I just read up about him a couple of days ago, very sad.
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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.
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Branded - Women on the Island of Crete 1941-1945
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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.
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The Pittsburgh Press (May 20, 1941)
CRETE INVADERS ACCOUNTED FOR, CHURCHILL SAYS
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Some attackers landed from gliders dressed as New Zealanders
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London, May 20 (UP) –
Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced today that 1,500 German troops landed in Crete by parachute, glider and aircraft transports and started a great attack which the British military now report is “in hand.”
Mr. Churchill said that the German troops were dressed in the uniforms of New Zealand soldiers when they dropped upon Crete from the sky and landed from their gliders and troop-carrying Junkers.
Mr. Churchill said that a great battle was raging in Crete and that the Germans had attempted to capture Maleme but so far have not succeeded.
Continue bombing
He said he had received a report from Crete which said that the Germans were continuing sporadic bombing and machine-gun attacks, chiefly against British anti-aircraft defenses.
Mr. Churchill revealed that the German forces had captured a military hospital between Chania and Maleme but said that the hospital had been retaken by Greco-British defense forces.
Mr. Churchill told the House of Commons:
It is reported that there is a fairly strong enemy party near the Chania-Maleme Road which is not yet mopped up but the other parties are accounted for.
Reliable British sources prior to Churchill’s statement had estimated that the Nazis landed a full division of troops – possibly 10,000 to 12,000 men – in Crete, but the only figure mentioned by the Prime Minister was 1,500.
Seat of government
Chania, near where many of the parachutists landed, is the present seat of the Greek government.
The use of gliders by the Germans to land their forces silently upon Crete was the first time in the history of warfare that this method had been employed. The operation appeared to have been a dress rehearsal of methods which the Germans later might employ in an attempt to attack Britain.
Mr. Churchill said:
After a good deal of intense bombing of Souda Bay and various airdromes in the neighborhood, about 1,500 enemy troops wearing the New Zealand battledress landed by gliders, parachutes, and troop carriers in the Chania-Maleme area.
Military experts pointed out that the German people landed on Crete in the first phase of fighting would be intended primarily to disrupt defenses and hold positions until Nazi reinforcements could be flown in.
Ruthless conflict
According to Mr. Churchill’s announcement, guerilla fighting and perhaps an important battle was still in progress. Ruthlessness of the conflict may be judged by the fact that, early in the war, the British and French warned that any Nazi parachutists found wearing Allied uniforms or civilian clothes would be treated as spies, which presumably would mean that they would be shot if captured.
The attack was the boldest overwater stroke of the war and appeared to be a possible dress rehearsal for future attempts to invade Britain by air and sea.
How many gliders, Junkers 52 troop-carrying transports and special parachutists’ planes were involved in the attack was not known.
Never before used
However, it was learned that “a considerable number” of gliders were utilized and it was believed that the gliders were towed out over the 70-mile channel between Greece and Crete and then cut loose to swoop down silently on the Greco-British fortress island.
Use of gliders has been the subject of repeated speculation in military quarters but never before, so far as was known here, have they actually been employed in a tactical operation of war.
The British report appeared to indicate that the Germans, possibly through their use of parachutists, had won control of at least one airfield in Crete in which the troop-carrying transports and glider planes could land.
A major battle is now raging for control of Crete, British sources reported, and some of the German attackers were said to have been wiped out with dispatch.
Without detailing the exact military situation, a British communiqué issued at Cairo said:
A number already have been accounted for.
Attack follows shelling
Both parachute troops and airborne troops were said to have been flown to the 140-mile-long island during the night or early this morning in what the British communiqué described as “an attempt” to secure a footing in Crete.
A fleet of German Junkers 52 planes was understood to have released the army of parachutists on the Greek island in the first real test of airborne attack since the war began. The attack was also the first real encounter of British Imperials with a major parachute invasion, although they have dealt with parachutists in Belgium, Greece and elsewhere.
Some estimates put the number of British-Greek defending troops on Crete at 50,000 to 60,000 men.
The German attack began after several days of increasingly severe air bombardment of Crete bases and airfields, especially Souda Bay, from which British warships were understood to be opening.
The British had made preparations to defend Crete to the end with naval forces, airplanes and coastal artillery. Both Greek and British troops evacuated from the Balkan battlefields were on the island.
Berlin reported a British cruiser of the 8,250-ton York class had been set afire and 12 British fighter planes had been destroyed in heavy Luftwaffe attacks on Crete, especially Suda Bay.
Maj. Gen. Bernard C. Freyberg is in command of British, New Zealand and Greek forces on Crete. The main British base is at Souda Bay which has been attacked frequently by the German Air Force.
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The Pittsburgh Press (May 21, 1941)
BATTLE RAGES IN CRETE
Thousands of Nazis land by parachute and glider
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Sea attack reported tried; fighting to increase, Churchill says
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By Edward W. Beattie Jr., United Press staff writer
German paratroopers landing on Crete from Junkers 52 transports.
Historic Crete, a Greek possession, now has a new place in history – that of being the scene of the first large-scale aerial invasion. The arrows above show the principal areas in which airborne German troops landed. Crete has an area of 3,300 square miles, and is 160 miles long and – at its widest point – 30 miles wide. It has a population of approximately 400,000. It is extremely mountainous.
How German-held positions on Greece and Africa threaten the British in Crete and at the Suez Canal is shown on this map. Capture of Crete, where fighting continued today, would give the Germans another point from which to bomb Suez Canal defenses.
London, May 21 –
Fighting continues and must be expected to increase in severity on the strategic Mediterranean island of Crete, Prime Minister Winston Churchill said today following reports that German reinforcements were landing by parachute, glider, air transport and possibly by warship to boost the total invading force perhaps to 11,500 men.
Adolf Hitler’s air force continued hammering attacks to support the aerial invasion and it was reported tha Axis naval units had attempted to break through the Royal Navy to land reinforcements.
A BBC report said that some Axis sea transports may have already broken through to Crete.
The military situation was reported “in hand” at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Mr. Churchill told the House of Commons, but added:
We must expect that the fighting must continue and increase in severity.
