help of 12 British
saboteurs. This successful operation disrupted the German transportation of ammunition via Greece to the Nazi
Africa Corps under
Rommel, awarded the Greek Resistance in the Allies' opinion and reinforced the guerilla's moral.
Greece is a country very favorable to guerilla 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 , and effectively controlled large areas of the mountainous
Peloponnese,
Crete,
Thessaly and
Macedonia (a territorry of 30,000 sq.km. and 750,000 inhabitants). EDES had about 10,000 men , nearly all of them in
Epirus. EKKA only had about 1,000 men.
| 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 Popular Liberation Army (Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos/ELAS) | Aris Velouchiotis | 50,000 armed guerillas, 500,000 civilian* |
National Democratic Greek League
(Ethnikos Dimokratikos Ellinikos Syndesmos/EDES) | military anti-communist, Venizelist, republican | Nikolaos Plastiras | National Troops 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 | ΕΚΚΑ | Dimitrios Psaros and Euripides Bakirtzis | 1,000 |
It is estimated that almost 2 million people cooperated with EAM or its sister ELAS - branches of the most powerful resistance group - at some point in resistance to the German occupation, without becoming actual members of the organizations.*
Dimitrios Psaros*
Aris Velouchiotis*
Napoleon Zervas*
Alexandros Svolos*
Euripides Bakirtzis*
George PsychoundakisGreece & World War II
*
Greco-Italian War*
Battle of Crete*
Battle of Greece*
World War II*
Greek Civil WarAllied involvement in Greece
*
OSS*
SOEOther WW II resistance movements
*
French Resistance*
Armia Krajowa*
Partisans (Yugoslavia)*
Andartikos - a short history of the Greek Resistance, 1941-5 on libcom.org/history
* 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)
