National People's Liberation Army (Greece)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

National People's Liberation Army (Greek: Εθνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός, Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos, abbreviated to ELAS) was the military arm of the communist National Liberation Front (EAM) during the period of the Greek Resistance and the Greek Civil War.

Contents 1 Birth of ELAS 2 Consolidation of strength 2.1 Gorgopotamos 2.2 From 1942 to 1943: the turning point 3 The "Mountain Government" 4 Antagonism with other resistance groups — first phase of the Civil War 5 Transformation to Democratic Army — second phase of the Civil War 6 List of important ELAS battles 7 List of famous ELAS guerillas 8 See also

[edit] Birth of ELAS

After Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union with the initiation of Operation Barbarossa (June 22, 1941 —with most of Greece having fallen under Axis occupation since April and the Battle of Crete having ended on June 1- Greek communists reversed their stance of dismissing resistance against the Axis as an "imperialistic war" (documented in two letters by Nikolaos Zachariadis and Central Committee decisions) and together with minor parties of the Left formed a resistance group called the National People's Liberation Army. They were joined by other, center-left or non-politicised Greek resistance fighters.

ELAS initiated actions against the German and Italian forces of occupation in Greece on 7 June 1942. Aris Velouchiotis with a small group of 10-15 guerrillas entered the village of Domnista in Evrytania and proclaimed in front of the surprised villagers that they had set off to "start the war against the forces of Axis and their local collaborators".

Velouchiotis at first was addressed to the traditional "listes" (mountain living bandits, armed against police and state) like Karalivanos, in order to create a small group of experts in guerilla fighting and survival in the harsh mountain conditions. Later, when ELAS (a name that sounds like Hellas; Greece) grew bigger, was addressing to farmers and village people in a very simple way: a uniformed officer (usually a low-rank officer of the Hellenic Army) visited a village, asked for the presence of the village priest and addressed to the people said "ELAS needs you" (a pun on the similar sounding words "Hellas" and ELAS).

[edit] Consolidation of strength

[edit] Gorgopotamos

The a night in September 1942, a small group of British SOE officers parachuted into Greece near Mt. Giona. This group, led by Brigadier Eddie Myers, had been tasked to blow up one of three bridges (Gorgopotamos, Papadia or Asopos) of the country's main railway line, and to get the two main, but competing, guerrilla groups of ELAS and EDES to cooperate.

After much deliberation, the Gorgopotamos bridge was chosen due to the difficulty of making repairs to the structure. But, for the mission to succeed, it was important to meet the guerrillas. Dimos Karalivanos, an ELAS guerrilla, was the first guerrilla the British found. At the end of October a second group of British officers was parachuted into the Greek mountains. Their leaders were Themis Marinos and Colonel Christopher Woodhouse. Their mission was to locate the guerrillas of EDES and their leader Napoleon Zervas, who were friendlier to the British Headquarters of the Middle-East than the ELAS, and co-operate with them. The resulting mission was a challenge for the two guerrilla groups, EDES and ELAS. Finally, they agreed to collaborate. British did not favour the participation of ELAS, because it was a pro-communist group, but the forces of ELAS were larger and better organised, and without their participation, the mission was likely to fail. So, in a rare and unique event, ELAS and EDES-EOEA joined forces.

On November 14, the 12 British saboteurs, the forces of ELAS (150 men) and those of EDES (60-65 men) met in the village Viniani in Evrytania and the operation started. Ten days later, the forces were at Gorgopotamos. On the night of November 25, at 23:00, the guerrillas started the attack against the Italian garrison. The Italians were startled, and after little resistance, they were defeated. After the defeat of the Italians, the saboteurs set the explosives. ELAS forces also had placed ambushes on the routes towards the bridge, to block the approach of Italian reinforcements. The explosion occurred at 03:00. Afterwards, the guerrillas' forces returned to Viniani, to celebrate the success of the mission.

The destruction of the Gorgopotamos bridge was, along with the Norwegian heavy water sabotage in Rjukan, one of the two biggest guerrilla acts in occupied Europe. The blowing up of the bridge disrupted the German transportation of ammunition via Greece to Rommel's forces for several weeks, taking place at a time where the German forces in North Africa, retreating after the defeat of El Alamein, were in absolute necessity of provisions.