The Prime Minister referred only to the Candia (Heraclean) and Rethymno (Retimo) sectors, both on the middle north coast of Crete, about 80 miles from the Greek mainland, and to the landing of about 3,000 parachutists around Souda Bay, near the west end of the island late Tuesday.
The Germans made heavy dive-bomber attacks on the areas, he said, and then Nazi gliders dropped down and disgorged troops who rushed together after they landed and opened attacks on the three points. Parachutists were also dropped.
Many German troop-carrying craft were shot down or crashed, he said, and a majority of the 3,000 men landed for the Souda Bay attack were “accounted” for by 6:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, at 5:30 p.m., landings began in the Heraclean and Retimo sectors.
The Prime Minister had no details of the outcome of the Candia and Rethymno battles, but said the actions continued.
The British General Headquarters at Cairo, reporting continued intense air attacks on Crete yesterday, said that a Nazi detachment succeeded in penetrating the outskirts of Chania, in the Souda Bay area, but quickly was surrounded and accounted for.
Serious losses were inflicted on the invaders and British casualties were comparatively light, a communiqué said.
Heavy British bombers were reported at Cairo to have smashed last night at German air bases in Greece from which fresh waves of Nazi airborne troops took off for Crete.
Mr. Churchill’s statement did not give a clear indication of the number of invaders landed on Crete.
British authorities previously had said that, after a recheck of advices from Crete, they were not certain of the exact number estimated to have landed. On the basis of periodic reports received by authoritative sources in London the landings were as follows:
- An entire air division of about 7,000 men, including some parachutists.
- About 1,500 parachutists reported by Premier Churchill to have landed early Tuesday wearing the uniforms of New Zealand troops.
- About 3,000 dropped near Souda Bay at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. British authorities said, however, that the 3,000 near Souda Bay may have been part of the air division of 7,000, thus making a total of 8,500 men.
Reinforcements, however, were believed still to be en route from Greece to Crete by air in addition to whatever troops may be landed by sea.
In response to a question, Mr. Churchill again said that it had been confirmed that Nazi parachutists wore New Zealand battledress and added:
I have another report that those who landed at Rethymno (Retimo) were wearing British battledress, but I see the Germans denied this.
In Berlin, the Germans denied that any British uniform had been worn by Nazi parachutists and threatened 10-for-1 retaliation if the British treated parachutists as spies.
Asked if parachutists wearing British uniforms would be dealt with according to international law (as spies), Prime Minister Churchill said:
I am not sufficiently informed on the exact circumstances. I think we must leave a certain amount of discretion to those on the spot.
The BBC, as heard in New York, reported that some of the Axis attempts to land forces ion Crete by sea apparently had succeeded. A broadcast by Maj. Alan Murray said that the Germans were expected to use ships in Greek and Dodecanese harbors to run the gantlet of the Royal Navy and “it looks rather as if one or two already have” broken through.
Reports of a sea invasion were indefinite, but such an invasion attempt with the aid of the Italian fleet had been expected.
The German troops had been landed mostly in what informants called the historical line of approach in Crete – the western extremity of the island. Some, however, were landed in the Candia area toward the east of the island.
Situation ‘in hand’
Authoritative informants said that situation was in hand. The Germans did not, it was asserted, control any airport, though some troops might have been landed at airdromes where they had enjoyed temporary control, or at extemporary landing fields.
Italy reported today that Italian torpedo-carrying planes have scored hits in a 10,000-ton British cruiser in the Eastern Mediterranean. The presence of the British fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean might indicate British naval action designed to aid land forces trying to hold Crete.
It was confirmed that some of the troop-carrying planes were shot down over Crete before they could land their troops.
The statement that the situation was in hand, authorities said, did not mean that every invader had been killed or captured. But the statement did signify, it was said, that the British had not lost control over any large area of the island.
Two regiments to division
All-borne divisions such as the one landed informants said, consist of two infantry regiments instead of the normal three and one artillery regiment equipped with 24 75mm (3-inch) mountain guns. The infantry regiments are smaller than the ordinary regiment. There is in addition an anti-tank battalion, with 37mm (1.5-inch) guns and finally a divisional reconnaissance unit, motorcyclists, signal men and engineers.
The infantry regiments are organized in battalions of three rifle companies and one machine gun company each, it was said. One infantry company in each regiment is equipped with four 75mm infantry guns. There are two motor anti-aircraft companies, using motorcycles, besides the medical and supply formations.
Informants recalled that, in invading Holland, the Germans used about 20 planes to transport one airborne division and that each plane was expected to make three or four flights. The procedure is to put down parachutists first and, if they land successfully, they put out signals for the airborne troops. Big planes and gliders then descend. The troop-carriers carry about 30 men each.
Battle in climatic phase
Official circles believed that additional German troops had been landed in Crete during the night and that the most dramatic battle of the war might now be in its climatic phase.
It was admitted that capture of the island by the Germans would be a most serious defeat for Great Britain’s attempt to keep control of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Military experts expressed belief that there were two acute danger points in the island – the Melaka Peninsula in the Souda Bay area of the northwest shores and the narrow waist of the island, only 14 miles across, extending southward from the Gulf of Armyros.
Troops who held the waist could cut off Chania, the seat of the Greek government, and Souda Bay from the rest of Crete.
Attack not unexpected
It was apparent that though the German landing might have come suddenly and dramatically, it had not come unexpectedly. It was understood that a parachutist landing had been awaited for several weeks, since Royal Air Force planes first began to report the concentration of great numbers of German troop-carrying planes, Junkers and Focke-Wulfs, in Greece.
Fears were expressed in military quarters that in addition to landing parachutists, the Germans would now make every effort to knock out Cretan airports and thus increase the difficulties of the Royal Air Force.
Confidence in leader
However, there was every confidence here that the Greek, British and New Zealand troops on the island would defend themselves stoutly. In Maj. Gen. Bernard Freyberg, in command, they had a most redoubtable leader, one who had proved himself many times under fire. He won the Victoria Cross and the Distinguished Service Cross with two bars for gallantly in the last war, and was mentioned six times in dispatches. He had risen faster than any other British Empire officer – from second lieutenant to brigadier general – during the last war. Officially credited with nine wounds, he actually suffered 14.
Experts said that the danger that the Germans would get a foothold in Crete could not be ruled out because they were able to throw as many men as they liked into the fight and Gen. Freyberg’s men were handicapped by lack of railroad communications. There are but three good roads through the island, they said.
