How the British staged a bloodbath in Greece
“It should be noted that Mr. Churchill and his friends are strikingly reminiscent of Hitler and his friends in this regard. Hitler began the cause of unleashing war by proclaiming racial theory, declaring that only people who speak German represent a full-fledged nation. Mr. Churchill begins the process of unleashing war, too, with racial theory, arguing that only English-speaking nations are full-fledged nations, called upon to decide the destinies of the whole world.
German racial theory led Hitler and his friends to the conclusion that the Germans, as the only fully-fledged nation, should dominate other nations. The English racial theory leads Mr. Churchill and his friends to the conclusion that nations speaking English, as the only fully-fledged ones, should dominate the rest of the nations of the world. ”
(JV Stalin. Pravda Interview on Churchill's Speech at Fulton, March 14, 1946.)
Today's events in Greece can lead to very serious consequences. Greece, located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, as well as near Africa, is of great strategic importance. Smoot in this country will have an impact on Europe, Russia and Turkey. Due to the fact that Athens has long acted on the orders of the West, Greece was under the threat of large-scale sociopolitical upheavals, and possibly war.
Earlier, the Greek people have already suffered a lot of suffering due to the intervention of Great Britain and the United States in the internal affairs of Greece. The British intervention in Greece led to the bloody Civil War 1946 — 1949. This war left a deep imprint on the social and political life of Greece. Decades that have passed since the civil war were characterized by constant conspiracies, intrigues and upheavals, which, under the pretext of "communist danger", were carried out by pro-Western forces that were sent and supported from abroad.
Greece was under the heel of the West, entered NATO, that is, it turned out to be in an anti-Soviet camp. Although in their civilizational bases, Greece and Russia are closer to each other than Greece and Catholic-Protestant, and then post-Christian, which is on the path of degradation, denial of the spiritual principle of the West. Russians and Greeks have common spiritual, civilizational principles, do not have fundamental contradictions, and are natural allies in Europe. However, the pro-Western Greek elite, which in Greece was planted by force, drowning the people’s resistance in blood, led the country to the current crisis, the outcome of which will be filled with suffering and hardship. Modern Greece will pay for decades of erroneous course and problems in the economy - this is only the visible part of the iceberg.
Greece under the Nazi yoke
Neutrality policies and pro-British policies in the prewar period led Greece to defeat and occupation. Fascist Italy viewed the Mediterranean basin as its sphere of influence and sought to capture not only in Africa, but also in the Balkans. Mussolini, angry that Hitler, without his knowledge, sent troops into Romania, decided to carry out a "lightning" campaign against Greece. 140-thousand 9-I Italian army at dawn 28 in October 1940 from Albania invaded Greek territory. At the border at this time was 27-thousand. the Greek group, which was inferior to the Italian army in all respects. The Italians broke through the Greek defense on the 50-kilometer stretch and invaded Epirus and Macedonia. The Italian Air Force bombed Greek cities, ports and roads.
The Greek government of Metaxas and the General Staff issued an order for a “general retreat” by the epirus army, which had not yet entered into battle with the enemy. However, the Greek troops refused to carry out this treacherous order and engaged in battle with the enemy. The army was supported by all the people. The Greek border troops and the epirus army were able to stop the enemy invasion in early November, and then launched a counterattack. The Italians could not stand it and hurriedly rolled back to their original positions. As a result, the Italian invasion of Greece ended in failure. Furious Mussolini, not expecting such a failure, dismissed the top military leadership.
The Greek government, fearing the threat from Berlin, did not develop success and pursue the enemy on the territory of Albania in order to finally eliminate the threat from Italy. This did not save Athens from the German invasion. Berlin, realizing the immense strategic importance of the Balkans, was not going to preserve pro-British Greece and fluctuating Yugoslavia.
1 March 1941 Bulgaria joined the Tripartite Pact, German troops entered its territory. March 25 Yugoslav rulers also joined the "axis". But this did not save Belgrade. Outrage broke out in the country, and a coup d'état occurred on the night of March 27. The rebels overthrew Prince Regent Paul and the government of Cvetkovic-Machek, declaring the minor Peter II to be king. The government was headed by General Dusan Simovich. The new government tried to "sit on two chairs" and pursue a "flexible policy." But Hitler needed a firm ally.
