THE COMMUNIST TERROR BEGINS 1941- 44
The background of the civil war lays in the occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany (and its allies Italy and Bulgaria) from 1941 to 1944.� After the German invasion at the end of the battle of Crete, King George II and his government escaped to Egypt, where they set up a government in exile recognized by the Allies. This government was not supported by all Greeks, since Greece was devided to royalists and anti-royalists from the first World war. King George II himself had returned to the throne after a period of exile and after a disputable plebiscite in 1935.

Ioannis Metaxas was the legal prime minister of Greece who in 1936 suspended certain articles of the costitution and became dictator legitimatly. In 1940 he rejected an Italian ultimatum and Greece entered the 2 World War against Axis at the time when Britain was left alone. Metaxas died at the february of 1941. In april 1941 the German forces attacked Greece to help their allies. Since the whole Greek army was fighting (victoriously) at the west, the few remaining reserves did not manage to fight more than a month against Germans who came from the North. At the end of the battle of Crete, King George II and his government escaped to Egypt. The government in exile was cut off from events in Greece.
The Germans set up a collaborationist government in Athens, but this government lacked legitimacy and public support, particularly since German economic exploitation and the British blockade of Greece created runaway inflation, acute shortages and eventually famine among the Greek civilian population. Later some officers of the pre-War Greek regime collaborated with the Germans in order to stop communist partizan. During the war, this government controlled paramilitary forces armed by the Germans, which acted against communist partizans. Even these collaborator forces never fought against the allies.
The conflict started during the period of the axis occupation. The communist party of Greece had the advantage over any other movement because even before the war it was organized for underground actions. The public support  for the communists was (less than 5% before the war.
As long as the Axis remained in alliance with the USSR there were no actions against the occupational forces. When Germany attacked USSR then communist controlled groups started attacking axis forces.
From the very first days of the resistance the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) sought the change to grab the power at the end of the war. So it started creating a strong military force trying to cover its real intentions. This force was the National Liberation Front (in Greek Ethniko Apeleftherotiko Metopo, or EAM), which was founded in September 1941. EAM and its military wing, the Greek National Liberation Army (Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos or ELAS), were established by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), whose acting leader at this time was Giorgios Siantos (its leader, Nikolaos Zachariadis, was in a German prison).
Following the Soviet line of a broad united front against fascism, however, EAM succeeded using various methods (masquerading the true nature of their units, even terror and death squads called OPLA) to recruit� many non-Communists. Many of them tried to return at their homes when realized the real nature of ELAS. Many times they were executed by their ex-comrades and other times they were delivered to Germans by Communist double agents. Their families were suffering similar penalties. With such methods ELAS expanded into a large organisation which was entirely controlled by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
EAM and ELAS were opposed by two smaller resistance movements; the Greek National Republican League (Ellinikos Dimokratikos Ethnikos Syndesmos or EDES), led by a former army officer, Colonel Napoleon Zervas, and the National and Social Liberation (Ethniki Kai Koinoniki Apeleftherosis, or EKKA), led by Colonel Dimitrios Psaros. EKKA was liberal and republican. EDES was mainly anti-Communist as was the X organization in Athens. There were many other small anti communist resistance groups in Greek Macedonia and the 542 euzone regiment in Peloponesse. but were very soon anihilated by ELAS.
ELAS made it very soon clear (1943) that was fighting not only against axis occupational forces but in order to create a strong military mashine that would help the communist party take the power in Greece after the war.
Greece is a country very favourable to guerilla operations, and by 1943 the Germans and their allies controlled only the main towns and connecting roads, leaving the mountainous interior to the resistance. By 1943 ELAS had about 20,000 men under arms, and effectively controlled large areas of the Peloponnese, Crete, Thessaly and Macedonia. EDES had about 5,000 men, nearly all of them in Epirus. EKKA only had about 1,000 men. ELAS and EDES were epuiped mostly from the British. ELAS took also control of most of the weapons (even artillery pieces and a/a guns) of the Italian garrisons in Greece when Italy withdrew from the war in late 1943. During the last years of the war ELAS had created certain airfields on the mountains where could receive British help as well.
