COSTA
G. COUVARAS OSS WITH
THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF EAM Costa G. Couvaras
(1911-1979) was born of Greek parents in Braila, Romania. When he was two,
his family moved to their ancestral home on the island of Ithaca. In 1934,
after studying at Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, he came to the United
States and attended Cornell University on a full scholarship. He earned his
B.A. in Political Science in 1938 and his M.A. in 1939. After graduation he
worked both as a correspondent for Greek newspapers and for a Greek daily in
New York City. During the Second World War he enlisted in the U.S. Army. As
an Intelligence Officer he was sent to occupied Greece and reported to the
Office of Strategic Services on the Greek military and political situation.
In 1978 his book entitled Photo Album of the Greek Resistance was published
by Wire Press, San Francisco. [9] Introduction Examination of the Greek resistance
movement must take into account the fascist regime in Greece established in
1936 during the reign of King George II. General Metaxas assumed dictatorial
powers and dismissed parliament. Communism was outlawed. Educational
institutions, the judicial system, the civil service, and the armed forces
were purged of all opposing elements. A youth program aping Hitler’s was
established under the ostensible leadership of the heir apparent, Prince
Paul. Then in August 1940, upon my arrival at the National Convention of the
Order of Ahepa1 in Seattle, Washington, I found a telegram from a
prominent journalist in Washington urging me to contact Anna Roosevelt Boetinger. Her husband was the editor of the city’s
leading newspaper, the Seattle Intelligence; her father was Franklin D.
Roosevelt. 1. The American Hellenic Educational
Progressive Association. Founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1922, it has about
400 chapters throughout the U.S. It is by far the most representative
organization of Americans of Greek descent in the U.S. President Roosevelt had telephoned his
daughter the previous evening. The situation in Europe was getting darker by
the day and Roosevelt had asked that Ahepa assist
in mobilizing public opinion in favor of exchanging “old United States
destroyers to Great Britain for bases in the Americas.”2 2. Roosevelt was a dues-paying member
of Ahepa even before he was elected governor of New
York. [10] As chairman of the
convention, I was instrumental in preparing appropriate resolutions for the
consideration of the assembly: They were unanimously approved.3 3. A contributing factor to a report
that Mussolini’s navy had surreptiously sunk the
Greek light cruiser “Elly” without provocation in
the Aegean Sea contributed to the enthusiastic approval. The 1942 Ahepa
Convention was held in Atlanta, Georgia. Ahepa was
already busy in World War II activities, and I, as Supreme President,
vigorously intensified these efforts. We organized the fraternity into Ahepa War Service Units, whose efforts were directed
toward war bonds,4 selling American Red Cross campaigns, Greek War
Relief and National War Chest campaigns, civilian defense, blood donations,
hospital visits, and preparation of Red Cross supplies. 4. Speaker of the House of
Representatives Sam Rayburn, assisted by the Supreme President of Ahepa, Lyndon Johnson, then congressman, inaugurated the Ahepa’s sale of war bonds over a national radio
broadcast. In
late 1942 the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was eager to recruit
Americans of Greek descent into its service. Members of Ahepa
in and out of uniform were urged to apply for acceptance in the OSS. This is
how Costa Couvaras was recruited. Costa
Couvaras had been in the United States since 1935.
He studied political science and history at Cornell University receiving B.A.
and M.A. degrees. His first job was with the National Herald, a Greek daily
published in New York. After joining the OSS, he was dispatched to Cairo. In
the spring of 1944 he was sent into enemy-occupied Greece as head of an OSS
mission. He eventually succeeded in reaching the EAM (Ethniko
Apeleftherotiko Metopo,
Greek Liberation Movement) command in the mountains of Greece. His reports
were eagerly awaited by his higher-ups at the OSS headquarters.
“Pericles”—his assumed name—became famous for his objectivity and lucidity.
His immediate superior, Arthur J. Goldberg, postwar Supreme Court Justice and
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations said: “Costa Couvaras
served under me with great distinction and although naturally proud of his
origins, as we all should be, he remained faithful throughout to his sworn
duty to forward, to the best of his ability, the interests of the United
States. I never found in his work of the OSS that he ever deviated from this
solemn obligation.” Couvaras saw the EAM as a patriotic movement
dedicated to the liberation of Greece and so reported. Costa was with the EAM command until
liberation. As liaison officer he promised the command of EAM that America
would stand by them. He was given the Bronze Star medal
with the following citation: [11] “First Lieutenant Costa G. Couvaras, performed meritorious service as chief of an
intelligence operation in occupied Greece from March to October, 1944. Penetrating the mountain regions he
established contact with and gained the confidence of leaders of the Greek
Resistance Movements, secured and transmitted important political and
military information and assisted other United States intelligence missions
in their operations.” He appeared before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee advocating the traditional American policy—pursued by
F.D.R. of helping all those who fought the Nazis—in vain. F.D.R. was now
dead. American policy was now made by persons who in the light of their
record in Greece and subsequent events must have been deaf, dumb and blind.
Not only they either forgot or disregarded Roosevelt’s prophetic words
uttered as late as March 1st, 1945: (The Agreement providing the establishing
of the U.N.) “ought to spell the end of the system of unilateral action, the
exclusive alliances, the spheres of influence, the balance of power and all
the other expedients that have been tried for centuries ... and always
failed.” (Address to Congress, March 1, 1945) The Roosevelt epigons—from
Truman to Nixon—have persisted in disregarding his advice by placing their
faith for America’s security in regional pacts (NATO, SEATO, CENTCO, etc.)
... and lately in the balance of power! The war in Greece was upgraded. From
civil war it became “International Communist aggression,” despite the fact
that Stalin—the internationally-acknowledged Communist High Priest—was
fighting on the side of Truman. Through a constant barrage of anti-communist
statements, news releases and pronouncements from the Pentagon, the State
Department and the White House, plus special Presidential messages to the Congress
personally delivered, McCarthy’s “anticommunism,” became Truman’s policy. Maniadakis—the Greek Himmler—not only survived the war
and occupation of Greece, but thanks to Truman’s policies in Greece became
again the cock-of-the-walk directing with uncommon fury the sub rosa fight against democracy’s and America’s friends, the
resistance fighters. That is how the “Truman Doctrine” was
born, inaugurating the era of Cold War. The U.S. domestic political dialogue
soon discovered that “poor Turkey,” which played “footsie”
with Hitler during the war, was also “menaced,” and awarded the major part of
the “Aid to Greece” [12] program. From there the march proceeded
merrily on until every country bordering the Soviet Union was included,
making this the third attempt at containment of the Soviet Union. John Foster
Dulles extended the principle to encompass the world. Costa Couvaras
is now dead. But there is still a story to be told and this is his final
report. George C. Vournas Washington, D.C. George C. Vournas
is an attorney at law by profession, with offices in Washington, D.C., and a
former Supreme President of Ahepa (1924-1945). In
World War II he was commissioned Captain in the Army of the United States and
was separated from that service with the rank of Major. He had been
designated to go into occupied Greece, as a head of a military mission to
come into contact with the Greek resistance fighters but, unfortunately, he
failed his physical examination because of injuries sustained during
maneuvers in the Egyptian desert. In the interim the Couvaras
mission came into being. [15] April 30, 1944 We are in Greece at last. We came to
the little outpost of Calamos last night, but what
a night! I have never made such a difficult and dangerous trip before. The
trip from Smyrna here, which under ordinary circumstances would have taken
about three hours, took us eight days. We started late one afternoon from
our base near Smyrna and tried to cross the Aegean to Evia.
We were counting on about eleven hours in the little, thirty-foot motor boat,
but the weather was bad. Not too bad, mind you, but bad enough for the
thirty-foot craft not to be able to go far. We went as far as the island of
Chios, and then had to return. Then two days later, when we thought that the
weather had bettered a little, we tried another dash with about the same
result. This time we did not have to go as far before the waves started
overtaking our little craft. On the third dash we lost our bearing and
instead of reaching the island of Skyros, which would have been our first
stop, we went much further north. But we reached a desolate part of Skyros by
the afternoon of the seventh day of our journey from Smyrna, and stayed
hidden there until well into the night. Then we dashed for Evia again, but had to return to Skyros on account of the
weather. Last night we dashed again, and
finally we made it though the weather was really
terrible. It was raining and it was windy at the same time. The captain
couldn’t make out the shoreline because of total lack of visibility. We
approached the shore at about two o’clock in the morning and tried to
distinguish the mountains whose outlines would indicate our whereabouts. No
luck! The captain and the mechanic of our craft knew the area very well
because they had made more than twenty trips in this section working for
British and American intelligence missions. We were looking for the small bay
of Ochthonia, which was supposed to be in the
neighborhood but whose exact location eluded us for more than two hours. At
last somebody saw an opening through the night and through the mist, and we
entered a narrow indentation of the coast that was entirely surrounded by
mountains. At the end of the bay there was a
small village, and even at that late [16] hour a couple of lights were
flickering in the dark night. Then the captain reduced his speed and looked
intently at what seemed to be a long motor boat in the middle of the port. He
showed his anxiety and ordered all hands to be ready for any eventuality,
thinking it might be one of the German patrol boats that are operating all
around the coast of Greece. If that were the case, we could not get away, but
would have to elude it somehow. Pretending innocence we headed for the shore,
and were preparing to jump out and try to save our skins if things got bad. Captain Manolis
then called to the shore “Heloooo,” and somebody
answered back, “Heloooo!” “Is so-and-so in the
village?” Manolis called again. Thank God,
so-and-so was in the village. This meant that the place was safe, because if
so-and-so were in the village there were no Germans or quislings in the
vicinity, because so-and-so and the enemy could not mix. All of us gave a
sigh of relief; we could now land at our destination. Captain Manolis
went ashore first. So-and-so had come from his home by that time, and Manolis had a short discussion with him in low tones.
Then we disembarked, and were marched silently to the outskirts of the
village. Neither Manolis nor our village escort
would tell us where we were going, but they finally brought us to what seemed
like a little hut situated on a hill overlooking the village. It was still
night and we could not see, so we got out our army flashlights to investigate
the place. It was actually a stable, and during this first night of our
landing in Greece we were destined to sleep in the company of a light-haired
donkey, good and kind but full of fleas, which made us scratch continuously.
However, the stable had two compartments, and we slept in one while the
donkey slept in the other. Next morning it was explained to us
why we had to sleep in the stable and not in one of the numerous houses of
the village. “Security” is a word of which these people seemed very
conscious. If the Germans or the quislings had come during the night, we
would have been able to escape much more easily, and the village could
possibly have escaped destruction by pointing to the fact that we were not
sheltered by the village. At about 10:00 that morning we made
our first contact with the Greek guerrillas. Eight of them came to escort us
to their post. All of them were young, less than thirty, and some even less
than twenty. Some had beards, others were cleanshaven.
Vasilis Messadakos, their
leader at the little post called “Calamos” (near
the village at which we landed last night), is a young man who fought in the
Spanish civil war. He is a boat engineer by trade, tall and handsome, and
rather well educated. These guerrillas are very good to us;
they come from the surrounding villages and the people seem to like them very
much. One soon gets the impression that these people try to do big things
with little means. They live badly, eat little, and don’t have enough arms.
No one here has more than [17] ten or twenty rounds of ammunition.
Many of them do not have any arms, and some go about barefoot. It makes me feel bad to think that
the three people in my mission spent about one thousand rounds of ammunition
for practice in Egypt, while over here every bullet must account for one
German or one quisling. Massadakos was complaining
to me today that he had lent his pistol with twenty rounds of ammunition to a
guerrilla who went with a convoy of animals to regimental headquarters. The
second in command there was in need of weapons and kept the pistol. Stories
of this type are common here, showing how widespread is the need for weapons
and ammunition. From what we were able to learn this
first day in Greece, it seems that during the last month the island of Evia was full of Germans and members of the quisling
Security Battalions. It seems that the Security Battalions especially did a
great deal of dirty work over here, killing people, raping women, and burning
villages. The antartes (the Greek word for
guerrillas) were unable to stop them because they came in force. Whatever the
antartes did, they did with ambushing and
rear action against isolated groups. Massadakos,
though, tells me that the leadership of the guerrillas on the island is
pretty sure of its ability to clean out all enemy forces if they have enough
arms and ammunition. This might be considered boastful, but when one sees how
tough and fearless these men look it is not difficult to believe their boast.
Just now, as I was sitting at the entrance of our hut near the sea writing
this on my knee, ten men came down from battalion headquarters, eight hours
away on foot; two of these men have no shoes on their feet. We gave some small arms to the
guerrillas, and were they happy with them! They are especially enthusiastic
about the tommy guns, but they seem to be in such need of ammunition that
they would have preferred bullets to rifles. They like both, of course, but
their need for bullets is so much greater. Most of the rifles of the antartes are of Italian make; they got them with
the Italian surrender. If our forces in Egypt, and especially the British,
decided to send some of the Italian ammunition captured in the Egyptian
campaign instead of keeping it to rot in desert ammo depots, they would be
performing a real service. A final observation of this most
interesting day is that the antartes do not
like the new Greek Premier, George Papandreou. They say that his hands are
not too clean, that he was the secret adviser of the quisling Rallis, and
that he, with Stylianos Gonatas,
was instrumental in organizing the Security Battalions. We listened to
Papandreou’s broadcast a while ago, and the antartes
did not like his remarks about ELAS and EAM nor the fact that he failed to
mention the destructive and fratricidal work of the Security Battalions. [18] May 1, 1944 Our first radio contact with Cairo
was a beauty! We took the radio set and one battery to the hill behind our
hut, spread the antenna on the bushes, and then made the wire connections. At
the exact time of the regular appointment Alex hit the key, we listened for a
second, and the answer came loud and clear. Our man was there, over the
mountains and the Greek islands, over the Mediterranean Sea, over the desert
of Egypt, in a little cubby hole in Cairo. He was listening for us. Boy, were
we happy! Both of us felt something wonderful. It’s like getting good service
in a hotel, although more so, because good service here means much more than
in a hotel. The success of our mission depends on these connections, and, who
knows, our lives one day might depend on it. We gave the good news of our safe
arrival and a couple of more messages on the situation here. We also received
one message. I congratulated Alex on getting Cairo so fast, and I was happy
to do so. For some time now I have questioned his ability as a radio man, but
today he proved himself and I was happy to see it. We are still at Calamos,
undecided what to do next. We can follow the original plan and go to Athens,
or we can go to the mountains of Central Greece where a guerrilla government
has been formed by the most prominent leaders of the underground. I am trying
to find out which leaders are in Athens and which are in the mountains,
because that will decide which route we will take. The antartes
can help us to go to whichever of the two places we decide to go. They tell
me, though, that it is pretty difficult to take equipment into Athens. If we
want to take our radio set with us, we shall have to go through the mountain
passes of Attica into Athens, and even then there is the risk of getting
caught by German guards. If the original plan is followed,
then I am inclined to leave Alex in Evia with the
radio set. Thus we can avoid the greatest risk, and can have him communicate
directly with Cairo until I come back or we get established there, in which
case we might be able to get him in with less risk. An additional difficulty
is his poor Greek, by which he might be detected as a stranger. Any urgent
messages could be sent through one of our other two missions in Athens, with
whom I might be able to make contact. Meanwhile, John has gone to guerrilla
headquarters in order to prepare the ground for us and to find out more news
about what is happening in the mountains of Central Greece, which will have
further bearing on my decision of where to proceed from here. An interesting sidelight in this
otherwise serious world we live in lately is to see the use to which Greek
currency is put. The one hundred drachma [19] piece, which was the
prewar equivalent of one American dollar, we found in the guerrilla toilets
in the place of toilet paper. The price of the gold sovereign at the present
time is about 50,000,000 drachmas. People in this section do not use money as
a means of exchange anymore; the barter system is in wide use instead. Those
who have any goods to sell exchange them for something else. Those who don’t
have any goods to exchange starve. May 2, 1944 “Become a spy? Not me.” That would
have been my answer not long ago, but now I am one and still cannot explain
how I entered this dangerous and in many ways infamous profession. Of course I wanted to play my part in
this war from the beginning and believed that it was a real opportunity for
any man to participate, because it could be the greatest experience he could
have in his lifetime. To look for adventure, though,'was
not in my make-up, I thought. Since I entered the army, therefore, I have let
things move by themselves, and have had a fatalistic faith that some way or
other I will still be alive when the war comes to an end. Picturing the war
in my mind as a turbulent and dangerous stream that has to be crossed, I see
myself definitely on the other side. After being in the army for about six
months, one good day I was transferred to Washington to an office job that would
have carried me through the war, and for a time I was happy with the idea.
Two months later, though, I had had enough of it. Things moved too slowly for
my satisfaction, and soon I went looking for an opportunity to go overseas.
Still, the idea of becoming a spy, although it had a certain appeal, seemed
too much for me to consider, and I made certain that I was not volunteering
for such a dangerous assignment. “You are going to be part of the
office personnel in Cairo,” the Major said, “and you are to stay in Egypt all
the time.” Cairo was exciting at first. It was
unique; it was strange! The office work was not heavy and afforded plenty of
time and opportunity for the exploration of the mysteries and beauties of
that strange land. The exotic beauty of the desert and the monuments left on
it during its long history became added attractions that kept me satisfied
for some time. The work at the Cairo office of the
OSS brought me in contact with a different world, one that was lived in the
present and lived dangerously at that. This was the world of the fighter, the
ordinary soldier, who would return from the front for a short rest and for
the purpose of indulging in the [20] pleasures of the Egyptian sun and
the mysteries of the dreamy Arabian nights; it was the world of the
resistance fighter whom unforeseen circumstances had brought to a strange but
hospitable land; it was the world of the spy, who, either for love of country
or love of adventure, voluntarily undertook the dangers of an underground
existence in the fight for a common cause. Five months after my arrival in
Egypt, I asked for an assignment behind the enemy lines. What the decisive
factor was that prompted me to such action, I am still unable to determine.
It might have been rather a combination of factors—a desire to help more
actively in the cause I believed in, my being fed up with the dreariness of
routine work, and a certain love of adventure. Last but not least was the
idea of going to Greece, hoping to be able to help its gallant people in
their fight for freedom. All these factors combined to make up
my mind to take on a role for which I was not cut out originally, but for
which I am here now. The risks I was going to have to take weighed heavily at
first, and for many days before making the final decision I pondered whether
the idea that had gotten grip of my mind should be carried out. Once the
decision was made, though, there was never the slightest hesitation about its
correctness, and in a methodical manner I proceeded with the preparations for
the trip. Any fears that came after that were rather minor and short-lasting. Mort, my superior, outlined to me the
purpose of my mission in a number of conversations: to try to create good
relations with the EAM resistance movement in order to achieve the best
possible results in collecting intelligence; and to explore the possibility
of setting up new American intelligence groups all around the country that
would cooperate with the guerrillas in collecting intelligence about the
enemy. The British and ourselves already
have many missions in Greece, but relations with the EAM guerrillas are not
always as smooth as they might be. My job will be to persuade the leaders of
EAM that our purpose is strictly intelligence gathering, and that we have no
other axe to grind. In this respect, I possess certain advantages. Besides
being a U.S. officer (the guerrillas prefer Americans to British), this
mission is part of the Labor Section of the OSS a factor that will supposedly
facilitate my work. My labor background will, of course, help in this
respect. Once I can persuade the resistance leaders that our purpose is
strictly the collection of intelligence and that their internal affairs are
of no interest to us, we can expect a good reception. When the mission was first planned,
we thought of sending a Greek labor man into Greece to make our first
connection with the guerrillas, but this proved impossible because the right
man could not be found. After I [21] volunteered for the job, we tried
to get a Greek with labor or resistance background to go as my assistant.
Originally it was planned that only the two of us would go, and I was
supposed to come back as soon as possible and report the results. At my insistence, a few days before
we were to sail, a radio man was added to the mission. This was the result of
a fear on my part of getting stuck somewhere and being unable to communicate
with the Cairo office. Even if I would have to go into Athens alone, I felt,
the radio operator could be left in some mountainous region and important
messages could be sent to him by courier to forward. At the present time our
number is three, and I don’t anticipate any changes in that. The next important move is to try to
get in touch with the leadership of the resistance movement, and if I am able
to persuade them of our good will and sympathetic attitude, we might be able
to achieve the dream of my superior and create an excellent intelligence
network that, with the help of the guerrillas, will cover the whole country. There is a big obstacle to my work at
the present time. So far, nobody seems to know for sure where the leaders of
EAM are. Some of the guerrilla leaders we have met say that the high
leadership has left Athens and gone to the mountains of central Greece for the
purpose of setting up a free Greek government; others think that the
important persons are still hiding in' Athens. This discrepancy leaves me in
a predicament as to which road to follow in the next few crucial days of this
undertaking. May 3,1944 “What does a guerrilla fight for?”
All through these years of war, both while in the U.S. and overseas, I have
asked myself this question on numerous occasions. Today, on our way to
battalion headquarters, I asked the same question of a guerrilla. We had an eight hour hike ahead of us
when we started this morning from Calamos with a
guerrilla escort of eight men. Our caravan of eight donkeys, heavily loaded
with supplies, had a great deal of difficulty going up the steep path. We
too, unaccustomed to mountain climbing, felt the strain. The guerrillas,
though, seemed in their element. They walked up the path with the greatest of
ease. They took care of the animals, and even helped lighten their load at
difficult parts of the road. One time one of the donkeys fell, and
refused to go any further. Then we had to stop. Fortunately it was near one
of the villages so, while the guerrillas unloaded the donkey and commandeered
a new one, we had time to go to the village and meet some of the people. It
was known somehow that we were Americans, and it did not take much time for
everybody to come and [22] greet us. This demonstration of affection
did not please me at all because it showed how fast news can travel and this
might endanger our lives. Imagine all these people know that Americans had
come by! The news will spread and tomorrow it is only natural that the
Germans and the quislings will hear. On our way, there were some level
parts of the road where we could catch our breath and were able to talk to
one another. George, the guerrilla to whom I mostly spoke, is a young man of
about twenty, and extremely intelligent. At the same time he seems modest and
sincere. In talking to him I know I had found the best companion of the lot.
Besides, what he said more or less reflected the thoughts and ideas of all
the guerrillas that we have met during the last few days, and it is important
to understand the feeling prevailing among these fighters. “I became a guerrilla to fight the
enemies of my country,” George replied to my first question. But he went
further than that. Of course he was angry at the Germans, the Italians, and
the Bulgarians for all the harm they have brought to Greece, but he was
equally angry at “internal enemies,” as he called them: quislings, Security
Battalion men, and black marketeers. “These people
are drinking the blood of our people,” he said emphatically. “They are Greeks
who do not care what happens to the people, who are after their narrow and
selfish interests. These are the same people that ruled the country for
generations and that is why no one ever was able to make a decent living
through clean and sincere efforts. These people should not rule us anymore!” When I asked George about who should
rule the country, he was less clear, as if he had not thought much about it.
“We, the common people,” he said finally. Then he went on to specify that the
people will demand a popular democratic government when liberation comes. I tried hard to get George to define
what “popular democracy” meant, because I had heard that expression often
since we entered Greece. Laiki democratia
is a phrase which is on everybody’s lips; one that has become a slogan, it
seems, and one that we shall hear about in the future. It is a good enough
term, and flexible so that it can mean anything to anybody. But I wanted an
exact definition. Since it is used so much, I thought it had probably been
explained well by EAM propaganda so that people would know exactly what it
meant. But I was doomed to be disappointed, because George could not define
it any better than that “it will be a type of government where the common
people will rule the country.” Of course George is no philosopher.
He is not even remotely aware of Marxist dialectics; he is not even a
Communist. He is a peasant boy who felt the patriotic call to duty. His duty,
he figured, was to become a guerrilla and fight the enemies of his country.
At the present time his social ideas are [23] only in the process of
formation, but he absorbs well and rather quickly. Two years ago George was just a
peasant and today he is a guerrilla: tomorrow, he will be a full-fledged
Communist! Of that I have no doubt, because his mind has taken that direction
already. Communist or not, though, there is one fact that cannot escape the
student of modern Greece: these young guerrillas are full of idealism and
vigor. They belong to a rising generation that will fight hard to give their
country the leadership they believe it needs. The Greeks have always complained
about their leaders, but they have never had any cohesive ideas to develop
their complaints into a coherent philosophy! The EAM seems to have been
providing exactly those. They have been supplying the people with the ideas
and the people seem to approve, to like the change which is being promised.
The popular democracy idea is good enough in content and vague enough, and
very few people are troubled about its vagueness; perhaps that is precisely
what people like. May 3, 1944 Among the curiosities of the 3rd
Regiment of Evia, the most interesting were some
Russian soldiers who surrendered two days ago to the antartes.
These soldiers, who belonged originally to the Red Army and had been captured
by the Germans, were being used in Greece for garrison duty. (Russians,
Poles, Czechoslovaks, Rumanians, Croatians, Italians, Moroccans, and others
are given minor garrison posts to guard all around Greece.) Of course they
are quislings, in spite of the fact that they tried to explain to us that it
was because of hunger that they consented to enlist in the Wehrmacht. The antartes, though, treated them
like friends, and these Russians were elated. They had come over to the
guerrillas with all their weapons and ammo, and that made them more welcome.
Through an interpreter I asked them some questions. They had wanted to
surrender long ago, they said, but the Germans were spreading rumors that the
guerrillas were executing war prisoners. However, a few days ago a German
soldier had gone back to his unit after he had been caught by the antartes,
stripped of his weapons and clothing, and then let go. Then the Russians
decided it was time to surrender, and seemed happy with their decision. May 4, 1944 Today we came to the village of Setta, where the Evia regiment is
temporarily quartered and consequently where the highest authority of the
guerrillas in this region is to be found. I had to make my final decision as
to [24] where to go from here, and wanted to consult with the
guerrilla leadership. The leadership of the regiment is of a two-fold nature:
there is a military leader and a guerrilla leader. The military leader is a
former colonel of the regular army and the guerrilla leader is a man a little
over twenty, who was just finishing high school when the war started. This
dual leadership seems to be working smoothly from what I hear and from what I
can infer from my meeting with them today. Important decisions are made after
consultation between the two; in military matters the colonel has more to
say, while in political matters the opposite is true. Of these two leaders
the guerrilla, although very young, is the more impressive. He gives the
impression of being a serious and intelligent young man whose life is
dedicated to a very important purpose. He spoke to me of the military and
political situation in terms that show a good grasp of things. His advice, as
well as the advice of the colonel, was to go to the mountains of central
Greece where everybody of importance in the EAM will be gathered. Then credentials were prepared
separately for each of us, which give access to the various EAM and ELAS
units which we shall meet on our way. In addition, they will provide us with
a guerrilla escort who will stay with us as long as we are on this island. All of us today took new names. This
is the third time that we have done so since we left Egypt. We started from
Cairo with assumed names and then in Smyrna we changed them. That is where
fake papers were prepared for us and I became a merchant, for all intents and
purposes. It was funny to see the archeologists who head our office there
prepare fake papers, and being pretty good at it too! From today on, however, I will be
known as “Odysseus” to the resistance movement. Fellow Combatant Odysseus, or
Synagonistis Odysseus, as the term is here. We had
to change names again because among resistance fighters it is common to use
one assumed name, not two. It can be either a Christian name or a surname,
but not the two together. We won’t use our previously assumed names because we
are afraid that in difficulties that might arise in the future the enemy
might be able to make a connection and find out our real identities. This way
we are making a new start and shall travel as resistance fighters, or
merchants, as the situation demands and anybody will have a hard time proving
otherwise. In this village of Setta we have had a good opportunity to learn and observe
how the EAM operates in the villages of Greece. In every district and village
there are two types of organizations by which all functions of government and
organized life in general are carried on. Most important are the EAM
organizations; then come the self-government organizations. The chief EAM organization in Setta is the EAM Committee, which [25] seems the
most powerful force in every village. This committee deals with all political
matters pertaining to the village, and when there is no military organization
near the village, it deals with military matters as well. Among its duties is
to carry on EAM propaganda activities and to organize such other
organizations as the Reserve ELAS, the ETA (guerrilla quartermaster Corps),
the Ethniki Alellengie,
and the National Mutual Aid Society, which gives material aid to the families
of the resistance fighters. It also appoints the propaganda man, the ypefthinos Typou, who is
responsible for the acquisition and dissemination of news, and finally, and
most important, it appoints the village ypefthinos,
the most responsible position of all in a Greek village today. The ypefthinos,
which means the “responsible man,” is actually responsible for all that
happens in the village. He has a great deal of authority because his
suggestions are accepted by higher EAM and ELAS authorities, and people can
be rewarded or punished accordingly. He has to see to it that all the EAM
organizations as well as the self-government organizations function smoothly.
He is the final local authority when important decisions have to be made.
When strangers pass through the village, the ypefthinos
must see to it that they are properly examined as to who they are and why
they have come. Then, if all is well, he must find food and lodging for them
and then help them proceed to their destination. In short, it is on the ypefthinos that every job in the village falls if the
other committees do not work smoothly. The self-government of Setta consists of the Community Council, a body j of
seven members. This council is responsible for all local affairs that do not
fall within the EAM or the ELAS jurisdiction. Then come such committees as
the school committee and the church committee, each of which has jurisdiction
over its own problems. Also there is the very important People’s Court, which
is elective in every village and consists of three or five s members. The
court has jurisdiction over all matters except divorce, crime, and treason. All these various committees of Setta are accountable to higher provincial authority,
which ties in finally with the central authority. The self- government
organization is under the secretary of the interior of the PEEA, the
guerrilla political government, while the People’s Courts are under the
secretary of justice. In Setta
these committees function pretty well, but as I understand it, that is not
the case with all other villages. To prove how well their self- government
works, the people of the village pointed out a great achievement to me. For
fifty years, they said, there had been a dispute raging between Setta and another village as to the distribution of
certain water found in the region that is used for irrigating the fields. All
these years the case had [26] been taken from court to court without
any final decision. This year the affair was finally settled by the
self-government organizations of the two villages. The chief of the ETA organization in Setta is a girl of about twenty-two, called Maria. She is
a very beautiful girl with smooth features and a serious face. She wears
black because her brother was executed by the quislings. Her mother died
during the famine of 1941 and her father is in prison for being an EAMite. Maria is a wonderful creature, efficient and
selfless. She has dedicated her life to serving others and, as chief of the
ETA of her village, she is responsible for finding food and shelter for all
who pass by. Today, in addition to our group, she had to take care of 150
guerrillas who entered the village. I watched Maria for some time. The
minute the guerrillas came she was ready. She called all her girl helpers and
sent the guerrillas to various homes, and an hour later everybody had been
taken care of. Maria took our group to a clean room with two beds. Five of us
had to sleep there, and Maria had to go around to find additional bedding.
When we came in at night everything was ready, including supper, and Maria
was there if anything further were needed. Perhaps it was the woman’s touch (and
God knows that we have been living without feminine company since we left
Egypt), but Maria left a great impression on me, which I will not be able to
forget for a long time. This village creature, who goes around barefoot,
seems to have a golden heart. She seems to live to help other people, and has
a devotion to her duty that is really touching. As a last graceful act to us,
last night she brought us the insignia of the guerrillas, embroidered by
herself, which we can use on our hats. Maria, who thought that we were new
recruits, then bade us “Sto callo”
(“good luck”) and “God be with you.” May 4, 1944 We are proceeding north. I am writing
this note at the regimental headquarters of the Evia
regiment of ELAS. From preliminary talks with the chiefs here, it seems that
our mission will have full success. This regiment, the 5th ELAS Regiment,
has three battalions, a total of about 1,000 men. This means that there are
on the island of Evia 1,000 active guerrillas.
