Have you ever heard about the Battle for Athens? It took place in December 1944.
And then you may think: it's between the Germans and... No!
The Germans by this time were gone.
But soon after WW2 in Greece came to an end the Greek Civil War started.
And here on this square the Battle for Athens started.
It was also known as the Dekemvriana.
How it all happened you will learn today, keep watching.
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During the Axis occupation of Greece Greeks communists from the Greek communist party
KKE formed the EAM (National Liberation Front) and their armed wing: the Greek People's Liberation
Army (ELAS).
Do notice that not only communists were in this formation, also socialists and republicans.
Two significant other groups were the EDES (National Republican Hellenic League) and
EKKA (National and Social Liberation).
In October 1944 the Germans started to withdraw and early November they were gone.
Except with some small holdouts here and there.
Preparations for Greece after the German occupation were made by the British.
British PM Winston Churchill wanted King George II to return on the throne.
The British appointed Georgios Papandreou as PM.
Papandreou was a fierce anti-communists and the British believed he would do.
The new Greek was named the 'Government of National Unity' and had done away with the
remnants of the old Metaxas Regime.
But this was kinda strange.
Looking at the king, he was one of the architects of the Metaxas regime and supported it!
So why would he return on the throne?
But even more odd: the EAM's role in the new government was limited, but by the time the
Germans left the EAM/ELAS controlled 90% of Greek territory.
Despite all this the EAM was willing to work with Papandreou and his new government.
Six days after the German departure the Greek government of 'Nationaly Unity' as well as
6,000 British troops arrived in Athens.
Their control barely reached beyond the urban centres of Athens, Patras, Piraeus, and Salonica.
In the meanwhile reprisals and counter reprisals between resistance fighters and former collaborators
took place.
“Politically, the issue that would soon turn into a lit fuse was how to reconstitute
the country’s armed forces.
In the last months of 1944, the whole of Greece was awash with weapons.
But at the time of liberation the owners of these weapons were about evenly divided between
those loyal to EAM/ELAS and those opposed to it.”
And the situation get even more tensed especially since the Papandreou government
had to rely on Greek police units that during the occupation worked together with the Germans.
Negotiations followed which reached an impasse in November 1944.
The Papandreou government wanted ELAS and other guerrilla bands to be disarmed and absorbed in a new
Hellenic army but this meant that these communists now had to follow orders from monarchists
and even worse: former collaborators.
They certainly didn't agree with that.
On the Peloponnese, in Macedonia and in the outskirts of Athens small scale fighting broke
out.
But it soon got worse.
Early December EAM representatives in the Government of National Unity resigned.
And the KKE (Greek communist party) moved into one of the buildings on Syntagma Square.
Facing the Greek police office were many former collaborators were working.
And also, on the opposite side, was the Grande Bretagne Hotel where the British HQ was at.
In others words: the battle lines were set here on Syntagma Square.
The EAM announced a general strike and the government granted a request of demonstration
which was later revoked.
Thousands of people (one witness stated 60,000) showed up on this square.
Armed police was present.
Many of the protesters were women and children waving Greek and Allied flags.
However, there were also armed communists among them.
As some point two grenades were thrown from the crowd and the guards opened fire.
People hit the ground to save themselves and in the ensuing shoot-out a dozen were killed
and dozens more wounded.
ELAS units started to attack police stations throughout the city, arresting and murdering
officers they deemed traitors.
Elsewhere in the country they drove out EDES units.
Its leaders were saved by the British.
Historians have debated whether the ELAS attacks were planned or spontaneous.
Historian Roderick Beaton says it was both and neither:
“The vicious war of the mountains had come to the capital, complete with all its practices
of horrific violence that had been handed down from Ottoman times and the Revolution
of the 1820s.
Here and in the provinces, the ELAS command, no less than the rank and file, was driven
by the mentality of revenge and disproportionate reprisal that was the legacy of the Occupation.”
The violence was mostly Greek on Greek as the ELAS was reluctant to attack the British.
Winston Churchill who was personally interested in Greece vowed to restore order and visited
Athens late December.
He ordered General Ronald Scobie, the commander of the British forces in Greece:
‘Do not . . . hesitate to act as if you were in a conquered city where a local rebellion
is in progress . . . We have to hold and dominate Athens.’
The fighting lasted a month and the British had to bring in substantial reinforcements,
the 4th Indian Infantry Division was brought to Greece.
By the third week of December it seemed the British would get the upper hand.
Meanwhile the Greek national government was in shambles.
The politically explosive question of the return of King George II was shelved.
Papandreou had resigned and the interim prime minister became General Nikolaos Plastiras.
We knew him from the successful military coup (1922) and two failed ones (1933 and 1935).
As an fierce anti-communist he wouldn't solve the conflict.
Yet, the ELAS units were forced onto the defensive.
Their popularity also severily declined as they took hostages and executed them while
retreating.
The hostilities ended mid-January and next month a peace agreement was signed: the Treaty
of Varkiza.
“[A]rticle 6 required immediate demobilisation of all armed forces under the control of EAM,
and the surrender to the state of all requisitioned supplies.
[...] The totals actually surrendered were more than was agreed but much less than ELAS
possessed.”
Do notice that some historians point out this battle kicked off the civil war.
It sure gave an impulse to it.
However, back in 1943 armed confrontations between EAM/ELAS and EDES already occured.
The details of the Greek Civil War is something I want to leave for the future.
If your Greek lemme know how this conflict is remembered in your country.
Thanks to my Patreons who support me.
There names can be seen right here.
If you like to learn about the Greek collaborationist government, click here.
And I mentioned the pre-war Metaxas regime.
I did cover that in another video, click here.
As always thank you for watching.
Best wishes from Athens, Greece!