I’m new around here and I’d just like to say that this is a great thread. Bravo, great job to @avalantis. Well done, Sir.
5 Likes
Thx! 
5 Likes
"A burial ceremony for 20 Greek fallen soldiers of the Greco-Italian War took place on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 11:00 am at the Kleisoura (Këlcyrë) Military Cemetery in Albania, according to a statement from the Greek Foreign Ministry.
The remains of the fallen were found in the context of the implementation of the 2009 Greece-Albania bilateral agreement on the search, exhumation, identification and reburial of Greek fallen soldiers in war operations in Albania in 1940-1941.
Representatives of the Greek Ministry of Defense, the Greek ambassador to Tirana, the Greek consul general in Argirokastro (Gjirokastër), as well as representatives of the Greek minority in Albania, attended the ceremony, presided by the Bishop of Argirokastro/Gjirokastër.
The Greek Foreign Ministry is pleased that 80 years after their sacrifice, the souls of Greek fallen soldiers will rest in peace and welcomes the cooperation with the Albanian side on this particularly sensitive and humanitarian issue, stressing the importance it attaches to continuing work. on the field and the full implementation of this bilateral agreement between Greece and Albania."
7 Likes
In May of 1941, the Bulgarian administration officially takes over almost all parts of Greek Thrace; from the Struma river in the west to the cities of Deadegac and Porto Lagos in the East. The region is unified under the new administrative region of Belomorie (“White Sea Region”) and the regional capital is in Xanthi.
Kavala port becomes the HQ for the new Bulgarian “White Sea Fleet”. And it functions up until late 1944:
5 Likes
apart the Greco-Turkish borders, ie. 2/3 of the Evros regional unit which remained under German administration.
Also, Bulgaria controlled Eastern Macedonia
5 Likes
The migration of the Greek navy
In sharp contrast with the Greco-Italian War, where under any circumstances, the Greek navy carried out its duties, the situation changed dramatically on April 6, 1941, when the Germans launched their invasion against Greece.
From day 1, the Luftwaffe managed to gain air-supremacy (700 warplanes vs 250-300 British/ANZAC/Greek warplanes) and from the same day neutralized almost every major Greek port, either by destroying it, or by mining it, a feat that the Italian air force failed for 6 months. Especially the bombardment of Piraeus port, the largest of the county, minimized the operation capabilities of the allied army, as it negated any chance of further reinforcements.
Metaxas built a regime centralized around him and he didn’t provide for his succession. Therefore, after his death in January, the leadership and the state machinery started to disintegrate, from top to bottom. From the public services to the Army, the Air Force, the security forces, only the Navy kept its structure and its discipline, and finally left the country as a unified, coherent force. Already before the German invasion, Rear Admiral Alexandros Sakellariou, Chief of the Navy General Staff started to issue orders, from March 23, about the movement of materiel “to the south”.
After fierce but short fighting, the Metaxas Line was overrun, the Greek army in Albania retreated to avoid encirclement, and the British line in Haliacmon river was proved too thin for the Germans. Soon, the Greek generals sought to negotiate with the Germans, contrary to the orders of the Government and the General Staff, and the Greek army either collapsed or surrendered. In the chaos that followed, the British and ANZAC troops could only withdraw further south, until they reach Crete.
The navy, instead of leaving from the range of the Luftwaffe, was ordered to keep the ships, especially the new destroyers, near the capital, to facilitate the allied retreat and the transport of the cabinet members. So, most of the ships try to hide in estuaries and similar places, while they continue their escort duties for convoys.
As the military situation deteriorated, so was the civilian one. Most of the generals and the cabinet members were concerned about retaining the king’s favor to retain their positions post war and how they could leave the country with most of their possessions. So, it seems they stalled the fleet’s departure, and their presence in the ships, along with their valuables, caused the discontent of the crews and in some cases threatened mutinies.
Rear Admiral Sakellariou, by the April 10, presented a memorandum to the cabinet, concerning the migration of the navy to Alexandria, “ under the pressure of the development of the war ”. His proposals were accepted and in the next day the Supreme Naval Council issued top secret order No. 927. According to it:
(a) The main combat ships of the fleet (destroyers and submarines) would be prepared for Alexandria while the Averof and torpedo warships would be relocated to Souda.
b) By the signal “Messolonghi”, all fortresses and installations would be destroyed. However, it was explicitly stated that the facilities of the Radio Service, the workshops of the naval bases and the shipyards would remain intact in consultation with the allies.
c) By the signal “Hellas” the war files would be burned.