There are many more thousands who are members of the Reserve ELAS, who would
have become active guerrillas if there were enough arms to go around. We got
an idea of the terrific shortages here yesterday during our visit to the 3rd
Battalion. There we saw thirty men without shoes, some with rags instead of
clothing, and very few with more than thirty bullets in their possession. It
was pathetic to hear the plea [27]
of these brave men and their leaders: “Give us arms and we can raise many
thousands of antartes
and chase the Germans out.” I received more detailed information
on the formation of the new guerrilla government today. It was given to me by
a political inspector of the EAM who came from Athens. The new government
contains the best elements of the Greek political world. It is composed of
communists, socialists, agrarians, and members of the old liberal and
democratic parties. If anything, professors of the
University of Athens predominate, and one of them, Alexander Svolos of the political science department, is the
premier. Svolos as well as the great majority of
the members of this government are liberals and democrats, some with
socialist inclinations. There is only one communist, George Siantos, general secretary of the Communist party, who is
secretary of the interior. I also found out today that a
national assembly will convene in the mountains of central Greece, and will
be composed of the deputies that were named in the elections of four days
ago. The deputies that were elected to the 1936 parliament, the one that the
dictator Metaxas dissolved on August 4, 1936, have also been invited to
participate as members of this assembly. Many of the elected deputies have
already departed for the mountains. This political inspector from Athens
also gave me the names of some of the best generals of the Greek army who
have gone to the mountains to participate in the struggle with the
guerrillas. It is three o’clock in the morning,
and the candle is almost out. Besides, we have to start at six for our long
hike to ELAS headquarters in the mountains of central Greece, and we will
have to move fast from now on. May 6, 1944 Today we tried to contact Cairo, but
had no luck. Alex thinks there might be something wrong with the set, because
he could receive faint sounds on it but could not get our station. Carrying a
radio set around the mountains is not fun, especially the way we travel. We are traveling incognito, because
if we were known as Americans we might get into trouble. The experience of
the first few days taught us a great deal about security. People of the
surrounding district find out that Americans have arrived, and then they
flock around us and turn us into curiosities. Under ordinary circumstances to
be a curiosity is not bad, but under present conditions it is not healthy at
all. Once it starts going around that Americans are in a certain district,
anything can happen. The Germans might decide to ambush us as we travel, or
they might surround the village where we stop at night and catch us in our
sleep. For this reason I gave strict orders
for secrecy to the men, but had some [28]
difficulty in making them obey. Yannis, especially,
who has a tendency to show off, could not understand why we had to travel
with our nice American equipment inside burlap bags and not hang it over our
shoulders. He likes the tommy guns particularly, and would like to show them
to the villagers and the guerrillas, explaining how they work. Finally I had
to give in to Yannis’ entreaties and let him carry
his forty-five pistol in the open. Stropones We tried again to make contact with
Cairo, but with no results. There are two important messages I want to send
today, and I don’t know what to do. I must have been very nervous, because I
talked badly to Alex about some inconsistencies in what he said about the
radio. The trouble is that he is not as well trained as I thought he was. In
any case, we shall try to work with the guerrilla radio that they have in
this village. We have a message about a plane that the guerrillas shot down a
few days ago further north. This plane contained maps of the German
aerodromes in northern Greece and Yugoslavia, and might be important for us.
If so, there is a way of securing them, and the office in Cairo should know
about it. Last night we witnessed an amazing
display of feminine capabilities. Our host here is the chief of the EAM
organization. This man has two little daughters, one eight years old and one
four. What a little girl, that older one, a cute intelligent little thing
with burning red hair and a dead serious face. Her mother has been visiting
relatives in another village, and this eight year old is the mistress of the
house. When I say mistress I mean it in
every sense of the word! When we came home last night we found bean soup
ready for us. Who cooked it? The little girl. There was fresh bread on the
table, and the little girl had prepared the dough and had taken it to an aunt
in another house to put it in the oven. Then she served the meal and later
wouldn’t let anybody touch the beds. All of us stood admiring her poise, her
efficiency and her seriousness toward the job at hand. Her father said women
had to learn good and young how to take care of the home, because life was
hard in the village. I have seen serious little girls before, but what we saw
last night I consider a real phenomenon one should write and talk about! May 6, 1944 After an overnight trip of adventure
we reached the village of Pyli this morning. We
walked to the sea from Stropones yesterday afternoon
[29] hoping to get a rowboat to Pyli, ten hours away. But there was no boat to be found
when we reached the shore, and after unloading our baggage from the mules and
putting it behind some high rocks, we sat on the beach to wait for a boat to
come and to have our supper. Yannis, who was sitting a little higher
than the rest of us, started looking intensely to the north with a nervous
twitch in his eye. He got up to look better, and the rest of us got up
instinctively. Then we saw a queer spectacle that seemed potentially very
dangerous. There was a large motor boat dragging
about twenty small row boats behind it, coming with great speed in our
direction. We looked at the village people near us, but they could not
explain. They said it might be a German patrol boat picking up small fishing
boats for some reason or other. We felt sick in our stomachs, but acted
quickly because the boat was approaching fast. We hid
our stuff among the rocks on the beach and took with us only the radio set,
our pistols, and tommy guns, and we climbed a hill that was near the shore.
Then we waited. The motor boat came straight to the
beach. We looked intently from our hideout but could not distinguish any
Germans in the dusk. Then somebody called to the shore; then he called again
two or three times. Finally one of the villagers answered him. He wanted to
know if there was water on the beach. The villager asked who he was, and what
they were doing there. They were fishermen, he said, coming from further
north to catch certain kinds of fish that were in season in these waters.
Then we breathed! All of us went back to the beach, and
started discussing our false adventure, which could have been a real one and
a very serious one at that, especially since the hill that we had chosen in
our haste for our hideout could not have afforded much protection. The
experience created in us a feeling of apprehension of what might happen,
especially on unprotected trips like the one ahead of us, which was to be
taken in a small rowboat with extremely limited speed. With all our baggage
piled high in the boat and visible for some distance, any German patrol boat
could pull up and catch us like mice in a cage. That is why we tried hard to
make Pyli while it was still dark, but hard as we
tried we could not make it until nine o’clock in the morning. Pyli is a mining village. An English
company owns a magnesite mine here, which is
inoperative at the present time. The village is situated in a large ravine
with mountains on either side, and the mines are on the slope of the
mountains near the shore. We spent most of our day today at the mines with
the only man who is taking care of the property, an old caretaker who is a
kind soul. A number of people drifted by—fishermen, farmers, workers,—and by
asking them innumerable questions, we were able to reconstruct something of
the recent history of the village, and understand [30] its present condition. During the famine of 1941, 180
inhabitants of Pyli died out of a total population
of 1200. The village was hit terribly hard, for before the war everybody was
working in the mines and the inhabitants owned very little property. There
was little farming connected with the village, and famine struck suddenly and
hard. “The people died like flies,” as an older man put it. Lack of work and lack of individual
holdings are now driving the people to producing charcoal. But a shameful
situation exists, as I found out soon enough: mostly women do this type of
work, and they are badly exploited. A woman receives 49,000 drachmas a day,
plus a pound and a half of corn. The price of one cigarette in Pyli at the present time is 20,000 drachmas, while one
egg costs fifty thousand. The EAM organization of the region the other day
took the charcoal merchant who pays such low wages into custody branding him
an “exploiter of the people.” Pyli is almost 100 percent pro-EAM. The
people love and support the antartes. Villagers and guerrillas dance and sing together
during festive occasions and today, they are celebrating some anniversary.
There are six young men from this village who have joined the guerrillas, and
there are many more who belong to the Reserve ELAS. During the elections that
took place a few days ago for the National Council, the village voted for the
two EAM candidates giving them all the votes, although there were three
opposition candidates on the ballot. The elections were very fair, according
to the president of the village, and the results were verified to me by a
number of people, particularly by the guard of the mines with whom we spent
most of our time while in this village. Pyli is
proud because it did not produce any traitors. In fact the village has
suffered at the hands of the enemy for being so pro-EAM, and lately at the
hands of the Security Battalions, who were here a short time ago and
plundered the place, destroying some of the houses. Before the ousting of Mussolini, when
the Italians had large forces in Greece, Pyli
quartered at least one hundred Italian soldiers. On the beach around the mines
and further inland there are many trenches and underground connecting
passages, which show the fear the Italians had of surprise attacks. The
people complained to me that at times the Italians would take away their
lambs or cows without paying for them, even during such a difficult year as
1941. An interesting phenomenon in this
village is its mayor, a stout man of about forty, who was also mayor when the
Italians were here. The persons I asked about him said that EAM permits him
to function as mayor even now because he is an honest man and the people have
faith in him. So far this is the only place we have come to where such a
thing happened. To be able to [31]
work smoothly with all administrations is a great achievement during this
chaotic period of the war. The old guard at the mines had
nothing to eat when we reached his home this morning, so it was not difficult
to persuade him to get somebody to look around for food for all of us. At the
beginning we looked for fish, but could not find any even though people fish
with dynamite around here. Then we told the man to go to the village and look
for eggs. Five hours after he started, the man came back having achieved the
almost impossible: handed us six eggs, which cost fifty thousand drachmas
each. The old man and I then had the great pleasure of cooking these eggs. We
also gathered some vegetables from his garden, and had a really good meal,
all five of us. The people in this region are badly
in need of fishing nets, which could help their food problem. Dynamiting,
which is substituted for the more conventional methods of fishing, is bad for
it kills small fish as well as big, destroying fish reserves. In the past the
Greek government had forbidden this type of fishing, but the antartes permit
it now because there is no other way: its either dynamiting or starvation for
these people that live near the sea. By some good or bad fortune, a large
underground store of dynamite was found lately in northern Evia, which apparently had been kept for emergencies by
one of the mining companies. Now both the guerrillas and the fishermen have
plenty of dynamite for their activities and both use it extensively—the
villagers for fishing and the guerrillas to blow up bridges and enemy
installations. Amazingly enough our Greek money was
accepted this morning by the person who sold us eggs. However, this is not
the usual procedure away from the large cities. The village people usually
refuse to accept paper money because, before it reaches their hands, it has
lost the original value which was placed on it in Athens. Therefore almost
everything has to be paid in kind. Value is calculated by the prevailing
product of a certain region (such as wheat, olive oil, tobacco or eggs), and
value is set in accordance with the scarcity of each product or, at times,
with the relative prewar prices of the products to be exchanged. Gold has a great deal of value, but
gold pieces are difficult to exchange in villages because no one has enough
money. This will be a great problem in the very near future when the little
paper money we have gives out. On leaving Pyli we tried again to sell a gold piece but the only
thing we could buy with it was a load of wheat, which would have added to the
difficulties we already have in transporting our baggage and equipment. May 17,1944 This is the 16th day since we have
lost contact with Cairo. I bet those [32]
people are worried about us. Meanwhile, we have had a wonderful trip crossing
mountains and plains, but mostly mountains, since we left Evia.
There was some danger connected with the trip too, but one forgets about that
easily. This radio situation has me worried, though, no end. Everything
depends on good communication, and if I cannot achieve it, my mission is
almost totally lost. If the set is bad I shall have to contact some other
American agent, in Athens or elsewhere, and ask Cairo for another set. Or I
might have to go back to Egypt and report (which was the original plan) and
then come back again. May 23,1944 Today I went for the first time to the
village of Koryshades, where the National Council
is meeting. The purpose of my going there, however, was not so much to attend
the assembly as to meet some of the leaders of EAM. A meeting had been
arranged beforehand by Gianni, but I did not know in advance who was going to
be there. It was noon when we got to Koryshades,
after more than an hour’s fast walk from Karpenissi.
The assembly had adjourned for lunch, and the delegates were hanging around
in small groups in front of the large schoolhouse where they are meeting.
This schoolhouse is situated in the center of the village, where the square
is. As I was sitting on a rock, waiting
to be called by the EAM chiefs, an enemy reconnaissance plane appeared above
us. The sky was clear and the pilot must have had an excellent view of what
was happening below. There is no doubt that the Germans know that the
assembly is meeting someplace in this section and are trying to locate the
place. It was interesting to me, however, that these people, seasoned resistance
fighters, did not pay any attention to the plane. No one tried to hide, and
the square stayed full of people for the four or five minutes that the plane
spent above us. I was asked to enter a small house in
the middle of the square that had the peculiar appearance of a lighthouse,
with two narrow sides and something that looked like a tower in the middle. I
went up a staircase and entered a small foyer. On one side there was a
kitchen with some women preparing food, and on the other a fairly large room with
three men: George Siantos, John Zevgos
and John Ioannides. All, as I found out later in
the day, are members of the Politburo of the Communist party. Gianni introduced me as “Co-Fighter”
Ulysses, an American officer. They asked me to excuse them for not receiving
me earlier, which was due to the heavy work they had on account of the
assembly. They then invited me to partake of their lunch, which I was happy
to do. The first questions were about my trip. I told them that it was long,
but more or less pleasant if I forgot about the dangers. Then I told them who
I was. I gave my real name, [33]
and said I was an officer of the U.S. Army, at the same time handing them my
A.G.O. card and a couple of letters I carried with me. I mentioned casually,
but with a purpose, that I had heard that a relative of mine, Nick Carvounis, had a high position with EAM and was someplace
nearby. They said they knew all that. We sat at the table. George Siantos, the secretary general of the Communist party,
sat at my right, Zevgos sat opposite me, and Ioannides sat at my left. Then, all of a sudden, there
was a small commotion outside the door and a man entered the room. It was my
Uncle Nick, or “Barba-Nicos” as they call him here.
We recognized each other immediately and fell into each other’s arms. I have
an idea that these Communists had a motive in bringing in Uncle Nick: they
wanted to be sure that they were not being taken for a ride. They must have
been satisfied. The old man felt emotional at seeing me in the Greek mountains
with the resistance movement, my having come from such a faraway land. The discussion came around to my
mission. I told them I belonged to an American intelligence outfit, of which
Bill Donovan was in charge, and that I belonged to the labor section of that
outfit, the section most sympathetic to their ideals. I wanted their
cooperation to establish my mission near them and also to explore the
possibility of getting more missions into Greece to work in cooperation with
other guerrilla units. Three things I stressed: first, that
I had no authority to conclude any agreements; second, that I had very little
to offer in tangible remuneration; and thirdly, that, according to my
opinion, it was to their benefit to cooperate with us, because it was
important that the Americans get firsthand information on the Greek situation
themselves instead of getting it through British sources. Also I told them
that the Americans, who have no big interests to support in Greece, stand on
the side of what they think to be right. My thesis was accepted without much
difficulty, and they were soon satisfied that they were dealing with a
sympathetic Greek-American. From this very first meeting the leaders promised
to help us as much as possible. They permitted us to set up an intelligence
organization of our own, and promised to make their intelligence reports
available to us. I am very happy today because
everything points to a successful mission; the next important job will be to
get our radio set going. Even for that we were promised help. The guerrillas
feel that their men can repair any minor trouble, and tomorrow I might go to
take care of that. May 25, 1944 These days I am following the
deliberations of the National Council [34]
more or less regularly. It is an inspiration to attend these sessions, and to
see and hear the delegates talk about the problems of their country. One gets
the feeling that he is following history in the making. This assembly, which
is composed of intellectuals, farmers, workers, priests, and soldiers—all of
them resistance fighters—might prove very important in the history of Greece.
Greek history books refer to the Troezone Assembly
of the Greek Revolution of Independence; in the future they might also refer
to the National Council of Koryshades. My only
criticism of this assembly so far is that it has not come out with any
important declaration on the right of the small nations to be independent and
on their desire to avoid interference in their internal affairs by friend or
foe. I was talking about this to one of the leaders yesterday, and it seems
they are reluctant to come out with such highfalutin phrases because they do
not want to offend England, at least not as long as the war is on. The council is meeting at the grammar
school of Koryshades. This is the only school in
this village of about one hundred families, and the largest and most
up-to-date building in this section. Just before the war started, the school
of Koryshades was finished with money collected by
the people from the village who had emigrated to the U.S. The upper floor
consists of a large meeting hall, which can accommodate about 350 persons and
is where the council meets. Pictures of heroes of the Greek revolution and
slogans from the present resistance of the Greek people decorate the walls
inside and outside. “Long live the honored and heroic army, the ELAS,”
declares one large sign; “Fire and sword to the quislings,” says a second
one. A third extols “Our Great Allies.” “Liberty, Democratic Government,”
says another, and “Death to Fascism,” “Greek Unity for Victory and
Independence,” say yet others. There are many more slogans, but the above
give an idea of the general spirit that prevails. When I arrived at the first meeting I
attended, the Bishop of Pyrgos, who had arrived
late, was taking oath in an impressive ceremony. Then the secretary of
education spoke, giving a general account of what is being done in that field
by the PEEA government and what is planned for the future. It was interesting
to note how many schools that had been closed since the occupation had been
opened through the efforts of the guerrilla government. A plan has been
devised by which the villagers pay for the teachers in kind, and thus their
children get some sort of an education. Yesterday I heard a shepherd from
western Greece give a speech on what he and the people in his district expect
from the new government that will come after liberation. His speech sounded
somewhat funny because the man lacked an education. In addition he had the
heavy accent of his region, and thus drew many more laughs than anybody else.
But everybody listened because he had some great truths to say, although he
spoke them crudely. [35] He said
that he and his fellow villagers wanted progress, and all the good things
that came with it. They were tired of suffering all the time in order to earn
a meager existence. They were looking forward to better homes, better
education for the children, more food, and machines to do the work in the
fields. He drew terrific laughter from the audience with demands for machines
to milk sheep and for a railroad line to take them to the mountain pastures
in the summer and down to the valleys in the winter. Above all he hated the
old-style politicians who promised bridges and rivers to the people at election
time, and then forgot all. He didn’t want lawyers for politicians; he wanted
assemblies just like this one where he could get up and speak his mind. A
better speech couldn’t be made, so full of sense and so full of humor. May 26, 1944 In high circles of the EAM there is
open talk against the spirit of the agreement reportedly reached among the
different factions conferring now in Lebanon for the purpose of forming a
“unity” government. The EAMites do not want George
Papandreou as premier. This man has been getting promoted lately for the job,
by the British who seem to have decided to drop the old set-up of pushing Tsouderos and the Greek government-in-exile. Papandreou had passed through Smyrna
going to the Middle East a few days before we arrived there. Then, as we got
into Greece, we learned in villages along the way that the EAM delegation,
headed by Professor Svolos, was going to the Middle
East for a conference. A few days later, we started getting news of the
“Lebanon Conference” on the radio, and some news of disagreements. Yesterday
a highly placed EAM personality told me openly that there were serious
disagreements at the conference, and that cables had been sent to EAM
delegates about the minimum EAM demands for participating in the new
government. I asked to see the cables. He was reluctant at first, but he gave
in to my argument that it is to their advantage to have the Americans know
exactly what is happening at the negotiations. Today copies of the cables were
handed to me in person by this man. We put them in cipher and sent them
to Cairo right away. This is perhaps the best piece of intelligence I have
been able to get so far. One cable is directed to all members of the EAM
delegation, and it is signed by the representatives of the different parties
in the PEEA (Political Committee of National Liberation), which is the
guerrilla civil government. It expresses amazement that only one cable has
been received from them, which states that they have had to make concessions
in order to reach agreement, but [36]
which does not specify the nature of those concessions. Then, it goes on to
say that the terms of the agreement that have been broadcast are against the
written instructions given to them, which contained the demands of the fighting
nation. The other cable is signed by the vice-premier of the PEEA, Col. Bakirdjis, and tells them that Papandreou is unacceptable
to EAM as premier. These two cables show clearly what I
have been suspecting for some time now, that there is a wide gulf separating
the two political camps of Greece: the old political parties, helped and
advised by the British; and the resistance movement, the EAM, which feels its
present strength among the people. The EAM has not acted cleverly in this
question. These people, strong and intelligent as they are, seem to lack
political experience and acumen. With their clever move in forming a
guerrilla government and calling the National Council, they took the show
from the government-in-exile and the old party politicians. The politicians
in Cairo were at a loss and did not know what to do. They were willing to
talk terms, even to their disadvantage. Then the EAM fell into a pitfall
prepared by the British—the Lebanon Conference. As I told the EAM chiefs whom
I met a few days ago, their participation in that conference was a mistake.
The idea startled them for a minute. I explained to them that when the
British first proposed the idea, they should have answered that they were in
favor of a conference, but inside Greece. That way the psychological
advantage would have been theirs and the conference would have been held in
an atmosphere that could hardly have helped but affect everyone there; it
wouldn’t have been the spirit of exile or of occupation but the heroic spirit
of free Greece. Then I added, “If your proposition
had not been accepted, and you felt that you had to go to the Middle East,
you should have done two things: first, you should not have sent your
purported highest man, Svolos; and second, you
should have insisted on having your own radio communications.” I explained to
them that, as a man that had read many books on political science, I know
that governments never send their chiefs to participate in negotiations so
that they will not be asked to agree to things right away. A secondary man
can always plead for time in order to ask for instructions, but the chief
cannot do that; if he is a real chief, he does not need to refer things to
anybody else. If he is not chief in reality but in name only, then it is embarrassing
for him to admit that he is not the real chief and he is at a disadvantage.
This would be especially true with the “bears of Cairo,” who are old hands at
horse trading and have the expert advice of the British. The importance of
having their own radio communications was not difficult to prove. Since the
British had promised them at least one long [37] cable a day and the only one they had received so far was the
one announcing that they had to make concessions. It was interesting to watch the reaction
to my ideas. No one talked for a while, but the most cunning one, Ioannides, looked at some of the others with a knowing
look, as if to say, “Didn’t I tell you so before?” The conversation was then
changed to another subject. May 27, 1944 Now we know that it was the batteries
that caused all the trouble with the radio. When we reached Karpenissi, we borrowed some batteries from EAM
headquarters, but they didn’t work either. Then yesterday EAM gave me
permission to visit the village of Stenoma, where they
keep their radio station. These men were experts, they told me, and could fix
our set. We went on foot for four hours, I and a guerrilla guide, carrying
the set with us. To reach Stenoma from Karpenissi one has to go up the mountain for two hours
and down the mountain for another two hours. There is very little level land
in between, but it is the most dangerous part because one has to pass on very
narrow paths through loose rock and gravel. Our troubles ended in Stenoma and the trip was worth all the trouble. Anthony,
the chief of the EAM station there, a former steamship radio telegrapher,
soon found the trouble. The set is O.K.; the trouble came from weak
batteries. Yesterday we made our first contact with Cairo in a long time, and
we had some very important messages to send. From now on, we shall have to
send our batteries to Stenoma for recharge because
this is the only place in the vicinity where they have a really good charger,
which operates with gasoline. All the nice instruments our base supplied us
with don’t seem to be worth a damn. Who knows how many other agents have
trouble trying to charge their batteries? May 27, 1944 I am seeing my friend Christo a great
deal these days. He is unable to leave for Athens on account of the fighting
in the plain of Thessaly, so he stays here doing nothing. We meet in the
center of the village every day, and sit on a bench in the park. At times we
go to the coffeehouse. There we sip a drink made with garbanzo beans for
coffee and carob syrup for sugar, and talk of old times and the changes in
Greece since the occupation. Amazingly enough, this Greek coffee concoction
is not too bad, and the syrup they use gives it a flavor that I like. Christo told me a great deal about
what is happening in Athens. The people don’t take the occupation lying down.
Resistance is very strong. The [38]
EAM has done an excellent job, as it has in every other Greek city, and the
organization of Athens is the best. Politically, Athens is now divided into
two sections: the middle part of the city, where German control is strong:
and the outskirts, where EAM is supreme. In order to enter any of the suburbs
of Athens, the Germans have to go in force. In many cases they encircle the
place at night and then enter slowly for searches, arrests, and executions. EAM is organized in every section of
Athens, just as in the villages of free Greece. The Reserve ELAS of each
district is responsible for the security of that district. Recently, an
organization parallel to the ELAS has been formed in Athens: the OPLA. This
is an ultra-secret group, organized for the purpose of protecting the
resistance fighters. It uses all methods to achieve its purposes, from
persuasion to extermination. OPLA was first organized for the purpose of
protecting those fighters who took active part in the effort of disseminating
the news through loud speakers around the city, and also those writing
slogans on walls. Of late, though, the activities of the quislings have
increased to such a great extent that OPLA has turned actively against them. Christo described to me some of the
demonstrations of EAM in Athens, which defied the enemy and brought glory to
the Greek people, and great credit to the EAM. Great demonstrations took
place on the occasion of the Bulgarian occupation of the northern provinces
of Greece. And when the Germans, with the cooperation of the quisling
government, were talking about mobilizing the Greek youth in order to send
them to fight against the Russians and the western Allies, again EAM called a
great demonstration. The result showed the Germans where the Greek people
stood, and thus thwarted their plans. If for nothing else, the Greek people
will be always grateful for this type of leadership from the EAM which has
saved them from great grief and national humiliation. On issues that have moved the nation
during these terrible days of occupation only the EAM has shown leadership,
and for this the people of Greece will be grateful in years to come. The
reason why the old politicians and the army officer casts are discredited
today in the eyes of the Greek people is that they have refused to act in
these times of crisis. The EAM of Athens has never lost an opportunity to
defy the enemy. Every national holiday has been celebrated in defiance of
German or Italian orders. These demonstrations have brought untold suffering
and cost many human lives, but they have brought pride to the people and have
solidified their will to resist. After all, the question is still resistance
or collaboration, and the Greek people long ago chose the former. It is some
of their former leaders who have chosen collaboration or inactivity, but such
leaders won’t be able to exist in the future, at least as indicated at the
present time. [39] Christo told me the story of two
girls which he witnessed with his own eyes. The youth movement of the Gyzi district was demonstrating someplace when German
tanks moved in. One girl was at the head of the demonstration carrying the
Greek flag. The Germans ordered her to put the flag down and, when she
refused, they ran the tank over her. A girlfriend, seeing what was happening,
mounted the tank and hit the German driver over the head. She was killed with
automatic rifle fire. Next day, the EPON youth movement stole the two corpses
from the morgue and took them to the church of the neighborhood where the
scared priest was prevailed upon by force to officiate. “It was the most
beautiful funeral I’ve ever seen,” Christo said, “where these thousands of
people came from all of a sudden ... and the flowers ... it was beautiful and
touching. Then the long line walked to the cemetery, and the Germans did not
realize what was happening.” May 28, 1944 PEEA Vice-Premier Bakirdjis
made an important speech yesterday at the last session of the National
Council. Among other things, he said that the minimum demands of the PEEA, in
order to agree to participate in the new Greek government, are as follows:
(1) King George should not return to Greece before a plebiscite takes place;
(2) EAM and the Communist party should be represented in the government in
proportion to their strengths; and (3) the ELAS army should be strengthened
and its character as a people’s army retained. In all the speeches yesterday one
could detect an undercurrent of suspicion at the clever maneuvering by the
Greek politicians and the British in Cairo to defeat EAM. Some
representatives, like Karasevdas, former Liberal
party deputy of the 1936 parliament, openly accused Churchill of meddling in
Greek affairs. The vice-president of the council, Ioakim,
Bishop of Kozani, spoke of “bad friends of Greece”
and “Greek refugee politicians” who are fighting from abroad against the
social revolution which is taking place in Greece today. May 28, 1944 During my first meeting with the EAM
chiefs, John Ioannides was designated as the man I
would work with if anything went wrong or if I needed anything of importance.
As I have found out since, Ioannides is the second
secretary of the Communist party, a very important position. The man
impressed me as the most intelligent of the three I have met so far. He is
short and stocky, and from what they say he suffers from TB. He is well [40] respected here, but does not seem
to be a man who can have many friends; he gives the impression of being a
ruthless man if need be. In any case I have to deal with him, and so far
things have gone well. I had more talks with him on the
possibility of organizing American intelligence groups around Greece, and he
accepts my general plan. I told him that I am submitting a report to my
superiors for the organization of twelve; or thirteen additional missions
around Greece, in order to cover the country well. I said that we would like
to use their people to gather intelligence, but in every case the main agent
would be a person appointed and trained by us; he could be an American of
Greek descent, a person recruited in Greece, or one recruited in Egypt, but
in every case a man sympathetic to the labor point of view. The main
intelligence we are interested in is military, but we also want economic and
some political information. We are not interested in organizing groups that
will work against the EAM, because American interests in Greece are not of
that type. They agreed to help us set up our
organization, with the understanding that they too will be able to use the
same facilities to collect information. What they seem to be interested in is
radio communications; I told them that I would refer this to my superiors,
but thought they wouldn’t object if there would not be interference with our
work. I also asked for preparation of mail routes, and for the possibility of
setting up groups in such faraway places as eastern Macedonia, Thrace and Peloponnesos. The meeting of the National Council
has been helpful in my work because the main EAM leaders have been gathered
here, and I have been able to meet a number of them and exchange ideas about
the best way of setting up intelligence groups in different regions. June 1, 1944 I am very happy to be in Greece at
this time. These are great days indeed, in spite of the misery that the
situation is causing. Something tells me that the Greek people are in flux,
and it is so interesting to watch them during this crucial time. It was very
difficult from abroad to get a real picture of what is happening here; even
the OSS does not have enough (or accurate enough) information to make one see
truth. Greece is very different from the
country I left nine years ago, and most of the changes have taken place
during the last three years of German, Italian, and Bulgarian occupation. My
trip through eastern and central Greece has convinced me that the information
we get in Cairo is not always right, and that impressions gained from talking
to people coming out of Greece are mostly wrong. The Greeks that go to Cairo are not
representative of the majority of [41]
the people here. Rather, they are representatives of a certain minority; they
are either former army officers or professional men who feel bitter about the
changes that have taken place among the majority of the population and mostly
among the lower classes. These changes do not favor the middle class or the
army caste. Against the latter a great part of the population feels a certain
bitterness because army officers did very little to take leadership against
the enemies of the country. The Communists are very strong in
Greece today because they have taken action and have shown ability in leading
the people in their struggle. A great part of the younger generation is
communist; and, amazingly enough, the most conservative element in the Greek
social structure, the peasant, has become communist to a certain degree. It
is not always the poor and the landless that support the antartes or the Communist
leadership today. In fact, the “trash” from among the very poor have gone
with the enemy, having been recruited into the Security Battalions and other
collaborationist groups. Most of the supporters of EAM in the
villages come from the average village family, which owns its own home and
possesses a certain amount of property. Of course, the Communists have
changed some of their ideas now about property and religion, and the
conservatism of the Greek peasant (which has always been strong as far as
these matters are concerned) is not affected. The EAM is not all communist, but is
far to the left of the old political parties of the country. These parties
seem to be totally dead, as far as most of the people that I have talked to
are concerned, along with the monarchy. June 2, 1944 For some time now my curiosity has
been aroused by five kids I see every time I pass by the guerrilla prison of Karpenissi. At the beginning I thought they might have
been living there with their parents, because obviously they could not be
prisoners themselves. The other day, however, one of the EAM leaders
mentioned the kids as “the urchins of Volos,” and said they had been used by
the Germans to spy on the antartes. The story was of interest and I was
determined to get the facts about it, so today I went up and spoke to the
kids themselves. They were playing some kind of a pebble game sitting on the
ground in front of the guard at the main entrance of the prison. “Synagonisti,”
I addressed the guard, “what are these little devils doing all the time near
the prison?” “We are prisoners of war,” the oldest
of the boys answered with great exuberance. [42] “Don’t talk before you are spoken to
you little bastard,” the guard commanded in a severe tone. Then turning to
me, he said “These urchins from Volos were used by the Germans to spy on the
guerrillas of the region, and they were caught and sent to us. Now we don’t
know what to do with them.” Then all the little kids started
talking together, and I had to organize the discussions to get their story.
They are regular street urchins like those one sees in the streets of Cairo,
who sleep, eat, and play in the streets, and who never seem to have had a
family. They are badly dressed and without shoes, but look rather well fed
and very happy. The oldest of them is twelve, the youngest eight, and the
rest in between. All of them are orphans of at least one parent, and one of
them has no parents at all. This is the story they told me. They are from the city of Volos, and
every day for most of the day they roamed the streets hungry and in search of
food. At times they would go to German army units, and once in a while they
would find things in the garbage can. One day a German took them aside and
made a proposition. He first gave them a piece of bread each, and then
promised more food when they came back. Meanwhile, he wanted them to go to a
village ten miles outside of Volos and find out if guerrillas were there. He
put them on the local train and told them to get off some place before they
reached their destination, and then to proceed on foot. When they completed
their investigation they were to come back and report to him. The rest of the story seems familiar.
