|
|
Greek Resistance 1941/4 Stamp from 1982
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. 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 attemted 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. First resistance acts
Manolis Glezos (on a stamp from the Soviet Union) 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, 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 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.
Greek Resistance 1941/4 in Thrace, Stamp from 1982 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. Resistance in the mountains -"Andartiko" 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 km². and 750,000 inhabitants). EDES had about 10,000 men , nearly all of them in Epirus. EKKA only had about 1,000 men.
Notable resistance members Axis occupation of Greece during World War II Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org"
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|