(d) By the signal “Hera” any personnel who could not leave would be dismissed and any vessel which could not sail would be destroyed.
An indicative of the situation was the fate of legendary armored cruiser George Averof, the flagship of the Greek Navy. When news reached that the navy command was about to scuttle the ship to prevent its capture, the crew mutinied, they cut through a closed harbor-boom with axes and handsaws to let the vessel escape, and their commanding officer dramatically embarked up a rope ladder to join them as the vessel was underway to Alexandria.
“RHNS Georgios Averof” in camo paint, RN Bombay Station, 1942, while serving under UK Royal Navy Command.
On April 18, Prime Minister Koryzis committed suicide, and Rear Admiral Sakellariou was appointed Minister of Naval Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, retaining his military office.
Most of the allied soldiers were successfully evacuated from the mainland to Crete, but the cost was terrible: From April 4 to 25, 20 units out of 36 of the Greek Navy, were sunk by the Stukas, amongst them the destroyers “King George”, “Psara” and “Hydra”, with hundreds of killed and injured.
Two exceptions were the destroyers Aetos and Spetsai. In Aetos, the captain and two senior officers of the ship resigned, and a mutiny ensued. Some of the mutineers damaged the anti-aircraft guns (not beyond repair). Lieutenant commander Ioannis Toumbas took over the ship, and told to the sailors that he wanted to arrest no one, but “ any member of the crew who does not understand his duty must leave the ship now. Whoever stays, he will continue to fight for the fatherland ”. All officers and NGOs, apart three petty officers, left, as half of the sailors. As he was leaving, the chief accountant of the ship was caught with a suitcase containing the ship’s money, he was arrested, tried and executed. In Spetsai, the mutiny was suppressed with harder measures.
Until late April, 16 ships managed to reach Alexandria and were thus placed under British command: The armored cruiser Averof, nine destroyers; Queen Olga, Spetsai, Aetos, Kountouriotis, Ierax, Panther, Aspis, Nike, and Sfendoni, five submarines; Nereus, Triton, Papanikolis, Glaucus and Katsonis and the repair ship Hephaestus. Despite the request of Rear Admiral Sakellariou for the participation of the Greek Navy in the forthcoming Battle of Crete, Andrew Cunningham deemed the vessels in poor condition from the war operations and having outdated equipment. So, they were sent to the dockyards of Bombay and Calcutta for repairs and update.
Those 16 ships, along with the remaining Greek merchant fleet, became the core of the Greek Navy-in-exile, which continued to fight around the globe until the final victory.
Queen Olga was the most modern ship of the Greek Navy which survived the battle of Greece. She continued to participate in war operations until she was sunk by German bombers at Leros island, on September 26, 1943, with the loss of 72 men
4 Likes
- Bulgarian anti-fascist guerrillas in Didimoticho,Greece. These pro-Communist guerrillas worked closely with ELAS (Greek People’s Liberation Army) units during the last two years of the Bulgarian occupation of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.
5 Likes
March 1941. Australian soldiers and British Royal Navy officers on the Acropolis
March 1941. Australian soldiers on the Acropolis. (Caryatids). -AWM
April 1941. Disarmed Greek soldiers after the capitulation of the Epirus army, on a train wagon trying to return home.
April 1941. Half-sunk German Panzers tries to cross the Pineiós river
April 1941. Pictures of disaster in the port of Piraeus,Greece, following the bombing of Luftwaffe. -Franz Peter Weixler.
4 Likes
Special permition for free movement in Crete
5 Likes
Greece mourns for Manolis Glezos, a legendary member of the Greek Resistance, who died today, aged 97, from heart failure.
Born in the village of Apiranthos, Naxos on September 9, 1922, Glezos moved to Athens in 1935 together with his family, where he finished high school.
On the night of the 30th to the 31st of May 1941, together with his friend Apostolos Santas, they climbed the Acropolis cliffs, and tore apart the swastika flag raised on Parthenon, with only “weapons”, a lantern and a knife, in what is viewed as the first act of Resistance is Axis occupied Greece. Both have described in subsequent interviews how they did the act without been spotted, and how they hid a piece of the flag on them … The view of the missing flag provoked the annoyance of the Nazis and gave courage to the Athenians.