The local EAM organization spotted them and questioned them until they came
out with the whole truth. Then, for some silly reasons, they sent them to Headquarters,
where they are still kept because there is nothing else to do with them. One
of the kids told me that originally he didn’t belong to the rest of the gang,
but the day of this happening he had had nothing to eat all day, and one of
his friends had suggested that he try the garbage can of the German unit.
Afterwards he was taken in and added to the gang. Now the kids look happy and seem
satisfied with their lot; at least they have enough to eat, and nobody
interferes with their play. They climb up and down the wall of the prison,
and they can go down to the village whenever they want. But food is a great
attraction for them, and they never leave the prison for any length of time. These little urchins are victims of circumstances
who were led by the force of hunger to attempt to perform a dastardly act
against their country, without their realizing the implications. In the end,
though, they have found a better living and are extremely happy playing with
the guards and singing guerrilla songs. This story also is an example of the
excellent control that the antartes [43]
exercise all around the country, with the exception of the main German bases.
The Germans, in their desperation to learn what was happening ten miles outside
of Volos, had to send a gang of urchins because there was no other recourse.
Even the local quislings by this time have learned their lesson and are not
willing to venture their necks for such undertakings. June 3, 1944 Mort’s silence is worrying me
terribly. What has happened to him? The only thing we have received from him
so far is a short message congratulating us on our arrival; nothing about my
talks with the EAM here, no instructions on how to proceed. I hope that
everything is all right and that Cairo will act soon, because we can act
quickly to set up a good organization. Even airdromes have been promised to
me by EAM. To bring in people by plane would be the best method that could be
used. I really hope that our people who come to Greece in the future will not
have to suffer the delays and hardships of our long trip in the
Mediterranean, or face the danger that we faced. Making three unsuccessful
trials to cross the Aegean was no fun, especially in that thirty-foot motor
boat with the bad engine, and with the sea full of mines and German patrols.
Those were excursions that I did not enjoy. That is why I feel that plane
service should be one of our main interests, and should be set up as soon as
possible. June 4, 1944 One impression that one gets by
talking to people from different parts of the country is that the Germans are
trying to keep hold of Greece with the help of the quisling Security
Battalions and with a wave of terror. Apparently the Germans do not have
strong forces here, or they are trying to take out part of what they have for
use on other fronts. If the antartes had enough arms, clothing, and food, they could
increase to many times their number, and it is not inconceivable that they
could make it so difficult for the Germans that they would either have to
withdraw or bring much stronger forces into Greece. In most sections we
passed through, additional antartes are not accepted for lack of arms and other
supplies. There are plenty of young men around
the country who want to join the guerrillas, but do not do so because of the
great hardships they would have to endure. These hardships are real and we
have witnessed them ourselves. Men at times have to fight barefoot, with
scant clothing and inadequate food. Whenever we have eaten with the antartes we
have gotten two meals a day, but they were such small meals that one was
perpetually [44] hungry. But
instead of complaining about food, the antartes all over are begging
for bullets because not one of them has enough. We met guerrillas having as
few as three cartridges in their belts. To Orestes, the famous Kapetanios (“chief”) who once saved ten American aviators
from the hands of the Germans, I made a present of fifty rounds of 9 MM ammo
the other day for his German pistol. Was he happy to get it! At the time he
had only ten rounds in his possession. June 6, 1944 The official ELAS headquarters
communiques show plenty of action lately between the antartes and the enemy. It is
centered mostly in the region of Thessaly but is also in Epirus and
Bulgarian-held Macedonia, and shows an unmistakable trend: harvest time is
approaching and the guerrilla leadership is trying to secure positions for
the battles to come. The antartes have decided to fight hard for the new harvest,
because food needs in this part of Greece are great. I was told
confidentially today that the guerrilla Kapetanios
of eastern central Greece, Soterios Begnis, left last night with instructions to take the
offensive in his sector. In addition to Begnis,
other EAM leaders, are moving secretly out of this district. This might point in the same
direction or might mean preparation for a change of Headquarters location,
which has to take place every so often in this fast-moving world of guerrilla
warfare. Or it might have even greater significance; the higher-ups I talked
to about it pretended to know nothing and quickly changed the subject, which
means that actually something is cooking! June 10,1944 What has amazed all of us since we
set foot on Greek soil is the amount of control that EAM exercises in every
part of the country. To a certain extent, one can say that EAM is the most
effective government of Greece today, and Greece at the present time has at
least four governments: the Germans, the quislings, the government-in-exile
and the EAM. The greater part of the country is ruled and controlled by EAM.
By control I don’t mean that the antartes are always in any certain region, or that the
Germans couldn’t get there if they tried. Rather, I mean that the Germans
would have to fight hard to get at the regions that EAM has under full
control, and that EAM exercises some kind of control even in places where
there are no active antartes. For instance, EAM collects taxes in
cities that are garrisoned by German troops, and even in German-controlled
territory, the old courts have [45]
been suspended and the so-called popular courts (laika dicastiria) work effectively. Also,
the EAM self-government (autodioikisis) has been established throughout the country
for small and large communities. These last two innovations are very popular
and have done a great deal to bring the people to the side of EAM. June 10, 1944 There is every indication that the
EAM is preparing to withdraw for the Lebanon Agreement if its minimum
demands, as defined in the PEEA declaration to the National Council, are not
met. Public opinion is being prepared by the leaders of the EAM for the
eventual break. The main spokesman of the Communist
party gave an interview in a special edition of its official organ yesterday,
in which he made the following points: the king is the center of the reaction
and is responsible for the revolt of the Greek forces in the Middle East;
Papandreou showed bad faith and, with his announced eight point program, is
trying to crush the will of the fighting nation; the Greek army of the Middle
East expresses the national will, which the Cairo Government is trying to
crush by thwarting democratic ends with the threat that the fighting nation
will continue to fight even without the Cairo Government. These are very bad signs. Just at
time when there was hope that the two sides of the fighting nation would get
together, things seem to have blown to pieces. Who knows what is going to
happen from now on? June 11, 1944 The organization of the EAM, wherever
we pass, is terrific. Every village has its own organization (meaning the EAM
setup of a number of organizations), and you need to have an EAM permit to
enter a village if you are a stranger. If you pass by and are doing work for
the organization, whether you are a guerrilla or a civilian the village EAM
will lodge you and feed you. They will also supply you with horses and a
liaison to the next village in case you need it. This is the way we have travelled
since we set foot in Evia. It is not for a few
travelers a day that things are organized so efficiently; whole companies or
battalions of guerrillas can come to a village and be taken care of by the
local organization in a few hours. Individual travelers eat at the homes
where they stay. Large groups get their food from the ETA, the supply arm of
the antartes,
which I will say more about later. When we had to cross waters, the EAM
organization commandeered motor boats for us and got us safely across,
although a couple of times we barely saved our skins. [46] It is due to the EAM organizational
efficiency that we are alive today; they have saved us from more than one
difficulty. Their intelligence is amazingly well organized. Information flows
constantly on the activities of the enemy in each separate district. What is
lacking is communication other than that delivered by foot or animal. But
faster communications are something of an impossibility for guerrilla
warfare, which is based on hit and run methods rather than organization and
heavy equipment. June 12, 1944 I have started expanding here in
spite of the uncertainties that the lack of instructions from Cairo has
caused me. I asked EAM to help me create mail routes so that I can collect
intelligence material from different parts of the country. The Evia route, which will connect us with the Cairo office,
has already started. The men that carry the mail to Evia
have a long and dangerous trip and payment is not too high for each
service—especially if one considers the real value of money. If we go on this
way, however, soon we shall nevertheless need money and I don’t know what
Cairo is going to do about it. Our expansion here has proceeded with the idea
that we are following our original plans, and that intelligence and time are
both important. The way Cairo acts, though, one begins to doubt, the
importance of either. The EAM has given me certain
authorization to get some classified material, but I have stuck my nose
deeper and have been getting perhaps more than I should. That is how I was in
a position today to send a report to Cairo on a Gestapo agent who was
simultaneously working for the British, and also a detailed report on the
military situation in the district covered by the XIII Guerrilla Division. June 14, 1944 For some reason or other, there seems
to be great agitation among German and quisling forces in the region of
Thessaly and central Greece, as reports reaching me here indicate. Members of
the Security Battalions are reportedly moving their families from small
centers to larger ones, such as Larissa and Athens. In a number of guard
posts along the railroad line, the Germans are being replaced by Security
Battalion men and gendarmes. Large German convoys are moving from various
cities, and in others they are preparing their baggage. In certain cases
reports are conflicting, and I don’t know what to make out. If all these reports are true, then
we are on the eve of a German withdrawal from Greece; however, the commotion
might be only local, and [47]
might mean only preparation for attacks against the guerrillas. If the latter
is true we must get ready for the fireworks. June 15, 1944 In different sections of the country,
there is some difference in the reactions of the people towards EAM and the antartes. In Evia there is much enthusiasm for antartes in general, and one
can detect it by the willingness of the people to accept one in their homes
and give one their animals to carry equipment. However, as one proceeds to
the mainland the willingness to help lessens considerably, and the nearer one
gets to the mountains of central Greece the less help he gets. I have tried
to understand this phenomenon, and by asking innumerable questions of all
kinds of people I have come to conclusions with which most people agree. This section of the country has had
the main burden of the guerrilla movement for the last two and half years;
the antartes
first appeared in this mountainous region of central Greece, and they have
been here ever since. It is the poorest section of the whole country, and the
burden is felt strongly. The people are less educated, and thus they are less
affected by patriotic ideas with a social tint. In addition, the Germans have
seen to it that the difficulties of the population are increased by cutting this
section of the country off from any help from the International Red Cross.
But there is another important factor which has affected the people
economically more severely than the people of other regions: the constant
struggle here against the enemy has cut down communication, and foodstuffs
are much more difficult to secure than in any other part of Greece. A final reason, which though
difficult to believe has strong foundations in fact, is that this region has
not felt the enemy in actual contact very much. The Germans and the Italians
were here but little. The Greek Security Battalions, which the people
generally hate more than they hate the Germans, have never been here, and the
villagers do not exactly realize what it means to have the enemy in their
villages. It seems to be generally true that sections that have suffered more
from the Germans and the Security Battalions are those that are supporting
the antartes
more. This is true in Evia; I was told many times
that Evia became much more pro-EAM after the
Security Battalions visited there. The same thing is true for many other
parts of Greece. June 16, 1944 Four Germans and one Moroccan were
executed today in Karpenissi. A Greek was also
executed at the same time for having killed his wife. The [48] Germans were prisoners of war,
but the antartes
do not spare lives, just as the Germans do not spare guerrilla lives if the
guerrillas fall into German hands. Pavlos, a young guerrila,
was a member of the execution squad and came to the house two hours after the
execution. He said that all the prisoners showed a great deal of courage.
They did not ask for mercy and they did not speak to the end. Only the
Moroccan called out “vive la Grece,” and who knows
why. One of the Germans, on the way to the execution said, “Hurrah, Germany,”
or something similar. In order to save on bullets they had
two antartes
aiming at each prisoner, and after the first volley a guerrilla went to each
one separately and put a bullet into his head. Before executing the Greek
prisoner, the verdict of the jury that tried him was read. I asked Pavlos if they read a verdict to the Germans, too. He
looked at me as though I were a fool. “What verdict could we read?” he asked.
“We execute them so that they won’t eat our food.” At times like this the reality of war
comes closer to me. I cannot help but feel sorry for these German prisoners
of war, but neither can I help but sympathize with the guerrillas. The
matter-of-fact attitude of Pavlos is a result of
tremendous experience, and his common sense has been acquired mostly during
the last three of his twenty-two years of life. He has suffered and seen much
during these three years as a guerrilla. It has hardened him but has not
taken away from him his sense of values. Four more German prisoners meant for
him four less portions of bread for his unit, and four portions of bread
during famine is an extremely important amount. Pavlos is not inhuman, and he isn’t a crook
either; he is just a hard- boiled guerrilla whose military life started at eighteen
when Greece had no more than fifty guerrillas, and he has suffered
unimaginable hardships during this period. At present he has been assigned to
us, and he carries out his duties with diligence and good spirit. His great
ambition in life is neither to become a policeman nor to get a comfortable
government job: like most people from his village he wants to go to America
and open a restaurant. June 17, 1944 Gianni wants to return to Cairo and I
am glad to send him, for two reasons: first, we don’t get along too well and
he is no help to me here; and second, and more important, he will be able to
communicate with Mort personally and tell him how bad I feel about the way
things have developed with the Pericles Mission. I feel that there must be
something wrong somewhere—I came here on a supposedly important mission, and
more than a month has passed and nothing has happened. Mort has disappeared [49] from the horizon and nobody tells
me what has happened to him. The only thing I can detect, reading through the
short lines of the cables, is that he is alive somewhere. Since we came here, I have tried to
do my best and have worked with whatever came my way. However, my main job
was not to act as an agent, but rather to come to some kind of an agreement with
EAM about settling up intelligence groups in Greece and to organize a good
network with their help and cooperation. The people here have accepted us
very well, and are trying to help us in every way possible. But I find myself
cooling my heels in a way. We don’t sit doing nothing around here, and I hope
Cairo can realize that from the amount of material I’ve already sent them by
cable and courier. But I feel that I am not doing what I came here for, which
is much more important. The EAM here has opened many doors to
us, and I have no illusions about why they do so: they want to disprove
British claims and reports. But if EAM begins to think that this mission is
not what we have said it is, they could stop showing interest and might stop
helping us altogether. They must have expected that by one month after our
first meeting there would be an answer about the things we discussed. Just
now I don’t know where I stand, and I am very upset about it. Gianni can tell
Mort about my apprehensions and give him a good picture of what is happening
here. If we are still interested in
creating a good intelligence system, we have our chance and are missing it.
With the cooperation of EAM we can create one that even the British will
envy; EAM is the real power in Greece and can do almost anything it wants to
collect intelligence. The British are trying to work altogether independently
of EAM, but if they are interested in military information against the enemy
and accurate information at that, they are making a mistake. Of course the
British have other designs that we don’t. But a system of cooperation with the
EAM is to our advantage: cooperation, in which we would supply our superior
communication systems, technical knowledge, and money whenever it were
needed. This would give us a beautiful information network throughout the
country. June 19, 1944 Minor battles are reported from the
plain of Thessaly, where guerrillas are helping the farmers harvest and
secure their wheat. These are part of the “Battle of the Harvest,” as it is
called here. One such battle has been in progress since yesterday between Makrakomi and Sperhias, about
thirty miles from here. These two towns have been changing hands constantly
during the last two years. They are situated at the end of the plain where
the mountains begin, and it is difficult for either adversary to keep them
for long. [50] Both towns have been totally
destroyed by the Germans, as every time they enter them they use artillery to
get the guerrillas out. Makrakomi especially has had
a tough history; they tell me that it has changed hands ten times so far, and
for that reason it is called “Stalingrad.” During this period of the “Battle
of the Harvest” the Germans are particularly anxious to hold such key
positions as Makrakomi and Sperhias
because the antartes
use them as stepping stones for their nightly operations on the plain. The
guerrillas also sometimes harvest at night and help the farmers carry the
wheat to secure places, where it will eventually be threshed away from German
control. June 21, 1944 A very welcome cable arrived from
Cairo today. It is from Lakes of the OSS, and after such a long silence.
“CABLE AND MAIL MATERIAL EXCELLENT,” it said, “KEEP SENDING AS MUCH AS
POSSIBLE OF BOTH.” That is good news, and sets me right again! From what he
says it sounds as if our original plans will materialize. He has even asked
for our promotion, and is taking care of our personal matters. June 22, 1944 Today a very important cable came
from Cairo. They want me to investigate the possibility that some kind of a
radio bomb, of which they give a long description, might exist in Greece. It
seems as if I will have to create one or more groups to look after this
matter because they do not want me to undertake the job personally. The cable
says that I must stay where I am, which shows me that Cairo attaches at least
some importance to this mission and the work I have done so far. June 27, 1944 We have moved to a new location, a
group of small villages known by the collective name of Petrilia.
This is a very inaccessible region in the center of the Pindus mountain
range. Apparently this region was selected for the greater security it
affords. There is no road at all and it takes about two days on foot to reach
the plain of Thessaly. We reached here last night after a tiresome journey of
four days. The trip was breathtaking. We climbed
high mountain peaks, went through long gorges, and crossed mountain streams.
The latter had no bridges and had to be crossed by either stripping to the
waist or climbing on the back of a mule. We used five mules to carry our
stuff, or rather four [51] mules
as carriers and one riding. This last one we had to divide between the three
of us. Barba Costas, who is the oldest and in rather bad shape on account of
his five years in prison, rode most of the time. This section is terribly poor, and
people live in a primitive manner; houses are small huts and have only one
room, and at times animals quartered in the house itself. How sorry I have
been that we left our sleeping bags at Karpenissi!
If we had them we could sleep outdoors and avoid the discomfort of such bad
housing. The first night of the trip, instead
of sleeping inside a room with the rest of a large village family, I slept on
a balcony under which, to my consternation, I found a pig quartered. Most of
the night I was kept awake by the noises the pig made. The second night the house we slept
in was also a one-room, with no bath or toilet. Things were much worse,
though. I slept on the top of a large and narrow chest with a goat tied to
its side. In addition to me and the goat, the occupants of the room were a
snoring farmer and an Italian prisoner of war, who is used as a laborer by
the farmer. Of course, in such de luxe sleeping
quarters nobody takes off his clothes. The third night was the worst of all
although things looked promising in the beginning. The house was much better
than anyone we had been in during the last few days, and we had great hopes.
Besides, we had a room to ourselves! But we were destined not to sleep
again, because a real enemy attacked us, an enemy both dirty and vicious, who
finally drove us out of the house in the middle of the night: bedbugs! They
attack in swarms, and the worst thing to do is to counterattack. That is when
the tragedy comes; you kill your enemy but that proves to be your undoing
because every killed enemy stinks to high heaven. There comes a time when you
can stand it no longer: you give up and go outside, leaving the enemy
conqueror of the field with some of your own blood strewn around. That is
what happened to us two nights ago. We took our blankets and tried to sleep
outside in the cold mountain air. I am afraid that in addition to
everything else we have gotten lice again. There is nothing that scares me
more than lice. We made first contact with this enemy on the way to Karpenissi, and had such a difficult time getting rid of
them. Now, something tells me we have got them again, and there is much less
chance of getting rid of them now, because the conveniences for clearing
oneself here are nil. It does not seem that things have
improved with our arrival in this village. Last night we were terribly tired,
and sleeping in these houses reminded us of the first night we landed in Evia, when we slept in the stable of a donkey. We were
itching all night, a signal that points to the presence [52] of enemy number three; not as bad as lice and bedbugs, mind
you, but one that bothers one all the time, be it day or night: fleas! Of course nobody expects a bathtub here.
People bath in creeks during the hot months of the summer, but water is still
very cold in this region. The only way to wash is to take some hot water into
the stable, probably to get more dirt and acquire more fleas. June 28, 1944 Signs of civil war are hanging in the
air. The atmosphere in this place is very heavy. In the first place, the
breakdown of the Middle East talks does not make anybody happy. EAM, it
seems, was after some kind of an agreement that would have guaranteed the
resistance movement certain prerogatives, but apparently the other side did
not want to give in at all. The British are backing the government-in-exile
and the old party politicians that are siding with it. In addition to
everything else, the revolt of the armed forces in the Middle East has not
helped EAM at all; it is blamed on EAM instigation and has been used in the
talks as a strong argument against the resistance movement. According to Porfyrogenis,
who was one of the EAM delegates to the conference and who returned
yesterday, the psychological pressure exerted on the EAM delegation was
terrific. Coming from the clean and heroic atmosphere of the Greek mountains,
the EAM delegates found themselves all of a sudden in hostile surroundings.
The other conferees looked at them and treated them not as leaders of a great
movement but as guilty persons who were expected to give an account of
themselves. During the first few days they were even confined by the British,
and could not exchange ideas with the other conferees outside of the
conference. Even among themselves they were separated, the communists being
quartered apart from the more moderate elements of the EAM delegation. This is how Porfyrogenis
explains the concessions that they had to make, deviating from the original
instructions they had received when they left. Porfyrogenis
was called here for consultations, but at the present time there seems little
likelihood that the position of EAM will change. I was told confidentially
that the plan is to recall the rest of the delegation from Cairo and leave
the next move to the government-in-exile. June 28, 1944 News of the last few days of the
fratricidal struggle among Greeks is getting more alarming. The Security
Battalions and the Germans are reported to have intensified their activities
all over the country, but mostly [53]
inside Athens. These same forces, and especially Security Battalions, were
subdued about a month ago when the agreement was reported from the Lebanon
Conference. But they have become lively again and large scale persecutions
are reported especially in the suburbs of Athens, where the enemy and the
quislings are carrying out a program of extermination against EAM members.
During the last few days attacks against ELAS by Zervas’
forces in the region north of Preveza have been
reported. The whole mess is viewed here be EAM
leaders as part of a master plan put in operation to force EAM to accept the
Cairo views on the question of Greek unity. They also claim privately that
there is close cooperation between the quisling setup of Athens, British
intelligence, Zervas, the Security Battalions and
the Papandreou government. I am informed that EAM protested Zervas’ attacks to the Greek government-in-exile, holding
Papandreou responsible for Zervas’ breaking of past
agreement regarding military positions. The protest was made on the grounds
that, by Zervas’ own admission, he has placed
himself under the orders of the Cairo government. June 29, 1944 A critical situation has developed in
many sections of the country. In Evia it is
reported that three and a half thousand German and quisling troops have
invaded the island, and ELAS of Evia has cabled
headquarters that is it unable to cope with the situation for lack of
ammunition. They ask for ammunition but headquarters is unable to meet the
request. More news has come of the battle of
central Greece that occurred last week. The enemy attacked in force and was
supplied with artillery and armored cars. They clashed with the guerrillas
but could not be stopped. The towns of Sperhias and
Ypati were destroyed; in Makrakomi
there was nothing left to destroy. The saddest news, though, comes from a
small town further south, near the gulf of Corinth: in Distomon,
German and Moroccan troops massacred more than five thousand civilians. More
details on this dastardly crime are lacking at the present time. Athens again
reports continuous German and quisling attacks against almost all of the
suburbs of the city. Great terror reigns there, and the population is in a desperate
situation. All these activities of the enemy
must have some kind of explanation: perhaps the Germans are planning for
their eventual withdrawal and are trying to exhaust the Greek people and the
resistance movement, so that they will not be able to inflict great damage on
the occupation forces when they try to leave the country. ELAS is hitting the
Germans daily all over the country, but it is badly handicapped for lack of
heavy weapons and [54] sufficient
ammunition. July 2, 1944 An answer was given me today by the
Central Committee of the EAM to the questions that the Cairo office asked ten
days ago regarding the Noah’s Ark project. The Cairo cable seemed difficult
to understand when it first came, but as the days passed its meaning and
importance became more apparent. The OSS seems to have been disturbed by the
breakdown of the Greek unity talks, and wants to get direct and firsthand
information on the reactions of EAM towards the project[.] The Noah’s Ark project was agreed
upon some time ago by the ELAS, the British and the OSS. Basically, I think
it is a British idea to which the others subscribed. ELAS didn’t seem
enthusiastic about the project because they consider it something of a ruse
on the part of the British to immobilize their forces. But they were willing
to go ahead with it so that they wouldn’t be considered as working against
the military plans of Middle East headquarters, of which they claim to be a
part. EAM brought me a long written answer,
which goes far beyond the subject matter of the questions. It declares that
“in the most categorical and responsible manner, ELAS is part of the Allied
armed forces ... and is following faithfully the orders of Allied Middle East
headquarters.” Ordinarily such declaration wouldn’t be necessary, but owing
to the breakdown of the negotiations it is probably very important. It then
goes on to say that the necessary forces to carry out the Noah’s Ark project
have been set aside and in a way complains that these forces have been kept
immobilized “while they could have been used in operations.” They also
declare that they “will cooperate and execute faithfully all military orders
of the Allies.” To the question about a leader of a
national army that would be acceptable to ELAS, the answer is that the ELAS
will sacrifice its own leaders and will accept General Othoneos,
“whose past gives assurance that the national army will be used only to fight
fascism on the side of Allies and will not become an organ of fascist and
anti-democratic aims.” The above are more or less direct answers to the
questions posed by Cairo. However EAM found opportunity to include in its
answer a number of complaints that highlight the differences separating EAM
and the British. Continuing, here is a long quotation
from the answer: “The Allies must count on the maximum that an army like ELAS
can give with its great fighting power and its offensive spirit. The only
drawback of ELAS today is that it lacks its own supplies and must depend
entirely for arms and ammunition on what can be gotten from the enemy. EAM
expresses [55] amazement and asks
why the Allies at the present critical moment do not supply and use ELAS in
more active war operations, much more so since ELAS can mobilize its reserves
instantly and thus double its numbers and fighting, power. Assurance is given
once more that ELAS is a democratic army, whose purpose is to fight the
fascist invaders. Any other opinion about ELAS is outside reality.” If these assurances on the part of
EAM are accepted by the OSS, and I hope they will be, then soon we shall have
a number of American commandos in Greece working together with ELAS and the
British in harassing the enemy. July 4, 1944 I cabled Lakes today to send an
assistant. I am asking him not to send him by sea route, because it is long
and very dangerous at present on account of enemy activities in Evia. If he sends him with a radio set as I have
requested, then EAM will lend us a radio operator and can set him up
somewhere in Thessaly, where he can watch German movements and be very
helpful to military intelligence. The arrest of Nassos,
who was supposed to come, worries me no end. Lakes says that he was arrested
by the British and that the charges are serious. What I suspect is that he
must have taken some part in the recent Greek armed forces revolt in the
Middle East. I am asking for certain supplies of
food and equipment in case they decide to parachute, which could be dropped
at the same time with no extra cost or extra work. July 4, 1944 The press in free Greece is well organized
and is as important as that of any well organized
society. I would not have imagined that in these mountainous sections we
would have found daily papers, bi-weeklies, weeklies, and monthlies, but that
is actually the case. These people realize the importance of the written
word. Lately, I understand they have been trying to organize a radio station
to broadcast shortwave news abroad. There are presses scattered all around
the village of the section. The Communists print most of the papers, but the
Socialists and the other minor parties of EAM as well as the EAM itself have
their own organs. The EAM bi-weekly paper is called “Free Greece,” and uncle
Nick is its editor in chief. As with Greeks everywhere, be it in a
village, in an Athenian coffeehouse, or on New York’s 42nd Street, politics
and news in general are the main topics of the day. Wherever there is a radio
set and a battery (there is no electricity), you see people congregate in the
room with the radio and in [56]
the court-yard outside hear the news from London, or the Voice of America if
they can get it. The greatest means of communication
in this region, though, is not the radio or newspapers, but a method that
need and inventiveness have developed. It is called the honi, which means “funnel.” It
is made out of tin in the shape of a big funnel, and reminds me of old-time
megaphone contraptions for phonographs. Every day at designated hours in the
morning and in the evening, but mostly in the evening, in free Greece and
occupied Greece, young men representing the EAM get up on platforms and call
the people with their honis.
“The EAM of (the name of the village or town) is talking to you. This is the
latest news from our Allies ... Yesterday at Stalingrad the Germans suffered
their greatest defeat of this war ... a thousand American planes raided
German targets with telling results ...” Then the local news follows. “Our
heroic ELAS gives the following report of operations. The important bridge of
... was destroyed by the guerrillas of Thessaly ... 10 miles of railroad were
made inoperative in the region of western Macedonia, where German mop-up
operations are reported in progress ..., etc.” In Athens, and in the rest of
occupied Greece in general, these propaganda operations are extremely dangerous,
but they are carried out just the same because “the news must reach the
people,” as a resistance fighter put it. To protect their people the EAM of
the occupied sections uses the following method. A young man with a honi gets to
the top of a building at night while a fairly large group of armed men
surrounds the district, covering a number of blocks where the megaphone voice
can be heard. Any move by the enemy or the police is reported by special
signal, and then the propaganda worker tries to escape. Fighting is avoided
if possible, but the guards below give battle if things get tough. Many of
these propaganda workers and their pals get killed but “the news must reach
the people.” July 5, 1944 Zervas answered the EAM protest by cable,
saying that he started the offensive to obtain the region of Preveza under orders from British Middle East
Headquarters. EAM is very much disturbed about the whole situation. They are
especially resentful of the British, who, they say, do not trust EAM and
prefer to deal with a paid mercenary of Zervas.
What prevents EAM from fighting Zervas at this time
is probably the feeling that the Germans will pull out of Greece soon. Also,
it is possible that the German forces in Epirus would help Zervas against the ELAS, as happened in last year’s
operations; now the cooperation between Zervas and
the Germans, according to EAM sources, is much closer than before. Secret EAM
reports [57] that I have seen give
plenty of evidence of cooperation between the EDES organization and the Germans,
particularly in the regions of Thessaly, Epirus, and Athens. Col. Chris, chief of the British
Mission in Greece, is very much disliked here and his rumored recall has
gladdened many of the guerrilla leaders. On a number of occasions in the past
EAM has asked for his recall. EAM leaders feel that Chris is partial to Zervas, and from what I am told, they have certain
documents in their hands to prove that these two men are very close, both in
their official as well as in their personal relations. July 5, 1944 The general policies of the EAM, and
of the Communist party in particular, are very interesting, and a careful
study of them might give insight into future trends of this dynamic Greek
political movement. Of what I can see so far, EAM does not follow a “class”
policy. The Communist party, which is the strongest group in the leadership
of EAM, does not even follow a socialist policy at the present time. In fact
there are elements within EAM that belong to middle of the road groups that
are asking for more radical reforms than the communists are willing to
accept. An example of this is the demand that the Liberals of the left made
to the National Council asking for the passage of a resolution favoring the
separation of church and state. The Communist party came out against and
defeated the resolution, claiming this to be a basic reform which will have
to be settled by the national assembly which will be called after liberation. Another example of this type of
communist policy I learned from a reliable source this morning. The chief of
the Politburo of the Communist party, my informant said, went to the meeting
of the PEEA government yesterday and asked the ministers not to make radical
reforms. At the same time I know for a fact that the members of the Communist
party have been instructed that the Party does not follow “dynamic
solutions.” The KKE wants to be accepted as a lawful party in the postwar
period, and will work through constitutional means to gain a place in the
political life of the nation. On the subject of the Allies, the order given
from above to Communist party members is “not to make any distinction among
them” (meaning not to show any preference for the Russians). All these things I learned from my
contact with the guerrillas and scores of other people every day. These
people talk very freely with me because they think I am one of them, and in
my innocence in asking some of the questions they most probably think that I
am simply not up to date. On the question of the policy of
non-discrimination among the great powers, I heard an excellent example as we
were coming from Evia to [58] Karpenissi. Somewhere on the route
and in a rather minor post we met Plato, a former worker and a Communist
party member of long standing. Plato seemed to me a terrifically able man,
the most able that we had met until then in our two weeks in Greece. I
therefore expressed my amazement to the people I met afterwards, telling them
that such an able man should be transferred to a place where he could use his
abilities. Since then I have learned that Plato is well known in the
resistance movement and that in the past he was with Headquarters. His
transfer to that minor post was by order of the chief of the Communist party,
because of anti-British sentiments that reached the ears of members of the
British mission here. This attitude of the Communists is
one that I did not expect. When I was on my way to Greece I thought (and was
led to believe) that the Communists were taking advantage of every little
detail to further their doctrines and solidify their socialist beliefs. That
is why this new attitude has impressed me. From what I understand, the attitude
of Tito in Yugoslavia is not the same as that of the Greek Communists; his
theories and present practices are much more radical. This opinion of Tito
has been gained through secret documents I read while in Cairo. I had opportunity to verify my
opinion three weeks ago when we met an Albanian partisan who was heading for
of the Greek guerrilla hospitals to have X-rays taken of a bullet lodged in
his body. (There are no X-ray facilities in Albania at this time.) In talking
with him for two hours I learned a great deal about the Albanian partisans.