[edit] From 1942 to 1943: the turning point

The blowing up of Gorgopotamos bridge favored ELAS. Soon, lots of the inhabitants of the villages of Central Greece became members of ELAS. Furthermore, people sympathised the ELAS guerrillas because they weren't helped by the British^{[citation needed]} in contrast with EDES. When 25 guerrillas deserted from ELAS, Aris Velouchiotis went to Epirus to threaten Napoleon Zervas not to come in touch with them. Later, the 25 deserters were arrested and executed in the village of Sperhiada. The winter of 1942, ELAS groups were formed in other Greek regions, like Thessaly and Macedonia. In Central Greece, Aris Velouchiotis succeeded to form a powerful semi-conventional army which could attack German and Italian forces. Aris became a legendary figure who imposed an iron discipline in ELAS. At the same time, some members of ELAS (Periklis, Tasos Leuterias, Diamantis, Nikiforos, Thiseas, Dimos Karalivanos, Belis) have been discerned during the battles. Aris Velouchiotis formed a group of 30-35 men, called "Mavroskoufides" (the "black berets"), who were his personal guards. During the winter of 1942-1943, new units of ELAS were composed in many regions of Greece. Some areas in the mountains of Central Greece passed from the control of Axis forces to that of ELAS.

At this time, the leadership of KKE told Aris to come in Athens for talks ablut the future of ELAS. In fact, this was a plan to isolate ELAS from its captain, because the leaders of the KKE did not agree with Aris. One reason was that Aris had signed a statement of denunciation of KKE, while jailed and tortured in Corfu by the Ioannis Metaxas dictatorship, which had resulted to his release from prison. KKE wanted to impose communist general Stefanos Sarafis as ELAS' leader^{[citation needed]}, but this didn't happen. Finally the leadeship of ELAS had this form: Aris Velouchiotis was its actual leader (captain), Stefanos Sarafis was the military leader and Andreas Tzimas (Vasilis Samariniotis) was the political leader.

This period two events of great importance took place. KKE, after passing great difficulties, succeeded in reorganizing its groups destroyed by Metaxas. Lot of members were recruited and with the help of ELAS, which became the largest partisan army in Greece, KKE became the largest political organization in Greece with almost 100,000 members and supporters^{[citation needed]}. The second great event was the foundation of / United Panhellenic Organization of Youth (EPON) (Greek: Ενιαία Πανελλαδική Οργάνωση Νέων).

Two years after its foundation, ELAS' military strength had grown from the small group of fighters in Domnitsa to more than 50.000 guerrillas^{[citation needed]}, almost 50.000 reservists^{[citation needed]} and more than 1.500.000 supporters^{[citation needed]}, being one of the largest resistance groups formed in Europe, similar to the French Maquis and the Yugoslavian Partisans.

[edit] The "Mountain Government"

In 10 March 1944 the EAM-ELAS, now in control of most of the country, established the (Political Committee of National Liberation, or PEEA), widely known as the "Mountain Government" (Greek: Κυβέρνηση του βουνού), in effect a third Greek government to rival the collaborationist one in Athens and the government-in-exile in Cairo. Its aims, according to its founding Act, were, "to intensify the struggle against the conquerors (...) for full national liberation, for the consolidation of the independence and integrity of our country (...) and for the annihilation of domestic fascism and armed traitor formations."

PEEA's authority was significantly reinforced after the support, given by the National Council, (Ethniko Symvoulio). The National Council was an assembly elected with the secret elections held by the PEEA in late April 1944 in free Greece and in cities of occupied Greece, mainly Athens. Approximately 1 million people took part in these elections, which are notable for the fact that for the first time in Greece, women were allowed to vote. The Council first converged in Koryschades, a mountain village of Evrytania, from 14-27 May 1944. Its main act was voting a resolution, an extract of which is quoted:

"General clauses

The National Council, composed of representatives of the whole of Greek people, who converged to declare its inexpugnable will to fight to the bitter end for the liberation of the country, the smashup of fascism and the restoration of its national unity and popular sovereignty, willing to determine the way all authorities are exercised in free Greece, votes:

• Article 1: It ratifies the establishing PEEA act of March 10, 1944.
• Article 2: All powers spring from the people and are exercised by the people. Self-administration and popular judicature are fundamental institutions of Greeks’ public life.
• Article 3: The National Council is the supper instrument of popular sovereignty. The PEEA possesses all powers determined in this decree.
• Article 4: People’s liberties are holy and inviolable. The struggling nation will protect them from any threat no matter where they are coming from.
• Article 5: All Greeks, men and women, have equal political and civil rights.
• Article 6: Employment is a fundamental social function and generates rights for the enjoyment of life’s goods.
• Article 7: People’s language is the formal language for all public life’s manifestations and for all educational grades."

PEEA's first president was Evripidis Bakirtzis, the former military leader of EKKA. On April 18 Alexandros Svolos, a prominent professor of constitutional law in Athens University, took his position and Bakirtzis became vice-president. Not only communist leaders but also many progressive bourgeois, that had nothing to do with communist ideas, participated in the PEEA.

