Exactly 69 years ago the first chapter of the Greek Civil War (1946 – 49) was being written in blood on the streets of Athens. The events involved several weeks of skirmishes on the streets of Athens largely between leftist former resistance fighters and British forces that were supporting the militarily weak government of George Papandreou established following Nazi withdrawal.
The role of the British in the Dekemvriana and subsequent civil was examined in a controversial 1986 documentary entitled Greece: The Hidden War that originally aired in three parts on the UK’s Channel 4. The documentary featured both Greek and British interviewees. The Greek contributors were leftist leaders and fighters who had fought with [communist] ELAS – EAM, first during the Resistance and subsequently during the Civil War, and who had either been imprisoned or exiled for years following the war and the communists defeat. The British interviewees included soldiers, agents or commentators, such as Chris “Monty” Woodhouse, Eddie Myers, Richard Acland, Sir Geoffrey Chandler, Edward Warner, Nigel Clive and David Balfour.
The documentary provoked an intense controversy in Britain as most of the interviewees largely blamed the British and American forces for the bloodshed that followed the Dekemvriana. While this had been the narrative of the Greek left for decades and was largely accepted by many Greek historians, hearing it from British veterans was another matter.
The film caused such an uproar, according to Wikipedia, that the documentary was banned with every copy destroyed save for one.
While for many in Greece this was an act of blatant censorship, the Hidden War controversy was seen in Britain in a completely different light. According to “The Making of Channel 4,” a book on the history of the broadcaster edited by Peter Catterall, the channel had received “complaints from distinguished British citizens who had been involved in Greece at the time. They had been interviewed for the series and now accused Channel 4 both of bias and of misrepresentation.” An internal inquiry came to the conclusions “…first that in many respects the complaints were justified and secondly that Channel 4 should return to the subject in order to restore balance to Channel 4’s coverage of the historical issues raised.” In the same book, Lord Annan comments, “The only program that I thought was a disgrace was the Greek programme, and that was because the people that were asked to take part in it were people who had parachuted into Greece during the war; their statements were in fact falsified.”
This being the age of the internet of course, the documentary’s one surviving copy eventually found its way onto the web where it can be seen by anyone. You can watch Greece: The Hidden War’s take on the Civil War and the events of December 1944 in the video above (timestamped to 29.45, where the Dekemvriana are discussed).
TPPi Explainer: Dekemvriana and the Greek Civil War
The ‘Dekemvriana’ or ‘December Events’ were triggered when the British-backed unity government of George Papandreou passed an order mandating the disarmament of most ELAS-EAM, the largely communist resistance forces that controlled most of Greece after the withdrawal of the Nazis from the country.
In protest six leftist government ministers resigned and EAM called for a national strike. On the 3rd of December a huge rally of 200,000 protesters marched on Syntagma Square where Greek police forces and British troops were positioned. The pro government forces opened fire on the protesters killing 28 and injuring 143. The bloody incident led to over a month of skirmishes in the capital city between EAM and government and British forces under the command of General Ronald Scobie. While the situation in the rest of the country was tense, the violence was largely confined to Athens. As the government’s forces were weak, much of the fighting was done by the British who were now in open conflict with forces who had been their natural allies a short time previously while Greece was under Nazi occupation.
The Dekemvriana ended with EAM-ELAS’s defeat and withdrawal from Athens and other major cities. A ceasefire was signed on January 15th which led to the ‘Varkiza Agreement’ signed on the 12th of February. However the events heralded the beginning of a new era of civil strife and acts of terror throughout the country which would lead eventually to the outbreak of civil war between the US and UK backed government and the military arm of the Greek communist party.
It is likely that without UK and US involvement, following the German retreat, Greece would have come under the control of Greek communist forces, an outcome both Churchill and Truman were keen to avoid. Foreign armed involvement in the conflict thus played a decisive role in determining Greece’s political and economic future.
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