Four big mountains
On the Allied aside was the fact that four big mountain peaks form the greater part of the island’s backbone and that they are linked with high, bare saddles from which numerous ribs of limestone and eruptive rock project on each side and fall deeply to the sea.
The strength of the Allied forces is a secret. But it was recalled that on May 6, the day after Gen. Freyberg’s appointment as Commander-in-Chief, it had been announced that two full Greek divisions, or up to 30,000 men, had been landed there after escaping from Greece.
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The mutiny of the cadets
The Greek Military Academy (official name: “School of the Aspirants”), during the 1930’s was a 3-years training school which produced the officers of the Greek Army (concurently, the Naval Academy and the “Icarus School” produced the naval and air-force officers). On October 28, 1940, when the Greco-Italian War started, the 274 senior “third years” were immediately named as second lieutenants and were assigned to units to fight. On March 12, 1941, every second year cadets were named Warrant Officers in Infantry units, to replace the casualties of the war, and the Academy remained only with the junior “first year” cadets.
When it became evident that Athens would fall to the Germans, on April 16, the junior cadets asked to form a unit to fight, but the Supreme Military Command of Athens refused and ordered them to form patrol units to assist the police in retaining order in the city, even after the arrival of the Germans.
The junior cadets not only refused to obey, but mutinied, at 03:00 of April 24, taking, with the help of their officers/instructors, every ammo was in the school, They went to Gytheio in two days and from there they were transported to Crete by every mean available, mostly by fishing boats. In Crete, they were stationed at the Gonia Monastery they were placed under the Greek government and formed a battalion, led by Lieutenant Colonel Loukas Kitsos.
On May 20, when the Battle of Crete began, the junior cadets were placed on Rodopos Peninsula, having the duty of defending Maleme from the North. During the night of May 20 to 21 the Battalion retreated, as they run out of ammunition and to avoid the danger of being blocked. They were transported to Chania were they continued to fight until May 29. The Greek Government decided to suspend the school for the time being, and the cadets gave the Academy’s flag to the Gonia Monastery. The monks hide the flag and the monastery became for the rest of the war a German base. Despite the tortures they suffered, the monks refused to reveal the flag.
Nine junior cadets fell in the Battle of Crete. The rest, either followed the government and the British to Middle East, where joined the Greek armed forces-in-exile as officers, or remained in Greece and joined the Resistance. In total, from 1940 to 1945, 55 cadets of the Military Academy were either killed or went MIA, in Greece, Middle East, Africa and Italy.
On March 18, 1946, the Military Academy re-opened, and her flag, retrieved from the Gonia Monastery, was decorated with the War Cross 1st Class and the Cross of Valour Commander Class.
Junior Cadets in their oath ceremony, during the 1930’s
Uniformed junior cadet during the Battle of Crete. The cadets had Mausers M1890 and two Chauchat machine-guns
The decorated flag of the Military Academy, in the Academy’s museum
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‘OPERATIONS CONTINUING,’ GERMANY ANNOUNCES
By Alex Dreier, United Press staff writer
Berlin, May 21 –
German parachutists and other airborne troops have landed successfully in Crete and have taken a number of important points, it was asserted officially today.
It was added:
Operations are continuing according to plan.
At the same time, it was said officially that, if German parachutists are treated contrary to international law on the assertion that they are wearing New Zealand uniforms, Germany will exact retaliation in a ratio of 10 to 1.
This warning refers to “future ot already existing treatment,” it was emphasized.
The German troops landed after intensive Stuka dive bombing plane preparation, it was announced.
Landings were started early yesterday morning, it was said. Announcement of the landings came from the Foreign Office, at a press conference, 24 hours after the British disclosure of the landing of airborne Nazi troops.
A High Command communiqué was expected later.
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The Pittsburgh Press (May 22, 1941)
R.A.F. DRIVEN OUT OF CRETE
Nazis hold isle’s largest city; British fight on by land and sea
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Churchill describes serious situation in Commons talk
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By Edward W. Beattie, United Press staff writer
London, May 22 –
German air invaders today won two footholds in Crete and full air control over that strategic Mediterranean island, but British warships smashed Nazi convoys trying to bring up reinforcements by sea.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill admitted that Nazi air troops have established themselves at Candia, largest town in Crete, and Maleme airdrome, adjacent to the British anchorage at Souda Bay and just outside the Cretan capital, Chania.
He said that British land forces in Crete now have “no air support because we have no airdromes” and the Air Ministry revealed that Royal Air Force fighter squadrons have been ordered off the island, leaving the air clear to the Nazi planes which have descended in waves since Tuesday.
The Cretan battle was developing along lines unique to military history and seemed likely to afford the world a startling test of Nazi air dominance against British sea dominance.
The Germans, British sources made clear, control the air over Crete. The British Mediterranean Fleet controls the waters around the island and has already sunk two Nazi transports, a fleet of small Greek fishing vessels thought to be loaded with Nazi troops, and an Axis destroyer and has driven off a Nazi convoy of 30 vessels.
The British decision to remove RAF fighters from Crete was taken, the Air Ministry revealed, because of the lack of effective airdromes on the island and the ease with which Axis aircraft in great numbers can be flown in from Greek and Italian islands and the Greek mainland.
Rather than sacrifice fighter personnel in a battle against odds of upwards of 20 to 1, it was said, the fighters have been ordered to leave Crete.
This left British and Greek ground forces dependent upon anti-aircraft guns and whatever shelter they can obtain for protection against dive bombers and level bombers which have been pacing the German parachutist, glider and troop-transport plane invasion.
However, Britain has brought her heavy bomber squadrons based in Egypt and other points into play to plaster the airdromes in Greece from which the German troop-planes operate.
Mr. Churchill called the fight for Crete “a most strange and grim battle,” in which the British have no air support and “the other side has little or no artillery or tanks” and “neither side has any means of retreat.”
As the attack has developed from the first day’s operations, which were limited to tentative feelers for soft spots, the Germans have thrown in planes and men without regard for losses. But the fact remained, Mr. Churchill emphasized, that as soon as they tried to follow up feelers by small speed boats and convoys carrying elite German panzer troops, the British succeeded in beating them off.