Hitler decided simultaneously with the attack on Greece (“Marita’s plan”), to attack Yugoslavia as well. 6 April 1941 Germany attacked Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav leadership to the last hesitated and could not organize a general rebuff to the aggressor. The king and the government fled to Greece, and from there to Egypt, under the wing of the British. 17 April in Belgrade signed an act of unconditional surrender.
Along with the invasion of Yugoslavia, German troops attacked Greece. At the same time, the Greeks had to repel the onslaught of Italy on the Albanian front. Before that, 50 thousand were planted in Greece. British Expeditionary Force, composed mainly of New Zealanders and Australians. But he could not seriously strengthen the Greek army. The British settled in the second line, away from the front in Albania and the theater of operations on the Greek-Bulgarian border. The Greeks, this time, fought heroically. On the Greek-Bulgarian border, where the Greeks in the prewar years (1936-1940) built a system of defensive structures, t. The Metaxas Line, the Germans could not break through for several days, although they threw a large number into the battle aviation, armored vehicles and heavy artillery.
The British command and the Greek leadership, considering the resistance to the troops of the aggressor unpromising, decided to withdraw the troops. The British expeditionary corps, avoiding fights with the enemy, dropping heavy weapons, equipment, destroying roads, was almost entirely able to escape. 23 April, the representatives of Greece signed a truce with Germany and Italy. On the same day, the Greek king George II and the government, not forgetting to grab the gold reserves, fled from Athens and flew to the island of Crete, and then to Egyptian Alexandria under the protection of the British. The Greek command capitulated. April 27 German troops entered Athens, and by the end of April 29 reached the southern tip of the Peloponnese. For the Greeks was only Crete. In May, 1941 was captured by the Hitlerites and Crete (Operation Mercury).
Thus, the dual policy of the Greek government led the country to a catastrophe. Due to the "policy of neutrality", Greece was in the worst conditions at the time of the attack and was unable to provide decent resistance.
After the occupation of the country, the Germans, with the support of the Greek capitulatory generals, created a puppet Greek state. The Greek General Georgios Zolakoglu was appointed Prime Minister, and the Reich Plenipotentiary Representative Günther Alterbung headed the country. In Greece, the German garrisons settled. The Germans needed Greece as a strategic territory because of resources. Athens was forced to pay significant "costs of occupation." All supplies from the population were expropriated and sent to the troops. Moreover, the Greek government transferred most of the income to Germany, supplying them not only with supplies, but also with finances. The two most important parts of the Greek economy — foreign trade and agriculture — were destroyed. As a result, the economy was in ruins. This policy led to the Great Famine in the winter of 1941 — 1942, during which more than 300 thousands died. The puppet authorities and the Germans responded to the attempts of resistance with terror and repression. Tens of thousands of people died because of the terror.
Internal schism in Greece
It is clear that such a cannibalistic policy led to the powerful Resistance Movement in Greece. Headed the people of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), led by D. Syanthos. The communists were able to create a wide resistance front (EAM) with their own underground military organization (ELAS). Pro-communist guerrilla groups became the most numerous and effective organizations of national resistance during the occupation period. Despite the most severe repressions and terror of the Nazis and traitors, the People’s Liberation Front united more than 1 million people before the liberation of the country. Only a youth revolutionary organization numbered about 400 thousand people. And the People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) had up to 125 thousands of fighters.
The people's liberation front expressed the interests of the masses. The fall of the power of traitors and occupiers automatically led to the establishment of a people's democratic system. However, this did not suit the promonarchist, bourgeois forces behind which stood Britain. The royal Greek government in exile in Cairo saw in EAM a threat to its interests. The emigrant government was supported by the British, who viewed the EAM, led by the KKE, as a force capable of disrupting plans to restore their positions in liberated Greece and the Balkans. Greece was supposed to be an important outpost of Britain in southern Europe. In London, it was understood that the victories of the Soviet troops over Germany, especially their rapid advance in the direction of the Balkans, the successful struggle of the ELAS against the German invaders of their local accomplices bring the complete liberation of Greece, where with the established balance of political and military forces the communists will come to power.