They were sentenced to death in absentia, but since their identity was not discovered, both of them were jailed from the Nazi and the Italian authorities without being executed, as they became fully fledged members of EPON, the youth wing of EAM. Because of the tortures he suffered, he contracted tuberculosis. Glezos’ younger brother, Nikos, was executed by the Nazis in May 1944.
After the liberation of Greece, Glezos took part in the Battle of Athens against the British. He was one of the leaders of the demolition team who planted dynamite below the hotel Grande Bretagne, the British HQ during the battle. Ultimately, the operation was called off when it became known that Churchill came in Athens, staying in the hotel, in his attempt to monitor the crisis.
During the Civil War and post-war Greece he became a journalist and editor in communist and left leaning newspapers. He was repeatedly hunted by post-war Greece. In 1948 and 1949 received the death penalty. After international pressure his sentence was commuted to imprisonment in life, and he was released in 1954. Despite his time in jail, he was elected MP in 1951, included in the left party EDA. In 1958 he was imprisoned again, accused for espionage, and he was released in 1961. He was imprisoned again in 1967, by the Far Right coup of the Colonels. He was released in 1971.
Manolis Glezos’ sentences, from the Second World War to the Greek Civil War and the Regime of the Colonels totals to 11 years and 4 months of imprisonment, and 4 years and 6 months of exile.
After the restoration of Democracy, in 1974, he was repeatedly elected MP, he became member of the European Parliament in 1984, major of his birth village in Naxos in 1986, he participated in the anti-american demonstrations in Belgrade during the 1999 bombings, and he was elected again in the European Parliament in 2014 with SYRIZA party, with 438.000 votes, the highest of all canditates. He participated in the Paris march against the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, and he took an active role against the austerity policy in Greece, and he supported the “No” vote in the 2015 bailout referendum. He resigned from MEP in 2015.
Poster during the Resistance, depicting their feat
Manolis Glezos (left) and Apostolos Santas (right), after WW2
Manolis Glezos in the European Parliament, 2015
7 Likes
I just read up about him a couple of days ago, very sad.
4 Likes
3 Likes
The Pittsburgh Press (April 28, 1941)
ROOSEVELT FREEZES GREEK FUNDS IN U.S.
Washington, April 28 (UP) –
President Roosevelt today froze Greek credits and cash holdings in the United States in order to prevent them from being used by the Axis conquerors of Greece.
Greece has in the United States between $40-50 million in direct investments, short-term credits and gold. In Greece, the United States had before the war about $25 million in direct investments and short-term credits.
The Greek freeze order was the 14th in a list that began with Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The total of frozen funds in the United States amounts to about $4,500,000,000.
3 Likes
3 Likes
Branded - Women on the Island of Crete 1941-1945
3 Likes
A football match in Kavala:
While under Bulgarian administration, the region of Aegean Thrace was grouped under the Belomorska (White-sea / Aegean) Sports District. The first-place team would take part in the Top tier of Bulgarian Football. The competition was held under elimination rules with a home / away bout.
The first Greek team to play in the Bulgarian championship was Belomorets Kavala. They were formed in 1941 and played top tier in the 1943 season.
In the 1/16 finals, they defeated Botev Haskovo with 4:1 at home and 2:1 away.
In the 1/8 finals, they defeat Botev Plovdiv at home with 2:1 but lose the away bout with 0:1. Since the goal difference is equal, extra time is allotted. Botev Plovdiv are able to score a second goal and eliminate them from the competition.
Belomorets finish 9th in the overall rankings. Slavia Sofia defeat Levski Sofia at the finals.
The second Greek team is Momchil Yunak Kavala.
They face Bulgaria Haskovo in the first round and win 1:0 at home. Due to shenanigans with the away match, Momchil Yunak are given an automatic 3:0 win and qualify for the next round.
Due to financial difficulties, Momchil Yunak pull out of participating in the 1/8 finals and Bulgaria Haskovo take their place and eliminate ZhSK Plovdiv to qualify for the 1/4 finals.
The 1944 season is never finished due to the 9th September coup.
4 Likes
4 Likes
3 Likes
2 Likes