For the moment at least, the German airborne troops are faced with carrying on the campaign with whatever light weapons they were able to carry.
Unless the Germans, under cover of darkness, can evade naval patrols and put heavy supporting forces ashore, the air-transported troops will have to rely solely on Nazi domination of the air, a feat never before attempted and which military experts believe would require a terrific effort.
Mr. Churchill indicated that the last night might not have been heard from Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham’s interception of German troops and supply ships which approached the island.
If the convoy were cut up badly, it might smash German plans to combine sea and air assaults, because a complete reorganization of a seaborne invasion force would require more time than the Nazis could spare.
At the present, the German attack by air is admittedly of sufficient strength to hold for a time, at least. Since the first day, the tempo of attack has been stepped up constantly as waves of dive-bombers smashed at airdromes and eliminated British fighter defense.
Military experts described the operation as a “rat fight” because there is nothing resembling a front and the attackers are constantly seeking new soft spots. Theoretically strong groups are supposed to join forces, operating a a regiment and then as a division.
Mr. Churchill told Commons that the two transports, a number of caiques (Greek boats), and an escorting destroyer have been sunk by British naval forces and that another German convoy of 30 ships at last reports was being chased back toward Greece by British warships.
However, the Prime Minister admitted that the Germans are descending upon the strategic island in growing force, by parachute and airplane troop-transport.
He said:
The fighting is going on with deepening intensity and will certainly continue for some time.
Mr. Churchill’s statement follows:
This is a somewhat indeterminate moment in the Battle of Crete at which to make a statement and I can only give a very provisional account.
Fighting is continuing with intensity and although the situation is in hand, the Germans have gained some local successes at heavy cost.
They are using large numbers of airborne and parachute troops and these are being increased daily. The position at Heraclean [Candia] is that our troops still hold the airdrome although the Germans are now in what is called occupation of the town which probably means they are ensconced in certain buildings in the town.
Fifhting more intense
In the Retimo district, there is no report of any particular fighting although an attempt by the enemy to attack the area’s airdrome early yesterday morning was successfully held.
In the Chania-Souda Bay sector nearby enemy air attacks in the early morning yesterday were followed during the course of the day by further parachute landings southwest of Chania which were heavily engaged by our artillery and machine guns.
At Maleme airdrome, 10 miles souithwest of Chania, it appears the enemy ios now in occupation of the airdrome and the area west of it but the airdrome is still under our fire. Elsewhere in this sector the coastal line remains in our hands. Fighting is going on with deepening intensity and will certainly continue for some time.
30 ships turned back
Last night, the enemy began to try seaborne landings. A convoy making for Crete was intercepted by our naval forces. Two transports and a number of caiques [Greek boats] which probably contained troops intended for landing operations were sunk and an enemy destroyer which was escorting the convoy was also sunk.
But in the course of today, very much larger attempts were made by the enemy to carry his army into Crete and a convoy of 30 vessels was dispersed this morning by our forces and presumably attacked by them.
My information is not complete on that point. The convoy turned away towards the islands of the Archipelago and was being attacked by our destroyers and light forces. I have not received any further information as to what happened.
Mr. Churchill said:
There has been fighting all during the day.
The enemy air force is attacking our ships and we are attacking their convoys. I am sorry to say I have got no definite information as to the results but feel they can hardly be other than satisfactory in view of the naval forces we dispose in the Mediterranean.
In response to a suggestion from members, Mr. Churchill said he would send the troops in Crete an expression of admiration from Parliament.
It is a most strange and grim battle that is being fought. Our side has no air support because we have no airdromes – not because who have no airplanes.
No means of retreat
The other side has little or no artillery or tanks. Neither side has any means of retreat.
It is a desperate, grim battle and I shall certainly send the good wishes of the House and the encouragement and the approval of the House to these men in what is undoubtedly a most important battle which will affect the whole course of the campaign in the Mediterranean.
Asked if his statement that the “other side” had no tanks implied that the British Imperials have tanks, Mr. Churchill replied:
It certainly is not to be thought that I am going into those details.
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The Pittsburgh Press (May 23, 1941)
BRITISH CLAIM GAIN IN CRETE; VICTORY NEAR, GERMANS SAY
Sky invaders mopped up at island points
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Fleet prevents reinforcements from reaching Nazis forces except by air
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BULLETIN
Rome, May 23 –
An official announcement tonight said that Gen. Alfredo Guzzoni has been relieved of his functions as under-Secretary of War and Chief of the Italian Army Staff.
By Edward W. Beattie Jr., United Press staff writer
This map shows where the Battle of Crete was fought on four fronts on that island, where the Germans held footholds. The British today claimed to have “cleaned up” the air invaders at Retimo and Candia.
London, May 23 –
British and Greek defenders of Crete were reported authoritatively today to be inflicting “heavy slaughter” on German air invaders while the Royal Navy waged its greatest battle against Nazi air power in an effort to prevent landing of Axis seaborne reinforcements.
From Cairo, British Middle East Headquarters announced that Allied forces had “cleaned up” Nazi air invaders at Candia and Retimo, two of the four points at which they had gained footholds in Crete.
British and Greek forces counterattacked the German airborne troops that seized the Maleme Airdrome, the Cairo communiqué added, but reinforced German troops succeeded in halting the Allied advance.
The temporary advantage gained by the Germans at Candia and Retimo was wiped out Thursday, the communiqué said, after “severe hand-to-hand fighting.”
The Germans appeared to be concentrating on landing most of their reinforcements in the Maleme sector, sending more and more airborne troops there.
German losses were heavy, the communiqué said, and British forces “never rendered a better account of themselves.”
London authoritative sources described the “heavy slaughter” of the Nazi air invaders of Crete and said that the military situation is “as definitely satisfactory as it was 24 hours ago.”
Great Britain’s naval forces have naturally suffered “some losses” under the circumstances, but German claims that nine warcraft had been hit and four cruisers sunk by aerial attacks were described as “exaggerated.”
The important thing is that the Germans have failed to break through the naval screen around Crete in their efforts to land seaborne reinforcements, the British said.
So long as the fleet prevents a sea invasion, the British and Greek forces on Crete will fight “until the German airborne forces are defeated,” it was stated.
