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Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos (ELAS) (Greek Εθνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός (ΕΛΑΣ) "National Popular Liberation Army") was the military arm of the communist Ethniko Apeleftherotiko Metopo (EAM) (Εθνικό Απελευθερωτικό Μέτωπο (ΕΑΜ) National Liberation Front) during the period of the Greek Resistance and the Greek Civil War.

Beginnings

ELAS initiated action against the German and Italian forces of occupation in Greece in 7 June 1942. Aris Velouchiotis with a small group of 10-15 guerillas entered the village Domnista in Evrytania and they proclaimed in front of the surprised villagers that they had set off to "start the war against the forces of Axis and their local collaborationists".

Two years later ELAS military strength had grown from the small group of fighters in Domnitsa to more than 60.000 soldiers, almost 50.000 reservists and more than 1.500.000 supporters, being one of the largest resistance groups formed in Europe, similar to the French Maquis and the Yugoslavian Partisans.

Consolidation of strength

Gorgopotamos

The night of September 1942, a small group of British officers fell with parachutes in the mountain og Giona. This group, which has from leader the brigadier Endy Mayers, had as missions the blowing up of the railway Germany-Athens, and the co-ordination of the guerilla's groups. The British must blow up one of the three bridges (Gorgopotamos, Papadia, Asopos), from where the railway passes and finally it is chosen this of Gorgopotamos. But from the success of the two missions, it is important to find the guerillas. The soldier of ELAS, Dimos Karalivanos it's the first guerilla they found. At the end of Octomber a second group of British officials fell to the greek mountains. Leaders were Themis Marinos and the colonel Chris Woodhouse. Their mission is to find the guerillas of EDES and their leader Napoleon Zervas which is more friendly to British Headquarters of Middle-East. The challenge of the mission was a surprise for the two guerilla's groups, EDES and ELAS, but, finally the two groups accept to collaborate from the success of the mission. British don't prefer the participation of ELAS, because there was a communist group. But, the forces of ELAS, were larger and more organised. If they didn't participate, the mission would certainly be unsucessful. At November 14, 12 British, the forces of ELAS (150 men) and the forces of EDES (60-65 men) met in the village Viniani of Evrytania and the operation started. Ten days later, the forces were at Gorgopotamos. The night of November 25, at eleven o' clock, the guerillas started the attack against the italian guards to the bridge. The Italians were startled, and after a little resistance , they heve been defeated. After the defeat of the Italians, the saboteurs put the explosive material. Forces of ELAS have put ambushes towards the bridge, to not come other Italians. The explosion became at 3.00 o' clock. After that, the guerilla's forces returned to Viniani, to celebrate the succes of the mission. The blowing up of the bridge of Gorgopotamos was, with the sabotage in the tank of heavy water in Rzoukan of North Norvege, the two biggest guerilla's acts in the occupied Europe. The blowing up of the bridge became the time that the German forces in North Africa, in their retreat after the defeat of El-Alamein, have absolute necessity of the provisions, which came from the Balkans.

From 1942 to 1943: the turning point.

The blowing up of the bridge favoured ELAS. Soon lot of habitants of the villages of Roumeli became members of ELAS.The farmers saw that the Italians didn't make atrocities against the people, except the 22 farmers that they were executed in December. Furthermore, people sympathised the ELAS guerillas because they weren't helped by the British in contrast with EDES. The guerillas of EDES used dishonest actions for persuade the guerillas of ELAS to come with them, like anti-communism and money. When 25 guerillas deserted from ELAS, Aris Velouchiotis went to Epirus to threaten Napoleon Zervas not to have contact with ELAS. Later, the 25 deserters were arrested and executed in the village of Sperhiada. The winter of 1942, ELAS groups were formed in other greek regions, like Thessaly and Macedonia. In Roumeli, Aris Velouchiotis succeded to form a powerful group which could attack german and italian forces. Aris became a legendary figure who imposed an iron discipline in ELAS. At the same time, some members of ELAS (Periklis, Tasos Leuterias, Diamantis, Nikiforos, Thiseas, Dimos Karalivanos, Belis) have been discerned during the battles. Aris Velouchiotis formed a group of 30-35 men, "Mavroscoufides"(those who wear black berets), who were his own guards.

The "Mountain Government"

Antagonism with other resistance groups

After the German attack against the Soviet Union and while Greece was under occupation, the Greek Communists together with other parts of the Left formed a resistance group called the National People's Liberation Army (in Greek the Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos or ELAS). They were joined by other, center-left or non-politicised Greek resistance fighters and by 1944 they controlled three-fifths of the country. As the outcome of the war was becoming inevitable, ELAS and other non-communist resistance groups, including the republican Greek National Democratic Union or (EDES), fought increasingly bitter battles against each other to secure post-war dominance. In a rare instance, ELAS and EDES-EOEA joined forces on November 25, 1942, and blew up the Gorgopotamos bridge in Phokis. This action disrupted the German transportation of ammunition via Greece to Rommel.

Transformation to Democratic Army and the Civil War

At the end of the war, fighting broke out between ELAS and the Greek government. ELAS forces were backed by Greece's communist neighbors, whereas the Greek government was backed by the British army. Following a cease fire agreement known as Varkiza pact, ELAS laid down arms with the idea of a political process. However, alleging percecutions of leftists after the Varkiza accord, ELAS reversed its stance and restarted armed fighting in 1946. The war was extremely violent, with heavy casualties on both sides. The Greek Civil War was to last until 1949, with the defeat of the communists.

List of important ELAS battles

ELAS fighted against the occupation forces in many battles, which include:

  • The battle of Ryka (40 Italians killed),
  • The battle of Mikro Horio (70 Italians killed),
  • The battle of Gorgopotamos,
  • The battle of Fardycambos.
  • The battle of Saradaporo (155 Germans killed), The battle of Porta (many Italians killed)

Famous soldiers of ELAS were:

  • Aris Velouchiotis (Thanassis Klaras)
  • Stefanos Sarafis
  • Markos Vafiadis
  • Charilaos Florakis
  • Kostoulas Agrafiotis (Nikos Kavretzos)
  • Nikiforos (Dimitrios Dimitriou)
  • Periklis (Giorgos Houliaras)
  • Thanos (Fotis Mastrokostas)
  • Pelopidas (Pandelis Laskos)
  • Diamantis (Yannis Alexandrou)
  • Ahilleas (Lambros Koubouras)
  • Leuteris (Leuteris Tsiliyannis)
  • Lambros (Spiros Bekios)
  • Nakos Belis
  • Dimos Karalivanos
  • Boukouvalas (Dimitrios Tasos)
  • Kozakas (Thomas Pallas)
  • Smolikas (Nikos Xinos)
  • Tasos Leuterias (Vangelis Papadakis)
  • Javellas (Yannis Aggeletos)
  • Ermis (Vasilis Priovolos)
  • Papa-Holevas
  • Pater-Anypomonos (Germanos Dimakos)
  • Gerasimos Augeropoulos
  • Evripidis Mbakirtzis
  • Vasilis Samariniotis (Andreas Tzimas)
  • Ektoras (Theodoros Makridis)
  • Thomas (Yannis Hatzipanagiotou)

See also

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