Concerned about this prospect, they directed their main efforts not against the Hitlerites and their accomplices (gendarmerie and “guard battalions” of the puppet government), but against the People’s Liberation Front of Greece to weaken and destroy ELAS, and after Germany’s defeat, to seize power in Greece. Already in 1943-1944, the first clashes between the People’s Liberation Army of Greece and other formations supported by the British took place, with the goal of post-war control in the country. So, in the autumn of 1943, not only German troops, gendarmerie troops and "guard battalions", but also units of the EDES (Republican People's Greek League) came out against ELAS.
ELAS, under the command of General Stefanos Sarafis, passed the difficult test. In the course of punitive operations, the occupiers burned down villages and cities, thousands of patriots were shot and hanged. However, relying on the masses of the people, ELAS frustrated the combined offensive of the invaders and internal reactionary forces, incited by the British. ELAS quickly recovered and launched a counter-offensive, expanding the scope of its activities. ELAS part of the forces struck at the units of the EDES and cleared them from Rumelia and Thessaly.
In January, 1944, EDES troops, replenished and armed with the help of the British, attacked ELAS again. However, anti-communists were defeated. In order to save them from total defeat, the Allied military mission came up with a proposal for an armistice between ELAS and EDES. EAM - ELAS, who sincerely sought to unite all the resistance forces, went to the negotiations, and an armistice agreement was signed on February 28.
In March, Greece formed the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA), which was entrusted with the functions of a provisional democratic government. The Greek armed forces in the Middle East sent a delegation to the emigrant government and demanded "to immediately reach an agreement based on the proposals of PEEA." However, the British severely suppressed this statement and disarmed the Greek troops. About 20, thousands of Greek soldiers and officers were placed in concentration camps set up by the British in Africa.
Having failed in an attempt to destroy the ELAS by armed means, the British decided to “reconcile” the Greek rebels with the emigrant government so that, legally, under the flag of uniting all the forces of the country, they would deprive the Communists of the leading position in the liberation movement and in the political life of the future Greece. The British were able to beat pro-communist forces. In May, 1944 in Lebanon hosted a meeting of representatives of the emigre government and the main Greek parties and movements. The delegation of PEEA, EAM and KPG made significant concessions that did not correspond to the balance of political and military forces inside the country, in fact it was a political capitulation:
- Condemnation of the statement of the armed forces in the Middle East on the side of the EAM - ELAS, qualifying it as a “crime against the Motherland”;
- providing the government and the British command in the Middle East with a full initiative in resolving the main issue - the fate of the armed forces, mainly ELAS;
- the liberation of the country "joint actions with the allied forces";
- granting the coalition government the right to decide at its discretion the constitutional and dynastic issue;
- PEEA, EAM and KPG received all 25% of the ministerial portfolios, while the secondary ones.
It should be noted that partly the defeat of the Greek communist and pro-communist forces was associated with the Great Game. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, after long negotiations with Stalin, managed in 1944 to achieve a decision that Greece would fall into the British sphere of influence. However, this does not remove the responsibility from the Greeks themselves. It was their country, and they were supposed to protect it. By that time, ELAS controlled the territory of 31,5 from the 33 regions of Greece, and EDS controlled only 1,5. Greek patriots themselves allowed the "fox into the hen house."
British General Scobi in Athens
British intervention and the beginning of the Civil War
In accordance with the agreement between the Greek and British governments concluded in Kaserta on September 20 of 1944, all armed forces in the country came under the command of the supreme command of Greece, which was actually headed by British General Scobie.
This agreement played a fatal role when, as a result of the victorious advance of the Red Army in the Balkans and the ELAS offensive operations inside the country in October 1944, Greece was finally liberated from the occupiers. October 12 The German troops left Athens and the port of Piraeus on October 1944, and the ELAS 1 Corps took control of the capital. On October 14, the first English paratroopers arrived at the airfield in Tatoi, not far from Athens (the royal palace was located in Tatoye). They were met by ELAS guerrillas who occupied the October 12 airfield. This displeased Churchill, who wanted the world to think that the British and their local allies liberated the Greek capital. On October 18, the government of Georgios Papandreou arrived in Athens. Ministers from the People’s Liberation Front received 7 minor portfolios from the total number of 24.