The Germans have been attempting to land from the sea guns, tanks and ammunition which the enemy airborne troops urgently require, it was added.
The convoys carrying these supplies have been attacked, damaged and dispersed, according to the British, and Italian ships have been seen picking up survivors.
After three days fighting, none of the supplies was believed to have gone through to the Axis troops on Crete, despite powerful dive-bomber attacks against the British fleet.
The only three “readymade” disembarkation points on Crete are Candia, Chania and Souda Bay, the British said. Candia has a 650-foot quay and Chania has one jetty 160 feet long and another 140 feet long. At Souda Bay, there is a concrete pier 240 yards long.
German air reinforcements apparently continued to land on the island although all sea landings were reported frustrated.
The Germans continue to hold Maleme Airdrome, 10 miles southwest of Chania, the capital, it was admitted, but fighting is proceeding.
It was said that the ammunition situation was more favorable to the Allied troops than to the Germans, who were dependent entirely on airborne transport.
An authoritative informant said:
It is conceivable that the British can hold out in Crete despite German domination of the air because the bombing of trained soldiers does not have much effect and moreover British troops are dug into trenches and holes and are not retreating as they did in Norway.
It was indicated that the Germans were committed to an all-or-nothing gamble in which they were prepared to sacrifice thousands of men in an attempt to take the island and win the first great test of the airplane versus the warship.
The small British fighter plane force, knocked out of action for lack of airports in face of the weight of the German aerial attack, had been evacuated. The British, New Zealand and Greek troops were left alone to hold off the Germans who had landed by the thousands from the air and awaited the arrival of tens of thousands by sea.
The possibility of German conquest of Crete and of British Cyprus, 350 miles to the east off the Syrian and Turkish shores, was acknowledged by the British.
A dispatch from Istanbul said that Turkish military observers predicted an imminent parachute invasion of Cyprus.
Although Cairo was by no means blind to the dangers of the German attack, the tone there was decidedly hopeful.
The Daily Mail correspondent said:
The Nazi High Command is operating a 24-hour ferry service of warplanes between Greece and Crete, working minute by minute on a carefully worked-out plan. Parachutists carrying miniature radio sets are reporting back to headquarters continually on the situation. The whole plan therefore may have to be changed at any moment, making for a dangerous margin of error.
Nazi parachute and other airborne troops were reported landing in constantly increasing numbers by night and day, under the fire of Allied sharpshooters who picked off many before they could take position. Artillerymen were hurling shells at the German planes as they swept low over the island to drop their parachutists or land plane and gilderborne men.
A grim fight had been waged through yesterday and last night between British warships and German transports and fishing boat fleets which sought to break through from the Peloponnesus Peninsula to Crete.
There still had been no news up to this morning of the fate of a fleet of 30 German troop and supply ships which the Royal Navy had intercepted and attacked.
Dispatches from Cairo implied that the Allied troops under Maj. Gen. Bernard C. Freyberg were still in control of the battle on land.
The main fighting fronts were Chania, the capital, seat of the Greek government; the Maleme Airdrome 10 miles southwest of it; the Retimo area, at the west central part, opposite the 14-mile waist of the island, and Candia, the principal town.
Maleme was the main front, Cairo dispatches indicated. The Germans held the V-shaped double runway of the landing field, having concentrated their first parachutists there.
Hope seemed strong in Cairo that these men could be surrounded and wiped out, or at least driven to a less important position.
Correspondents filed vivid reports of the fighting and asserted that in some cases Cretan irregulars aiding the Allies had been joined by the peasant women of the hills, who were attacking isolated groups of Nazis with pistols and 12-inch knives.
The Pittsburgh Press (May 24, 1941)
GERMANS DROP ARTILLERY IN CRETE BY PARACHUTES
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Boats land some troops; main Nazi attack held, British declare
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BULLETIN
Cairo, May 24 –
German troops launched their main attack from their Maleme Airport foothold on the western end of Crete, but suffered heavy casualties in a day-long battle with British forces yesterday, a General Headquarters communiqué said today.
By Edward W. Beattie Jr., United Press staff writer
London, May 24 –
German forces holding the Maleme Airport in Crete have received artillery dropped by parachute and it is probable that some German troops have succeeded in landing on the island from boats, it was said authoritatively.
Admitting that the situation at Maleme was “not so good,” informants said the Germans there had received reinforcements from the air throughout Friday and that planes had dropped artillery, probably small field guns and mortars.
But the Maleme Airport was the only strong foothold on the island the Germans retained, the British said.
An informant said:
Although there have been no big scale German seaborne landings in Crete, it is probable that odd driblets, mostly in fishing boats and perhaps even a small ship or two, have succeeded in disembarking.
British, New Zealand and Greek forces are holding positions east of the Maleme Airdrome and fierce fighting is underway, it was said.
Reports came from Cairo that the Allied troops were storming the German positions, but authoritative statements here made it quite plain that the Germans were there in strength, and had strong positions.
A German communiqué today said that the western part of Crete, the Souda Bay-Maleme area, was firmly in German hands and that the German Air Force dominated the air over the island. It was the first official Nazi comment on the operations in Crete and observers said it indicated that the High Command believes the Germans will win the Battle of Crete.
As regards seaborne troops, it was said that it was improbable that the Royal Navy would be able to prevent every German vessel from reaching Crete in view of its proximity to the Greek mainland and the large number of German and Italian-controlled islands in the area.
It was understood that the Germans had failed so far in attaining their vital objective, control of the shores of Souda Bay 12 miles from Maleme. Reliable informants said captured German orders had emphasized that the bay was the great objective and must be occupied and held at all costs.
It was estimated that at least 20,000 German troops now had been dropped on Crete by parachute or landed in transport planes and gliders. More were arriving each hour, dispatches said, and planes were trying to keep them supplied with ammunition and food.
Military experts believed the climax of the battle would come this weekend. Hope grew that the Allied forces could continue to account for or keep isolated the succeeding waves of Nazi troops.
If they could do so, and his navy continued to hold off large scale seaborne reinforcements, the Imperial and Greek troops would win the first great victory over the German Army since the war began.
It was estimated that at least 10,000 Germans had been “disposed off” since the invasion started early Tuesday. But reports emphasized that the flow of Germans continued unabated.
