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| == Collaborationism == | == Collaborationism == | ||
| In various towns and villages EDES members were aiding members ] organizations.<ref name="Saraphēs1980"/> During the operations of the ] in the area of ] EDES members acted as guides on mountain paths.<ref name="Saraphēs1980">{{cite book|last=Saraphes|first=Stephanos G.|title=ELAS: Greek resistance army|url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=sIG5TKG4N8vEswaw0bWvDQ&ct=result&id=3e9mAAAAMAAJ&dq=EDES+%2B+collaborationist&q=In+the+towns+and+villages+EDES+members+were+openly+aiding+members+of+the+various+collaborationist+organizations,+and+in+the+mopping-up+operations+on+Helicon,+EDES+men+even+acted+as+guides+to+the+Germans+on+the+mountain+paths.#search_anchor|accessdate=16 October 2010|year=1980|publisher=Merlin|page=194}}</ref> Along with the British government the German authorities in Greece provided covert assistance to EDES, which increased the quality of the armament of the group.<ref name="ThomasAbbott1983">{{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Nigel|last2=Abbott|first2=Peter|title=Partisan warfare 1941-45|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=z1CNJitx5RkC&pg=PA26-IA7|accessdate=16 October 2010|year=1983|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=9780850455137|page=26}}</ref> Since autumn 1943 EDES and the ] of Nazi Germany had important connections, which led to an armistice and a collaboration pact against the other major resistance group of Greece, the ] in February 1944.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kretsi|first=Georgia|title=Ethnologia Balkanica|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-ebpDLhkVWcC&pg=PA182|series=Ethnologia Balkanica|volume=6|year=2002|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|location=Berlin|page=182}}</ref> | In various towns and villages EDES members were aiding members ] organizations.<ref name="Saraphēs1980"/> During the operations of the ] in the area of ] EDES members acted as guides on mountain paths.<ref name="Saraphēs1980">{{cite book|last=Saraphes|first=Stephanos G.|title=ELAS: Greek resistance army|url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=sIG5TKG4N8vEswaw0bWvDQ&ct=result&id=3e9mAAAAMAAJ&dq=EDES+%2B+collaborationist&q=In+the+towns+and+villages+EDES+members+were+openly+aiding+members+of+the+various+collaborationist+organizations,+and+in+the+mopping-up+operations+on+Helicon,+EDES+men+even+acted+as+guides+to+the+Germans+on+the+mountain+paths.#search_anchor|accessdate=16 October 2010|year=1980|publisher=Merlin|page=194}}</ref> Along with the British government the German authorities in Greece provided covert assistance to EDES, which increased the quality of the armament of the group.<ref name="ThomasAbbott1983">{{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Nigel|last2=Abbott|first2=Peter|title=Partisan warfare 1941-45|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=z1CNJitx5RkC&pg=PA26-IA7|accessdate=16 October 2010|year=1983|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=9780850455137|page=26}}</ref> Since autumn 1943 EDES and the ] of Nazi Germany had important connections, which led to an armistice and a collaboration pact against the other major resistance group of Greece, the ] in February 1944.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kretsi|first=Georgia|title=Ethnologia Balkanica|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-ebpDLhkVWcC&pg=PA182|series=Ethnologia Balkanica|volume=6|year=2002|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|location=Berlin|page=182}}</ref> In 1948 ] reported that accusations regarding collaboration of EDES with German and quisling authorities had damaged its reputation.<ref name="FundSmothers1948">{{cite book|last=Smothers|first=Frank Albert|title=Report on the Greeks: findings of a Twentieth Century Fund team which surveyed conditions in Greece in 1947|url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=Xo25TO6yKInFswbhn6zLDQ&ct=result&id=eEdoAAAAMAAJ&dq=the+major+resistance+movement+and+in+collusion+with+collaborationists+of+Athens)+had+damaged+the+reputation+of+EDES&q=Accusations+of+collaboration+with+the+enemy+and+with+the+quisling+Security+Battalions+(in+action+against+the+major+resistance+movement+and+in+collusion+with+collaborationists|accessdate=16 October 2010|year=1948|publisher=Twentieth Century Funds|page=31}}</ref> After World War II, Zervas the leader of EDES participated in ]' cabinet as Minister without Portfolio from 24 January to 23 February 1947, and afterwards as ] until 29 August 1947.<ref>{{cite web | publisher=General Secretariat of the Government | url=http://www.ggk.gov.gr/ggk_old/goverments-54910.php.html|title=ΚΥΒΕΡΝΗΣΙΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΜΑΞΙΜΟΥ - Από 24.1.1947 έως 29.8.1947 | language=Greek |accessdate=2010-07-13}}</ref> The ] and the ] opposed his appointment suspecting him of collaboration with ] during WWII and dictatorial ambitions.<ref name="iatrides">{{cite book|last1=Iatrides|first1=John|last2=Wrigley|first2=Linda|title=Greece at the crossroads: the Civil War and its legacy|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Vv1t3D_3vjkC&pg=PA137&dq=Napoleon+Zervas+collaboration&hl=en&ei=FqVQTNeGINSisQaX5KTWBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Napoleon%20Zervas%20collaboration&f=false|year=1995|publisher=Penn State Press|isbn=0271014113|page=137}}</ref> | ||