3-4 November 1944, the entire territory of Greece was completely liberated from occupation. The rapid advance of the Red Army in the Balkans led to the threat of encirclement of the German forces stationed in Greece, and the Wehrmacht left this country without a fight. It should be noted that British aircraft and the fleet that dominated the air and the sea did not exert any pressure on the retreating Germans. Therefore, the Germans freely transported tens of thousands of soldiers from Crete and Rhodes. In turn, the Germans handed over to the British a number of Greek cities and positions. In fact, the British and the Germans had a tacit agreement. Both sides considered the main enemy - the USSR and the Red Army.
Thus, Greece was on the front line of the beginning of the Third World War, although the Second World War was not over yet, and the USSR and Britain were officially in the same camp.
When he appeared in the capital of Greece, General Scobi, in defiance of the Lebanese agreement on the dissolution of all armed forces and the creation of a nationwide army, demanded immediate disarmament from ELAS. Churchill instructed Scobie: “We must keep Athens and ensure our domination there. It would be good if you managed to achieve this without bloodshed, if possible, but with bloodshed if necessary. ”
In this case, the British did not take measures to arrest and punish traitors who collaborated with the Nazis. The British even decided to pay salaries to the composition of the "guard battalions" established by the Germans. These traitors were now needed by the new owners, because London was planning to crush the resistance of almost the entire Greek people and establish their own order in the country. Collaborationists from all over Greece began to gather in Athens under the protection of the British. In this connection, ELAS, in contrast to similar units in Italy and France, did not punish the traitors. In Athens, ELAS gave the order to prevent acts of violence and mob violence.
The demand of the British led to the fact that on December 1 1944, the ministers representing PEEA left the government of Papandreou, as a result of which the latter broke up. December 2 began a general strike. December 3 police opened fire on participants of a banned demonstration. December 4 communists seized all police stations in Athens. Churchill ordered the British troops to suppress the Communists. In Athens, began large-scale battles. This incident actually marked the beginning of the civil war in Greece, which, with short interruptions, lasted until 1949.
Thus, having expelled the Nazis from the country, the Greek patriots were confronted with Anglo-Saxon fascism, the desire of Britain and the USA to establish their New World Order. Greece became a battlefield where the British patriots and their local accomplices, former Nazi collaborators, confronted Greek patriots and communists.
British Tanks on the streets of Athens
To be continued ...
German racial theory led Hitler and his friends to the conclusion that the Germans, as the only fully-fledged nation, should dominate other nations. The English racial theory leads Mr. Churchill and his friends to the conclusion that nations speaking English, as the only fully-fledged ones, should dominate the rest of the nations of the world. ”
(JV Stalin. Pravda Interview on Churchill's Speech at Fulton, March 14, 1946.)
Today's events in Greece can lead to very serious consequences. Greece, located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, as well as near Africa, is of great strategic importance. Smoot in this country will have an impact on Europe, Russia and Turkey. Due to the fact that Athens has long acted on the orders of the West, Greece was under the threat of large-scale sociopolitical upheavals, and possibly war.
Earlier, the Greek people have already suffered a lot of suffering due to the intervention of Great Britain and the United States in the internal affairs of Greece. The British intervention in Greece led to the bloody Civil War 1946 — 1949. This war left a deep imprint on the social and political life of Greece. Decades that have passed since the civil war were characterized by constant conspiracies, intrigues and upheavals, which, under the pretext of "communist danger", were carried out by pro-Western forces that were sent and supported from abroad.
Greece was under the heel of the West, entered NATO, that is, it turned out to be in an anti-Soviet camp. Although in their civilizational bases, Greece and Russia are closer to each other than Greece and Catholic-Protestant, and then post-Christian, which is on the path of degradation, denial of the spiritual principle of the West. Russians and Greeks have common spiritual, civilizational principles, do not have fundamental contradictions, and are natural allies in Europe. However, the pro-Western Greek elite, which in Greece was planted by force, drowning the people’s resistance in blood, led the country to the current crisis, the outcome of which will be filled with suffering and hardship. Modern Greece will pay for decades of erroneous course and problems in the economy - this is only the visible part of the iceberg.