Experts expressed belief that two complete divisions of airborne troops, or 14,000 men, had been landed so far in addition to 6,000 parachutists and that men of a third airborne division were landing today.
Fighting centered at the strong Maleme Airport position which the Germans had seized and held – and reinforced – despite all Allied attempts to retake it.
There were sporadic skirmishes throughout the island, in mountains and valleys and along the shores, as new waves of parachutists and airborne infantry suddenly appeared.
An official communiqué announced yesterday that the Crete defenders, in savage hand-to-hand fighting, had smashed the invaders’ hold on Candia, largest city of the island, and the port of Retimo to the west.
There was one report from the Middle East that German planes were arriving in daylight hours at the rate of one in five minutes, with the bulk of the reinforcements going to the Maleme field. But many planes were landing in open fields and on roads.
There was no disposition here to be too optimistic. It was evident that the Germans as well as the British realized what a German defeat in an attempt of this unique sort would mean, aside from the loss of the best troops in the German Army.
But certain apparent factors were emerging. The Germans were landing only a proportion of parachutists. The remaining troops, the airborne divisions proper, were landing in gliders or planes. It was necessary for many planes to land on beaches or in fields or on roads. Some of them necessarily crashed; a few of those undoubtedly had been wrecked and their occupants killed. Allied guns had accounted for some.
Military commentators agreed that the outcome of the battle would depend largely on how long the Germans would recklessly throw their airborne troops, the pick of their army, into the fight.
One expert estimated that the Germans had a total of seven airborne divisions. It seemed unlikely that all would be hazarded in one battle.
There seemed a disposition to doubt that the Germans would try to land more than three, or at most four, of these divisions.
The morning newspapers today began warning the public to expect losses of warships as a necessary part of an action of this sort. They pointed out that the navy was operating in confined waters under constant attack by German dive bombing planes and with Italian and perhaps German motor torpedo boats now joining the battle.
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The German war crimes in Crete
Crete was deemed strategically important even from the very start of the Greco-Italian War. That is why the British agreed with the Greek government to uphold the defense of the island, allowing the V “Cretan” Division of the Greek Army to be transported to the Albanian front.
The Cretans, known for their guerilla tradition against the Ottomans, their tradition of keeping firearms at home and their familiarity with weapons, and also for their general Left/Republican political leanings, were considered as a threat from Metaxas’ regime. Metaxas’ fears were justified in 1938, when the only revolt against him occurred in Crete. After the failure of the revolt, the state machinery implemented mass civilian disarmament in the island.
That was also the reason why the German intelligence believed that the Cretans were either going to welcomed them as liberators or remain indifferent towards them.
That was obviously a big mistake.
The Cretan Division, considered one of the best in the Greek Army, suffered heavy casualties in February 1941. To make matters worse, after the capitulation signed by the division generals, the division was trapped in mainland Greece, without means of moving to Crete, as the Germans controlled all transport routes, they destroyed major ports and confiscated big ships. So, the Cretans found themselves without their most able men in the upcoming invasion. As a result, they decided to fight in their place. Since the Greek, British and ANZACs armies did not had sufficient rifles and ammo, they could not arm the Cretans, who we were equipped with rocks, pitchforks, axes, large sticks, and hunting rifles at best. (It is estimated that the civilians had 300 rifles in total).
There is a debate among the historians about the decision of the allied armies to not arm civilians and not forming them into militias, giving them armbands, which would take the only “excuse” of the Germans to commit their atrocities after the battle. Beevor believes that the cause of this was the general allied incompetence and the various materiel shortages, while Hagen Fleischer believes that the cause was the fear of king George II against the pro-republican Cretans.
German leaflet in Greek, thrown by airplanes, during the battle. Translation: “ Proclamation to the inhabitants of Crete. We were informed that German soldiers, who came at the hands of the enemy, were abused in the most vile and inhuman way. Therefore, the following order for knowledge and compliance was issued:
1) Whoever commits a crime against Germans POWs contrary to the international law will be inexorably punished in the same way, whether a man or a woman.
2) If any kind of such crimes are taking place near villages, those will be burned immediately, and their inhabitants will take over all responsibility of the consequences.
3) In addition, we reserve the right to take other stricter retaliatory measures against them.
Oberkommando des Heeres ”
The Germans claimed that their “reason” for their actions against the civilians was that they found mutilated bodies of Fallschirmjägers. According to Fleischer, there was no German plot to maim the corpses of their own soldiers to justify the massacres. It seems, however, that the Germans were unaware that a corpse exposed in the summer heat is a target for vultures, decomposes easier and bloats. According to the report of the 2/3rd Australian Field Regiment, on May 23 a group of regular Greek soldiers was stubbing the German corpses with their bayonets, to relieve them from the bodily gases.
The German army, according to the Laws of War, formed a judicial inquiry, consisting of 12 judges, to investigate the Cretan civilian participation in the battle. However, Herman Goering ordered Kurt Student to proceed immediately with mass retaliations and collective punishments .
The inquiry took place from May 26 and was completed in three months. Judge Rüdel, member of the enquiry, reported 25 cases of mutilated German bodies and “ almost all of them probably happened after the death of the paratroopers. ” In any case, the findings had no significance at all. On May 31, Student issued an order, in which “ It is certain that the population, including women and children, took part in battle, performing sabotages, they mutilated and killed injured soldiers. It is, therefore, the right moment to fight all cases of this kind, to perform reprisals and punishment campaigns, which must be executed with exemplary cruelty ”.
In more detail Student described how the reprisals would be done: “ *Possible retaliatory measures are 1. Executions. 2. Contributions. 3. Burning down localities. 4. Exterminating the male population of entire areas. My authorization for measures 3 and 4 is necessary. […] It is now important to carry out all measures with the utmost speed, leaving out all formalities and consciously eliminating special courts. In the whole situation, this is the task of the troupe and not of ordinary courts. They are out of the question for beasts and murderers. […]” (source: Bundesarchiv – Militärarchiv, BA-MA, RH 28-5-4b, pp. 412f.)