Firstly, I found out that the Albanian guerrillas have a strong attachment to
Tito, and that they believe in the same ideas and ideals. Secondly, I saw that he spoke and
acted much differently than the Greek guerrillas. On his cap he wore a large
red star, something you never see on Greek guerrillas. His salute was the
clenched fist together with the phrase, “Death to Fascism.” (Greek guerrillas
salute you with, “Hello fellow combatant”.) This man spoke openly for the
Sovietizing of the Balkan Peninsula, a thing that I have never heard from
Greek resistance fighters. In general, the Greek Communists seem very tame in
their political beliefs in comparison to this Tito-Albanian product. ELAS Headquarters, which is ruled by
old-time officers of the regular Greek army, seems to keep good relations
with the Communist party and I am impressed that the Communist chiefs try to
interfere as little as possible with the ELAS. For example, Ioannides, chief of the Communist party Politburo, is
very reluctant to ask favors from the army chiefs, and he is very careful not
to create the impression that he is trying to influence army Headquarters.
However, although decisions as to military action in general are made by the
military, George Siantos, chief of the Communist
party, is [59] always consulted as
to the advisability of such action from a political point of view. July 6, 1944 EAM intelligence reports from Athens,
which are usually full of juicy news on the quislings, lately talk of a
crisis in the Athens government. For some reason or other, the German bosses
seem to be dissatisfied with present Premier John Rallis, and the only thing
that has so far prevented his downfall is the disagreement about his
successor. Names of greater quislings are being mentioned for the job. There
are some names that appear in this connection that I have never heard before:
a certain Tsironikos, a man named Boulas, and a general Kavrakos.
All of them are great patriots, no doubt! The irony is that they really do
pose as patriots. EAM of Athens has an amazing
intelligence organization which reaches within the quisling government
departments and the police, and at times gives verbatim conversations among
the quislings in its reports. Of course all collaboration is being justified
as part of the anti-communist campaign, but behind it all there is greed,
envy, malice, and low ambition. Rallis, for example, never was able to show
his “greatness” and his abilities in his more than forty years as a
politician, so he accepted the job of premier under the Germans. The time is
soon approaching, however, when all this scum will pay dearly for the harm
they are causing. July 6, 1944 A moderate and trustworthy EAM leader
with whom I communicate often told me that, after the last meeting between Svolos and Papandreou in Cairo, there is optimism developing
here that the EAM proposals will be accepted. If these proposals are not
accepted he foresees a great deal of trouble and the following developments:
the EAM delegation will be recalled from Cairo; there will be changes within
the PEEA government at the expense of the moderates, whose policies would be
interpreted as having failed; and there will be some kind of break with the
British. High officials of EAM told me that
Foreign Minister Eden of Great Britain lied in the recent declaration that ELAS
is receiving help in arms. They said that ELAS has not been supplied with
arms for many months, and that other supplies received during the period have
been insignificantly small. [60] July 7, 1944 The Germans have started mop-up
operations against the antartes
in Western Macedonia. The enemy is reported moving in three directions, and
is aiming at the forces of the 9th ELAS division. Apparently this operation
is a large one, because guerrilla leaders are very alarmed about it. There is nothing more terrible than a
German mop-up operation. In this case the local population suffers more than
the antartes.
Passing through the different villages, the enemy is killing people, looting
homes and destroying property. When the villagers hear that the enemy is coming
in force, they desert the village altogether and go to the hills. At times,
the people dig big holes in the ground and hide their most valuable property,
and where there is time, trunks, clothing and kitchen utensils as well.
However, the enemy is thorough and often finds even these holes in the
ground. If the enemy knows that guerrillas
have been in a certain village, then severe punishment follows. The village
is destroyed in part or as a whole; some people are executed and others taken
prisoner. I have seen destruction of this type all over Greece. Many people
are living in small rooms or in huts dug out of the ground because their
homes have been destroyed in this manner. In the town of Karpenissi
only the center of the city was destroyed when the Germans passed through
some time ago; the outlying sections were left more or less intact. Another
village ten miles away was totally destroyed. In Karpenissi
they destroyed the high school too, a large and beautiful building that was
demolished because they found a Greek flag with the words “Liberty or Death”
on it. It is the destruction and executions
that the Germans are carrying out that the quislings use to justify their
philosophy of collaboration. They tell the people, “Lie low. Do not help the antartes, and
be friendly with the Germans; that way you will be spared these difficulties
that make your existence problematical.” This is a powerful and practical
philosophy because it is not easy for every person to fight against such
terrific odds, and to see his people butchered and his home destroyed. But
people are willing to fight against such terrific odds! Once enthusiasm and
idealism in the cause of freedom is instilled in people, they react
magnificently and can take anything that comes to them, regardless of how
severe the blow. I met people in free Greece who told
me with pride, and a certain satisfaction, of ones close to them who had been
killed in the struggle.” And storekeepers in the town of Karpenissi
were not resentful that their property had been destroyed: “We shall create
property anew,” a merchant told me one day, “but the country must take active
part against the enemy. This is more important.” Such is the spirit of free
souls, and it has been [61]
created by the guerrillas. This spirit is opposite to one prevailing among
the quislings in Athens and in other parts of Greece. Their spirit is
defeatist—the spirit of slaves, through which nations come to their doom. July 10,1944 The ELAS is an amazing army—it moves
around without any supplies! There are no more supplies than what each man
carries for himself, and each man carries very little: his rifle, a couple of
belts of cartridges worn across his chest, an overcoat and sometimes a small
bag for food and incidentals. Besides carrying no supplies, the antartes move
around without money either. I tried to cash a gold sovereign at the
regimental Headquarters in Evvia one day, but no
money was to be found. The problem of shaving, which is a
great one for the average U.S. soldier, has been solved by the guerrillas
simply by not shaving at all. I think it is a pretty good solution,
especially when I think back to the morning after bivouacking on a cold night
in North Carolina. We were ordered to shave in the dark and three minutes
later we were called into formation—and all of us were supposed to have had
time to shave! In a certain section where guerrillas
concentrate, the men at times leave their dirty clothing to be washed in a
village, and get clean ones that have been left by other guerrillas. In other
places, especially in central Greece, we found guerrillas who had not changed
underclothes for months at a time. To take care of guerrilla supplies
the ETA, an offshot EAM organization, takes care of
simple needs as they arise in each village. Homes and food are provided by
the local EAM for as long as a guerrilla unit stays within the village. The
ETA also taxes the people and sends provisions to other villages where
guerrilla units are quartered. Discipline is excellent among the antartes. For
the first time in the history of the Greek army, discipline is a matter of
conscience. When the guerrillas go to a village they do not ask for or steal
anything—even fruits from the trees are not touched. There is no woman
problem in this army either: rape and stealing are punished by death. But
there is very little occasion for such punishment because the antartes feel
that everything has to be endured for the sake of the great struggle. There
is an amazing willingness on the part of the younger guerrillas to do things,
as if there were a contest among themselves to excel. All this good behavior, of course, is
the result of teaching. Good results are achieved because of the excellent
organization of every unit, and also because of the volunteer nature of the army
and the high ideals that prevail. Each one who becomes a guerrilla knows
exactly why he has done so and is very serious in his undertaking.
Adventurers and loafers do not usually [62]
choose such a difficult life. At night we sit together with the antartes and
listen to their songs or to discussions of battles in which they have
participated. The type of fighting they mostly do is ambushing, and this
apparently is dreaded by the enemy. In addition to Germans there are
presently troops of other nationalities in Greece as well: Russian renegades,
and Italian, Hungarian and Rumanian Fascists. The guerrillas speak with
little respect for the enemy, although they admit that the Germans usually
put up a better fight than the rest. The antartes suffer light losses in
their ambushes, while they usually inflict severe losses on the enemy. A certain amount of fatalism is
evident in the action and thoughts of the antartes as well as among the
Greek people in general at the present time. This shows in their almost total
lack of fear. I suppose that so much has happened so far to everyone that
each one thinks that nothing worse can happen. You see this fatalism in the
attitude of many persons some kind of inner pride when they relate that a
certain number of the family died fighting the enemy or the quislings. Only
women sometimes betray a kind of hysterical attitude and seem tired of the
whole thing. July 14, 1944 This village we live in is not one
fourth as good as Karpenissi, as far as living
conveniences and procurement of food are concerned. This section is something
like the backwoods of Kentucky, judging from the cartoons in Esquire. The
people here are very poor, but do little to better their situation; rather,
the women work hard, but the men sit on their backsides all day. The local
picture is exactly as if it were taken out of the Esquire! The men here smoke
pipes, too, when they have the tobacco. To be able to live in something
resembling human conditions, we had to take the upper half of a house and fix
it, putting floors and two separate rooms, and plastering and whitewashing
the inside. We also had wooden beds made for us, and a couple of tables,
because there are no such “luxuries” in this village. Before the EAM
headquarters moved here, only one person in the whole village of about one
hundred houses had a bed. Everybody sleeps on the floor and all in one
room—young, middle-aged and old. At the present time the work of fixing the
house is going on and we live in expectation of a little better life. Until a few days ago I was pondering
the idea of building a small wooden shack for ourselves. It would have been
clean and would have had the advantage of affording us privacy. However, I
decided against it for reasons of personal security; in addition to being new
and attracting attention, a thin wooden shack cannot offer any protection.
What finally [63] decided me
against it was the German attack that reportedly took place against Tito’s
headquarters lately. If parachutists fall in this section,
a house like the one we are in is well enough constructed to enable us to put
up a good fight at least. It is made of stone and the windows are small. The
thought of selling one’s skin dearly at least is comforting! As far as the
fleas are concerned, to some degree we seem to have solved the “bloodsucking”
problem. Now that we have wooden beds we use lots of naphthalene on the
blankets, and there must be something about its smell that fleas try to
avoid. The question now is to find plenty of naphthalene, and we have this
item high on the list of our prospective purchases. July 14, 1944 The intensification of warfare on the
part of the ELAS, according to reliable information, has a two-fold purpose:
to obtain arms and ammunition from the enemy, and to strengthen guerrilla
bonds with the people in order to offset any bad feeling that may have been
created by the break in the unity talks in Cairo. Guerrilla warfare has been
accelerated in every part of Greece. Ares Velouhiotis,
a guerrilla leader, has been in the Peloponessos
for the last two months, and his presence there has resulted in more action
by the local ELAS and many clashes with the Germans and local quisling
troops. The Germans, so far, have been
unsuccessful in obtaining the harvest of central Greece and Thessaly. The
enemy operations in western Macedonia seem to be part of a plan to secure
their shattered communications between Macedonia and Epirus. The Germans are
reported to have about 100,000 troops on the Greek mainland at the present
time but everything seems to be in flux, with extensive German troop
movements and the intensification of guerrilla warfare on the part of the
ELAS. July 14, 1944 A very dangerous situation has been
created with the break in the unity talks in Cairo. The strife between the
forces of the quisling government in Athens and those of the EAM will
eventually lead to civil war. Fighting among them has already begun to
intensify. Most of the old politicians of Greece seem to be morally
supporting the activities of the quisling government because they feel it
weakens the power of EAM and, consequently, the power of the Communists. The idea of the creation of the
Security Battalions can be laid on these fears of the old politicians, and
EAM says that the present premier of the [64] government-in-exile, George Papandreou, is to some extent
responsible. The aim of these troops, as it is proclaimed by their officers,
is to take over the government in the event of a German departure from
Greece. EAM, which is strong among the people and has a large armed force,
will not accept such a solution, however. It will fight back, and thus a long
civil war will result. The Germans know the real aim of the
quisling troops, but they favor the situation because the Greeks are being
kept divided and therefore weak. At the present time terrorist raids are
taking place daily against the various suburbs of Athens and Piraeus that are
strongholds of EAM, and many people are being killed and taken prisoner. But
the Central Committee of the EAM is not alarmed by these raids, claiming that
instead of weakening the will of the people they solidify resistance against
the enemy and the quislings. July 15, 1944 The problems of living accommodations
has been bothering me a great deal, especially since we came to Petrilia. Here we find ourselves in the peculiar position
of being literally lousy with gold but unable to use it for a decent living.
Carrying this gold around under the circumstances in which we are living is
very difficult. I am carrying about three hundred sovereigns in my belt, and
the damn thing is heavy. Even in sleep I have to have it on all the time
because no one knows what might happen from one minute to the next, and it
makes my sleep difficult. At times I ask myself what good all this gold is to
us since it has helped us little so far. There is not one store in the
villages of this section, or for any distance less than fifteen hours walk. For the last three weeks we have been
starving. The only thing we eat is boiled flour, which is supplied us by the
family in whose house we live. We offered to buy some flour with a gold
sovereign, but nobody in the village has enough to sell to cover the value.
Therefore we had to borrow it. Then three days ago I sent Barba Costa to the
village on the fringes of the Thessaly plain to buy provisions. This village
has been totally destroyed by the enemy but, because of its position, still
attracts a market every Saturday as in the old days. Barba Costa returned
this afternoon and brought a great deal with him. He had taken four mules and
ten gold sovereigns, and he had bought whatever he could: a small lamb, three
live chickens, butter, tomatoes, potatoes, cheese, eggplant, and other
vegetables. He bought soap of which we have had none for the last few days, and
he even bought a tin can with a faucet so that we will not have to pour water
on each other to wash anymore. We really seem wealthy in comparison
to what we had until now. [65]
However, everybody will talk about us from now on, and I am afraid of losing
our anonymity. Anticipating that difficulty I made up a story and told my men
to start spreading the rumor that I am a rich man’s son from Athens, who
sympathizes with the EAM movement and has come to the mountains to work for
it in its political section; that my father, who is a wealthy industrialist,
does not like my leftist ideas, but that he likes me well enough to supply me
with money so I can live well. In a way it is bad to spread the idea
that we are wealthy among the poor people we live with; however, that is much
better than having it known that we are Americans. The third alternative
would be to go on starving, but we decided that we had had enough of that. If
we had started spending money without giving any explanation for the benefit
of the public, curiosity would have made us a great object of attraction and
many myths would have been woven around us. This way not many questions are
asked. When anyone tries to prod them further my men say that they do not
know much more about me except that I am wealthy. I personally keep aloof from the
people and have few intimates, and therefore no one dares to ask me any
questions. In addition, work in the underground and with the guerrillas has
taught most people that it is not right to ask questions about people, and
that one can be punished for doing so. The only difficulty is that someone
might get the idea of robbing or killing me to get any money I might be
carrying. But that is pretty remote, too, because since the guerrillas have
come to the mountains they have put an end to robbery and all other criminal
acts. For precaution, however, I always carry my pistol, and when going from
village to village I take a guerilla as bodyguard. July 17, 1944 A large raid by ELAS has recently
taken place against the southwestern district of Central Greece called Xiromeron. Units of ELAS have entered a number of
enemy-held towns, including Amphilochia. An ELAS
report claims 250 enemy dead and 30 prisoners and the seizure of large
amounts of war material, among which there are 5,000 land mines taken at sea. July 18, 1944 Much nervousness is reported among
German troops in Athens and other parts of Greece. German officers have been
executed in Athens for expressing defeatist views. Peloponnesos
and other parts of Greece report extensive movements of enemy troops from the
islands to the mainland, and [66]
also movements of German garrisons on the mainland. German units in Athens
are reportedly being replaced by troops of other nationalities (mostly White Russians)
while more Greeks in German uniforms have been appearing in the streets
lately. ELAS of western Macedonia reported that three trainloads of German
soldiers who revolted have passed on the railroad line to Yugoslavia, and
that some of the soldiers were tied to each other. These are signs of
deterioration that some of the EAM leaders say are reminiscent of the period
just before the fall of Mussolini. The break in the Cairo talks is
leading Greece into a terrible abyss. There are two forces working hard
against each other. EAM on one side and on the other, most of the old
politicians, together with the hundred percent quislings and reactionaries.
It is really an unhealthy situation. Today Greek is killing Greek, and the
fight will intensify as time passes and turn to civil war when liberation
comes. This is the way I see things from here. At the present time all the forces of
reaction—special interests, old politicians, fascists, collaborators, and
some of the capital of the country—are uniting for the sole purpose of
beating EAM. All these people have either been inactive since the occupation
took place and thus let the initiative of national leadership pass to the
radicals that compose EAM, or they have been active in selling the country to
the Germans, as happened with the fascists and the outright traitors and
quislings. The old politicians of Greece, who otherwise would have been the
logical leadership of the country, forfeited that leadership by staying
inactive during the most critical time in the history of their country. This
was the period of the last eight years; four years of occupation, plus the
four years of the Metaxas dictatorship that preceded the occupation. During
this time the initiative passed into the hands of those who were active and
willing to fight and risk their lives: the Communists and the other
left-wingers that compose the EAM. When the old politicians opened their eyes
to the new situation it was too late; the others had gone far already! In the
end, and under the clever manipulations of German propaganda, many of these
politicians and their collaborating groups fell into a German trap, and have
not been able to get out since. The Germans have proclaimed themselves
protectors of Greece in particular (and Europe in general) from the
Bolsheviks. In addition, as a special favor to the Greeks, they have
proclaimed themselves its protectors from the “Slavic danger,” an old bogey
of the Greeks that has been revived lately and is the first seed of another
war. The old politicians were willing to fall into this trap because they
felt that there was no other way out of their [67] predicament; they grabbed the anti-communist harp and started
playing the German tune. It did not seem that the old politicians favored the
former governments of General Tsolakoglou or of
Professor Logothetopoulos, but it seems that many
of them agreed that John Rallis should become a premier, and a number of them
helped him in forming the Security Battalions to chase out EAM. However one
clothes such acts, in the final analysis they are collaboration, and no other
word can be used to describe them. Patriotic-sounding organizations,
which otherwise could use their efforts and energy in fighting the enemy have
started forming assault groups in the best Nazi tradition. These groups are
composed of ruffians and jobless young men, and their purpose is to
participate in raids organized by the Gestapo and the SS against the
resistance movement. The leaders tell their men that they are performing
patriotic acts, and that they are fighting communism and the “Slavic menace.”
They are paid with money gathered from certain rich Greeks, from raids
against innocent people, and through acts of plain robbery. All these organizations claim that
England and America are in favor of what they are doing, and in particular
the leaders refer to a “certain great power” that has interests in Greece and
is backing them in every way. The members of some of these organizations are
told not to ask too many questions about the policy pursued. Such questions,
they are told, are harmful and cannot be explained at the present time; it is
“high politics.” Soon they find themselves participating in raids with the
Gestapo, the SS and the Security Battalions against other Greeks. Then they
try to find out what it is all about and receive mystic answers. The politicians who started the
Security Battalions thought that they were going to fool the Germans. They
led many officers into collaboration, some formerly of patriotic
organization. This policy, though, brought them only small dividends. In the
end it has not brought the people to their side, and it has not fooled the
Germans. The people of Greece become more pro-guerrilla in localities that
the Security Battalions pass through, and the same thing is true in Athens,
where every raid in the suburbs by quisling troops brings more people to the
side of EAM. That the Germans have not been fooled was proved lately when Gonatas and others were put under arrest the minute it
was thought Greek unity had been achieved in Cairo. The German aim is to keep
the Greeks divided, and they have succeeded in that aim. The subject of EAM vs. politicians
and Security Battalions has an international aspect about which I know little
in fact, but which I must mention in passing. This internal strife within
Greece seems to become one between Russia and England, or Russia and the
capitalist powers when considered on an international basis. [68] Of course EAM is pro-Russian. In
spite of the fact that all EAM members, and especially the leaders, go out of
their way to prove to you that they do not distinguish between one ally and
another, one can be reasonably sure that EAM sympathies are more pro-Russian
than pro-British or pro-American. I can’t tell how far EAM is willing
to go towards Russia; all I know is that EAM policy is not the Communist
policy of old. Also, the EAM movement is a mild left-wing movement in
comparison with other Balkan liberation movements. There is no talk here
among the antartes
of making Greece a Soviet republic or connecting it with a federated Balkan
state, which I understand is the case with the Yugoslav and Albanian
partisans. The antartes and their leaders
envision a “popular democracy” in the future, a term which nobody has defined
to me yet, but which is taken to mean loosely a form of democratic government
with greater guarantees regarding the interests and the economic well-being
of the poorer classes. They also talk of a Greece that will include all the
territories it possessed at the beginning of this war, plus such Greek
territories as the Dodecanese Islands and the Island of Cyprus. They speak
against the old political machines, which they say exploited the people,
bestowing on them few and superficial benefits. The leaders of EAM, including
the Communists, proclaim that they are not interested in taking power by
force at the end of the war, but are not willing to let anybody else do so
either. They say that they are interested in a democratic regime for Greece,
within which all parties, including the Communist, will be free to present
their programs. Those fighting EAM and those
collaborating with the Germans under one pretext or another profess to be
pro-British. This section covers a wide range of political opinion in Greece,
from right wing democrats to Royalists and former Fascists who find that
their old game is lost. Many of these individuals and groups claim to have
the approval and active help of England. EDES, which is British backed to a
great extent, has many of its officers participating in the Security
Battalions, and Zervas is cooperating with them in
Epirus. Of course, no one can say how much of this is British instigation and
how much is imagination on the part of those claiming British backing. In any
case, one can deduce that there must be some truth in the claims. For the future of Greece, these
anti-EAM organizations speak in terms of a “greater Greece.” They want to
aggrandize the country at the expense of its neighbors to the north, but do
not define exactly how far they want to go. They claim that the western
Allies will want a “great” and “strong” Greece as part of their anti-Russian
policy in Europe and as compensation for the role Greece played in this war. It is interesting to note that when
agreement was announced among the [69]
Greek factions in Cairo, the members, and especially the leaders of anti-EAM
organizations, were at a loss to explain what had happened. Some of those who
had gone too far in working for German victory said that they would go on
with their activities, in spite of what had happened. Still others presented
the agreement as a triumph of their own policy, saying that “now we shall
take the Communists with us, and when we make them powerless by disarming
them, we shall throw them out again.” In general, there was much confusion
among these groups, according to all reports. In a number of cities, members
of the Security Battalions went and gave themselves up to the guerrillas. In the present what is more logical
than to expect a civil war when the Germans pull out? Today, there is still
the common enemy to fight; tomorrow, when the common enemy gets out of the
picture, Greeks will find themselves at each other’s throats if unity is not achieved
soon. EAM and ELAS leaders are terribly
bitter toward the British for not giving assistance during the western
Macedonia mop-up operations. Today I was shown the following telegram that
arrived from the 10th Guerrilla Division near which there is a large British
mission with a large stock of ammunition in its possession: “A FORCE OF THREE
BATTALIONS HAS BEEN FIGHTING FOR THE LAST TEN DAYS A HARD AND UNEQUAL WAR
AGAINST THE GERMANS. DAILY WE HAVE BEEN APPEALING TO THE ALLIED MISSION FOR
HELP IN AMMUNITION AND AIR PROTECTION AGAINST THE MOTORIZED COLUMNS THAT MOVE
UNHINDERED. THE CAIRO HQ, WHERE OUR REQUEST HAS BEEN REFERRED, GAVE THE
HARD-TO-BELIEVE ANSWER THAT EXPENDITURE OF AMMUNITION MUST BE WITNESSED BY
ALLIED OFFICERS, AND ONLY AFTER THAT WILL REPLACEMENT BE ORDERED. FOR THE
LAST THREE DAYS HARD ALL-DAY BATTLES ARE TAKING PLACE AND WE REPEATED OUR
AGONIZING APPEALS FOR AMMUNITION. TODAY WE HAVE BEEN OBLIGED TO WITHDRAW FOR
LACK OF SAME, AND SINCE THE MISSION HERE ASSURES US THAT THEY ARE IN FAVOR OF
OUR APPLICATION, WE ARE OBLIGED TO ACCUSE CAIRO HQ FOR THE MURDEROUS POSITION
IT HAS TAKEN.” The conclusion of the telegram is terribly hard, but one
probably justified by what happened: “UNFAITHFUL ALLIES HAVE BETRAYED OUR
PEOPLE WHO ARE BURNED AND SLAUGHTERED.” Bitter feelings against the British
were expressed to me today after the [70]
arrival of this telegram. Never before have EAM leaders been so outspoken, at
least not in my presence. The British were accused of being behind every
reactionary force in the country today and, in collusion with Papandreou and
Rallis, of trying to install a new dictatorial regime to further their own
ends. The new terror that has been unleashed in Athens since the failure of
the Cairo talks is considered to be part of the British policy. I think that
we are nearing a turning point in the relations between EAM and the British.
It seems as if EAM is going to abandon its guarded and outwardly friendly
attitude toward the British and take a stiffer position, which might result
in a propaganda campaign publicizing British actions in Greece in an
unfavorable light. July 24, 1944 Part of the American commando force
that will participate with the antartes in the operations of the Noah’s Ark Project is
reported to have arrived in Epirus. This means that the OSS must have been
satisfied with EAM’s answers to their questions concerning the project, which
I sent some time ago. These seem to be part of our preparations for the
eventual withdrawal of the German troops, which should be starting any day
now. July 24, 1944 Today I cabled the grid point for the
parachute drop. The point was chosen by ELAS, but the mountain plateau of Karvassara that they suggested is exactly the place that
I had selected when we were passing by that section a month ago on our way to
this village. Yesterday I went to the plateau to make some kind of map so
that I could describe it in the cable. It is rather a large plateau as
plateaus go in this section, and seems ideal for a drop. However, there are
two main drawbacks: (1) there are mountain peaks all around, which will cause
the plane to fly rather high, and (2) the whole plateau is sown with wheat
that will not be harvested for another month, and which I am afraid will be
damaged by our operation. Yesterday we found only shepherds on
the journey, which is four hours fast walk. These shepherds were curious to
know what we were doing up there and about the significance of the maps we
were making. We told them that EAM is planning the installation of a meteorological
station, and that some of us might have to come and stay on the plateau for
some time. That was a good excuse to ask for some information about the
weather, and especially about the direction of the wind at night. We could
not very well tell them that we were expecting a parachute drop of supplies,
because the news would spread all around the region and might cause trouble
when the [71] time comes. In
addition, some people might get ideas about stealing some of the packages. The shepherds offered us hot milk,
freshly milked from the sheep, and we ate it with bread that we had with us.
This was a really good meal, although we wouldn’t think so back home. Sheep
milk is very rich in this section at this time of year because the sheep eat
dry grass. Besides we were very hungry and had only bread and some
bad-quality cheese with us. The shepherds are the only well-fed
people in this section, and that is because they have plenty of milk to
drink. They have two Italian prisoners, Lazzaro and
Guiseppe, as servants, and they looked well-fed
too. In fact one of them (who could make himself understood in Greek) said
that it was the milk that kept them alive. These two prisoners, however, were
dressed almost in rags and Lazzaro had no shoes at
all. The eldest of the shepherds, a tall
stout man of 85, is blind and very curious about us strangers. He spoke to us
of the good-old times, when he was young and the most famous rustler of the
region. He told us how he would go by night to the opposite mountain, and by
morning another ten sheep were added to his flock and nobody knew what had
happened. “These good-for-nothings,” he said, pointing toward the younger
people, grandchildren, nephews, and what not. “They sit on their fannies all
day and the only thing they care about is to have their hair well parted.” Then, somewhat slyly he said, “Since
Ares came to the mountains they don’t even tend the sheep anymore.” This was
an obvious reference to the fact that since the guerrillas have come to the
mountains animal theft has been done away with, and shepherds, knowing that
their animals are secure, let the sheep graze alone on the mountain side. The
heroic days of rustling are over for the old man, and as far as he is
concerned, the whole world is going to the dogs! Yesterday I learned something about
dogs, too. Greece was full of ferocious mountain shepherd dogs in the years
before the war. They are excellent guards for the sheep and good companions
for their masters but are terrible and dangerous to strangers. But now there
are very few dogs in Greece because they died during the famine or were eaten
by the people. One sees but few of them around and these are very skinny
indeed. Yesterday as we were approaching the
shepherd huts, though, five big and ferocious dogs started toward us from the
other side of the ravine. As I watched them getting closer I did not know
what to do. The stick in my hands was not strong enough; as for throwing
stones at them, no one could manage five dogs of that size. I had to act
quickly. My companion was some distance away, and we could not put up a
common defense; therefore, my hand instinctively went to my pistol, which I
took out and fired to the right of the dogs with the idea of scaring them.
The trick worked. The dogs didn’t [72]
get scared as I thought they would, but they started running in the direction
of the bullet and let us alone for a minute. Hearing the commotion and the
shot, the shepherds came out of the huts and chased the dogs away. Later they complained about my firing,
afraid that I had fired at the dogs; shepherds hate to see their dogs scared,
because they say it spoils their fighting spirit. This episode, however, made
me wiser. I learned that even these ferocious mountain dogs have an inborn
hunting instinct which makes them move in the direction in which the shot is
fired. It also taught me that one can avoid dogs that way! July 27, 1944 Today I took an action that might aid
in a solution to the crisis that has existed among the Greek factions since
the breakdown of the unity talks. It might also lead to a reprimand from my
superiors in Cairo. The possibility of a full-fledged
civil war when the Germans pull out of Greece has been worrying me no end
during the last month. That realization is what led me today to send a cable
suggesting that some American authority in Cairo take a hand in bringing
about a rapprochement between the two sides. From confidential reports that I
have been getting from a number of sources in the last few days, it seems
that many EAM leaders feel that the negotiations with the Cairo government
were mishandled, and that things should not have been brought to a real
break. Apparently, the realization of the meaning of a definite break with
the government-in-exile is making even the most extreme among EAM leaders
think twice about embarking on an entirely independent course with
unpredictable consequences. It might mean civil war, and nobody here wants
that, including the Communists. If I judge correctly, EAM would be
willing to reopen negotiations if some face-saving solution could be found.
What I am suggesting to Cairo, therefore, is that some high American official
approach the Greek government and propose even a minor concession, which
could have a face-saving effect for EAM, reopen negotiations, and finally
result in the EAM entering the government. As far as I could find out, there is
no Russian instigation behind the so far unyielding attitude of EAM. In fact,
the Greek Communists have not had any contact with Moscow since before the
Metaxas dictatorship. I was told by a very reliable informant that the first
contact with Russia that the Greek Communists had had in years was meeting
with the Russian ambassador in Cairo that some members of the EAM delegation
had a few months ago. Contact promises to be good from now on, since the
arrival of the Russian Military Mission at Headquarters yesterday, But,
strange as it seems, I learned from moderate EAM sources that the chief of
the mission [73] counselled the
Communists in leadership moderation and toward participation in the
government-in-exile. The stubborn attitude of EAM so far
has been due to the fact that they believe they did not get treatment
commensurate with their strength and sacrifices. This complaint is made not
against the government-in-exile alone, but against the British as well. The
latter are suspected of holding a policy of weakening EAM and diminishing its
power. The bad treatment that the EAM
delegation to the Lebanon Conference received both from the British and the
Greek government had a great deal to do with the final breakdown of the
negotiations. It did not take the EAM delegates long to realize that they had
to deal in an unfriendly environment, a hostile atmosphere in which various
shades of political opinion among the delegated were played one against the
other. Finally the delegates realized that the British, with the connivance
of Premier Papandreou, were trying to double-cross them by withholding vital
information from messages that were received from the mountains. This last fact was understood from
the message that I sent to the OSS in Cairo at the end of May, which came to
the attention of the EAM delegates. My message quoted extensively from a
cable that EAM had sent to its delegates (through the British) declaring that
Papandreou was not acceptable as prime minister. The British had given the
EAM cable to the delegation, but so distorted that it left out the reference
to the prime minister. As I have learned since the return of the EAM
delegation from Cairo, the realization that their instructions from
Headquarters were being distorted disturbed the delegates greatly. The chief
delegate, Professor Svolos, became almost panicked
at the realization that he had already accepted participation in the
government, contrary to the wishes of the EAM leaders. Even after the above scandal was
bared, the British, who had originally promised the delegation good
communications with the mountains, stalled and let the delegates cool their
heels in Cairo after they refused to sign the agreement for the formation of
the unity government. The EAM finally recalled the delegation, creating a
situation that everybody was hoping to avoid. July 28, 1944 The transformations war brings are
apparent in a little village like the one in which we live now, which is
almost in the middle of the most inaccessible part of the Agrafa
mountain range. The village boasts many and various innovations these days.