Greece under the Nazi yoke
Neutrality policies and pro-British policies in the prewar period led Greece to defeat and occupation. Fascist Italy viewed the Mediterranean basin as its sphere of influence and sought to capture not only in Africa, but also in the Balkans. Mussolini, angry that Hitler, without his knowledge, sent troops into Romania, decided to carry out a "lightning" campaign against Greece. 140-thousand 9-I Italian army at dawn 28 in October 1940 from Albania invaded Greek territory. At the border at this time was 27-thousand. the Greek group, which was inferior to the Italian army in all respects. The Italians broke through the Greek defense on the 50-kilometer stretch and invaded Epirus and Macedonia. The Italian Air Force bombed Greek cities, ports and roads.
The Greek government of Metaxas and the General Staff issued an order for a “general retreat” by the epirus army, which had not yet entered into battle with the enemy. However, the Greek troops refused to carry out this treacherous order and engaged in battle with the enemy. The army was supported by all the people. The Greek border troops and the epirus army were able to stop the enemy invasion in early November, and then launched a counterattack. The Italians could not stand it and hurriedly rolled back to their original positions. As a result, the Italian invasion of Greece ended in failure. Furious Mussolini, not expecting such a failure, dismissed the top military leadership.
The Greek government, fearing the threat from Berlin, did not develop success and pursue the enemy on the territory of Albania in order to finally eliminate the threat from Italy. This did not save Athens from the German invasion. Berlin, realizing the immense strategic importance of the Balkans, was not going to preserve pro-British Greece and fluctuating Yugoslavia.
1 March 1941 Bulgaria joined the Tripartite Pact, German troops entered its territory. March 25 Yugoslav rulers also joined the "axis". But this did not save Belgrade. Outrage broke out in the country, and a coup d'état occurred on the night of March 27. The rebels overthrew Prince Regent Paul and the government of Cvetkovic-Machek, declaring the minor Peter II to be king. The government was headed by General Dusan Simovich. The new government tried to "sit on two chairs" and pursue a "flexible policy." But Hitler needed a firm ally.
Hitler decided simultaneously with the attack on Greece (“Marita’s plan”), to attack Yugoslavia as well. 6 April 1941 Germany attacked Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav leadership to the last hesitated and could not organize a general rebuff to the aggressor. The king and the government fled to Greece, and from there to Egypt, under the wing of the British. 17 April in Belgrade signed an act of unconditional surrender.
Along with the invasion of Yugoslavia, German troops attacked Greece. At the same time, the Greeks had to repel the onslaught of Italy on the Albanian front. Before that, 50 thousand were planted in Greece. British Expeditionary Force, composed mainly of New Zealanders and Australians. But he could not seriously strengthen the Greek army. The British settled in the second line, away from the front in Albania and the theater of operations on the Greek-Bulgarian border. The Greeks, this time, fought heroically. On the Greek-Bulgarian border, where the Greeks in the prewar years (1936-1940) built a system of defensive structures, t. The Metaxas Line, the Germans could not break through for several days, although they threw a large number into the battle aviation, armored vehicles and heavy artillery.
The British command and the Greek leadership, considering the resistance to the troops of the aggressor unpromising, decided to withdraw the troops. The British expeditionary corps, avoiding fights with the enemy, dropping heavy weapons, equipment, destroying roads, was almost entirely able to escape. 23 April, the representatives of Greece signed a truce with Germany and Italy. On the same day, the Greek king George II and the government, not forgetting to grab the gold reserves, fled from Athens and flew to the island of Crete, and then to Egyptian Alexandria under the protection of the British. The Greek command capitulated. April 27 German troops entered Athens, and by the end of April 29 reached the southern tip of the Peloponnese. For the Greeks was only Crete. In May, 1941 was captured by the Hitlerites and Crete (Operation Mercury).
Thus, the dual policy of the Greek government led the country to a catastrophe. Due to the "policy of neutrality", Greece was in the worst conditions at the time of the attack and was unable to provide decent resistance.