After the war, in 1945, the Greek government formed a “ Report of Atrocities ” in Crete. The investigation was made by a team led by the famous Cretan writer Nikos Kazantzakis. The investigation was made from June 29 to August 6, 1945. Despite the difficulties of this inquiry (“ the main problem was the impossibility to check the entire island in forty days, as the Germans destroyed all infrastructure, and in many cases we were unable to reach the destroyed villages. ” page 7 of the report), it is a valuable, yet incomplete, first hand source. The main findings of the report concerning the battle of Crete, follow:
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May 26, Galatás, the Germans executed 9 Cretans, and forbade their burial until after 9 months. Also, lootings.
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Kissamos, 10 Cretans executed “ for fighting the Germans ”, despite the fact that some of the locals nursed wounded Germans. The executors defecated on the executed bodies. Bishop Eudokimos was exiled in Athens until 1945 (despite the liberation of Greece in 1944, Chania prefecture remained under a German garrison until May 1945). Looting of the high school and the bishopric house.
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Drapanias, 23 armed villagers were killed after the Germans convinced them to surrender giving them guarantees about their life. They forbade the burial of those men for three months. They burned 10 houses.
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Kakopetros: During the battle six women and a baby were killed.
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Palaiochora: May 26, mass burning of houses.
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Agiá, in its suburbs, 5 homes were destroyed and on June 2, 7 citizens were publicly shot, because the Germans found “ mutilated bodies of Fallschirmjägers ”. On June 2 they executed 12 villagers.
- Alikianos executions , June 2
- Massacre of Kondomari , June 2
- Razing of Kandanos , June 3
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Sternes, June 3, six citizens murdered.
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Perivolia of Chania, June 20, 38 villagers were mass executed, later in the same day 4 more were killed separately.
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August 1, 1941: 108 persons from various villages were executed at Keritis river bridge (more information to the link of the Alikianos executions).
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August 2, 1941: German raiding against the village of Mesklá. All surviving villagers were transported to Chania prison, nine were executed, the rest were freed.
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In Chania prefecture, 3 priests were killed, numerous lootings in churches and monasteries.
At Rethymno and Heraklion regional units, the cities were taken from west and not by Fallschirmjägers, so war crimes were less in number.
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May 23, Fallschirmjägers executed 35 men from the villages of Perivolia of Rethymno and Misiria, after they were tricked to surrender. Australian machine gunners attacked the executioners and 4 men were saved. The next day, the Germans killed 60 men, women, and children. On May 25, the Germans executed 33 men and 17 women.
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Plataniá Rethymnou, a suburb of Rethymno was burned by the Germans during the battle.
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In the villages of Hamaleuri, Asteri and Pagkalochori many houses were blown up and 30 villagers were executed, mostly elder men and women.
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June 3, the German raided Loutra, a village inhabited mostly by Anatolian Greek refugees, they shot 11 Greeks, including the village’s priest. One of them survived.
On “Black Friday”, of May 24, the city of Heraklion was leveled by the Luftwaffe, under the order of Bruno Bräuer, after the refusal of the Greek garrison commander to surrender the city. There was never a solid account of the killed, and the surviving citizens took refuge on the nearby mountains. The city was abandoned and, after May 30, when the Germans entered the city, they indulged themselves in mass looting.
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Skalánion, May 30, 3 villagers were executed. The next day 3 more Cretans were executed, along with the cleric Dean Fotios Theodosakis. His vestments were burned.
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The head of the Church of Crete, Archbishop Basileios Markakis was exiled in Athens until 1944, for blessing the Allied troops in Heraklion during the battle.
The result of the mass Nazi slaughters in Crete was the birth of a particular strong Cretan Resistance, targeting the alleviation of the dire civilian situation and the harassment of German forces. Communists, nationalists, British soldiers trapped in the island, and British officers parachuted later in Crete, fought the Nazis with fanatism. The Germans, organized in Fortress Crete, continued for the rest of occupation to commit mass war crimes through the entire island and kept in Crete 75.000 soldiers at their peak, soldiers who could be used otherwise in any war front.
Sources
- Stephan D. Yada-Mc Neal, Places of Shame - German and Bulgarian war crimes in Greece 1941-1945 , Books on Demand, 2018
- Antony Beevor, Crete 1941: The Battle and the Resistance , Greek edition, Athens, 2004.
- Fleischer, Hagen, “Battle of Crete”, in “Crete, History and Civilization”, vol. 2 (Greek), Cretan TEDK, Heraklion, 1988.
- Sanoudaki-Sanoudou Antonis, May 2011, German reprisals in the Battle of Crete (Greek), 70 Years from the Battle of Crete, pp. 89-112
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Hey man, can you post something on the Drama uprising? I found a really cool source in Bulgarian but there is a lot to translate, so I want to see what is already covered in the English sources.
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Give me 1-2 weeks time, I’m incapacitated at the time being 
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Well, I got some free time now, so I guess I will start off. The vast majority of this is translated from Georgi Daskalov’s “Драмското въстание 1941” / “Drama uprising 1941”, published in 1992. As well as some other analysis.
Pre-uprising
Communist insurgents had been present in Bulgaria since the failed September Uprising of 1923. Their main body, the Bulgarian Labor Party (which will become the Fatherland Front in 1942, and later the Bulgarian Communist Party) had agreed to a ceasefire with the pro-German political parties after the signing of the Molotov Ribbentrop pact. Once the invasion of the Soviet Union began, the ceasefire was cancelled and hostilities resumed. Organizations with similar beliefs from the newly occupied lands also began open combat.
“The Bulgarian administrative units that were sent to the newly occupied lands, were unfamiliar with the local circumstances that were formed under the Greek or Yugoslav governments. They often made mistakes with dire consequences.” - N. Nikolaev, Minister under Tsar Boris III
The seeds of rebellion in the Belomorie province (Greek Thrace) begin when Greek soldiers (captured by German forces) begin to return home. Officers are allowed to keep their sabers and there are also, approximately 10 000 rifles stored away. However, the main cause are the local policies.
First order of business for the Bulgarian authorities is to restore the region to its 1918 demographic levels. Priority is given to resettling Bulgarian refugees that fled the region after WW1, while also encouraging the ‘colonist’ Greeks to migrate to the German occupied regions. This begins in March of 1941 and intensifies in May. The government’s goal is to force “at least half” of the Greek colonists.