The antartes
have brought these people in contact with civilization for the first time; in
a sense, civilization came at [74]
once, and it will disappear as soon as we leave. This town of one hundred
houses now possesses an electric generator, two radio sets, and three
portable radio stations—one Greek, one American, and one Russian. All these
blessings of civilization, if blessings they are, are being seen for the
first time by the inhabitants. When electricity was installed for
the first time, the other day after dusk, children stole to our upper floor
and stood outside of our window, and they looked at the miracle for hours.
One very old woman came to see in order to believe, and she was ecstatic. The
only thing she could utter in wonderment, was “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Then somebody
brought an extension with a lighted bulb to her, and instinctively she tried
to blow it out when it came near. Everybody laughed, and the poor old woman
was embarrassed and left quickly. These are the tangible blessings of
civilization that we have brought in and will take away, and perhaps they
will never be seen again in these villages of Petrilia.
There are some intangible aspects, though, that our presence here has
brought, which promise to stay with the people longer. These are the new
ideas that have filtered into the minds of the people: ideas for better
living, of easier ways of doing things; ideas about the position of women,
who are regarded here as little better than animals and are treated about the
same. Some of the socialist and communist
women and some of the guerrilla girls found opportunities to talk to the
women of this section about the equality of the sexes. Of course, most of the
villagers can see for themselves how we strangers behave, and that is the
best example. The other day, Barba Costa could not stand the sight of seeing
our landlord sitting around all day while his wife was doing a man’s job of
helping with the plastering of the house, so he called them in one by one and
told them so. He told the man of his obligations and the woman of her rights.
Such teachings will create some kind of revolution in the near future, which
will be a blessing for the women because at the present time they are
overworked and badly exploited. The greatest temporary blessing to
come to this section, though, has been the presence of a number of doctors,
among them some of the best known professors of the University of Athens.
These doctors don’t stay idle; they are taking care of the sick, who
otherwise would have to travel for days on mule back or die slowly. Very
important operations are being performed here now with crude medical
instruments and without anaesthetic but performed
just the same by expert hands, and lives are saved. This blessing will soon
be lost to these people, and the loss will be a great blow. But whatever happens after we go
away, things are not going to be the same at Petrilia:
some people will use the beds we are going to leave behind [75] and someone might buy a radio
with batteries in the distant future; some women will clean and feed their
children better; and many will try to seek medical advice. But perhaps these
people will not again see radio stations, electricity, or university
professors operating on crude village tables. And most probably they will not
have any more American, British or Russian officers snooping around and criticising their way of living! July 29, 1944 Good news from Cairo! In answer to my
cable of two days ago they inform me that some members of the Greek
government are anxious to keep good relations with EAM. They think that the
best way is to send the moderate socialist John Sofianopoulos
to Greece to resume negotiations on the part of the government. If EAM
accepts, they will have to issue an invitation, which should be sent through
British channels and not through me. I showed this message to the EAM Central
Committee and they were gratified with its content. Of course I did not tell
them that I initiated the whole thing, but let them understand that it
started with American officials in Cairo. The thought that the Americans were
taking a hand in their affairs pleased them a great deal. Hard as it might be
to believe, even the Communists want the U.S. to take an interest in their
affairs. They are so much against the intervention of the British, and they
feel that American interest helps in weakening the British grip on Greek
affairs. I was asked to convey EAM’s
appreciation for the American interest, and was told that a meeting was going
to take place soon to review the political situation, and that a decision
regarding entering the government might be made. An interesting item that came out of
the conversation today pertained to the mistrust the Communists have for the
Socialists and for moderates in general. An important Communist leader spoke
to me against having Sofianopoulos come to Greece
for further negotiations. “I don’t trust the man,” he said “Sofianopoulos deals with both sides, and you can never
tell if he is for you or against you.” He then expressed his preference for
more rightist politicians carrying out negotiations. July 30, 1944 EAM decided in yesterday’s meeting to
enter the government-in-exile under the condition that the present prime
minister, George Papandreou, be dropped as its head. I was given a copy of
the cable that is to be sent to the Greek government tomorrow. This is some
kind of a scoop for me and for our office in Cairo, to have the news in
advance of the actual notification to [76]
the Greek government and the British, and shows that my relations with EAM
are excellent. The five ministers that will represent EAM in the government
have not been appointed yet, and that is what is keeping the official
notification from being sent out. However, I am sending the main body of the
message today, and will send the names of the ministers as soon as they are
decided upon. The EAM message puts the
responsibility for the break of the original negotiations on Papandreou,
claiming that “his hostile public declarations against EAM, befitting a
fanatic enemy rather than a leader of a unity government, had created a
situation of misunderstanding and mistrust from the beginning, which resulted
in violent opposition throughout Greece and prevented the formation of a
unified government.” I cannot help but note that EAM is
correct in this analysis of the situation. It seems that the trust of the
British in asking him to form a government went to Papandreou’s head. Most
people say that although he is capable he suffers from delusions of grandeur
combined with a messianic complex. It was in this role as the new Greek
messiah that he made some stupid speeches over Middle East radio to the Greek
public, which were not liked at all by the resistance movement. It is not
very easy for fighters, who realize their tremendous power within the
country, to take abuse from one whose role during the occupation has been one
of total inaction. Some say that Papandreou has not been so inactive, but
that together with some other Greek politicians he can claim the spiritual
leadership in the formation of the quisling Security Battalions. For lack of
proof of that claim, let us suppose that Papandreou’s only blemish has been
inactivity: it is a great crime for one who is supposed to be a leader and
who wants to continue as such. NOTE: As I learned on my return to
Cairo a year later, the above mentioned EAM cable was not given in full by
the British to the Greek government members. The message as given out in
Cairo mentioned that EAM had decided to enter the government but deleted the
reference to Papandreou not being acceptable as Premier. A few days later,
however, through an American intelligence bulletin that was being issued in
Cairo for the benefit of various allied bureaus, the full text of the EAM
message as sent by me was disclosed to the members of the Greek government,
and at a cabinet meeting a real crisis developed. The Liberal party members, under the
leadership of Vice-Premier Sophocles Venizelos, were very indignant and
demanded the resignation of Papandreou. The prime minister answered that “for
the sake of national unity” he was willing to place his resignation at the
disposal of the government. Then, so a crisis would be avoided, a compromise
was reached in which Papandreou was to remain premier until the arrival of
the new EAM ministers. Then a vote of confidence was given to him, and he was
authorized to issue the official invitation to the new members. On August 6, I received a message
from Venizelos and the other Liberals in the [77] government urging the government of the mountains to accept
this solution, and reassuring EAM that Papandreou would be replaced as soon
as the new ministers went to Cairo. The Cairo office, in order to avoid
embarrassment about taking part in matters outside its own scope, addressed
the message to me “for your information and use” and not directly to EAM as
coming from the Greek vice-premier. August 11, 1944 We are living in expectation of a
plane, which will bring us supplies of all kinds—food, clothing, some
weapons, a new radio set, batteries, and a number of other things. At 10 o’clock this morning we came to
this high plateau, which is perhaps 4,000 feet above sea level, and we
pitched camp. As camps go, ours is a poor imitation: it is more like a gypsy
camp than an army camp. We have no tent, so we selected a nice sturdy tree to
protect us from the sun and maybe from light rain when it comes. Our
blankets, clothing, cooking utensils, and some food were carried on the backs
of two mules that accompanied us on this expedition. Cairo said that the
plane would come any day between tonight and the 18th, so preparations were
made for a rather long stay. The time of arrival has been given,
and the signals have been double-checked to be sure that they have been
understood. We must make a triangle with five fires, with a sixth at the
apex. Then when we hear the drone of the plane at the appointed hour, the
fires will be lit and the parachutes will drop in the middle. The only thing
that bothers me now is that this plateau is planted with wheat that will not
be harvested for at least two more weeks. If the packages fall on the wheat,
a lot of damage will result to people that cannot afford to lose even a small
part of their precious crop. Unfortunately, in these high mountains of Agrafa where we live there are no other good plateaus
where a parachute drop can be made, so we had to select this one. Even this plateau is not ideal, and
has many shortcomings for the pilot who will be at the controls of the plane;
here are mountain peaks all around the plateau that will force the plane to
keep at a high altitude. Only from east to west are the summits a good
distance from each other, but if the plane follows the directions I cabled,
it will be able to come in low enough for a good drop. We spent our time this morning
gathering wood for the fires. This is not an easy job, because this section
is sparsely wooded like most Greek mountains; only here and there can you
find a pine tree. There are ravines full of pine but it will be difficult to
carry the wood up their steep sides. Fortunately, the two Italian prisoners
whom I met when I came to this region to [78] look at the plateau for the first time have offered to help
us. The poor kids probably figure and quite correctly, that they can get some
food from us to supplement their meager diet, and they are full of
willingness to help. This is very fortunate for us, because both of them know
the region very well, and that will save us a lot of trouble. They know where
to get water, which is a problem, and they know where to get wood. Lazzaro is an especially nice young man.
About 21 years old, he is short and of stocky build, and his nice disposition
has not yet been spoiled by the bitter experience he has undergone. The
terrible life he leads on these barren mountains has deepened his already
strong Italian sentimentalism, which is doubly evident when he sings a
particular tune that has the word “mamma” in it. In the melody when he sings
that word it makes me too feel sentimental and nostalgic for better days,
easier life and a more peaceful world. The barefoot and half-dressed Lazzaro of today probably thinks back to the green
pasture of Foggia and he puts his lament for his present condition in the
songs he sings so well, and into the word “mamma” that he loves so much! August 13, 1944 Complications have arisen again! I
have learned that a new message was received at EAM through the British
Mission radio station, which promises to upset all the work that has been
done so far to achieve Greek unity. The message, which comes from Sophocles
Venizelos and the other Liberal members of the Greek government of Cairo,
asks EAM to reconsider accepting Papandreou as prime minister because “the
British government is not willing to accept a change of premier on the eve of
liberation.” I have not been able to get the
official reaction to this message yet because only a very small circle of EAM
high officials know about it so far, and those were unwilling to talk much
except to express their indignation. August 15, 1944 This morning I got up very early and
walked five hours from our mountain watch to the village, to find out the
results of the meetings that have been taking place the last three days to
discuss EAM’s relationship to the exiled government. A great deal of resentment is evident
among all circles of the resistance movement toward the British for their
latest intervention in what are considered here to be purely internal Greek
affairs. Some moderate EAMites, with whom I was
talking earlier today, told me with disgust that “the British are dealing
with Greece as if it were part of their colonial empire.” [79] An influential leader
representing the EAM Central Committee wants me to ask Cairo why the Liberal
members of the government have changed their position in regards to
Papandreou, and why they did not insist on his resignation in spite of British
pressure. He also wants me to find out the opinion in American circles in
Cairo regarding the developments of the last few days. I was very reliably informed again
today that the Russian mission has counselled EAM to enter the
government-in-exile even under Papandreou. All indications point to a favorable
decision, and that it will come out of the meeting that is going on now. My
only hope is that this meeting will end early, because I have to go to the
mountain again and the prospect of climbing its steep side in darkness is not
a pleasing one. NOTE: I found out almost a year later
that the Papandreou resignation was prevented directly by Churchill himself,
who sent a cable to that effect to the British ambassador in Cairo. This fact
explains the acquiescence of the Liberal members of the government in
accepting Papandreou and their efforts to persuade EAM to do likewise. It
also explains, in part, the hate of the Greek leftists towards Churchill’s
high-handed policies in their country, and might have had a great deal to do
with subsequent EAM decision to fight a civil war rather than continue to
give in to\ British pressure. August 16, 1944 A decision to enter the government
came out of the EAM meeting late last night, but I could not wait for it. I sent
the news to Cairo this morning, together with an EAM cable to the Liberal
party members of the government announcing EAM’s decision to accept
Papandreou as premier. The soft tone of the EAM message, though, does not
reveal the resentment felt here against both Papandreou and the British.
Because of the way things have happened, EAM is full of suspicion about the
good faith of their adversaries, and I foresee difficult sailing ahead. There is no doubt that EAM has
changed its opinion about the British. Some time ago even the Communists
spoke of the British with respect and always minimized any differences that
existed between them. Now resentment is expressed openly against British
actions by members of all factions that compose this leftist coalition. However,
at least temporarily, the action of yesterday’s meeting brings relief after
the suffocating atmosphere that has affected all of us the last few days. Let
us only hope that this relief will prove to be permanent rather than
temporary. [80] August 18, 1944 The most important people (from the
point of view of power in the antartes movement) are the Communists, and the most
important Communists in free Greece today are these: George Siantos, general secretary of the party; John Ioannides, second secretary of the party and chief of the
Politburo; and John Zevgos, who is considered the
intellectual leader of the Communists. No one of these three is a great
leader, but each one complements the others in such a way as to make a pretty
good and complete leadership. Communist leadership rests in the hands of
these three men; no decision of importance is made if they don’t come
together to discuss it thoroughly. From what I know so far, it is
difficult to say who is the most important—perhaps no one. Of the three,
though, Zevgos seems to exert the least power and Siantos holds the most exalted position. In the absence
of Nikos Zachariades, the “leader” of the Communist
party who at present is imprisoned in Germany, Siantos
is the leader. But the position of Ioannides seems to me as perhaps of greater importance.
He is the party “boss,” in the American sense of the word. He controls the
party machine, and that is very important in any country; especially among
the Communists, who have strict discipline in their party organization. Also,
Ioannides is the most clever of the three. His mind
is sharp and quick and he is the type that makes decisions quickly, which is
an asset for a party leader in times like these. It might be Ioannides’s personality that has prevented him from
securing the leadership of the party so far. Basically, he gives the
impression of being a ruthless man, a man who keeps mostly to himself does
not trust people, and therefore does not have many friends. People respect
him, but keep more or less at a distance from him. Siantos, on the other hand, has a warm and
likeable personality. His is open, and somewhat exuberant in his relations
with other people. He praises his co-workers, and always has a kind word for
strangers, even when he meets them for the first time. Siantos
is not as sharp as Ioannides, but he seems to
possess a great deal of native intelligence and a high degree of penetrating
intuition, which makes him sure of himself. Siantos
is thoughtful and calm, perhaps characteristic of his village background.
Though only a little past fifty, he is respectfully called Geros (“Old Man”) by everybody. And indeed he gives the
impression of the elder of a village, the type to whom people go for advice
and whose opinions are highly respected. There are no complaints about Siantos around here, either from his own party or from
members of other parties. Zevgos is thin and tall, and looks old for
his age, which is not much above forty-five. A former grammar school teacher
by profession, he is [81] considered
the intellectual par excellance by his fellow
Communists because he is well versed in Marxist philosophy. To me, though, he
does not seem like an intellectual giant. He might know Marxism very well,
but with other ideas he is very inflexible. Like Ioannides,
he too is a lone wolf. His attitude perhaps is not so much due to personality
as to his physical condition. A stomach ailment makes him look sour most of
the time, but one nevertheless can detect a soft man under the surface who
would like nothing better than a strong argument on any topic. All three leaders of the Communist
party, as is the case with almost every member of the party and definitely
with anybody of any importance, have spent many years in prison and exile. As
a consequence, there are very few Communists in Greece who are not sick men. Siantos, because of his strong peasant constitution still
seems to be healthy; Ioannides, though, suffers
from T.B., which he calls “the most aristocratic disease” because, he says,
“you can live a long time, if you eat well and sleep plenty.” Communists have been persecuted by
all the successive governments of the last twenty years, but during the
Metaxas dictatorship of 1936–41 they suffered their most ruthless
persecution. One thing they are very bitter about is the fact that, when the
enemy troops came to occupy the country, the dictatorship handed them over to
the Germans and Italians instead of opening the prisons and letting them
escape. The great majority of them escaped in the end, one way or another,
and they became the ones to organize guerrilla warfare in the country. When important matters come up, Siantos, Ioannides and Zevgos meet in a hurry for many hours. They live near
each other and have no difficulty doing so. Then at intervals of three months
or so, the full strength of the Politburo meets, with members coming from
various sections of Greece to participate in the discussions. That happened
lately when the questions of Greek unity was discussed and important
decisions had to be made. At these meetings, the three main leaders dominate,
but there is free discussion of issues, and decisions are not always dictated
from above. I learned confidentially that during this last meeting the
leadership was very sharply criticized for the handling of the negotiations
with the Cairo government, and that its position became very shaky. These Communist party meetings are
very secret, and usually very little comes out. However, my position here is
one of good standing and gives me a good opportunity to learn things. In the
first place, people have confidence in me and talk easily. Secondly, the
smaller fry do not know who I am. They see me mixing and talking with the big
shots on equal terms at times, and they think that I am one of them;
therefore, I sometimes learn things that I ordinarily wouldn’t. In this way I
learn more than the British, who have the stupid policy of keeping to
themselves and being on bad social [82]
terms with the EAM and the Communists. A Communist leader that everyone
around here talks about with great respect is Nikos Zachariades,
who, as I mentioned before, is reported to be in a concentration camp in
Germany. From what everybody says, Zachariades must
be far above every other Communist leader here in intellect and ability. He
is spoken of by the Communists as someone superhuman and inspiring. The
non-Communists, too, speak about him with respect, and many moderates have
told me that if he were here many of the mistakes of the present leadership
would not have taken place. In any case, mistakes or not, EAM was
organized and has been thriving under the present leadership, and that speaks
well of their ability and value. August 19, 1944 Life is not actually bad on the
mountain but I begin to get fed up with it. We are still waiting for the
plane to come. Or rather, it came three days ago and things went wrong. We
heard a plane passing high above us, but it was two hours off schedule, and
we did not light our signal fires. Yesterday we received a cable that that
was our plane, and that the pilot could not locate us. No wonder he could
not! I can’t see why, when a man has such an important rendevouz,
he would come at the wrong time. In occupied territory during war you just
don’t act as you would at a picnic. That night we figured that most probably
the plane that passed overhead was a German one. Suppose we had given our
signal to the enemy—what would have happened? If the plane had had any bombs
in its bomb bays, it could have let loose of a couple. If it had not had
bombs, the pilot could have marked the location and had someone else come
with gifts from the air! We figured that if that was our
plane, the pilot would come back later and try to locate us. But the pilot
did not come anywhere near us again; instead he returned far to the south,
and we heard the drone of the motor very dimly. Now the cable says we have to
wait another twelve days, and this is no fun. It is no fun for me to have to
go down to the village every second day to follow what is happening and send
messages to Cairo. Alex has been left in the village, so our daily
communication with the base is maintained. In spite of difficulties, though,
there are certain pleasures in life on the mountain. It is nice to be outside
all the time, to have the sun during the day and the moon as a companion at
night. I have my sleeping bag with me, and thus avoid the cold mountain air;
the other men in the group envy my comfort. So far the only thing that
bothers our night’s sleep is dampness, and that is avoided to a great extent
because we all manage to get under the protective foliage of the trees. We
pass our day cooking, taking care of the animals, going to the spring for
water, telling stories to each other, and [83] singing. Our night singing is especially beautiful because a
number of shepherds join us, and we alternate between Greek and Italian
songs. Lazzaro has the best voice of all, and he is
always willing to oblige whenever we ask for one of his pathetic tunes. Our food is rather good these days.
Since we solved the food problem by sending to the Thessaly plain every two
weeks for provisions, we have no difficulties in taking care of our needs.
Sometimes we even have a feast, like the other day when we bought a whole
lamb and roasted it on a spit. That day we had a regular holiday and our
shepherd friends joined in the merrymaking. Our songs lasted late into the
night. Yesterday we had an accident. One of
our Greek helpers took the mules to the spring, which is in a ravine, and one
of the animals slipped on the narrow path and fell to the bottom some thirty
feet below. Unusual as it may seem, the animal was unharmed; the difficulty
came when we tried to get him out of the ravine. The mule, who is pretty
advanced in years, refused to move. There were rocks all around him, and he was
afraid to make the real effort of a climb. Last night he remained there
because there was nothing we could do in the darkness. We gave him enough
food, and left him alone to ponder his difficulties. This morning all of us went to try to
get him out. He just refused to move! We tried every method we could think
of: we tried to drag him up, while at the same time pushing him from behind;
we tied his front legs and tried to pull him. No soap! He even received a
terrific beating as a help to persuasive action, but we had no luck in that
either. Then someone thought of tying his eyes so that he could not see,
because we realized that it was through fear that he was unwillingly to
cooperate. That trick worked! The mule was willing to move when he could not
see, and he made an effort to get out as we dragged and prodded him. But that did not take us any place
either because the rocks were steep, and only by stepping on certain limited
spots could we succeed in getting him out. Then, thinking fast, we devised an
improved method. In addition to tying his eyes, we also tied each of his
front legs separately. Thus, by pulling each leg by a rope, we managed to
place them on the right spots, and on the third or fourth trial we finally
got him out of his hole. That took four hours of real work this morning, but
it was worthwhile because we saved a precious mule. August 26, 1944 For the last five days it has been
raining constantly with hard winds blowing at the same time. Although it is still
August, the cold is severe. We are still on the mountain waiting for the
plane to come. It is our fifteenth [84]
day up here and who knows how many days more will elapse before the plane
comes. After the cold weather started, we
moved into a little hut at the end of the plateau that is used by the
shepherds in winter time. These days nobody comes up to this God-forsaken
place, and we are out of communication with the rest of the world. There is
no way to communicate with the village, either, to find out from Alex if any
messages have come from Cairo. Today it has been clearing since noon and we
hope to be able to light the fires if need be. Perhaps we shall have clear
sky again for a change. Five of us have been sleeping in the
little hut and there is hardly enough room to move, especially since we must
have a fire going all the time. The saddest thing about this adventure,
though, is that we have caught vermin again. The Italian prisoners must have
passed them on to us, because they have had them all the time. When the cold
weather came all of us had to get into the hut because there was no other
place to go. Because of the lack of space we had to be near each other, and
because of the Italians’ lack of warm clothing we had to give them some of
our blankets to cover themselves. The result is that all of us now have lice
and are comrades in every sense of the word. John, one of my Greek
assistants, laughingly told us the other day that his lice are of two
different hues: there are blondes and brunettes. He said the blondes come
from Lazzaro and the brunettes from Giuseppe. Now
he hopes to breed them before the plane comes so he can produce “a new and
better variety!” All jokes aside, we are going to have a difficult time
getting rid of this product because of the lack of even the most elementary
facilities for cleanliness in this village. Fortunately our food has not given
out yet. We brought plenty of provisions with us with the exception of bread,
which gave out yesterday, and we always manage to get two meals a day. We
still have some dry beans and lentils, and we had fresh vegetables until two
days ago. As far as water is concerned, we always have plenty by keeping pots
out in the rain. August 29, 1944 The plane came last night! It hit the
exact hour this time, and we lit our fires alright. Then we saw it circle
four times above us, and each time it passed the fires a red light was
flashed. But in spite of the clearness of the night we saw no packages fall.
After it made its fourth round, it gradually left our position, and the drone
of its motors diminished until it could not be heard anymore. We continued
staying at our fires, all five of us, because we felt that the circling was
only preliminary and that the plane was going to return. Ten minutes later,
though, when there were no more signs of a plane, all of us met in the center
of the field and tried to explain what had [85] happened. No one had seen or heard any parachutes fall, and
the consensus of opinion was that no drop had been made. Perhaps the plane
had come to investigate the place and would return the next night. We decided
to wait another hour before leaving, and returned to our fires. No more
plane! At our second meeting in the center of the field we decided to go to
sleep and, at my insistence, decided to get up at dawn and start searching
the surroundings for any possible packages that might have fallen. If I managed to steal an hour’s sleep
last night, it is a miracle. The disappointment was too big to take. After
waiting for so many days, and after all the hardships we had suffered, it was
a terrible letdown. I tried to figure out what had happened and how we would
start searching in the morning. The place around us is full of mountain peaks
and deep ravines, and difficult climbs and descents were promised ahead. Then
I tried to figure out which way the wind was blowing when the plane came, and
to estimate the most likely section where the parachutes could have fallen.
At five, when the pale light of dawn was touching the surrounding peaks, I
was up trying to awaken the rest of the men to start on our thankless task. We divided into three groups, the
five of us. John and Giuseppe went northwest toward the highest peaks, the
likeliest section for the chutes to have dropped into because the wind was
blowing that way last night. Jacob and Lazzaro went
towards the southwest. I went into the ravines that lead to the nearest
village. Everytime I came to a good lookout I stopped
and searched the surrounding district, but there was nothing to be seen. As I
approached the village, the people I met on the way all spoke about the plane
that had come in the middle of the night, but nobody had seen or heard any
parachutes falling. In the village there was a guerrilla telephone, and after
some difficulty I managed to get Alex on the other end of the line. I gave
him a message to send to Cairo: “Plane came, signals given, but no chutes
seen to fall. We are searching surroundings and will continue our nightly
vigil.” Four hours later I returned to the
plateau and heard a shepherd calling me by name from the opposite peak:
“Fellow-Combatant Ulysses,” he called very loudly, “there are some parachutes
on the trees on the other side of the summit. Someone has seen some more in
the ravine yonder.” I began to breathe again, and in spite of my fatigue I
climbed up the mountainside at an accelerated pace. When I reached the clear ridge, which
is an hour’s hard walk above the plateau, there were John and a number of
local people from the surrounding villages with five packages they had
already gathered. One parachute was hanging from a tree above a nearby
precipice. Then, a shepherd coming from the peak above told us that there was
a chute with a blue package on top. I pretended it was not important, but
sent John with two men to bring [86]
it down right away. That was our treasure, as the cables from Cairo had said,
containing the gold that would keep us in existence for the months to come.
So when the blue package came I stayed there with it. The packages continued to come in all
day. Giuseppe picked a number of them from the ravine and brought them up its
steep sides with the help of other men. I opened some of the packages and
took out food and candy, and I gave it to the men who had helped. Towards the
late afternoon, when I realized that many packages were still missing, I
promised that whoever brought more packages would have the right to keep the
parachutes. The EAM organization treats those who
steal goods very harshly, but the need for clothing is great, and the large
amount that a parachute could provide is enough to make people risk the
severest punishment. I figured, therefore, that if the parachute were
promised people wouldn’t want to risk stealing a package, the contents of
which they were not sure. It was a terrific incentive. By late afternoon six
more packages were brought, but according to my estimate five more are
missing. But there is nothing else we can do tonight! The greatest pleasure of the day for
me was not the fact that the supplies were received, but rather that a minor
bundle was included in the supplies that filled my heart with joy: my
personal mail. We have received no mail since we left Cairo six months ago,
but there were plenty of letters to make up for the delay. When I found them
twilight had fallen and the writing was barely visible, but with the aid of
my flashlight and what little daylight was left, I read them all from cover
to cover. There were letters from the States, letters from my Egyptian
friends who had lost me suddenly and did not know what was happening to me,
and letters from my brother in South Africa. My only regret is that it is
impossible to get news from my sister and my other relatives who actually
live in Greece but with whom, for reasons of security, I don’t dare communicate.
When some time ago an opportunity arose to communicate with my sister on the
island of Ithaca, I let it go by because I was afraid that, once it were
known that I was in the mountains with the guerrillas, the news would spread
far and wide. The enemy might hear about it and my relatives would certainly
suffer. Therefore, I made the sad decision not to meet a man who was then
leaving for Ithaca. The mail that came in today is
actually full of “holes.” These holes were made wherever there is a name written,
and my name on the envelope is totally cut out. Then the second name of the
sender is cut out as well as names in the body of the letter, in case they
refer to somebody working for the OSS. In fact, such a thorough job has been
done that I had difficulty knowing from whom the letters came, and in one
case I still can’t figure it out. The letter is signed by George, but the
question is which one. [87] Another blessing that was dropped
from the air last night was reading material. There are plenty of back issues
of magazines from home and many pocket book editions of novels. They promise
to keep us happy for a long time. A preliminary general examination of
the packages disclosed canned meat, sugar, rice and plenty of “C” rations;
clothing, our new radio set and some weapons. We have already opened some of
the “C” rations and had a rather pleasant meal tonight. Now the men are
sleeping, covered in parachute cloth because on this ridge where we gathered
the packages we have nothing else to use. Soon I will join them, for I
haven’t really rested since this ordeal started last night, and feel very
tired now. But I at least feel satisfied, because this thing is really over. August 31, 1944 Another chapter in the turbulent
history of Greece has come to an end. Unity among Greek factions has finally
been achieved, and the EAM ministers left two days ago for Cairo by British
plane to take their posts in the new government. I saw the group crossing the
mountain on muleback as we were scanning the region
for the packages from the parachute drop. I took out my binoculars and
followed them for a long time. There was Professor Svolos, the head of the PEEA mountain government, which
would be discarded with the new agreement. The Socialist professor seemed
happy, because the dream of unity that he has cherished so much has finally
come true. John Zevgos, the former school teacher,
was going along to become minister of agriculture. Some days ago I carried
the first news to Zevgos of his acceptance as a
minister, as it came to us before it officially reached EAM through the
British mission. “Congratulations Fellow-Combatant Minister,” I greeted him
in the best form of resistance lingo. He became happy for a moment and then,
with the usual reserve of a Communist, he said: “Let us wait a little and see
the official version and find out if everything is really all right.” As it
happened, everything was not all right and the negotiations were protracted
for many more days. The other day when I saw the new
ministers crossing the mountain, the old newspaper photographer urge got grip
of me and I felt like running up to them and snapping a picture of this
historic event. I let the opportunity pass, though, as I have let many other
opportunities of this type pass since I accepted the job of a spy. Many of
the ministers did not know of my existence and it might have proven
detrimental to my work in the future if the anonymity that has helped me so
much until now had been destroyed. I know that someplace in the luggage
of the new ministers there is an envelope full of documents and reports that
I am sending to our Cairo [88]
office, and that knowledge is enough to keep me satisfied. The envelope
contains intelligence of all kinds, some which is not so kind to our British
allies, who, I hope, will carry it to its destination in ignorance of its
contents. In contrast to my other mailed reports, which take about two months
to reach their destination, this might reach the OSS in record time. Because
of its contents our government will know more about what is happening in
Greece today, and will be able to make wiser decisions in its policies toward
this country. So the “Bon voyage” that my lips uttered as the last of the
contingent was rounding the curve that put them out of sight was meant for
two: for the safety of the ministers, of course, but also for the safe
arrival of my latest reports, the result of hard physical work and great
mental hardship. Schools for Revolutionaries Sept. 2, 1944 For many years before the war,
Communism was under persecution in Greece. Surprisingly, it was during the
Liberal party regime under the famous Eleftherios
Venizelos that a special law was enacted by parliament putting Communist
activities under its jurisdiction. Afterwards, it was difficult for Communists
to operate under democratic regimes, but not impossible. The government
didn’t imprison anybody for believing in communism or for reading Communist
literature, but it did for carrying on certain activities, such as propaganda
demonstrations. Under these regimes the Communist press was illegally
published and distributed widely. During one period, there were more
Communist weekly and monthly journals being published all around Greece than
all other publications put together! On August 4, 1936, a small-size
dictator with German military training and Nazi ideas took over the
government of Greece. Mimicking the great German master, he announced his
intention of creating a “Third Greek Civilization,” copying the phrase from
Hitler’s “Third Reich.” One of the first acts of dictator Ioannis
Metaxas was to intensify the war against Communism, and he order his local
“security committees” to unearth anybody who had Communist leanings and send
him to prison or exile. Metaxas chose an able and ruthless former contractor,
Constantine Maniadakis, as minister of security, to
supervise the war against Communism. Today in Greece, the four years of
Metaxas power, which ended with foreign occupation, is referred to mockingly
as either the “Epoch of the Third Civilization,” or “Maniadakis’s
Regime.” Metaxas and Maniadakis
were in a way able to uproot Communisim from
Greece, at least temporarily. Greek prisons and islands of exile were filled
with thousands of people: some Communists, some liberals, and some who had
just expressed dissatisfaction with the regime. Maniadaks
was an [89] efficient man who
loved regimentation, and who put out edicts that would make the people
behave. He bolstered the church and tried to make people attend every Sunday
and holiday. He outlawed cursing. He created youth organizations, to which
all young people were obliged to belong in order to teach them respect for
the state and the ideals of the “Third Civilization.” But all these were
copies from the greater masters, Hitler and Mussolini. The great dictators
had introduced these ideas with good results before Maniadakis
did, so he could not claim fame as the originator of any of them. But it did not take Maniadakis long to improve on some of the methods of his
master. He made his name synonymous with castor oil because of the profuse
use of it on prisoners during interrogations. To make castor oil more
efficient and his victims more talkative, he would have them sit naked on
cakes of ice. If these tricks did not work he had more painful ones for the
very stubborn. Maniadakis’ greatest tool, however, was one
that had much more value than physical torture because it promised to stick
with his victim all his life, and to make him hated by his comrades. This was
self-ridicule. When a victim became weak-willed from torture or from the
horrible prison life, Maniadakis would produce a
“declaration” for him to sign. The content would be something like this: “I,
so and so, declare unequivocally that I do not believe in Communism anymore
because I have come to realize that it is inimical to my country and against
our great national traditions. I declare my devotion to the church, to the
family, and to our government.” Then, the prisoner would be set free
and his declaration published in the newspapers and posted around the
community. This was a satanical trick, because by
this simple method a man was discredited. If he ever had been a Communist, he
would be despised by his comrades for what he did and would be forever
ridiculed by his neighbors for having changed the beliefs he had maintained
so strongly in the past. If he ever had been a leader, he would be classified
in the future with the weak-willed people who bend their heads under
pressure. Maniadakis would gather his political prisoners
from all over Greece in Athens or Piraeus, where they were examined and
classified according to their importance and the strength of their beliefs.
