Greek resistance

This article is about the Greek Resistance during World War II. For information about the resistance to Ottoman occupation, see klepht. For information about the post-war activities of resistance groups, see Greek Civil War.

File:Ac-elas.jpg

An ELAS soldier

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 invasion of Albania in 1940. By 1941, Athens had fallen and King George II and his government escaped to Egypt, where they set up a government in exile which was recognized by the Allies. The British forced the King to use center-wing politicians as ministers. Only two of his ministers were members of the previous dictatorial government.

The Germans set up a collaborationist government in Athens, but this government lacked legitimacy and support, particularly once German economic exploitation of Greece in combination with the Allied embargo created runaway inflation, acute shortages and eventually famine among the Greek civilian population. Some officers of the pre-War Greek regime served the Germans in various posts. During the war, this government created paramilitary forces, armed by the Germans, the so-called Security Battalions. These forces (whose maximum number was about 20,000 men in 1944) were never used against the allies but only against the pro-communist guerillas.

The resistance put up by the Greeks in World War II was reckoned to be prodigious given the country's resources, by the Allies and Axis Powers alike. At a time when a mighty nation such as France with 45 million population had collapsed in 17 days, the Hellenic Army managed to defeat an Italian army twice its size and with many times its firepower, and then hold off the German and Bulgarian invasion for two months: this was longer than anyother nation up to that point. Winston Churchill famously said after the Greek-Italian battle, "From now one we won't say Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks".

The measure of resistance was also paid considerable homage to by German officals. Hitler's Chief of Staff, Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel stated "The unbelievably strong resistance of the Greeks delayed by two or more vital months the German attack against Russia; if we did not have this long delay, the outcome of the war would have been different in the eastern front and in the war in general."

A speech made at the Reichstag in 1941 said of the campaign: “It must be said, for the sake of historical truth, that amongst all our opponents, only the Greeks fought with such endless courage and defiance of death.” The diary of Joseph Goebbels 9 April 1941: “I forbid the Press to underestimate the Greeks, to defame them... The Fuhrer admires the bravery of Greeks.”

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 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, [Liberalism|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.

Notable resistance members

• Dimitrios Psaros
• Aris Velouchiotis
• Napoleon Zervas
• George Psychoundakis

See also

Greece & World War II

• Greco-Italian War
• Battle of Crete
• Battle of Greece
• World War II
• Greek Civil War

Allied involvement in Greece

• OSS
• SOE

Other WW II resistance movements

• French Resistance
• Armia Krajowa

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)