There were also right-wing military organisations, such as X  and others, which although they were part of the resistance were accused by the communists that were armed by the Germans. That is not true. EAM started a vast campaign against these as well as the armed forces of the collaborationist government. In fact At the end of 1943 ELAS was fighting against anyone who might resist its power when the war would be over. Not only other resistance groups but even civilians with certain influence in local societies. Prominent civilians, police officers and priests were kidnapped, tortured and murdered in every small town. The Greek Communist party had special death squads (called OPLA) which were terrorizing or killing those who were cosidered as conservatives (right wing). In many cases ex ELAS members, who left Elas when realized that it was communist controlled, were given to Germans by their ex ELAS comrades. In many other cases Connunist double agents gave to Germans right wing Greeks who were trying to escape in Egypt to fight with the legal Greek government against the axis.
In a standard communist practice EAM accused EDES and other resistance groups of collaboration with the Germans. ELAS was determined to establish a monopoly over the resistance, since it believed that the Allies would soon invade southern Europe through Greece, and wanted to be in a dominant position after the departure of  the Germans. Another tactic used by ELAS was the murder of single Germans just in order to provoke German counter measures that would finally helped ELAS recruit more new members.
In such a case ELAS members murdered an unarmed German doctor who was disinfecting the aqueduct of Thessaloniki causing counter measures by the Germans who burned a nearby village and executed many villagers.
This situation led to triangular battles between ELAS, EDES and the Germans. In October 1943 ELAS attacked its rivals, particularly EDES, precipitating a civil war across many parts of Greece which continued until February 1944, when the British agents in Greece negotiated a ceasefire (the Plaka agreement).
In March 1944 the EAM, now in control of most of the country, established the Political Committee of National Liberation (Politiki Epitropi Ethnikis Apelevtheroseos, or PEEA), in effect a third Greek government to rival those in Athens and Cairo. It declared that : it's aims were to intensify the struggle against the conquerors... for full national liberation, for the consolidation of the independence and integrity of our country... and for the annihilation of domestic Fascism and armed traitor formations.

PEEA's first president was Euripides Bakirtzis, the military leader of EKKA.
Most Greecs who were anticommunists� were trying to flee in Egypt to fight against axis under the orders of the legal Greek government. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in most cases was driving these attempts to fail sending its faithfull members to Egypt in order to controll even the forces in exile. In April 1944 the Greek Communist party organized a mutiny among certain units of the Greek armed forces in Egypt, demanding that a Government of National Unity should be established based on the PEEA principles, which in fact meant the surrender of Greece to the Greek communist party. The mutiny was suppressed by British and loyal Greek units. This episode discredited Greece, all over the world. Later on, through political screening of the soldiers (since almost all officers even the anti royalists were anti communists), the Cairo government created reliable armed forces without communist influence..
In May 1944, representatives from all political groups came together at a conference in Lebanon, seeking an agreement for a government of national unity. Despite EAM's accusations against other Greek forces, the conference succeded as aresult of Soviet intervention to the Greek Communist Party. Stalin didn't want to harm Allied unity. In Nazi occupied Greece the struggle was bitter and there was no room for delicate differentiations. The communists say that all sides burned villages and executed civilians and suspected collaborators, which is not true, because only ELAS had the power to do so. The communists also tend to accuse groups such as X, of collaboration and terrorism which is really funny if someone thinks that X had influence only in a certain neighbourhood at the center of Athens and during the last years of the war it was a self defence organization. Even if the members of X wanted to do so, they could not terrorize any communist.
The Communists say that ELAS attrocities was the result of over-zealous local commanders rather than official policy. But if this is true it seems that All ELAS local commanders were over zealous. The execution of the EKKA leader Dimitrios Psaros was one of the most repellent ELAS crimes, in a standard communist tactic some of his officers were accused as collaborators of the Germans in order to justify its crime. In a certain episode in Peloponesse (Meligala) when some 3000 of the collaborationist troops and their family members included new born babies surrendered to ELAS were all slaughtered.
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