Then those who were not willing to sign the “declaration” would be sent
either to a regular prison or to an island exile. The important Communists
were always assigned to prison. At one time the great prison of “Acronauplia” held as many as 800 political prisoners, in
addition to the common law prisoners there. Although Acronauplia
was the most famous political prison, many others were used all over the
country. The various islands held anywhere from fifty to six or seven hundred
exiles each. [90] Within two years Maniadakis
had succeeded in putting almost every Communist in Greece under his control.
He succeeded in shutting down all Communist publications; he even succeeded
in severing the connection of the Greek Communists with Moscow, which was
admitted to me by important Communists. But for all his success, Maniadakis failed in the most important aspect of his
work: he failed dismally in his goal to exterminate communism from Greece. In
fact, he not only failed, but he immeasurably helped to create more and
better Communists in the country, and thus will one day be recognized not as
a persecutor, but rather as one of the fathers of communism in Greece. The lesson [that] can be gained from
the Metaxas-Maniadakis experience is that you
cannot fight revolution by persecution. Persecution solidified the Greek
revolutionary movement, gave it strength and unity, and above all, educated
its adherents in both revolutionary theory and practice in building the new
society in which they believed. The prisons and places of exile of Maniadakis became schools for revolutionaries. Here in the mountains I have met with
countless products of the revolutionary schools that the Metaxas dictatorship
created, and I should say that the great majority seem to be very well
educated. In addition, I have learned how this peculiar school system
operated. The first Coummunists
that were assigned to a prison or an island would form a “collective.” This
collective would be the center of activity around which the daily life of the
prisoners would rotate. The Greek government would pay each prisoner a small
amount of money for his living expenses. This money would be put together,
and out of it food would be purchased. If work was done by the prisoners or
exiles, each had to contribute a percentage of his earnings to the
collective, which at times approached the total amount. If gifts came from
home or from friends, the individual had to contribute a percentage that
would not ordinarily exceed 50%. (If there were solitary confinement,
which was the practice of few prisons, such a collective system could not
work, of course. But solitary confinement was not the common practice because
Greek prisons did not have the space or the facilities for it. The prisoners
usually lived in large dormitories, or in especially rented houses on the
islands of exile.) The collective system was forced on
prison wardens, usually after big fights. At times, hunger strikes would take
place so that this privilege could be won. If the collective was prevented
from being organized, the prison warden knew that he was in for perpetual
trouble. But if the prisoners were permitted to have their collective, a
number of benefits accrued to the prison itself. A prison with a
well-organized collective was a model prison! The prison warden could boast
to his superiors that he had no trouble with [91] his inmates. During inspection the prison would be spic and
s[pa]n, and without any effort on the part of the prison personnel. The
warden had only to let the prisoners alone and everything would work like a
clock! What was happening, which at the time prison wardens could not
understand, was that the inmates were actually practicing in a miniature
model society for the one in which they hoped to participate as free men in
the future. One of my assistants here in the
mountains is Barba Costas, a lean man of average size who is forty-five years
old but looks sixty or even more. He is a former furniture worker of Athens
and a member of old standing in the Communist party of Greece. Barba Costas
is an Acronauplia prison veteran of seven years
tenure. He received the honor of being imprisoned in this most famous of
prisons among Greek revolutionaries because of his great fighting spirit,
which always moved him to the head of demonstrations and brought for him the
most dangerous revolutionary assignments. Now Barba Costas is in ill health,
as is the case with everyone who has spent many years in prison. He cannot
fight anymore in the front lines, but his belief in
communism is as strong as ever. In fact, Barba Costas does not think that
anything else exists, and he looks with hope into the future when the new society
in which he will be able to live a real and full life will be created. Barba Costas (barba means “uncle” in Greek)
attended only grammar school as a kid, but in a narrow sense you can call him
a well-educated man. I say “narrow” because his only education is a Marxist
one. That education was a result of his seven-year confinement in prison. He
learned history, economics, sociology, and some mathematics and physics. But
all these he learned from the Marxist point of view. He also heard countless
lectures on all subjects by persons able to speak in various fields. All
these have made a better product of what must have been a raw and unfinished
worker. Now Barba Costas is much above the average. He looks and acts like a refined man,
loves reading, and is able to converse on any subject. His thin face shows
the ability to learn, and he loves to do things neatly and in detail. If he
had started young in life he might have developed into a good artist, or
perhaps an excellent school teacher. For lack of a typewriter or a competent
secretary, I am having Barba Costas copy some Greek documents that I want to
send to Cairo, and he does the job beautifully. A typewriter could not do any
better. I don’t even have to check for accuracy because every time I have, I
have found them perfect—with all periods and commas, too! When Barba Costas speaks of Acronauplia, he does so with a certain amount of
reverence. There is nothing of the bitterness of prison life in him because
he manages to forget the idea of confinement and prison guards. What matters
to him is his comrades, and the fact the Acronauplia
was a school and a new society for him. This I found to be true with all
other [92] inmates of this prison,
too. They act among themselves as members of a special fraternity, and a good
one at that, because they believe themselves to be the elite of all the
thousands that lived under the dictator’s program of prison and exile. Other
former prisoners look with reverence upon the former Acronauplia
inmates due to the better organization and better schooling that was to be
had there, which of course was a result of the fact that the leaders of the
Communist movement of Greece were imprisoned there. The mistakes of the Metaxas-Maniadakis policy was that it brought all these people
together. This solidified the will of all and the hardships were forgotten.
It brought the schooled and the educated in contact with the rest, and that
created the opportunity for teaching. Some of the Communist leaders were
members of the Greek intelligentsia; others, a large number of them, had
studied in the revolutionary schools of Moscow. All of them had something to
contribute. The way Barba Costas described it, “Acronauplia
looked like a boarding school.” There was work to be done, and there were classes
to attend. Some went to work, some went to school. At times all would go to
work or all would go to lectures at the same time, but the usual method was
to divide the inmates by dormitories so that each section had appointed times
on the day’s schedule. All would participate in activities of both work and
school, except for the regular teachers. Those only taught, and they were the
most highly respected members of this peculiar society. “It looked exactly
like school,” Barba Costas would say with nostalgia, “with people carrying
their books and copy books under their arms from one class to another!” When political prisoners first went
to Acronauplia they came in such numbers that
facilities of all sorts were totally lacking. At first there was a great deal
of trouble and confusion, but soon the collective was organized and a
committee of prisoners went to the prison warden with a petition and a plan.
They asked for raw materials to build more toilets, ovens for baking their
bread, and even a large new dining room and kitchen. The warden, who was a
decent sort of man, granted their request and work started soon. In this
congregation of workers it was not difficult to find specialists of all
kinds, and it did not take long to finish the job. It seems peculiar to me to find that
such a good system of cooperation between prisoners and guards existed under
so oppressive a regime as that of Metaxas, but then such conditions were
seldom achieved without a fight. A new warden once came to Acronauplia and wanted to cut down on the “privileges” of
the political prisoners. He tried it, but he soon had so much trouble that he
had to reconsider. The same thing was true in other prisons. There would be
difficulty at the beginning in gaining the privileges, but later on everything
would go smoothly. In fact, some of the prison wardens tried [93] to introduce the same kind of
reforms in the penal law sections of their prisons, but without success
because of the lower element to be found there. On the islands of exile things were
easier from the beginning and, if good organizers were found, a good system
could be set up right away. The trouble there, at times, was that not enough
trained people were sent there, and in certain cases the collective system
lagged. The collectives of the exiles would
operate under the same system of contributions as in the prisons. Here,
though, there was greater variety of income and better possibilities for
organization. The collective would rent a number of houses in accordance with
its needs and the availability of houses on the islands. Some of the houses
would be used for sleeping quarters, others for dining rooms or living rooms,
and still others for store houses. The exiles could work for the islanders
and be paid, contributing part of their pay to the collective. They could
have gardens, and could even sow wheat. On one of the most barren islands
that had very little water, they even introduced certain vegetables, such as
tomatoes, that the natives did not believe they could grow. The school system
was the same as in prison except that classes could be held at night as well,
and the exiles could even have parties once in a while. The exiles had to present themselves
at stipulated days and hours to the police station, and identify themselves.
The frequency of reporting in would vary in accordance with the rules of each
island, and at times with the importance of the individual. Another rule
forbade them to ride on a boat without being accompanied by an armed guard.
The natives were discouraged from having social relations with, or even
talking to, the exiles, but rules regarding this varied according to local
conditions. After I started inquiring about the
prison and exile system under Metaxas, I was soon convinced of its effectiveness
in producing the results desired by the regime. This fact and the lack of
bitterness on the part of those who suffered under it impressed me very much.
There is no doubt that, in spite of the good organization of the collective,
there was great deal of suffering connected with such life. The results of
this can be found all around. There is hardly one of these people today who
does not suffer either from tuberculosis, nervousness or some stomach
ailment. The great majority of these men are broken men because of ill
health. However, their bitterness is not
towards the fact that they were put in prison under the dictatorship (or even
before, under the parliamentary Greek regime). The great complaint among
former prisoners is that they were not set free when the Germans and Italians
occupied Greece but were handed over to the invaders. Fortunately for the
exiles, the way things developed it was easy to escape. As soon as the
Germans reached the mainland of Greece all governmental machinery was paralyzed,
and, among [94] others, the
policemen left their posts. Therefore, before the Germans were able to reach
the islands most of the exiles had managed to find means of escape. However,
not all were so lucky and some of them were caught by the enemy. The mainland prisoners, though, were
locked in and the keys were handed to the invader, and some of them are still
in prison although most have been executed in reprisal for acts of sabotage.
A small percentage of them managed to escape, and it was from among these,
together with the escaped exiles, that the first ideas of a liberation
movement came resulting in the formation of EAM in the fall of 1941. October 17, 1944 Yesterday we reached Athens. The
Germans left three days ago and our paths almost crossed somewhere between
Thebes and Athens. The physical aspects of the city are almost the same as
when I left ten years ago; very little has changed. Even war did not leave
much of a mark on this cradle of civilization. The people, rather than the
city, were left scarred by the enemy. The atmosphere of Athens is not the
clean atmosphere of the mountains that we left a few days ago. There is
something here that suffocates, something that affects one’s breath, but I
cannot easily define what it is. Perhaps it is the great scar of war that the
enemy bequeathed to this city. This scar is not on buildings destroyed, it is
not on transportation wrecked: it is in the souls of men. Athens is divided into halves, and
one half hates the other. One half likes EAM, and the other half hopes for
the destruction of EAM. For the present EAM seems the strongest and is
definitely the better organized. The other half is weak both in numbers and
in leadership. But both sides are strong in hate. The weakness of the
anti-EAM half makes it hate more, while the strength of EAM makes it cocky
and sure of itself. In fact, EAM feels its strength so much that it tends to
disregard the strength of the opposition. This morning I saw one of the EAM
chiefs, and observed casually that Athens is not the same as the mountains.
“There is a great deal of opposition here to EAM,” I said. He told me that I
was making the common mistake of not realizing the strength of EAM among the
masses. “The people are with us,” he said. “Don’t be influenced by the weak
but loud opposition of our opponents.” I did not say much more because he
might be more nearly right than I, but I closed my remarks by saying that the
air did not seem clear. And it is true that the air is not clear at all. Many
of my old friends, whom I’ve met since I came yesterday, are anti-EAMites, and they showed me their hatred for EAM. Each
side is passionately convinced that [95]
it is right. It is interesting to see how far the
teachings of Hitler penetrated the minds of people. Most of the anti-EAM
people give you Dr. Goebbels[’] anti-Communist line or a variation of it.
Using this Hitler kept the Greeks, or at least some of the Greeks, on his
side. Now these same Greeks profess undying friendship to the western Allies.
They expect England and America to save them from Communism and the “Slavic
danger,” as they call it. Of course, they brand EAM as wholly Communist. The division of Athens is more or
less a class division, but it is a physical division as well. One can draw a
circle around the center of Athens and say that the inner part is inhabited
by those who hate EAM, while on the outer part live those who love it. The
poor classes are pro-EAM. These are the workers, most of the government
employees, and other salaried people. The wealthy classes in general are
anti-EAM. These are the industrialists, the merchants, people with large
fixed incomes (local or foreign) and most of the army caste. Of course there
are variations in both camps, and one can find rich people with EAM and poor
people with the opposition. Most of the opponents of EAM seem to
have been impressed and at the same time scared by the great EAM
demonstration that took place the day that the Germans left. Anti-EAMites still talk about the “Communists” who paraded
with clenched fists shouting, “Koo-Koo-EEE” (which is a chant formed from the
initial letters of the Communist Party of Greece). These people claim that
the Communist party showed its true colors that day, for it no longer used
EAM as a disguise. The “Nationalists” paraded that day too, but apparently
their parade was not as impressive in numbers or in spirit. Besides, a number
of German collaborators were recognized among the latter, and some episodes
took place when spectators tried to seize and lynch them. The beautiful October weather that we
are enjoying these days conceals the unseen but all-present political
volcanoes that exist in the minds of the people of this beautiful but tragic
city. Even such seasoned observers as my EAM friend cannot see them. They are
here just the same, though, and who knows how things will turn when the
explosion comes. Some of the EAMites don’t see them
because their strength is so great at present that they are prone to
underestimate the strength of their opponents. That is exactly what is
happening to my friend, who probably spends too much time with people of his
own political persuasion, and too little time, or none at all, with the
opposition. [96] Nov. 5, 1944 Why Greeks Become Communists I saw Uncle Nick again today and
heard the usual lecture on what he calls “the Greek problem.” He has talked
to me so much on this topic during the last few months that I am able to
recite his arguments almost verbatim. Whether one likes it or not, it is
worthwhile to listen to what this man says because his arguments explain in a
way why so many people in Greece are Communists, and why the biggest part of
the youthful and most lively section of the country has turned away from the
influence of the West and is looking to the East for its salvation. The whole discussion today started
with my asking why he did not like the British and preferred to have Greece
under the influence of Russia. In summary, the views of this Communist
intellectual are about as follows: “England was never sincerely concerned with
helping Greece, but always interfered in Greek internal affairs in accordance
with British interests. In the process, Greece received some help in the form
of loans that, in the end, had the effect of making the country more
dependent on Britain. “Britain was against the independence
of Greece when the Greek Revolution started in 1821, but later on, because of
the force of events, it too had to get on the bandwagon. When Greece finally
was freed a new British policy started, one which was calculated to keep
Greece small, weak, and in need of protection. Later on the policy of keeping
Greece on bad terms with its neighbors was initiated as part of a greater
plan calculated to keep the whole Balkan peninsula divided. This policy is
still in existence today, and it is the one we try to fight most.” Uncle Nick, who is a very thin man of
almost saintly appearance, is rather advanced in years. An accomplished
linguist, he has been of inestimable value to the leaders of the resistance
movement of his country. The first two years of occupation he worked with the
underground in Athens as editor of an illegal paper. When we got to the
mountains, we found him there doing his usual work of writing, organizing and
speaking, and, with the aid of a crude cane, going from village to village to
carry out his daily tasks. Now Uncle Nick is in Athens working at EAM
Headquarters. His work keeps him busy long hours and I am not able to see him
often, but once in a while we still meet and have a full discussion. Our long
acquaintance has created lasting friendship between the two of us, and the
reserve that usually exists between me and the Communists never separates
Uncle Nick and me. The average Communist in Greece
today, and especially those in leadership, tried to convince non-Communists
that they have nothing [97]
against the British, and that after the war everything is going to turn out
all right. Perhaps these people believe what they say, or perhaps this is the
Communist party line at the present time. In any case, my friend has no
illusions or inhibitions on the subject. He told me outright: “Greece has had
enough of Britain!” This does not mean that he is for a
break with the West, because he realizes the geographic fact of Greece’s
dependence on the sea. However, he thinks that the first factor that any
country, and Greece in particular, should consider is its relations with its
neighbors. “It is like commit[t]ing suicide, if our
relations with the other Balkan countries are bad,” he said. “I am thinking
as a good Greek when I say that the Russian factor in Europe looms bigger for
Greece than any other,” he protested, “not as a Russian puppet.” He went on to say that Russia will
emerge as the strongest country in Europe, and that she will be “sitting on
the neck of Greece” because of her position with the other Balkan countries.
He used the argument that “one can’t be on bad terms with his neighbors and
feel safe and happy.” Then Uncle Nick, who seems very sincere in his
convictions and apparently has thought of the problems of his country for a
long time, went into a discussion of the cultural and educational benefits
that Greece will derive from some kind of a tie with the East. “We are supporting a “Balkan
federation” friendly to Russia”, he said, “in which each country will have
its own demilitarized frontiers, but inside of which goods and people will
move freely. A central government will guarantee unity in internal and
external policies.” Such a federation, he thinks, will end once and for all
disputes among the Balkan states that have made for war in the past. It will
also end meddling by the bigger powers which has always kept the peninsula in
constant turmoil. “We prefer to tie such a federation to Russia,” he
continued, “because we believe the socialist system will create better
economic and social opportunities for the Greek people.” Then he went into specific cases and
examples. He told me that Greece, in her long history, always depended on the
export of men for her livelihood; goods and services were exported too, but
men were the main export of the country. During ancient times Greece created
an empire all around the fringes, of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea
through this export of men. “Strange as it seems, this empire lasted until
the beginning of the First World War.” Greece didn’t always own the territory
of the Eastern Mediterranean, but Greeks lived there, and helped the
motherland economically. Then the Bulgarians and the Rumanians
got nationalistic and chased the Greeks out of the prosperous cities of their
portion of the Black sea and [98] Danubian Basin; Russia had its Bolshevic
Revolution and the Greek element there disintegrated. The Turks, after 1914
and before 1922, completed the destruction and uprooting of two million
Greeks from Asia Minor. Then all these people came to live on a small poor
and mountainous country. The result? Starvation! “What did the Western powers do to
help Greece after the First World War?” my friend asked in an excited manner.
“Examine the record: the United States clamped down on immigration and put
high tariffs on Greece’s exports of dry fruits, tobacco, and olive oil.”
Then, Uncle Nick took on his favorite subject, the British Empire! “Our great
friends and allies, the British, what did they do to make life livable for
the country, which during the First World War tore itself apart and divided
itself in order to join England in her war against the central powers?
Britain too shut her door to the immigration of Greeks, and instituted a
system of high tariffs.” He went on to say that the British, with their great
empire, should have tried to help their friends and allies. “Why should there
be empty spaces in Australia and in Canada when there are starving people in
Europe? That is not ethical. But some of these countries with great empty
spaces have received the scare of their lives during this war because of the
Japanese expansion. Australia for instance, received a scare that wouldn’t
have occurred if that country had a population of thirty million instead of
six. But these countries that have the territory institute “selective”
immigration laws and treat human beings as “desirable” and “undesirable.” And
then they complain about the radicalism of the undesirables, who go on
starving. “Greece and other poor countries
don’t need loans or grants of money, which act as weak shots in the arm. They
need a more just world to live in, a world in which differences in
nationality, race, or religion will not be a disadvantage. They need a world
in which opportunities will be equal for all people regardless of their
origin and background. And the world needs a better economic system, one
which will guarantee every man a job, and not one that is marked only with
the alternatives of prosperity or starvation. Then the world won’t have
radicals, and I won’t be looking to Russia for the uplifting of my country.
Russia and this Balkan federation will give us benefits that we do not enjoy
as a nation at the present time.” He said he hoped that the greatest
problem that plagues the nation, next to the economic one, would be solved by
this new orientation. This is the problem of Greek youth, who grow up
aimlessly and without opportunities for the future. The problem, as he sees
it, is an especially hopeless one for the educated young people of the
country. Greece is too small to provide a really good education, and it is
too poor to give its educated people a decent living. That is why everyone is
looking for a government job, and everybody is starving at the same time. [99] “There is not enough room to grow in
Greece,” as Uncle Nick put it. The word “grow,” as he explained, was used in
an intellectual sense rather than economic. He went on to explain how talent
is being stifled. “Even if a young man shows promise, he has no opportunity
to advance and there comes a day in his life when he finds himself
middle-aged and broken in spirit, without having accomplished anything. His
struggle for existence has consumed so much of his life and energy that he
never had any opportunity to exercise his most elementary functions as a
human being. He has not created a family; he is not even married. “In Athens,” he continued, “you find
so many people that never work for a living! They live by their wits, as the
American expression has it.” He said the last phrase in English, which he
knows remarkably well for a man that took only short trips abroad. “These
people are unproductive today, but if they had the opportunity they would be
among the leaders of society. The fact that they manage to live without
working shows that they are intelligent. As young people, all of them
probably had dreams that remained unfulfilled, and became frustrated in the
things they loved to do. Then they developed into loafers because being
intelligent was the easiest thing for them to do. That is one example of the
decay of the Greek youth.” He thinks that the connection with
Russia will solve the economic problem and the youth problem of Greece. The
country will become part of the greater socialist economy, and a market for
her products will be assured as well as work for her people. Culturally
Greece wil[l] remain a unique entity, he thinks,
because of the strength of her culture, but will also be part of the greater
socialist civilization. “There will not be any reason for her youth to decay
because the new good blood of the country will have a great continent to
conquer. The Greeks, who are an intelligent and ambitious people, will
satisfy all their cravings for greater freedom and opportunity, which will be
afforded to them as citizens of a world where no passports or economic
barriers will limit their activities. “The Greeks lived and prospered in
the past during the Turkish empire among people of many nationalities. Under
this oppressive foreign yoke they became ministers of state, navy ministers,
and seal keepers. They were appointed prince-governors of principalities, and
ruled the economic life of the empire! Why should the Greeks be afraid of
Bolshevik Russia, when a more oppressive Russian regime of the past elevated
them to the highest positions, among them that of foreign minister?” The
Communists, my friend thinks, have devised the best policy for minorities
that exists today; and “the Russian character is much more tolerant of
foreigners than that of the Anglo-Saxons.” I pointed out to my friend that
through this cultural freedom he speaks of and likes so much, Greece is sure
to disappear soon as cultural entity and [100] be absorbed into the greater Russian cultural development.
He had his answer ready for this one, too. He has faith in Greek culture, he
said, and thinks it would outlast the culture of all other small nations, at
least. “But,” he added thoughtfully, “the world is moving toward a cultural
unity in which all great cultures will make their contributions. Greece has
already left her mark on the culture of the world, and even when Greece
disappears as a nation she will be remembered forever.” Uncle Nick spoke the following
phrase, which closed our conversation for the day, with great emphasis. He
uttered his words slowly and with an apparent touch of emotion. “Whether we
like it or not,” he said, “the world is being unified at this moment at an
accelerated pace. Economic factors and our mechanical progress are taking
care of world unity. Let us not worry too much about that; instead let us try
to better the lot of the common people, keeping in mind that the desire for
bread is stronger than the desire for the maintenance of culture!” November 17, 1944 Yesterday I managed to get a room at
a hotel. It is not easy to get a room in Athens these days because every room
in every building is taken either by British army personnel or by Greeks
returning from the Middle East. Besides, Athens is now full of refugees,
persons who have flocked into the big cities during the occupation in order
to avoid persecution or to take advantage of the more even distribution of
Red Cross food, which is being given out free to all people. It is estimated
that at this time Athens has double its pre-war population, and this has
created a terrific housing problem. An opportunity to get a room came
when I met some old friends that work in this hotel, fellow workers with whom
I had worked at the old Hotel d’Angleterre years
ago. These people were happy to see me. They had lost track of me, but they
knew that since I had left them I had attended school for many years and had
been staying in America. Now they feel very proud that one of their own
managed to get out of the drabness of hotel work in Greece, and had returned
to Greece with the liberating armies as an American officer. So these friends
worked fast, and within a few days accomplished the impossible and got a room
for their former colleague. It is amusing to see how these
fellows treat me now. The seventeen years that have elapsed since the time I
left my hotel job have severed ties of intimacy between us; rather, they feel
somewhat strange with me. Their attitude is not the old chummy one, but one
of respect. They treat me with the respect they have been trained to treat
the customers they serve, to the point that once in a while someone forgets
and uses the word “mister” in [101]
addressing me. I have tried to cut through that reserve and show them that
there is no actual change in me since leaving their ranks but I suppose that
is impossible. Hotel people in Greece have been trained to highly respect
those they serve. There is always a “master-slave” relationship apparent, and
the “servant” always looks up to the “master.” That is the spirit I hated most when
I first started working at the Hotel d’Angleterre
at the tender age of thirteen, and it was my unwillingness to accept a
secondary position that finally made me decide to get out of that type of
work five years later. The present attitude of my friends reminds me of a
lecture that was given me on the subject by one of the older employees when I
first entered hotel work as bellhop. I got mad one day at being unjustly
treated by one of the patrons and I expressed my indignation to one of my
colleagues, who was old and subdued by that time. “Keep always in mind that
he is the master, and you are the slave,” he admonished me. “He can say only
one word,” he continued, “and you will lose your job, and then you and your
family will suffer.” I hated the words he uttered but
accepted his advice because in a way he was right—I could have lost my job,
and I needed it so much! Apparently this spirit still exists among at least
the older hotel employees in Athens today, and is why my friends treat me as
if I never had been one of them. It has also impressed me to realize
that some of the hotel employees are anti-EAM. George, who was my closest
friend in the old days, is particularly vociferous in his anti-EAM feelings.
He feels that EAM is a communistic organization, and that the British should
help to suppress it altogether. Petros, who is a
very cunning fellow, is less anti-EAM; that is, he is anti- EAM in the open,
but when he talks privately he recognizes many of the real contributions of
the resistance movement. As I found out, Petros is
one of the officials of the rightist faction that controls his union at the
present time, and his caution is due to his desire to be re-elected in the
future. The overwhelming majority of the
Greek workers is of course pro-EAM, and the attitude of my friends seems out
of step with the general trend. It can be explained by their training to be
submissive, and also by the influence of the people they serve. This is a
more or less high-class hotel, and the people that lived here during the
occupation were enemy officers and civilian personnel, Greek black marketeers that could pay the price, and some of the
wealthy landowners from the provinces, whom the EAM had chased out in order
to distribute their estates to the villagers. All these people hate the EAM
with all the force of their hearts. At the present time they don’t express
their sentiments, but during the Occupation they had plenty of opportunity to
spread propaganda among the hotel employees. Apropos of George’s present attitude
I am reminded of an incident that took place many years ago. When he found
out that I had joined the Hotel [102]
Employees Union he took me aside and told me that I had made a bad mistake. I
must have been less than fifteen then and he more than twenty-five, so he
gave me fatherly advice. “When the owner finds out about this,” he said, “you
will lose your job.” I kept my union card against my
friend’s advice because other fellow workers had convinced me that it was the
only way to fight for better conditions, better food, a cut in our
fifteen-hour stretch of daily work, and for the always promised but never
given weekly day off. George, who is a good man but always cautious and never
original in his thinking, still has the same job he had twenty years ago. He makes
even less money now than he did then because this hotel is not as high-class
as the one he worked at before, and because the “masters” are not as free
with their money. December 3, 1944 Eighteen people died in front of my
eyes today; many more were wounded. I am trying to write what I saw, but
don’t seem to be able to collect my thoughts. How shall I start? I saw people coming in formation with
their banners—Greek, American, British, and Russian flags—in the front. It
was a huge line but the people were orderly, singing guerrilla songs and
shouting slogans. Coming west on University Street, they tried to enter
Constitution Square by turning left on Othonos
Street. The police stopped them. The huge line started moving again, trying
to get into the square by going down the steps that lead from the Monument of
the Unknown Soldier. The police stopped them again but the people started
marching once more. We were on the second floor balcony
of the Hotel Grand Bretagne. George had virtually pulled me up there just
before the demonstrators reached us. We had been in the square watching the
people and looking at the British soldiers that were amassed with
considerable tank force. “Let us get out of here,” George
said, sensing that danger was approaching. I didn’t want to go, but George
was insistent. I said that if anything happened, I wanted to be in the middle
of it. George had a better idea. “From the hotel,” he said, “we will be able
to see everything, while if we stay in the square we are apt to see nothing,
besides getting shot at.” The long and wide balcony of the
second floor at the Grand Bretagne was crowded with people who came to see
the show, mostly American and British officers, and UNRRA personnel. There
were a few Greeks, too, wealthy patrons of the swanky hotel. Everybody was
apprehensive. The demonstration had been forbidden last night, although
permission had been granted earlier. The police were in full force, sporting
new British rifles and sub-machine guns for the first time. Also, there were
British tanks and [103] armored
cars all around. The first tank at the curb in front of us had a man standing
in its open turret in constant telephone communication with HQ, reporting the
happenings. The front of the demonstration had reached
our end of the square, and as I looked carefully, I heard its leaders arguing
with the police only fifty feet away from where we stood. We tried to follow
the argument, which was being carried on in high tones but did not seem
exceptional under the circumstances. The demonstrators were pressing to enter
the square, but no scuffle of any kind developed. Suddenly an order to “fall back” was
given in a shrill military tone, (and all policemen withdrew about fifty
feet, fell on their knees, and started shooting! The shooting was heavy. Two
hundred policemen were firing, the majority with automatic weapons. The crowd left our large balcony in a
hurry and few of us remained there to watch the happenings. We had a full
view and could move around freely now. We ran around from place to place in
order to get the best view, thinking that the police were firing in the air
just to scare the demonstrators. But one of us happened to look at the
policeman who was kneeling a few feet from us, and called to the others, “He
is firing straight into the crowd!” Then we looked more carefully and saw
blood. A kid of about fifteen was lying just ahead with a red pool around
him; a girl of twenty was bleeding a little further down. “We had better take cover!” someone
shouted, “These people are being shot at, and someone from the crowd might
get crazed and shoot at our shining uniforms!” We followed this constructive
piece of advice and, although we stayed on the balcony, tried to keep
ourselves covered by staying behind the thick square columns. By this time
only seven persons were left on the balcony: six American officers and one
Greek newspaperman. Ten minutes after the shooting
started, a bomb exploded in the empty space between the crowd and the police.
Who threw it? All of us on the balcony got together and tried to decide. The
bomb was not a big one and did not do any damage to either side, but left a
dark mark on the asphalt. Since none of us saw the bomb thrown we decided
that it had not come from the crowd, because it was the crowd that we were
watching. (The police were at our left and we would have had to risk getting
out from cover to look at them.) Besides, no one had seen anybody from the
crowd firing. There was one consoling thought in my
mind today in watching this ordeal, and that was the behavior of the crowd.