After the occupation of the country, the Germans, with the support of the Greek capitulatory generals, created a puppet Greek state. The Greek General Georgios Zolakoglu was appointed Prime Minister, and the Reich Plenipotentiary Representative Günther Alterbung headed the country. In Greece, the German garrisons settled. The Germans needed Greece as a strategic territory because of resources. Athens was forced to pay significant "costs of occupation." All supplies from the population were expropriated and sent to the troops. Moreover, the Greek government transferred most of the income to Germany, supplying them not only with supplies, but also with finances. The two most important parts of the Greek economy — foreign trade and agriculture — were destroyed. As a result, the economy was in ruins. This policy led to the Great Famine in the winter of 1941 — 1942, during which more than 300 thousands died. The puppet authorities and the Germans responded to the attempts of resistance with terror and repression. Tens of thousands of people died because of the terror.
Internal schism in Greece
It is clear that such a cannibalistic policy led to the powerful Resistance Movement in Greece. Headed the people of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), led by D. Syanthos. The communists were able to create a wide resistance front (EAM) with their own underground military organization (ELAS). Pro-communist guerrilla groups became the most numerous and effective organizations of national resistance during the occupation period. Despite the most severe repressions and terror of the Nazis and traitors, the People’s Liberation Front united more than 1 million people before the liberation of the country. Only a youth revolutionary organization numbered about 400 thousand people. And the People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) had up to 125 thousands of fighters.
The people's liberation front expressed the interests of the masses. The fall of the power of traitors and occupiers automatically led to the establishment of a people's democratic system. However, this did not suit the promonarchist, bourgeois forces behind which stood Britain. The royal Greek government in exile in Cairo saw in EAM a threat to its interests. The emigrant government was supported by the British, who viewed the EAM, led by the KKE, as a force capable of disrupting plans to restore their positions in liberated Greece and the Balkans. Greece was supposed to be an important outpost of Britain in southern Europe. In London, it was understood that the victories of the Soviet troops over Germany, especially their rapid advance in the direction of the Balkans, the successful struggle of the ELAS against the German invaders of their local accomplices bring the complete liberation of Greece, where with the established balance of political and military forces the communists will come to power.
Concerned about this prospect, they directed their main efforts not against the Hitlerites and their accomplices (gendarmerie and “guard battalions” of the puppet government), but against the People’s Liberation Front of Greece to weaken and destroy ELAS, and after Germany’s defeat, to seize power in Greece. Already in 1943-1944, the first clashes between the People’s Liberation Army of Greece and other formations supported by the British took place, with the goal of post-war control in the country. So, in the autumn of 1943, not only German troops, gendarmerie troops and "guard battalions", but also units of the EDES (Republican People's Greek League) came out against ELAS.
ELAS, under the command of General Stefanos Sarafis, passed the difficult test. In the course of punitive operations, the occupiers burned down villages and cities, thousands of patriots were shot and hanged. However, relying on the masses of the people, ELAS frustrated the combined offensive of the invaders and internal reactionary forces, incited by the British. ELAS quickly recovered and launched a counter-offensive, expanding the scope of its activities. ELAS part of the forces struck at the units of the EDES and cleared them from Rumelia and Thessaly.
In January, 1944, EDES troops, replenished and armed with the help of the British, attacked ELAS again. However, anti-communists were defeated. In order to save them from total defeat, the Allied military mission came up with a proposal for an armistice between ELAS and EDES. EAM - ELAS, who sincerely sought to unite all the resistance forces, went to the negotiations, and an armistice agreement was signed on February 28.
In March, Greece formed the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA), which was entrusted with the functions of a provisional democratic government. The Greek armed forces in the Middle East sent a delegation to the emigrant government and demanded "to immediately reach an agreement based on the proposals of PEEA." However, the British severely suppressed this statement and disarmed the Greek troops. About 20, thousands of Greek soldiers and officers were placed in concentration camps set up by the British in Africa.
Having failed in an attempt to destroy the ELAS by armed means, the British decided to “reconcile” the Greek rebels with the emigrant government so that, legally, under the flag of uniting all the forces of the country, they would deprive the Communists of the leading position in the liberation movement and in the political life of the future Greece. The British were able to beat pro-communist forces. In May, 1944 in Lebanon hosted a meeting of representatives of the emigre government and the main Greek parties and movements. The delegation of PEEA, EAM and KPG made significant concessions that did not correspond to the balance of political and military forces inside the country, in fact it was a political capitulation:
- Condemnation of the statement of the armed forces in the Middle East on the side of the EAM - ELAS, qualifying it as a “crime against the Motherland”;
- providing the government and the British command in the Middle East with a full initiative in resolving the main issue - the fate of the armed forces, mainly ELAS;
- the liberation of the country "joint actions with the allied forces";
- granting the coalition government the right to decide at its discretion the constitutional and dynastic issue;
- PEEA, EAM and KPG received all 25% of the ministerial portfolios, while the secondary ones.
