Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War was a war fought between 1942 and 1949. On one side was the conservative part of the Greek society and the armed forces of the Greek government, supported at first by Britain and later by the United States. On the other side was the revolutionary part of the Greek society and the forces of the biggest wartime resistance organization (ELAS) against the German occupation, whose leadership was controlled by the Communist Party of Greece.

Civil War: 1946-1949

Fighting resumed in March 1946 as armed bands of ELAS veterans infiltrated into Greece through the mountainous regions near the Yugoslav and Albanian borders. They were now organised as the Democratic Army of Greece (Dimokratikos Stratos Elladas, DSE), under the command of the ELAS veteran Markos Vafiadis (known as "General Markos"), who operated from a base in Yugoslavia.

Related Topics:
1946 - Markos Vafiadis

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Both the Yugoslav and Albanian Communist regimes, which had come to power through their own efforts and were not Soviet puppets, supported the KKE fighters, but the Soviet Union remained ambivalent. It was not part of Stalin's strategy to conduct a war against a British-supported government in Greece, and the Soviets gave little direct support to the KKE campaign.

Related Topics:
KKE

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By late 1946 the DSE could deploy about 10,000 partisans in various areas of Greece, mainly in the northern mountains. Accordiong to the DSE its fighters "resisted to the reign of terror that the right wing gangs conducted all over Greece. During 1945-1946, 60 right wing gangs killed 1,192 Greek citizens, and made more than 13,000 terrorist attacks against pro-democratic citizens and villages". According to the right wing citizens these gangs were retaliating for what they had suffered during the reign of ELAS. In many cases the Government tried to stop the action of the right wing gangs, imprisoning their members.

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This was little relief for the average citizen who was caught in crossfire. When the DSE partizans were entering a village asking for supplies the citizens could not resist. And when the national army was coming to the village the same citizens who had given supplies to the partizans (at gun point) were characterized as communist sympathizers suffering the consequenses.

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The Greek Army now numbered about 90,000 men and was gradually being put on a more professional basis. The task of re-equipping and training the Army had been carried out by the British, but by early 1947 Britain, which had spent 85 million pounds in Greece since 1944, could no longer afford this burden. President Harry S. Truman announced that the United States would step in to support the governments of both Greece and Turkey against Communist pressure. This began a long and troubled relationship between Greece and the United States. For several decades the American Ambassador advised the King about important issues such as the appointment of the Prime Minister.

Related Topics:
1947 - 1944 - Harry S. Truman - United States - Turkey

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Through 1947 the scale of fighting increased. The DSE launched large-scale attacks on towns across northern Epirus, Thessaly and Macedonia, provoking the Army into massive counter-offensives, which then encountered no opposition as the DSE melted back into the mountains and into its safe havens over the northern borders. Army morale remained low and it would be some time before the support of the United States became apparent.

Related Topics:
1947 - Epirus - Thessaly - Macedonia

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In September 1947, however, the KKE leadership decided to move from these guerilla tactics to full-scale conventional war, despite the opposition of Vafiadis. In December the KKE announced the formation of a Provisional Democratic Government, with Vafiadis as Prime Minister. This led the Athens government finally to ban the KKE and suppress its press. No foreign government recognised this government. The new strategy led the DSE into costly attempts to seize a major town to be the seat of its government. In December 1947 1,200 DSE men were killed at a set-piece battle around Konitsa. However, this strategy forced the government to increase the size of the Army. Controlling the main cities, the government cracked down on KKE members and sympathisers, many of whom were imprisoned on the island of Makronisos.

Related Topics:
1947 - Vafiadis - KKE - Konitsa - Makronisos

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Despite setbacks such as the fighting at Konitsa, during 1948 the DSE reached the height of its power, extending its operations to the Peloponnese and even to Attica, within 20km of Athens. It had at least 20,000 fighters and a network of sympathisers and informants in every village and every suburb. The Army added to the refugee problem by organised expeditions to clear entire areas and deprive the DSE of support.

Related Topics:
1948 - Attica

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American funds, advisors and equipment were now flooding into the country, and under American guidance a series of major offensives were launched in the mountains of central Greece. Although these offensives did not achieve all their objectives, they inflicted some serious defeats on the DSE. Army morale rose, and the morale of the DSE fighters, many of whom had been "conscripted" at gunpoint, fell correspondingly.

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