It made me feel proud to be of the same blood as those people. When the
shooting started the crowd remained immobile for a moment as if stunned by
the blow, and then it fell to the ground. In certain places the crowd was
thick, people having fallen on one another in a pile. [104] As the shooting continued, and with
the realization that some among them were being wounded, people started
spreading out. The space was wide, though, and cover was diff[i]cult to find. Some ran behind the thick stone blocks of
the Unknown Soldier Monument; others fell down, wounded in the attempt. Still
others tried to jump down into the garden of Consti[t]ution Square, which is about twenty feet below at this
point, and had to pass first through an iron railing to do so. But most of
the crowd stayed where it was, and was still there when the shooting
subsided. Then, after almost twenty minutes of incessant heavy shooting there
was a lull and the crowd ran for cover. Some trigger-happy policemen could
not stop firing even then, and took potshots at the fleeing people. When University Street was cleared,
we could see only the dead and the wounded. Corpses were strewn all over and
pools of blood remained where wounded had been helped away by friends. People
ran back to the broad avenue like crazy to look for lost friends, and the
policemen fired at them too. A young girl rushed up the broad marble steps
leading up from Constitution Square and was stopped in the middle of
University Street by the body of a young man who could move no more. She
stayed there for a long time hugging and kissing the lifeless body. Blood and
dirt soiled her light colored dress. The shooting continued in an
intermittent manner although only the wounded remained on the avenue. Friends
and relatives stood on the fringes pleading with the police to be allowed to
look after their dear ones. A half hour after the shooting
started, we left our big balcony and went to the other side of the building
from where we could better watch the actions of the police. There we saw an
American correspondent, who originally was among the crowd, pleading with the
police officers to stop the shooting. It was obvious that he was having no
success. Then he took a British major with him and entered police HQ on the
other side of the street. A few minutes later an officer came out and gave
the cease-fire order. An hour had gone by since the
shooting started, but people did not leave the scene of action. They had
emptied University Street, but stood by in the surrounding streets and in
Constitution Square. The British soldiers had stayed in their tanks,
reporting to HQ, but had not participated in the melee. When the shooting
ceased, the tanks started moving. They left our corner and went into the
square. The crowd, for some unknown reason, or perhaps as a gesture of
disapproval of the police behavior, started cheering the British soldiers,
and the sound of clapping hands filled the air as the tanks moved toward the
square with their turrets open. Then, someone from the crowd
recognized our American uniforms on the hotel balcony and started cheering at
us. The crowd picked up the cheer [105]
and a peculiar chorus of “Roosevelt, Roosevelt” came from the people,
accompanied by loud and prolonged clapping. All of us felt ashamed to be
treated thus during such a terrible occasion, and did not know what to do. “To the square, to the square!” the
leaders of the crowd started calling. There was no more shooting, and the
people started towards Constitution Square in an orderly manner. As they
moved, touching scenes of love and devotion unfolded before our eyes. The
dead and the wounded had been taken away and only pools of blood remained to
remind people of what had taken place a few minutes before. Crowds of young people stopped at the
pools of blood, and reactions varied with individual emotions: some cried,
some crossed themselves, others vowed revenge. A large crowd gathered at a
pool near our balcony where a girl had been crying for some time. She was a
friend of the girl whose spilled blood she was trying to protect. Friends
tried to take her away but she refused to move. Finally, some of the people
started cutting branches from the trees around and placed them on top of the
blood. Then a makeshift cross was fashioned of two small stems and was placed
on top of the branches that formed the make-believe grave. When I passed by
two hours later the branches were still covering the blood, and the makeshift
cross was still there to remind of a young girl who had died in vain. We got down from our balcony and I
left George, who had had enough by this time and wanted to get away. I went
into the square, where a huge crowd had gathered. The signal to kneel was
given and everybody fell on their knees. Then a moving dirge was sung, the
words of which caused shivers to run down my spine. “We mourn you brothers
and sisters, in a worthy cause you fell ....” I stayed a while in the square and
heard some of the speeches, but soon felt restless and left. Going up Kifissia Boulevard I saw a Greek friend and stopped to
say hello. “Meet policeman Demetrios,”
my friend said, and I shook hands with a man of about thirty-five in civilian
clothes. “Why in civilian clothes today of all
days?” I asked in amazement. “Tell the man your story,” my friend prodded
him, “He is an American officer and should know what happened.” The policeman said he was known in
the force to be pro-EAM, and that he and all other pro-EAM elements had been
given leave for the last two days while the rest were being instructed in the
use of new British automatic weapons, and in how to deal with the
demonstration. In place of the pro-EAM policemen, new and trusted ones had
been taken in lately. The speeches at the square ended soon and large
peaceful marches formed in the main streets going in all directions. One such
demonstration overtook me on Kifissia Boulevard and
I followed until it reached the [106]
American Embassy. There the crowd stopped behind its large array of allied
flags among which the Stars and Stripes predominated, and shouts of “Long
Live America” and “Roosevelt, Roosevelt” were repeated for a long time. Then I went further north and saw a
large force of police in front of the home of Premier Papandreou. I had
already heard that some shooting had taken place there and wanted to
investigate. An American newspaperman had joined me and both of us made a
try. On the sidewalk in front of the house one could see the markings of an
exploded bomb. We asked the police officer what had happened. A demonstrator
had had the bomb in his hand, we were told, ready to throw it inside the
house, but it had exploded suddenly and killed him instead. Another
demonstrator was killed in the shooting that followed. “He is telling lies,” a man who
recognized us as Americans called out from the crowd. “No demonstrator threw
any bomb. The police threw the bomb, and the police killed the other man too.
I was here when it happened.” The police officer was furious. He ordered the
place cleared of the crowd and told us firmly to get away too. Such was my eventful day. I came back
to the office and tried to write my report, but I could not work on it.
Fortunately, late in the afternoon all of us that had witnessed the events
were instructed to write a collective report instead of separate ones. This
saved me from great trouble and anxiety. With minor exceptions in details all
of us agreed on what we saw, and came to almost identical conclusions about
the happenings. The only disagreement that arose in writing the report was in
regard to the length of time that the heavy shooting had lasted. Some thought
it had lasted for a long time, and others only a few minutes. Nobody had
looked at his watch! In the end we took a middle course and decided that the
intensive shooting had lasted twenty minutes, which is probably correct. What a day! December 22, 1944 These are undoubtedly the most
terrible days of my life. As I write this, 75 mm guns mounted on
American-made tanks are firing against homes five blocks up this street. Airplanes
are bombing and strafing the workers’ districts surrounding the city. It is a
terrible situation and a most terrible Christmas for all of us here. This is
something the people of Athens never bargained for, and definitely never
expected. This morning we listened in at the
office to the BBC from London. It said that planes were patrolling Athens
yesterday in order to draw fire from [107]
below and then try to silence the firing guns. “No incidents occurred,” the
announcer said. However, what we saw with our own eyes yesterday when “no
incidents occurred” was a very different story. From the roof of this
building as well as from one of the rooms of the Grande Bretagne Hotel we saw
planes swooping from the sky, bombing and strafing the suburbs of this city! Also, I visited an apartment house
yesterday where a friend of mine lived, which had been hit by tank fire
fifteen minutes before. When I arrived the front part of the house did not
exist anymore and the surviving inhabitants were trying to evacuate in a
hurry, leaving behind them all their earthly possessions and only taking food
provisions that they had. The little daughter of my friend, panic-stricken,
was clutching the dress of her mother in terror. I have been full of idealism about
this war so far, but I am losing it fast lately. In fact, I am getting very
pessimistic about the result of the war, and the ideals we are fighting for.
We have been led to believe that we are fighting for freedom and democracy,
but the last few days make me think that we are fighting to make the world
safe for fascism and imperialism. I hope that people in the States get
the facts of the Greek situation and don’t get confused by propaganda from
the other side. Once the people at home know what is happening over here things
will change, because they will demand change. The people are always on the
side of right, but the truth is always late in reaching the people and
sometimes does not reach them at all. December 25, 1944 Three of our men were involved in an
incident last night: one was killed, one was wounded, and another escaped
unharmed. There was no good reason for the tragedy, and the one that got
killed died for no reason at all. The wounded one received the Purple Heart,
but there was no reason for his wounds either. The story behind the tragedy
is a silly one, but it reveals certain weaknesses in our unit that should not
exist. The boys had gotten drunk at our
Christmas Eve party and felt big enough and important enough to try to stop
the civil war. It is not yet clear whose idea it was originally, but what
they started out to do was to bring together the British and the guerrillas
who are fighting each other all over Athens. The strong drinks served at the
party helped hatch the idea, and the instigators thought that the same drinks
could be used for the moral cause of trying to make friends out of mortal
enemies. It was a crazy plan, which only could
have been developed under the influence of liquor. But even liquor should not
have been enough of an excuse [108]
for the attempt to put the plan into action. The trouble is that the civil
war, although only two blocks away at its nearest point, has not actually
affected our men and seems like a[n] unreal dream to most of them. If we had
any feeling for what is going on outside, we wouldn’t have had this party.
Even if someone was silly enough to ask for a party, as actually happened,
our commanding officer should not have given permission for it to take place. Actually, though, we don’t know what
is going on outside. We stay cooped up in this big house doing very little,
waiting for breakfast, lunch and supper to break the monotony of our
existence. Of course, we don’t take sides in the fight, but at the same time
we have no opportunity to see the misery, death and destruction it has
brought. We hear the shooting, but not seeing the results causes a 4th
of July sort of feeling in some of us. We see British planes dive to strafe
the suburbs, but again we see no blood spilled to arouse our feelings. This is the reason why the shooting
that has been taking place on Solonos and Tricoupi Streets for the last three weeks seemed unreal
to our men last night. Solonos Street has been a
no-man’s land for some time, and people get shot at in crossing it. There is
a lull at times in the fighting and some people dare the crossing, but even
then they run for dear life. That is exactly what happened to me a few days
ago—the shooting was intermittent and I had to cross fast because bullets
were whizzing by on either side. In accordance with the orders of our
commander, the three men had almost never ventured outside. It was to Solonos
Street that our three “Good Samaritans” started going last night. Feeling
high, they walked slowly toward their destination. On the way, crossing the
small blocks, they met some Greek government soldiers and extended an
invitation to join the American party. Further up the block they met two
British officers chatting with a woman in the dark and invited them too. The
only thing they needed now were some guerrillas to complete their list, and
they moved towards Solonos Street where they knew
they could get them. A British detachment separated them
from their destination, but that obstacle wouldn’t be difficult to overcome,
they thought. The British Tommies aren’t bad
fellows, they reasoned; and when they hear what the Americans want they’ll
cooperate. Our boys, of course, will guarantee to bring the guerrillas back
to where they got them, after the party is over and all that. A sort of
truce, you know! Everything will work well and everybody will be happier in
the end for having done a good deed. Suddenly a sharp “Halt!” was heard
piercing the darkness on the corner and at the same instant a burst of
automatic fire hit the three moving targets. All three fell on the sidewalk,
and someone started calling, “Americans! Americans!” at the top of his voice.
Nobody heard the call, [109]
because the shooting continued. One of the men, the one farthest from the
point where the fire was coming, managed to creep toward a basement door and
was unharmed. From there he could hear the other two moaning, but as long as
the shooting continued he could not move to help his comrades. At last the
British guard, satisfied that he had exterminated the “enemy,” ceased firing
and, realizing that the people spoke English, went toward them to
investigate. That is the end of the silly affair,
and that was the end of the “happy” party. That is how John lost his life and
Harry went to the hospital. There was no reason at all for this tragedy except
the superficiality of some people, whose laxity and lack of understanding of
the real situation let this thing happen. December 28, 1944 Our Christmas Eve party, in addition
to its tragic effects, had its funny moments and its interesting sidelights
due to the participation of some Greek school girls at the party and my
meeting two Greek government soldiers, whom I was able to pump for important
and interesting information. The girls are boarders of the
Catholic school opposite our office building. To kill time during dull
moments, most of us carry on some kind of daily conversation across the
street. While the party was being organized somebody came up with the
suggestion that the girls be invited, and all agreed happily with the idea. When these girls entered our hall the
other night, chaperoned by their nun teachers, we led them to the far end of
the room where a large bowl of eggnog was to be found. The drink was really
strong, made of brandy, whiskey, and lots of gin. Sugar, canned milk, and beaten
eggs made it easy on the palate. The girls congregated around the large bowl
and we filled tall glasses for them. They protested that they didn’t want any
drinks, but this was no liquor, it was just “milk from American cows”
somebody said, and we left it at that! The girls drank the first glassfuls
quickly, and most of them took second helpings. Within fifteen minutes every
one of them was sitting dazed on the chairs at the periphery of the hall,
wondering what there could be in this “American milk” that cause such strong
effects! Constant shooting could be heard two
blocks away. As the party progressed, what some of us thought were uninvited
guests started infiltrating our gathering. First, some British officers and
their girlfriends came in. Later, I noticed two Greek soldiers being
entertained with eggnog by one of our radio operators, who was trying to make
himself understood with his limited Greek and the use of sign language. [110] I was curious to find out how these
people managed to come in, and went toward them to investigate. With a
friendly “hello” and a pat on the back I welcomed them to the jolly American
atmosphere, and politely asked how they happened to be there. They had been
on guard outside the building, they said, when some of our men had invited
them to join the party. In the course of conversation, after expressing their
delight at being with Americans, they spoke of their hate for the ELAS, whom
they called “Bulgars” and “Communists.” As they
went on in this vain, one of the soldiers mentioned that he had been fighting
the Communists for a long time. This aroused my curiosity, and I asked this
newly-acquired friend in what capacity he had been fighting Communists
before. The obvious answer came without hesitation; the man was a former member
in the quisling Security Battalions. This revelation was a welcome and
delightful surprise for me. From the point of view of a spy, I had hit on a
gold mine. For days our office had been interested in finding out if the
accusations that the British were using former quislings to fight on their
side against the ELAS were correct. Highly-placed British spokesmen in Athens
and in London (including Eden and Churchill), had denied vehemently that such
accusations could be true, but the accusations persisted and we were curious
to find out. Noticing that the most talkative of
the two soldiers had no taste for eggnog, I offered him whiskey and took him
into the kitchen with me and a half-full bottle. Things were getting
interesting, and I wanted to try to get as much out of this man as possible.
Using words of admiration for the “splendid” work of the Security Battalions,
I prodded my man to tell me more of his recent and past activities while
pouring more whiskey into his glass. “How did you manage to be fighting
the ELAS in British uniforms and with British weapons, when these same people
had branded the Security Battalions as quislings and ordered all of you
placed in confinement?” I asked. On the second and third day after the
start of the fighting, the soldier said in low tones with his comrade nodding
agreement, British military trucks, closed with canvas on the top and on the
sides and manned by British soldiers, went to their barracks, ordered the men
into the trucks, and took them to the back door of the old palace. There they
were issued new uniforms, given new weapons, and put into action fighting the
ELAS guerrillas. “If the British wanted you to fight
on their side, how do you account for the fact that
they made you prisoners as soon as they came into Greece?” I asked. “Things were not as bad as they
looked,” he retorted with a knowing [111]
smile. “The British never kept us prisoners. What they did was necessary and
for our own good. There was feeling against us after liberation, and the only
way to protect us from the mobs was to put us in confinement.” He went on to
say that it was not safe for a member of the Security Battalions to walk the
streets at that time, and that the few that had left and gone home came right
back to ask for the protection of “confinement” because their lives were in
danger. “We were not prisoners,” he
protested. Those who wanted could leave for good, or, they could change into
civilian clothes and got out for the day. “Our relations with the British
guards were excellent. We played soccer together, and they gave us cigarettes
and chocolate all the time.” Time and again during our long
conversation, these two men told me that the British were their friends and
were backing the work of the Security Battalions. They were told this
repeatedly by their commanding officers. When the time of dissolution of the
Security Battalions came about two months ago, the units that were in Athens
were ordered into a large training field behind their barracks, where the
commander made his farewell speech. As he had told them in the past, he said,
“you are not going to be let down.” They had to give up their arms as a
temporary expedient, which was necessary because the situation demanded it at
the time. Next to the commander stood a British officer nodding approval to
his words. Finally, the men were asked to place their arms at one end of the
field, and appointed details took them away to store them in the same
building where the men slept. The confession of these two quislings
went beyond the established fact of their participation in the present civil
war under British auspices. It went further back, to the establishment of the
Security Battalions, the responsibility for their formation, and to the use
of these units by the British during the occupation. The EAM, on a number of occasions,
has claimed that the quisling formations were basically instigated and backed
by the British, and my conclusion is that there is a great deal of truth in
that claim. Of course it is not easy to prove such an accusation and the
British deny it vehemently, but nobody expects them to admit it. Let us
examine some facts, though, which point to some general conclusions on this
subject. General Napoleon Zervas,
head of the EDES, is the acknowledged number one man of the British in
Greece, and he has always had dealings, secret and otherwise, with the
quislings that fought on the side of the Germans. His latest achievement was
collaboration with the quisling battalions on the island of Leukas for the purpose of denying control of the island
to the ELAS, under whose jurisdiction the island had been placed in the
Caserta Agreement (which was signed just before the liberation of Greece by
the [112] British, the ELAS, and
the EDES). An American OSS agent, who
participated in the surrender negotiations between the ELAS guerrillas and a
section of the local Security Battalions, told me that on a number of
occasions the quislings made references to past agreements between themselves
and the British as to the role that they would play after liberation. This,
according to their claims, was in accordance with previous British
instructions that stated that they were supposed to keep their arms and not
surrender to the ELAS guerrillas. These instructions to the quislings
from the British in Greece first came to my attention through EAM sources
last August. I forwarded the information to Cairo without comment because I
was doubtful as to its truthfulness, but my OSS colleague verified it. He
even told me of letters sent by the quislings, which he had had to translate
for his British colleagues, complaining that the British had not kept their
word as to promises made in the past to the Security Battalions. Another man working with the British
is General Stylianos Gonatas.
Before 1943, during the days when little information was getting out of
Greece (and whatever was getting out was British controlled), he was
advertised as the head of the Greek underground. Such a title could never
have been claimed for Gonatas with justice. The
facts place him in another camp; his dealings with the quislings, and
especially with the last quisling government of John Rallis, are well known. Well known also is the fact that he diverted many
officers from joining the guerrillas, and led them into joining the Security
Battalions. At the present time Gonatas is under
the protection of the British, staying at the Hotel Grand Bretagne, which is
a second British General Headquarters in Greece. He has been there since the
recent troubles started, and there is no doubt about who must have tipped him
off as to the danger to his life. British instructions to the quislings
all over Greece, to keep their arms after the Germans went away and not to
surrender to the ELAS, were part of their plan to get control of Greece after
liberation, and came as a result of their fear that EAM-ELAS was planning to
take control of the government of the country. EAM-ELAS did not press for
control of Greece, however, and agreed to participate in the national unity
government together with the government-in-exile. Although the British were
proved wrong in this matter, they used Premier George Papandreou as their
tool and went on with their further aim of trying to nullify any vestige of
power that remained in EAM hands. By trying to push into a corner this
powerful popular movement, the British and their rightist Greek allies
brought about the present civil war, for which they are responsible since it
was from their side that the first shots were fired and blood was spilled. [113] January 30, 1945 It was dark when we entered the local
coffeehouse looking for something to eat. By that time we had already found a
room in a small hotel, and a garage for our jeep. Our arrival had been
heralded all around the village and the people in the coffeehouse must have
been talking about us, because the minute we entered, the animated
conversation that we had heard from outside stopped as if it had been cut
with a knife. We sat down at a table in total silence. Nobody talked, and all
were listening attentively to hear what we were going to say. We called the
waiter, and asked for food. He had nothing, he said, but could get some eggs
for us. So we ordered eggs, and gave him some pork rations that we had with
us to cook with them. The coffeehouse was packed full of
people, and everyone was looking at us. Both of us were dressed in our
American uniforms with the American flag on our left sleeve, but we both
spoke Greek and that made the local people very suspicious. Slowly and quietly
they started to talk among themselves in small groups. Atalanti
was very jittery these days, and many rumors were flying. The British had
passed through a few days ago chasing the guerrillas as they were fleeing
north: a skirmish had been fought a few miles outside of town, and the antartes blew
up two armored cars and took some British prisoners. So the question must
have been in the minds of all these people: “For whom are these two spying,
for the British or the guerrillas?” Then a brilliant idea came to my mind. “Waiter!” I called in a loud voice,
so as to be heard by everybody. “Give wine to all in the house.” Then real
conversation started, and they lost all restraint. “Who are you?” “What are you doing in
our town just after the civil war?” people asked. We answered that we were Americans
going to Larissa to find out about some American personnel in guerrilla
territory. Then added that we were in Greece as observers, and that we were
favoring neither side in Greece’s internal troubles; that American interests
were not involved in Greece’s fight, so Americans were neutral. Little by little, and with the help
of the wine, we lost fear of each other and my questions were answered
promptly and frankly. They said that there were no British or ELAS troops in
the village, but that the local EAM organization was still functioning. The
only existing authority at present was the “citizens’ police.” Most of the
people in the village were supporters of EAM, everyone acknowledged; those in
the coffeehouse blamed the Greek Right and the British for the civil war. The mayor, they said, is pro-EAM,
although he is the same man that [114]
was mayor under the Germans. This, they explained, is with EAM knowledge and
permission. That is the story of Atalanti, just after the civil war—not very important,
but interesting. It is different from places like Athens where people were
directly affected by the civil war, where the Right is in full power and one
does not know how to find out about public opinion. The people here still
feel free to talk and express their feelings about the important questions of
the day. That is they still felt free today. But will they feel free tomorrow
when the British and Greek government troops come to occupy their city?
Something tells me that today was the last day Atalanti
was free, and that her freedom will be lost for a long time to come. Mid-February 1945 Ares
Velouhiotis By the time I met Ares Velouhiotis, in February 1945, I had heard so much about the
leader of the Greek guerrillas that the man had become a kind of legend in my
imagination. First I had read the stories that British propaganda circulated
around the Allied world, some of them painting Ares as a sadist and a
criminal. Later, after entering Greece, I k[n]ew a
number of people who had served with Ares at different periods of his career,
and they spoke highly of the “The Leader.” In particular it was Pavlos, my young guerrilla escort, who gave me an insight
into Ares’ character. Pavlos joined the guerrillas
at the age of eighteen, when Ares could claim only twenty-three men under
him, he had a great deal of firsthand information to give me. Besides, he was
simple and straightforward, and the picture he presented was never a flowery
one. But Pavlos needed questions to help him talk,
and even then, his answers were not given readily because he had never
bothered to think about many things. The picture of Ares that emerged from
these conversations with Pavlos and other people
was that of a brilliant leader and a very intelligent man; a man who could be
harsh or soft, according to the requirements of the moment; a man who could
drink enough to get drunk, but who could also stay away from wine and even
from food for many days at a time; a man who considered himself part of the
group rather than acting the part of a leader. His dress and food was not
different from that of his men. Ares set harsh rules for his men and himself
to follow, and that was the single factor most responsible for the creation
of a great army. The weak ones left Ares within a few days, but the strong
stayed and their example was followed by others, until he commanded
thousands. Ares’ rules forbade stealing,
relations with the enemy, and sexual [115]
relations with any woman except one’s wife. The argument was that once these
rules were broken, there could be no guerrilla movement in the country. My
experience proved to me time and again how important these simple rules were,
and how they helped to bind the guerrillas together and gain for them the
respect and the love of the people. Pavlos told me one story of a guerilla who
“slept” with a village girl while quartered in her father’s home. The
guerrilla was a handsome man, and the girl went crazy over him. Unusual as it
seems for Greek manners, it was proved that the guerrilla had not forced
himself on the girl but that she had crawled into his bed in the middle of
the night. In accordance with the rules that Ares had set for his group,
there was a court-martial composed of all the men to try the offender. His
comrades found the guerrilla guilty, not of rape (because it was admitted
that the girl was largely responsible), but of disobeying the code of the
guerrillas. Soteres, a guerrilla with whom we travelled
once for about ten days, told me another story, concerning a guerrilla who
was tried and executed by his own squad for stealing a chicken from an old
woman and eating it. “The woman, although poor, with only one other chicken
as her sole possession, came and pleaded for the boy,” Soteres
said, “but rules are rules. What is more important is our struggle, and we
cannot afford to have weak people in our midst.” These severe rules of Ares created a
new and strong generation of Greeks, a generation of idealists with strong
character and high morality. One heard amazing stories in the villages,
stories of young boys and girls working and fighting and sleeping together,
without any complaint of immoral conduct. This is more impressive because it
was taking place in Greece, where the sexes have always been kept apart, and
where young people ordinarily look for an opportunity to get out of bounds. One of the great achievements of Ares
was the doing away with rustling and with general robbery in the countryside.
The great famine of 1941 had demoralized the Greeks and brought out the bad
instincts in every man. Ares preached a four-point program: war against
traitors; war against black marketeers; war against
rustlers and thieves, and war against women who befriended the enemy. It is
not superficial to say that his program saved the country, for it saved
Greece both morally and physically. It helped materially in the struggle for
survival by reducing robbery and the excessive prices of the black market,
and it contributed to the moral elevation of the weak elements in the
population that poverty and famine had led into collaboration, traitorous
acts, and prostitution. Ares was by no means an angel. Those
who accuse him of past misdemeanors are right in their accusations, to some
degree. Once a woman acquaintance showed me photostatic
copies of documents (published by the [116]
Germans during the occupation) pertaining to convictions handed down to Ares
by the Greek courts. As a youth, Ares, whose real name was Thanasis Klaras, had been
convicted of robbery and had served a short prison term. In later life he had
at least two more convictions, one for robbery and another for
misrepresentation, but those were political convictions. The first was for
stealing to obtain funds for the Communist party, and the other was for
possession of false identity papers, which were usual for the European
revolutionary. But Ares was not the “badman” or “killer” that German and British propaganda
painted him to be. He was a man of distinct personality and rounded
education. The son of a fairly prosperous and educated middle-class family of
Lamia, he studied agriculture in school, and at least one of his brothers was
graduated from the University of Athens. His youngest brother, Babis Klaras, whom I got to
know rather well, is a professional newspaper man and a very likeable person,
not the type that would belong to a family of “killers.” Ares is not unique as a man who has
led both a questionable and an exemplary life; Greece’s history abounds with
examples from antiquity onwards. At least two of the greatest characters of
the Greek Revolution of Independence, Karaiskakis
and Androutsos, were by no means angels themselves.
This is why I think that Ares’ place in Greek history is more than secure.
His acts as a leader are more important than those for which he can be
blamed, and the mistakes of his youth are far outweighed by his contributions
to his nation during the terrible days of occupation. I met Ares at his headquarters in the
city of Trikalla after the civil war, in the early
part of 1945. It was not a good time for him, for his army had been defeated
by the British Army. However, the great tragedy that one felt in the
undercurrent of life in Trikalla at the time was
not so much the defeat itself, but the realization that there should have
been no fight. Neither Ares nor his men were bitter against the enemy that
had beaten them in the field; the feeling of bitterness was against the Greek
right, which had brought the fighting about and rejoiced in the defeat of the
guerrillas more than the British. A scene in one of the main streets of
Athens has recurred many times in my mind. It was during the hectic days of
the civil war. The British soldiers were leading guerrilla prisoners up the
street when a group of Rightists tried to beat up the handcuffed prisoners.
Another American officer and myself did not try to interfere because we had
strict orders to avoid trouble; our policy was one of “strict neutrality.”
But the British Tommies did intervene. One of them
prepared his gun while the other hit one of the Rightists on the head,
cursing him at the same time. “You bastard,” he shouted, “What did you do
against the Jerries? These chaps at least put up [117] a good fight!” The feeling among
good fighters is always on a higher plane: they appreciate each other. What
they cannot stand is a coward! When we met, Ares was standing behind
a small desk in a large office with a high ceiling, and looked very
unimpressive. He was short and stocky, with a long beard. He grew on one,
however, by the minute, until one came to realize that in front of him was a
real man. He was glad to see me. He knew who I
was and we needed no time for introductions. Before I could ask any
questions, he wanted to hear news from me. I had the distinction of being the
first person to come from Athens after the withdrawal of the guerrillas and
he wanted to know what was happening. I told him of the reactions against the
antartes
and the EAM as seen in the streets of Athens, and he became gloomy. “We are not
defeated,” he said. “We have strong forces and we can fight for years in the
mountains where the British tanks cannot reach us. We do not want to fight
anymore because it is not good for the country, but we are not going to
surrender. There must be a settlement!” Then, he spoke with bitterness
against British participation in the internal affairs of Greece, and
expressed his regret for not having attempted to clean out the British in the
first few days of the civil war, when they were weak. “The British,” he said,
“have been laying the ground for this since long ago. British agents in
Greece created the quisling Security Battalions, and in some cases paid their
salaries as well.” Then he mentioned a colonel, one of the leaders of the
Security Battalions in the region of the Peleponessos,
who at one time during the occupation had gone to Athens to join the
guerrillas, but who was directed by the British to join the Security
Battalions instead. When I told Ares of the boast of the
then Greek Premier that if the British gave him enough arms, he could put the
ELAS guerrilla army out of existence within ten days, his face lighted with a
bitter smile. “If the British get out of Greece, we will be back in Athens
within ten days.” This was Ares’ answer. He further sneered: “Let the British
equip government troops with arms. That is the only way we can replenish our
losses from British supplies.” That was the first and last time I
saw Ares. Five months later his head was hauled up on a telephone pole in the
same city of Trikalla in which we met. His picture
was published in all the papers of Athens with blood streaming from his slit
throat, and the captions read: “Traitor;” “Criminal;” “Executioner.” Another chapter of Greek history had
come to a close. [118] February 25, 1945 This morning in front of my hotel,
which is situated in the center of Athens, there was a big disturbance.
Looking out of my window I saw a mob chasing some newsboys selling Communist
and EAM papers. I got down to the street quickly and followed the mob, and
there I saw newsboys being beaten while a number of people tried to protect
them. However, the newsboys were isolated one by one and their papers were
torn to pieces; some of them were badly beaten as well, while others managed
to escape. A British soldier rescued one of the
newsboys from the hands of the mob, and he had to use his fists to do so,
because the rightists wouldn’t let go. In the end they cursed the Tommy for
interfering in their affairs. It was ironic; I hate to think what would have
happened to these rightists if the British had not interfered on their behalf
during the civil war. People have such short memories! A number of other such incidents were
reported to me today. One had to do with a policeman in one of the main
squares of Athens, who tore EAM papers from the hands of a newsboy and
threatened the people who wanted to buy them. Another had to do with some
newsboys who were beaten inside a neighborhood police station. These incidents throughout Athens are
small at present, but they will grow both in number and in intensity. The aim
of those who start them—and these mobs are definitely organized—is to
discourage the EAMites and keep them under control.
But EAM is still very strong, especially in the suburbs, and does not seem to
be discouraged. So there promise to be more fights in the future. The most
disturbing fact of all is that these mobs seem to enjoy police immunity and
protection. March 5, 1945 I am getting reports from a number of
private sources that secret rightist organizations are being formed in the
suburbs of Athens, in the Peloponesse and on the
island of Zante. The purpose of these organizations
is “to deal with EAM.” All around Athens yesterday EAM newspapers were
destroyed by rightist mobs, and newsboys were beaten up for selling them. A
number of killings are reported in the suburbs. March 8, 1945 We saw girl guerrillas for the first
time in the town of Karpenissi one month after we
entered Greece. Dressed like men fighters, with serious faces, these girls
shared the rigors of guerrilla life equally with the men. The [119] men guerrillas respected them in
every way because some of these women had already proven themselves in
battle. When we reached Karpenissi in May 1944, a
women’s unit was being newly organized as part of the XIII Guerrilla
Division. Most of the girls were novices in guerrilla life, but among them
there were a few that had been with men’s units for some time. One could pick
out the veterans without knowing them: their poise and bearing was much
different than that of the newcomers. They had self
assurance. They acted like seasoned fighters in every sense of the
word. In particular there was one girl who
attracted my attention, and I soon asked our guerrilla guide about her. Her
name was “Tempest,” an assumed name, of course. Her real name was not known
to our companion. For two years, my companion said, Tempest had been
participating in all the guerrilla campaigns with the men. At first she was
the only girl, then another came. The two behaved and fought like men, and
were treated with equality by the other guerrillas. “We respected them as if
they were our sisters,” Pavlos said. No trouble
ever developed in the unit, although the girls lived and even slept at times
in the same room with the men. I met Tempest soon after that and the
two of us became good friends. One day, after taking pictures of her unit, we
went for a walk at the outskirts of the town. There, under the shade of a
large pine and in view of a breathtaking landscape of high mountains, small
plains, and deep ravines, I became romantic and tried to make love to her. Morality among resistance fighters
was at a high level, and I knew that trouble would arise if anything came out
about my weakness towards the other sex. In spite the fact that we belonged
to a foreign mission and our position was somewhat different from that of the
guerrillas, wavering from the straight path wouldn’t be easily excusable.