It should be noted that partly the defeat of the Greek communist and pro-communist forces was associated with the Great Game. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, after long negotiations with Stalin, managed in 1944 to achieve a decision that Greece would fall into the British sphere of influence. However, this does not remove the responsibility from the Greeks themselves. It was their country, and they were supposed to protect it. By that time, ELAS controlled the territory of 31,5 from the 33 regions of Greece, and EDS controlled only 1,5. Greek patriots themselves allowed the "fox into the hen house."
British General Scobi in Athens
British intervention and the beginning of the Civil War
In accordance with the agreement between the Greek and British governments concluded in Kaserta on September 20 of 1944, all armed forces in the country came under the command of the supreme command of Greece, which was actually headed by British General Scobie.
This agreement played a fatal role when, as a result of the victorious advance of the Red Army in the Balkans and the ELAS offensive operations inside the country in October 1944, Greece was finally liberated from the occupiers. October 12 The German troops left Athens and the port of Piraeus on October 1944, and the ELAS 1 Corps took control of the capital. On October 14, the first English paratroopers arrived at the airfield in Tatoi, not far from Athens (the royal palace was located in Tatoye). They were met by ELAS guerrillas who occupied the October 12 airfield. This displeased Churchill, who wanted the world to think that the British and their local allies liberated the Greek capital. On October 18, the government of Georgios Papandreou arrived in Athens. Ministers from the People’s Liberation Front received 7 minor portfolios from the total number of 24.
3-4 November 1944, the entire territory of Greece was completely liberated from occupation. The rapid advance of the Red Army in the Balkans led to the threat of encirclement of the German forces stationed in Greece, and the Wehrmacht left this country without a fight. It should be noted that British aircraft and the fleet that dominated the air and the sea did not exert any pressure on the retreating Germans. Therefore, the Germans freely transported tens of thousands of soldiers from Crete and Rhodes. In turn, the Germans handed over to the British a number of Greek cities and positions. In fact, the British and the Germans had a tacit agreement. Both sides considered the main enemy - the USSR and the Red Army.
Thus, Greece was on the front line of the beginning of the Third World War, although the Second World War was not over yet, and the USSR and Britain were officially in the same camp.
When he appeared in the capital of Greece, General Scobi, in defiance of the Lebanese agreement on the dissolution of all armed forces and the creation of a nationwide army, demanded immediate disarmament from ELAS. Churchill instructed Scobie: “We must keep Athens and ensure our domination there. It would be good if you managed to achieve this without bloodshed, if possible, but with bloodshed if necessary. ”
In this case, the British did not take measures to arrest and punish traitors who collaborated with the Nazis. The British even decided to pay salaries to the composition of the "guard battalions" established by the Germans. These traitors were now needed by the new owners, because London was planning to crush the resistance of almost the entire Greek people and establish their own order in the country. Collaborationists from all over Greece began to gather in Athens under the protection of the British. In this connection, ELAS, in contrast to similar units in Italy and France, did not punish the traitors. In Athens, ELAS gave the order to prevent acts of violence and mob violence.
The demand of the British led to the fact that on December 1 1944, the ministers representing PEEA left the government of Papandreou, as a result of which the latter broke up. December 2 began a general strike. December 3 police opened fire on participants of a banned demonstration. December 4 communists seized all police stations in Athens. Churchill ordered the British troops to suppress the Communists. In Athens, began large-scale battles. This incident actually marked the beginning of the civil war in Greece, which, with short interruptions, lasted until 1949.
Thus, having expelled the Nazis from the country, the Greek patriots were confronted with Anglo-Saxon fascism, the desire of Britain and the USA to establish their New World Order. Greece became a battlefield where the British patriots and their local accomplices, former Nazi collaborators, confronted Greek patriots and communists.
British Tanks on the streets of Athens
To be continued ...
Information