| == The civil war within the Resistance == | == The civil war within the Resistance == | ||
Revision as of 11:43, 16 October 2010
The National Republican Greek League (Template:Lang-el, Ethnikos Dimokratikos Ellinikos Syndesmos, abbreviated EDES) was one of the major resistance groups formed during the Axis Occupation of Greece during World War II. The largest of the non-communist resistance groups, it concentrated its military activities in Epirus. From 1943 onwards, came into confrontation with the Communist-led National Liberation Front, beginning a series of civil conflicts that would lead to the Greek Civil War.
Foundation and ideology
The National Republican Greek League was founded on 9 September 1941 by a former army officer, Colonel Napoleon Zervas a centrist ex-army officer who had been expelled from the army after the failed pro-Venizelist coup d'etat of 1935, and two of his friends, Leonidas Spais and Ilias Stamatopoulos.
Like many other resistance movements founded during that time, the political orientation of the National Republican Greek League was Republican, with a strong dislike towards the exiled King, George II, and featured some vague leftist/socialist tendencies. In the aftermath of the four-year right-wing Metaxas Dictatorship, which was strongly supported by the King, the monarchy was almost universally rejected, while social ideals for "social fairness" became the vogue among the various resistance groups.
The founding charter of EDES explicitly demanded the "establishment in Greece of a Republican regime, of Socialist form", the "revelation of the treason of former King George II and the gang of the 4th of August Dictatorship", calling for a thorough cleansing of the state and Greek social and public life from anyone "who has not proven a National Republican socialist conscience through actions". The charter acknowledged the prominent exiled Venizelist general Nikolaos Plastiras as its nominal political head, but due to his exile in France they failed to take his consent beforehand. For the time being, no reference to armed opposition against the occupying forces was made in the text.
On the same day, Komninos Pyromaglou, a friend and assistant of Plastiras, left Nice, where Plastiras resided, for Greece. He was authorize by the general to form, on his behalf, a republican organization with socialist content", and prepare to turn both "against the Occupier" and against a return of the monarchy. After his arrival in Athens on 23 September, Pyromaglou came into contact with Republican circles, and after contacting Zervas took EDES' command. In October, a five-member Executive Committee was founded, with Pyromaglou as Plastiras' representative as General Secretary and Zervas as a simple member.
As the organization grew, it succeeded in establishing links with the British Headquarters in Cairo, with a view to receiving funds, weapons and guidance. Under British pressure which at the time strongly supported the Greek monarchy, Zervas forced to sent a statement of loyalty to King George II in March 1942. This marked a silent breach with the vitriolic anti-monarchist attacks of the past months, and marked EDES' slow slide towards a more pro-monarchist stance.
Beginnings of armed resistance - The Gorgopotamos operation
Like most similar groups, EDES was initially limited to Athens. Having the support of many prominent Venizelist and Republican military figures, EDES came into contact with EAM and tried to establish some form of cooperation. The negotiations failed over the demands of the Communists for a merger of EDES with EAM and their distrust of Zervas' pro-British attitudes.
On 23 July 1942, after intense British pressure and more than a month after the official appearance of the military wing of EAM, the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), Zervas, accompanied by Pyromaglou and a handful of companions, set out for the Valtos Mountains in Aetolia-Acarnania, an area with long traditions of guerrilla warfare stretching back to the Ottoman period. From then and until the end of the Occupation, Epirus would be the primary area of operations of the EDES andartes.
