Welcome to The Few Good Men

Thanks for visiting our club and having a look around, there is a lot to see. Why not consider becoming a member?

Greek Civil War

Louis

FGM Lieutenant General
FGM MEMBER
Joined
Oct 11, 2010
Messages
12,339
Reaction score
6,886
Age
60
Location
Castelar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
Was a two-stage conflict (Dec 1944–Jan 1945 and 1946–49), during which greek communists unsuccessfully tried to gain control of Greece.

The first stage of the civil war began only months before Nazi Germany’s occupation of Greece ended in October 1944. The German occupation had been resisted by two principal Greek guerrilla forces, the communist-controlled EAM-ELAS (Ethnikón Apeleftherotikón Métopon–Ethnikós Laïkós Apeleftherotikós Strátos; “National Liberation Front–National Popular Liberation Army”) and the EDES (Ellínikos Dímokratikos Ethnikós Strátos; “Greek Democratic National Army”), which occasionally cooperated in action. After eliminating all of its political and guerrilla rivals except the EDES in early 1944, EAM-ELAS set up a provisional government in the Greek mountains that by implication disowned both the Greek king and his government-in-exile. Upon the German troops’ withdrawal from Greece in October, the communists and royalist Greek guerrillas were brought together under British auspices in an uneasy coalition government in Athens (Modern Greek: Athína). But this government disintegrated a few weeks later when the communist members of the coalition refused to disband their guerrilla force. A bitter civil war broke out in Athens on December 3, which the British military forces managed to suppress with great difficulty, after EAM-ELAS had overrun virtually all of Greece except Athens and Thessaloníki.

The communists accepted defeat and the disbandment of their forces at a conference in February 1945, and a general election was held in Greece in March 1946. The communists and their followers abstained from the voting, however, and a royalist majority was returned. A plebiscite was then held in September 1946 which restored the Greek king to the throne. During 1946 a full-scale guerrilla war was reopened by the communists, who had gone underground. The commitment of defending Greece became too much for Great Britain, and it was taken on by the U.S. government, with the announcement of the Truman Doctrine. Massive military and economic aid from the United States was much needed, for by the end of 1947 the communists had proclaimed a provisional government in the northern mountains.

010.jpg
Greek soldiers climbing ropes during training by British officers in the Greek civil war.

This second communist rebellion lasted until 1949, when the U.S.-supplied and strengthened Greek army managed to clear the rebel centres from the mountainous Greek interior. On Oct. 16, 1949, the Greek communist broadcasting station announced the end of open hostilities, and many of the remaining communist fighters fled the country into neighbouring Albania. It is estimated that more than 50,000 combatants died in the conflict, and more than 500,000 Greeks were temporarily displaced from their homes by the fighting.
 
This sentry on guard on Mount Likebetos, overlooking the city of Athens. Military forces were employed to guard the city against possible attacks from communist paratrooper guerrillas, 1947.
12.jpg
 
Then & now: british soldiers on the corner of streets Kidathineon and Nikis, Athens - Dec 1944
N7Dozfl.jpg

Yvkk8Te.jpg
 
Back
Top