So, ELAS not only resisted German and Italian occupation forces but also re-organised life in the mountainous areas (i.e. the biggest part of Greece) it controlled. EAM, with the co-ordination and organization of the PEEA, helped the local people organise schools, hospitalise refugees from the big cities and protect the crops from German looting. Amateur actors and musicians created travelling theaters and bands, something that most rural communities had never seen or heard before. Another achievement of ELAS (due partially to the progressive ideas and partially to the lack of men) was to promote women liberties. Young girls, who until then were working at home or the fields, had the opportunity to educate and express themselves. There were also improvised telecommunications either by telephone lines or by messengers and systems of re-distribution of food-resources, so that no village would starve.

[edit] Antagonism with other resistance groups — first phase of the Civil War

ELAS became the strongest of all resistance armed organizations, controlling by 1944 three-fifths of the country, and it engaged in battles against all non-communist resistance fighters, besides the para-military forces of the collaborationist government. EAM began to attack the National Republican Greek League (EDES) on unfounded accusations of collaboration with the Germans; the real reason behind the attacks was that, as the outcome of the war was becoming inevitable, EAM-ELAS wanted to secure armed dominance in post-war Greece. This situation led to triangular battles among ELAS, EDES and the Germans. Given the support of the British and the Greek Cairo Government for EDES, these conflicts precipitated a civil war. In October 1943 ELAS launched major attacks against its rivals, particularly EDES, precipitating a civil war across many parts of Greece which continued until February 1944, when the British agents in Greece negotiated a ceasefire (the Plaka agreement) ; ELAS broke the agreement by murdering the EKKA resistance group leader, Dimitrios Psaros.

ELAS was responsible for numerous war crimes, the most repellent being the Meligala massacre where 1,500 people were killed when ELAS attacked the village. The execution of the EKKA leader Dimitrios Psarros was another ELAS crime: according to KKE, some of his officers later were proven to be collaborators with the Germans -- according to the officers themselves they were forced to act after ELAS attacks against all other resistance organizations. In several cases, former officers of the Greek army were forced at gun-point to join ELAS, although they preferred to join the anti-communist partisan groups or the forces of the government in the Middle East. For example, Stefanos Sarafis, the military leader of ELAS, intended to join the non-communist resistance group of Mitsos Kostopoulos in Thessaly with a group of other officers. On their way they were caught by an ELAS group commanded by Aris Velouchiotis. Sarafis agreed to join ELAS at gun point when Velouhiotis killed all other officers.

[edit] Transformation to Democratic Army — second phase of the Civil War

At the end of the war, fighting broke out between ELAS and the Greek government. ELAS forces were backed by Greece's communist neighbors, whereas the Greek government was backed by the British army. Following a cease fire agreement known as Varkiza pact, ELAS laid down arms with the idea of a political process. However, alleging persecutions of leftists after the Varkiza accord, the communists reversed their stance and restarted armed fighting in 1946 now under the name of Democratic Army of Greece. The war was extremely violent, with heavy casualties on both sides. The Greek Civil War was to last until 1949, with the defeat of the communists.

[edit] List of important ELAS battles

ELAS fought against the occupation forces in many battles, which include:

• The battle of Ryka (40 Italians killed),
• The battle of Mikro Horio (70 Italians killed),
• The battle of Gorgopotamos,
• The battle of Fardycambos.
• The battle of Saradaporo (155 Germans killed)
• The battle of Porta (many Italians killed)

[edit] List of famous ELAS guerillas

Famous ELAS guerillas included:

• Aris Velouchiotis (Thanassis Klaras)
• Stefanos Sarafis
• Markos Vafiadis
• Charilaos Florakis
• Kostoulas Agrafiotis (Nikos Kavretzos)
• Nikiforos (Dimitrios Dimitriou)
• Periklis (Giorgos Houliaras)
• Thanos (Fotis Mastrokostas)
• Pelopidas (Pandelis Laskos)
• Diamantis (Yannis Alexandrou)
• Ahilleas (Lambros Koubouras)
• Leuteris (Leuteris Tsiliyannis)
• Lambros (Spiros Bekios)
• Nakos Belis
• Dimos Karalivanos
• Boukouvalas (Dimitrios Tasos)
• Kozakas (Thomas Pallas)
• Smolikas (Nikos Xinos)
• Tasos Lefterias (Vangelis Papadakis)
• Javellas (Yannis Aggeletos)
• Ermis (Vasilis Priovolos)
• Papa-Holevas
• Papa-Anypomonos (Priest Germanos Dimakos)
• Gerasimos Avgeropoulos
• Andreas Zacharopoulos
• Euripides Bakirtzis
• Vasilis Samariniotis (Andreas Tzimas)
• Ektoras (Theodoros Makridis)
• Thomas (Yannis Hatzipanagiotou)
• Armatolos (Christos Margaritis)
• Kavalaris (Yorgos Zaroyannis)
• Chimarros (Vassilis Ganatsios)
• Kostas Kalogeros
• Iannis Xenakis

[edit] See also

• Communist Party of Greece
• Greek Resistance
• Occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany
• Greek Civil War
• Military history of Greece during World War II