Supported by British parachute drops, EDES quickly gathered some 100 fighters. The first major operation of EDES was "Operation Harling", the destruction of the Gorgopotamos viaduct by a joint force of British SOE commandos, and EDES and ELAS forces. While the successful operation, one of the greatest sabotage acts in occupied Europe, greatly boosted the prestige of the nascent Resistance, it also caused a significant rift between EDES and ELAS: the British loudly proclaimed and lauded Zervas' role in the operation, while ignoring the - numerically far greater - contribution of the leftist ELAS forces. While the rift was healed by British mediation, it presaged the problems that would appear in the future.
Collaborationism
In various towns and villages EDES members were aiding members collaborationist organizations. During the operations of the German army in the area of Mount Helicon EDES members acted as guides on mountain paths. Along with the British government the German authorities in Greece provided covert assistance to EDES, which increased the quality of the armament of the group. Since autumn 1943 EDES and the 12th Army of Nazi Germany had important connections, which led to an armistice and a collaboration pact against the other major resistance group of Greece, the Greek People's Liberation Army in February 1944. In 1948 The Century Foundation reported that accusations regarding collaboration of EDES with German and quisling authorities had damaged its reputation. After World War II, Zervas the leader of EDES participated in Dimitrios Maximos' cabinet as Minister without Portfolio from 24 January to 23 February 1947, and afterwards as Minister for Public Order until 29 August 1947. The United States of America and the United Kingdom opposed his appointment suspecting him of collaboration with Nazi Germany during WWII and dictatorial ambitions.
The civil war within the Resistance
Attempts at cooperation
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008) |
The first conflict
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008) |
These internal conflicts caused rivalry between resistance groups and eventually escalated into civil war. In October 1943 ELAS launched an attack on EDES. These attacks triggered a civil war that would last until February 1944. EAM, at this time the strongest of all resistance groups, accused EDES of collaboration with German and Axis forces in order to gain control over all anti-communist organizations, knowing that Allies would soon invade and take back control over Greece.
EDES in Athens
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008) |
References
- ^ Fleischer (1990), p. 150
- Fleischer (1990), p. 154
- Fleischer (1990), pp. 154-155
- Fleischer (1990), p. 388
- Fleischer (1990), p. 238
- Fleischer (1990), p. 241
- Fleischer (1990), p. 247
- ^ Saraphes, Stephanos G. (1980). ELAS: Greek resistance army. Merlin. p. 194. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
- Thomas, Nigel; Abbott, Peter (1983). Partisan warfare 1941-45. Osprey Publishing. p. 26. ISBN 9780850455137. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
- Kretsi, Georgia (2002). Ethnologia Balkanica. Ethnologia Balkanica. Vol. 6. Berlin: LIT Verlag Münster. p. 182.
- Smothers, Frank Albert (1948). Report on the Greeks: findings of a Twentieth Century Fund team which surveyed conditions in Greece in 1947. Twentieth Century Funds. p. 31. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
- "ΚΥΒΕΡΝΗΣΙΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΜΑΞΙΜΟΥ - Από 24.1.1947 έως 29.8.1947" (in Greek). General Secretariat of the Government. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
- Iatrides, John; Wrigley, Linda (1995). Greece at the crossroads: the Civil War and its legacy. Penn State Press. p. 137. ISBN 0271014113.
Sources
- Template:Gr icon Hagen Fleischer (1990). Stemma kai Svastika - I Ellada tis Katochis kai tis Antistasis ("Crown and Swastika - Greece of the Occupation and the Resistance"), Vol. 1. Athens: Papazissis Ed. ISBN 960-02-0764-X.
- Template:Gr icon Fleischer, Hagen (1995). Stemma kai Svastika - I Ellada tis Katochis kai tis Antistasis ("Crown and Swastika - Greece of the Occupation and the Resistance"), Vol. 2. Athens: Papazissis Ed. ISBN 960-02-1079-9.
- Mark Mazower (2001). Inside Hitler's Greece - The Experience of Occupation, 1941-44. United States: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08923-6.
- Woodhouse, Christopher Montague (1948). Apple of Discord: A Survey of Recent Greek Politics in their International Setting. London.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Center of Military History, German Antiguerrilla Operations in The Balkans (1941-1944) Washington DC: United States Army.
- The Statutes of EDES