Only a few days before, one of the EAM leaders, who had arranged for us to
live in the nice home of a widow and her daughter, had cautioned us: “There
is a nice-looking girl in the house, but be sure there won’t be any trouble.
We are very particular about such matters here!” Tempest was an attractive girl,
though, and since I had left Egypt four months before I had not even been
near a woman; therefore, during that romantic occasion, I forgot the whole
situation and tried to kiss her! The expression in her eyes was
something unbelievable, and one that I will always remember. She was
startled! For a minute she looked like a lone deer realizing that danger
lurks nearby. Her no was emphatic, but soon she became composed and said in
an assured manner, “This is no time for love, fellow combatant. We have a great
task ahead of us, and we cannot waver.” A smile of admiration mingled with
disbelief must have appeared on my face, because she hastened to add, “Don’t
get me wrong, [120]
Fellow-Combatant Ulysses. It is not because of moral reasons that I act this
way. Before I joined the ELAS guerrillas I lived with my husband and my two
children, and had a paramour besides. But I have changed since!” Like it or not, my friendship with
Tempest was destined to remain on a platonic level. With great eloquence I
expounded the theory of “some work and some play,” but that did not get me
anyplace either. She was serious and determined about the task ahead, and I
could not help but admire her character. She was really an interesting person
beside, and every time we saw each other I prodded her to tell me more of her
life story. Tempest came from a worker’s family,
and had lived in Athens most of her life. There she attended school as far as
junior high. Marriage came at an early age to a man she did not love, but
with whom she managed to live peacefully for many years. Her interests at the
time were the same as those of most women: good clothes, movies, and good
times. Her husband tried to provide as well as he could with the meager
salary of a junior police officer. Then the occupation came and life became
much more difficult. During the famine of 1941 her family
suffered untold privations. Fortunately though, her husband was moved to a
small town outside of Athens to be chief of police, and from then on the
family food problems became easier. It was in this town that Tempest’s active
nature first showed up. Since there were no other interests to make life
exciting, she got interested in patriotism and the resistance movement. The little town was a passage point
that connected Athens to the guerrilla strongholds in the mountains, and it
was used extensively as a courier base and for the purpose of passing through
new recruits. Tempest at first provided food for those passing by; then she
became liaison messenger between the various villages of the district. One
day a British officer was brought to her to hide and care for. He had to stay
there for a few weeks and in the course of time, in addition to food and
shelter, he asked for love from his attractive hostess. He was a decent sort
of a man and handsome besides, and Tempest obliged. When the Britisher departed, he left behind his former interpreter
to be the liaison between Athens and the new hideout. The inevitable soon
happened, and Tempest became the mistress of the interpreter. Tempest was able to hide her
indiscretions from her husband under the guise of working for the resistance
movement, but the husband did not like the idea. The guerrillas might be all
right, he thought, but what would happen to him if it was found that the wife
of the police chief was mixed up with them? Besides, the instructions from
his superiors were to fight against the underground. Until that time Tempest had been
working for the rightist underground movement of Colonel Napoleon Zervas. In addition, there was always [121] some money to be had for people
offering their services to that organization, and this pleased Tempest at the
beginning. Then, one good day she made contact with the leftist underground.
A neighbor girl asked her to help the ELAS guerrillas as well. “As wife of
the police chief, it is your duty to help,” she was told. For a time, then,
Tempest went on helping both rightists and leftists. At that time no fight
had developed between the two groups, and Tempest felt happy to be the only
friendly link between ideological rivals. The period of dual allegiance did not
last long for the wife of the police chief. Soon she developed a better
liking for the leftists. “They were better people,” she told me. “The others
talked of money all the time, and after a while that made me sick.” She came
to feel that it was wrong to be paid for patriotic acts, and the
poverty-clothed ideology of EAM-ELAS appealed to her heart more intensely.
When the fights with her husband became frequent and intolerable, she left
him and went to the mountains. There she first became a nurse and later
joined the fighting men to claim the distinction of being the first girl
guerrilla of Greece. When I first met Tempest she was a
real fanatic. The Marxist teachings she had heard and absorbed had brought a
new religion to her heart that had never existed there before. She had
developed an extreme morality together with a fierce desire to fight for what
she believed to be right. A woman of about twenty-five, Tempest
was rather good looking, but her hardened face betrayed the difficult life
she had pursued in the last few year[s]. Her hair was rather short, done in
braids hanging over her neck, and always tied neatly with a piece of string.
Being with men for so long, she got into the habit of considering herself one
of them. The only difference between her and the men was the cleanliness of
her face and the neatness of her clothes. On her head she always wore the
usual soldier’s cap with the insignia of the ELAS embroidered on it. A khaki
jacket, a pair of blue-colored trousers, and a pair of heavy boots with nails
made up her dress, which was completed by an Italian rifle and a belt of
cartridges worn across her chest. The story of the blue, heavy
trousers, which Tempest would never part with, is a particularly amusing one.
During one of the clashes between the ELAS and Zervas,
Tempest captured a colonel. The haughty militarist did not particularly
cherish the idea of having been captured by a woman, and expressed his
indignation about it. But Tempest was not fooling and got really mad with the
insolence of her prisoner: she cocked her rifle and ordered the colonel to
take off his pants. Since she meant business, the colonel had to comply. Then
Tempest took off her skirt and ordered the man to wear it. Since that time, she always wears her
captured trophy and refuses to [122]
exchange it for anything else. When the Women’s Unit was first organized the
officer in charge ordered Tempest to change her blue trousers for khaki ones,
in order to be uniform with the rest of the unit. She refused to comply, and
the case was finally taken to the division commander, who ruled that Tempest
had earned the right to be different in the case of her famous blue pants! Last November Tempest came to Athens,
and it was a kind of triumph for her. In the streets of the city people
congregated around her to admire her and ask questions. She had on exactly
the same clothes she wore in the mountains, blue pants, rifle, cartridge belt
and all. Two days after her arrival the British commander issued an order
forbidding guerrillas to carry arms in the city. Tempest was furious! “They
are scared to see us armed!” she told me. But she complied with the order
because ELAS had issued an identical order under British pressure, and that
was enough to cool Tempest’s fury. The civil war came, and I never saw
Tempest again. Today a woman member of the resistance movement told me how
Tempest died fighting against the British in the streets of Athens. I lament the death of this brave girl
not so much because it came in the spring of her life, but rather because it
came from the bullet of a former ally and not from that of the enemy she
hated so much. To die fighting was a fitting end for this modern Amazon. March 14, 1945 Today I went to see the secretary
general of EAM in a small office they have established for the organization.
I have known Demetrios Partsalides
since the days in the mountains, and although my impression is that he does
not trust me completely, he likes me well enough to talk more or less freely. Partsalides is a very quiet man with a ready
smile on his face, but it is a smile of the faint type that does not stay
long and that one forgets easily. What one remembers of Partsalides
is his easy manner and the slow and quiet way that dominates his whole
personality. People must have faith in him because he is so measured and not
in the least boastful or overbearing. He gives the impression of being a good
organizer of men. In conversation he will not give direct answers, but rather
talks the “diplomatic language.” This is strange for the tobacco worker that
he is. My most vivid recollection of Partsalides is of a day during the civil war. It was a
very cold day, and I managed to cross the lines to find out what was
happening on the side of the guerrillas. The civil war had been going on for
three weeks and the guerrillas were still strong; however, one could see that
they could not hold out for long. As somebody had expressed [123] it[,] “They were fighting against
the British Empire, and they were not strong enough to fight it
successfully!” It is true in a sense that the British had taken a beating at
the beginning, and one could see that the British could not afford to fight a
defensive war for long. They meant to do something drastic to put things in
order. Churchill was being expected in Athens in those days, and he must have
had something up his sleeve! On that cold day in December when I
reached the headquarters of EAM, I asked to see somebody high up. I felt that
I had a mission of my own to perform, and was eager to talk with someone in
authority who would be willing to listen. It wasn’t that I felt that people
had to listen to me because of my position or authority, because I had no
illusions of that kind. But I thought that the EAM people had no reason to
feel they were dealing with an enemy, and that I would be able to produce a
feeling of sincerity in what I had to say. The man that came to see me was Partsalides. EAM Headquarters that day was in a textile
mill in a suburb of Athens called Kato Patissia.
For some reason or other Partsalides did not take
me inside the factory, and we talked outside the buildings inside the factory
enclosure. Two British planes were flying above. We kept moving from wall to
wall according to the direction they were taking, trying to avoid their
direct line of fire so that we would be safe from strafing, which was common
on the part of the British in those days. “The fighting must stop right away,”
I told Partsalides, “You are not strong enough to
beat the British!” My idea was that ELAS was in a rather advantageous
position at the time because the British and Greek government troops were
still cooped within very narrow limits in Athens. But the situation could not
stay that way for long, because the British could not possibly permit it.
British prestige was involved. In addition, Churchill was expected soon, and
some major development would probably follow. Therefore, ELAS had better
accept the original armistice terms that the British had offered some time
before and get out of Athens. ELAS prestige was [s]till high, and
by ending the fighting abruptly they could expect better treatment from the
British in the eventual settlement than if they waited until they were pushed
out of Athens by force. I used the additional strong argument that public
opinion, especially in the U.S., was still on the side of the guerrillas, and
that would force a much better settlement at that time. Finally, in order to
avoid any misunderstanding on his part, I told Partsalides
in no uncertain terms that what I was saying was my personal opinion and that
I did not represent anybody else. The man I was talking to was
listening solemnly as we moved from wall to wall, but he said little. From
the few words he uttered, I realized that one of two things had happened:
either a decision had already been made that [124] was contrary to what I was saying, or Partsalides,
for some reason or other, was powerless to act. I then asked to see some of
the higher-ups in EAM, but was given to understand that they could not be
reached. It was still early afternoon when I
started my long way back on foot to the government-controlled section of
Athens. I had to pass through fighting lines once more (Greek government
troop patrols and British points of inspection), and this was not
particularly pleasant. Meanwhile, through both quiet streets and streets
where war was raging, I had plenty of time to muse on the powerlessness of
the individual to overcome the forces of revolution, which at times are blind
or which perhaps have a logic of their own. My mission, then, seemed
ridiculous, not because I had failed, but because I had even attempted to do
what I had done. Three weeks ago, just before the
civil war started, a friend of mine had told me that it was imperative that
we try to do our best to avert what was coming. At that time I had refused to
act. I had told my friend that I felt too small to deal with such powerful
forces. If civil war were coming, who was I to try to stop it? And could I
stop it by talking to a few people? The situation seemed ridiculous to me
then, and as I was returning to the center of Athens after my unsuccessful
mission, I felt ridiculous. I felt like a small man who had tried to control
an onrushing river! The picture of Partsalides
and myself on that cold day at the textile mill will long stay imbedded in my
memory. It is a picture of fear and persecution, of what the plane could have
done to us if it started strafing. It is also a picture of frustration and
failure for an idea that did not succeed. Today, when I went to see Partsalides that picture was still in my mind, and in
some way what he had to say did not seem important. He spoke of the present
situation; of terrorism and British propaganda; of the fact that EAM had lost
some strength on account of the civil war but expected to regain the lost
ground, not so much because of constructive measures on their part, but
because of the bad policies of their adversaries—the policy of rightist terror,
which in the end will have the result of bringing the people back to the EAM
side. My meeting today with Partsalides was definitely an anti-climax. April 2, 1945 Today I saw a close friend of Premier
Plastiras, who told me the following interesting
gossip about what is happening in the Greek government these days: The British, he said, are playing a
dirty game in Greece and Plastiras is their virtual
prisoner! They got the premier into a difficult position at the beginning
without his realizing exactly what was happening. When the [125] British first brought Plastiras from abroad, they instructed him to make
irreconcilable declarations, but now they ask him to be soft. At the same
time the British intelligence services are working from a different angle and
are using their people to attack Plastiras. Plastiras has just come to realize what is
happening and is very much upset. He has found out, for instance, that he
doesn’t have much power in the ministry of war. The real power in that
ministry is held by two pro-royalist colonels, the director general and the
chief personnel officer, and the minister of war (who is a Plastiras man) is powerless to offset the machinations of
these two. My friend is of the opinion that Plastiras
is losing prestige fast, and that whenever the British wish they will kick
him out without trouble. April 30, 1945 Yesterday a “block” was reported in
the Peristeri. At midnight on Monday, police and
army units together with plainclothesmen shooting and ringing church bells
ordered the people of this suburb to gather in the main square. There,
exactly as happened during the occupation, informers pointed to EAM members,
who were kicked and beaten, put into big trucks, and then taken to an unknown
destination. As in the time of occupation, women cried, children shrieked and
policemen cursed people and spat in their faces, telling them, “We will
exterminate you yet, you Communists!” May 10, 1945 Geras, who holds a high position as a
civilian in the Greek army, told me today of a conversation he had with a
colonel of the air force. What the colonel had to say is important, Geras pointed out, because he, together with other
officers of high rank, is in daily contact with the British forces in Greece.
He spoke of a Greek army that the British will create, which in a sense will
be part of the British army. Greece, he said, will be used as a base by the
British in a future war with Russia; this war will be started by England in
Greece under one pretext or another. The British, he said, intend to show a
soft policy toward the Communists in their public and open pronouncements,
but secretly the intelligence services will use various methods to clear the
Communists out of all aspects of Greek life. May 25, 1945 I saw the former prime minister, George
Kaphandares, again the other [126] day. My talks with him are usually very refreshing, but
during this last visit he seemed sick and tired. But the man is witty and
highly intelligent, and even at his worst he towers above the great majority
of Greek politicians today. Talking, for Kaphandares,
is like oiling a machine: it makes the machine work better and with less
effort. His ideas are clear, although he is very laconic at times. There is
nothing flowery about the man, and what he says is not said to make an
impression. Though he is a sick man, he knows a great deal of what is
happening around the country. Kaphandares was full of questions: “What is the
attitude of the U.S. towards the terrorist methods of the Right?” “Are the
Americans well informed on the situation?” He attached a great deal of
importance to the attitude of the United States toward Greece, and discounted
the British as “weak.” I asked him why he himself did not try to be in touch
with high American officials in Greece and suggested he contact the embassy.
His ideas, I pointed out, would command prestige as those of a former
premier. Then Kaphandares
came out with a secret, although he felt uneasy in telling: the American
ambassador seemed to avoid meeting him. “I had been on very good terms with
the ambassador before the war,” he said, “but now things seem to have
changed. Since he has come back after liberation he has not asked to see me
once, although I have been home and sick most of the time.” Then he told me
how he went as far as to leave his calling card at the embassy, but that his
call was not even acknowledged! The logical conclusion of this grand old man
was that he was persona non grata with the embassy, but he didn’t know the
reason. Suddenly, he turned his big weary
head toward me and asked: “Who could be a real power in the American embassy?
I don’t mean the ambassador, I mean some vigorous and intelligent young man
of the type usually found in such positions. I want to meet such a person and
explain to him the situation in Greece today.” I tried hard, but
unfortunately could not think of any such person now at the American embassy.
I came through with a couple of suggestions but they were not what Kaphandares meant, and he knew and I knew that the
situation was hopeless from that point of view. We soon went into the political
situation, and I asked his opinion of the Civil War. “Whom do you think is
most responsible for the bloodshed?” “Did EAM want to take power, as the
anti-EAM forces claim?” Kaphandares said no to this question. He cited
two arguments to prove his point. EAM, he said, could have gotten into power
when the Germans pulled out of Greece, when the ELAS held the only real power
in Greece in its hands. Secondly, when the demonstration took place on
December 3rd, EAM came into the streets unarmed. “That is not the way to take
power,” he smiled ironically. “The fact is that the Right wanted to do away
with [127] EAM once and for all.”
The clash came when the EAMites asked for the
dissolution of all “volunteer” forces. This Kaphandares
thought was a rightful demand, because both the Rimini Brigade and the Sacred
Battalions are organs of the monarchy.” Both of these units had been brought
from abroad by the government-in-exile, and EAM considered them in the
category of mercenary troops. When the question turned to former
Premier Papandreou, Kaphandares had some acid
comments to make. He called Papandreou a small man whose only interest is to
keep himself in power, and to achieve that end he is willing to cooperate with
anybody. “He left Greece anti-royalist, and returned a puppet of the king. He
became the blind tool of the British and brought Greece to the status of a
colony. In order to keep himself in power he was even willing to cooperate,
after a fashion, with his archenemy the EAM!” Kaphandares thinks that the policies of the
Greek government-in-exile toward Russia were entirely wrong. “Greece,” he
said, “is in mortal danger from the north, but this danger will not disappear
by tying Greece to Great Britain. Greece usually ties herself to Britain
blindly, without asking for just recompense.” He thinks that Greece should
try to be on good terms with all the great powers, because if she is not it
will work against her best interests. The old parties are all in bad shape,
and it would be better if they did not exist at all. They are “without
heads,” as he put it; there is nobody worthwhile to lead them. The Greek
people, he said, are going left, and party policies will have to orient
themselves in accordance with this trend. “Who will take power in Greece,
ultimately?” I asked. He could not say, answering, “It might be the
socialists; it might be the Communists!” But one thing he spoke of with
certainty: “Power will not fall into the grasp of certain smaller parties that
proclaim their leftist leanings while actually cooperating closely with the
extreme Right. The Communists, too, suffer from the same lack of leadership
as the older parties, and the mistakes they have made during the last few
years prove this contention. However,” he added, “by instinct the Communists
did many correct things too.” July 10, 1945 George and I took a jeep and went
riding by the sea yesterday after work. It was a beautiful day, and although
hot, it was late enough in the afternoon to enjoy the rejuvenating sea breeze
that makes Athenian summer afternoons pleasant. The beaches at Old Phaleron and all the way to Glyfada,
our destination, were full of people. But George, who was at the wheel, felt
depressed that day and without realizing it turned left just before we
reached Kalamaki. There we entered the British
military cemetery, which [128] is
in a beautiful spot on a small elevation overlooking the sea. George must have been there before,
for he seemed familiar with the place. He stopped the car at the proper
place, and we got out to look at the neat rows of similar graves with crosses
at the head that dotted the landscape. We visited row after row, and we read
name after name. All the dead were young men, and all of them had died during
the Civil War. The two of us didn’t exchange one
word in more than an hour—each kept his thoughts to himself. I for my part was thinking with pity
of these poor Britishers who had died. For what? It
was difficult to make out. When they died, the war was over and all of them
were hoping to return home. Then one day they were ordered into battle again,
a senseless battle in which they had to kill their former allies. These poor
boys didn’t want the fight, but as loyal Britishers,
they had to go through with it. They killed quite a few of their opponents,
and in the process a number of them got killed as well. There are now about
three hundred crosses dotting this beautiful landscape of Kalamaki
and the cemetery is not yet complete I am told. This visit to the cemetery gave me
food for thought. I thought of those Greeks who, at the risk of their lives,
saved many British soldiers who were left behind when the Germans occupied
the country. These were mostly poor Greeks who belonged to the resistance
movement, and who fought on the other side of the civil war. Who can tell—it
might be that some British soldier even killed his benefactor in the fight
that raged in Athens for more than a month! I thought of those that start wars;
of democracy and dictatorship; of Hitler, Mussolini, and Churchill. Then, I
compared the three men, and tried to draw the line that differentiates them.
It was difficult for me to decide where to draw it. Hitler and Mussolini
preached war and started a war in what they thought was the interest of their
countries and their people. Churchill did not start the Second World War, but
got into it as a defensive measure. But in this small Greek affair, Churchill
did start a war; small war mind you, but a war just the same. Churchill
prepared that war, and went through with it. He was responsible for the lives
of those British boys whose graves I saw last night as the sun was reddening
the mountains and the sea. And who is going to forgive Churchill
for doing so? Five hundred Britishers, and ten
thousand Greeks? They died—for what? No, I couldn’t draw the line between
Hitler, Mussolini, and Churchill. Whether big or small, a war is a war,
and whoever starts it (for whatever motives) is responsible. If Churchill is
not responsible for the lives of ten thousand five hundred, then why should
Hitler or Mussolini be responsible for the lives of ten and a half million?
Or, should we say that one should draw the line to separate quantities; not
absolving anybody, [129] mind you,
but speaking of a crime in degree. But in both cases a crime should be
labelled a crime! But some Greeks think that Churchill
is a great champion of democracy and human rights. These Greeks gave him a
great ovation when he came to Athens last March; they still express their
admiration for him at every opportunity. Some time ago they renamed the
central street of Athens with his name. Of course that is only some Greeks.
There are others that hate Churchill’s guts. That part of the population
feels it an insult every time they have to walk the street bearing
Churchill’s name. “Our dead will not forgive him,” one such Greek told me the
other day. “We shall remedy the insult sometime in the future.” I believe this Greek, because I know
he meant what he said. Many others think the same way. I believe him also
because I have read Greek history, and I know that Greeks in the past have
made statues of tyrants when they thought their interest dictated it, but the
statues never stayed up for long; they were destroyed when the first
opportunity came. That is how I know that “Churchill Street” is a temporary
name. The Greeks will not stand for a street bearing the name of a man
responsible for the death of ten thousand of their people and five hundred of
his own. I knew yesterday that George did not
have exactly the same thoughts I had. George and I seldom agree on politics
and social beliefs, but at times of great stress George too sympathizes with
the poor. His thoughts must have been similar to a time during the civil war
when the battle was raging outside and he burst into tears in my office. He
was not sure who was responsible, but the conflict in him produced an
emotional upheaval that he could not control anymore. “This is senseless
killing,” he uttered in-between his sobs. George did not cry last night but I
know that he came near doing so. July 14, 1945 In Greece too, there is a Michailovich. He is Napoleon Zervas,
an old time political army career man. The first time that I heard of Zervas was in the middle Twenties when he staged a couple
of revolutions, one to put up a dictator and another trying to take power for
himself. In the second revolt he was unsuccessful, and instead of going to
the Palace he landed in prison for some time. From then on Zervas took an active part in all the revolts that took
place in Greece. His ambitions, though, were never totally fulfilled because
his role was always secondary. During the early part of the German
occupation Zervas was active in the black market. Some
say, and there is a great deal to substantiate their claim, that Zervas was making a little side money operating as a[n]
informer for the Italian secret police. When the Italians didn’t need him
anymore, [130] they stopped paying
his salary. That must have been in the early part of 1942. Then during that year Zervas started emerging as a guerrilla hero, with British
money and propaganda to back him. For some time the British had been trying
to create some kind of a guerrilla force on the mainland of Greece that would
directly obey their orders. EAM had already emerged and created guerrilla
bands. There were other guerrillas all over Greece at the time, but none of
these groups was what the British wanted: they wanted control of the
guerrilla movement. They wanted somebody whom they could equip, train, and
control at the same time, who would have the possibility of growing bigger
and bigger, and thus be able to get the other guerrilla groups under control
in the future. Major John Tsigantes was sent from Cairo
into Greece with plenty of British gold in order to achieve this purpose.
After looking over the situation and talking with numerous army officers, Tsigantes settled on Zervas for
carrying out the British plan. Zervas was willing when approached. He set
his price, which was stiff; but then large expenses were needed for a good
organization, he said. In the end an agreement was reached and a substantial
advance was granted to Zervas, and he started the
job of recruiting people. This job went on for some time, in fact too long,
and Tsigantes and the British became jittery. They
called Zervas in. Zervas
said that he had the plans ready but that recruiting personnel among army
officers was difficult. He was threatened with being out from the payroll and
probably exposed, and he agreed to act right away. Epirus (his birthplace)
was selected and in the summer of 1942 he went there with a few trusted
followers to start the new guerrilla movement. The first significant engagement of Zervas was one in which he cooperated with the rival ELAS
band under Ares Velouhiotis in the destruction of
the bridge of Gorgopotamos in Central Greece. The
British placed great importance on its destruction during the Egyptian
campaign since the bridge was a key link in the only railroad line that the
Germans could use to bring re-enforcements through Greece for Rommel’s army
in Egypt. Zervas’ role in this undertaking, though,
was minor to that of Ares; this was admitted by Zervas
himself in a letter to Ares that I read in which he said that he did not
claim the “laurels of Gorgopotamos” for himself.
Some British were present at the Gorgopotamos
undertaking, and they must have reported the superiority of the ELAS in
spirit and ability over their protege. A policy of
giving help to ELAS was started by the British, which had a very beneficial
effect in the growth of that army. After Gorgopotamos,
Zervas returned to Epirus and tried to strengthen
his guerrilla bands. Under his direction, together with the cooperation of a
former premier, General Stylianos Gonatas, a political [131] organization by the name of EDES was formed. (The Zervas guerrilla groups were also known as EDES, the name
derived from the first letters of National Greek Democratic Army.) Great
efforts were then made to spread the EDES all around Greece, and to some
degree they succeeded in creating sub-divisions in many sections of the
country. But those supporting the EDES didn’t have idealistic motives. In
EDES they saw a way of making some money and that was the main reason they
enlisted, both in the military and the political organization. The fault for
this probably rests with the leadership of the EDES, who advertised its
connection with the British and so raised the hopes of the many adventurers
who at first flocked to it. The leaders of EAM once gave me permission to
browse through their extensive collection of captured documents regarding Zervas and the EDES. The “Zervas
Archives,” as they were called, consisted of about six or seven trunks full
of documents on Zervas, some incriminating, some
historical, and some simply funny. They gave me insight into the Zervas organization and taught me a great deal about
British operations in Greece; but fundamentally, they exposed the weakness of
the whole organization. One received the impression of
decadence all around, like an empire during its last years of existence.
Almost everybody was corrupt and looking for personal gain; almost everyone
writing to Zervas was asking for favors, either
money or position. Others were intriguing, or were complaining of intrigues.
Some were complaining that part of the organization, or such and such a
leader, was collaborating with the Germans, and still others were trying to
justify their collaboration. Zervas was always
trying to patch up things. He would say that he was against collaboration,
but at the same time he would do nothing to stop it. He wouldn’t denounce the
collaborators openly, although in a half-hearted way he wrote letters to his
followers saying that he was against it. Once in a while Zervas
would get mad, too, as happened with EDES in the city of Messolongi.
That newly organized branch was asking for gold sovereigns “in order to be
able to go ahead full speed” and do great things. Zervas
wrote them back a very revealing letter. “Gold, gold, gold,” he said,
“everyone in the EDES organization is asking for gold.” Then, he went on to
point out the fact that the EAM had much less gold than the EDES “because the
British don’t give them as much,” but that they had a much greater and more
effective organization. Finally he admonished his men at Messolongi
to have as much idealism and enthusiasm as the EAM people, and to try to do
things for the present without help in gold from Headquarters. When I look back and try to analyze
the personality of this Greek Michailovich and the
accomplishments of his movement, I come to a fatalistic conclusion: things
had to turn out the way they did, there was no [132] other way out. Zervas tried to
create a right wing guerrilla movement when the time was not propitious.
During this war, the people of Europe who wanted to change and were willing
to sacrifice to get that change were not to be found among the people of Zervas’ type. Only the poor people of Europe wanted a
real change, and those people were moved only by socialist or communist
tendencies. Zervas had nothing to offer to the poorer
classes. The people he tried to appeal to were the decadent ruling classes of
Greece, and an equally decadent and inactive middle class. It was therefore
natural that he should fail, and that he and his followers should look for
other compensations for their activities. The compensation of the idealist
was lacking in them. The idealist would die for his cause, and the ideal of
the poorer classes of Europe was a better standard of living; only the
Socialists or the Communists promised them that. The idea of democracy did
not move the masses anymore; bread was more powerful than freedom. Zervas started as a democrat and ended as a
royalist. He started with patriotic motives and ended as a collaborator. That
is the fate of all Michailoviches. They try to swim
against the stream, and the current of the stream takes them to a different
destination than they desired. In Europe and in every other part of the world
in this war, there were no other guerrillas except leftist guerrillas. All
other attempts to organize guerrillas failed. The Michailoviches
of the world started with the idea of fighting the enemy, but events moved
them to the unfortunate position of having to collaborate with the enemy. Zervas collaborated, although he probably
did not like to do so. But he did collaborate to save himself and his
movement. He never managed to create an effective force, and the fighting
spirit of that force was never too high. Events brought him up against the
superior force of his adversary, the ELAS guerrillas, and each time he
tackled them he got a licking. The British extricated him from more than one
bad situation. The EDES organization in Athens started its collaboration early
in its existence, first with the quisling government, and then later with the
enemy. Zervas started collaborating later. In the beginning collaboration
probably came accidentally, during the clashes between Zervas
and the ELAS; Zervas would hit the ELAS from one
side and the Germans from the other. Members of the ELAS who participated in
these battles told me the story. Then came more coordination of this type,
until a situation was worked out between the German 22nd Army Corps in Epirus
and Zervas, in which neither bothered the other.
The Zervas guerrillas rubbed shoulders with the
Germans without any scruples on anybody’s part. Zervas’
guerrillas passed through German lines and vice versa. [133] In the city of Ioannina the Zervas quartermaster depot was near the German army
Headquarters. A Zervas section leader sent a German
soldier who had been caught as a prisoner by ELAS and rescued by the Zervas guerrillas to the German garrison commander at Arta. A letter accompanied the prisoner saying: “The EDES
forces assaulted the Communists from the rear, and in their flight they left
this German soldier behind.” Then, further down, “We, the true fascists,
never bother you ... we have nothing against the German troops. We only fight
the Communists and EAMites.” The same man who wrote
this, K. Voidaros, took an active part after
liberation in the rightist terror that was unleashed against the EAM, and was
one of those who participated in the extermination of Ares. As far as I know,
he is still the leader of a terrorist band in the region of Epirus. The German XXII Mountain Army, which
was in control of western Greece and southern Albania, in its Military
Situation Report of the 7th of August, 1944, speaks of the “lawful attitude
of Zervas toward the German troops;” and that under
pressure from the British Zervas had abandoned
“temporarily” that “lawful attitude,” but had returned to it soon enough. Let us read further from this German
document, which fell into my hands the end of August, 1944: “After a few days
he (Zervas) stopped the fighting, and since then
has kept a neutral position and does not follow the orders of the Allies to
renew his attacks against the German troops ...” Then, again: “Mine
explosions, blow-ups and general sabotage activities against our mail routes
continued in the southern sector (the ELAS sector) with the same frequency as
before and became more frequent in the northern sector, where last month
attacks were extremely rare. In Zervas’ territory
no sabotage took place.” This last is a great indictment against Mr. Zervas. The powerful German XXII Army report
concludes than “an important factor in the above would be if the Allies were
able to force Zervas to give up his until now
lawful attitude and use his troops again for attacks against German forces.
We must also expect continuous activities from the Greek Communist bands
throughout the entire sector of this corps, unless these forces are stopped
with frequent mop-up operations or are distracted by attacks on the part of Zervas’ forces.” Thus spoke the Germans in their official
documents about Zervas and his guerrillas. At that
time Zervas had the best equipped and best fed
guerrilla group in Greece. In addition, his guerrillas were receiving money
and their families were being taken care of. But apparently Zervas
was not interested in fighting the Germans, and probably the British did not
want him to do so either. Zervas’ army was being
prepared for the day when the Germans would pull out of Greece, when he and
the British would need a powerful force to cope with ELAS, which they thought
was preparing to grab power. |