Note: ‘Greek colonists’ refers to Greeks that settled the region from Asia Minor, the Caucasus and Peloponnese. Greeks that were born in the region were left alone.
To further help with the ethnic numbers, the government considers also settling the region with Bulgarians from Southern/Greek Macedonia*. This idea gains popular support after reports of Greek atrocities committed against the local Bulgarian population in villages without a German garrison.
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- Southern Macedonia is occupied by Germany and the government has, more or less, resigned to the fact that it will not be handed over.
On the night of September 28th, a day after WW1 veteran General Nikola Zhekov holds a nationalist speech in Sofia, ‘celebrating’ the anniversary of the Treaty of Neully*, partisans from the Greek Communist Party attack the village of Doxato. The houses of ethnic Bulgarians were marked in advance and several of them were executed by the partisans. The mayor is also kidnaped and taken hostage.
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- Zhekov is a staunch pro-German. Hitler himself had a lot of respect for him and even invited him to stay at the same Paris hotel that the Neully treaty was signed.
September 29:
Up until now, the Bulgarian authorities were ordered:
“To proceed tactfully/cautiously (with the local populations) while at the same time to eliminate* any and all signs of aggressiveness and desire for vengeance”
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- The phrase used does not have a proper English translation, so I used Eliminate. Translated literally, it should read: “…any and all signs of aggressiveness and desire for vengeance should be wiped out while still in the embryo stages.”
Thus, a task force is assembled. Bulgarian civilians are also armed into so-called “Shpits-komandi”.
- The phrase used does not have a proper English translation, so I used Eliminate. Translated literally, it should read: “…any and all signs of aggressiveness and desire for vengeance should be wiped out while still in the embryo stages.”
Under command of Colonel M. Mihaylov, the defense of Drama is top priority. Arrests against anti-fascist elements begin immediately.
At 10 AM, the Belomorie group receives orders to crush the uprising. Small motorized detachments are sent in the region of Drama to report on the situation.
That afternoon, three groups (consisting of police and army personnel) are deployed to the nearby area. The villages south of Drama see the most fighting and that is where the bulk of the forces go. There is even a brief danger of the partisans breaking through from the south and threaten the city itself.
After the danger has been dealt with, the forces are ordered to chase the rebels into the village of Osmanitsa, after which the village should be burned to the ground and all adult males should be executed. After the village is secured, several farmhouses near the outskirts are burned.
Another group is tasked with heading east, towards the village of Chataldzha (towards the direction of Doxato). Partisans resist the government forces but are overwhelmed and the village is taken. Colonel Mihaylov sends a telegram, urging for reprisals against the local population, but the local commandant, G. Kinin, disobeys that order. Instead (by the locals’ own suggestion) around 20 people are taken hostages to guarantee the peace. They, alongside two women that were hurt during the fighting, are sent to Drama.
By late afternoon, a cavalry detachment reaches Doxato. They also receive air support, which is said to have terrified the locals. The planes conduct strafing runs and also set fire to several houses in the area. The local rebels (numbering around 100) are defeated. Many civilians also die in the crossfire.
September 30:
Most rebel forces retreat into the mountains. There is still heavy fighting in the south sector and the town of Drama is still in danger. One of the biggest strongholds is at the village of Muska. The orders are for the village to be set afire and that all men between the ages of 18 - 50 to be shot. A small rebel rearguard group, consisting of twelve people, is captured while trying to escape. Two of them are released (15 year-old-boy and a White Russian) the others are shot.
From Muska, government forces continue towards the village of Karakavak. The locals all walk out to greet them. Headed by another White Russian, they declare their loyalty. Government forces move on.
The next stop is the village of Photolivos. The rebels had already abandoned it and white flags were present all over town. All citizens are taken to the local train station for questioning. Everything proceeds peacefully until shots erupt from the southern parts of the village. Fearing an ambush, government forces return fire.
The rebels manage to successfully retreat from the village. In front of the gathered villagers, the commanding Captain declares that this was “one of the main driving forces of the rebellion, where numerous policemen and villagers were killed and that insurmountable damage has been done with the destruction of the local bridge”. The Captain also states that he is ordered to burn down the village but instead “only” orders the burning of the Southern district where the shots took place. The nearby houses are looted and then set ablaze.
Captain G. Kinin is scolded by Colonel Mihaylov for disobeying the order to burn Chataldzha. Kinin’s forces return to the village and detain the male population. 30-40 youths (teenagers and lower) are released, the rest around 100 villagers are executed by a firing squad.
The village of Doxato is fully under government control. Mayor is sent free, his stolen money and archives are returned. Most rebels retreat into the mountains while those that were forcefully conscripted simply throw down their weapons and return home.
The remaining forces in Drama are encouraged to take more drastic measures to inspire fear in the locals. Arrests begin already on the 29th and they include both Greeks and Bulgarians. Upon arrest, the detainees are also stripped of their money and valuables. This causes a lot of chaos though and, as of the evening of the 29th, all confiscated items are documented. On the 30th, the elderly detainees are released after signing a form in which they declare their loyalty to the state.
Around 500 citizens of Drama are shot without trial. The executions take place mostly around the area of the tobacco institute. The mass executions cause a terrible atmosphere in town and the Bulgarian population is appalled. In a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture on October 7th, the head of the tobacco institute, Lyubomir Dimitrov. writes the following:
“I humbly request that the Ministry strongly consider our emotional state (as a result of) the quelling of the rebellion and witnessing the murder of so many people, whose smell still lingers. I request that the honorable Ministry also gives some consideration to our future predicament, where we will restore our ‘peaceful way of life’ with those same people whose loved ones we killed. We should not forget that the spilled blood demands justice in blood and that can only be repaid by us, the remaining Bulgarians in Drama. We need to remind you that it is difficult to (have a normal life) when on every step you see only frowning and angry faces, talking amongst themselves about their future revenge.”
Phew… summarizing and translating all this is hard work. We still have a lot to cover, so I will try to write the next part next week…
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Axis war crimes in Greece in 1941
The razing of Ano and Kato Kerdylia
The villages of Ano (Upper) and Kato (Lower) Kerdylia are located in a mountainous area of Serres regional unit, near the shores of the Gulf of Strymon and Amphipolis.
A few months after the occupation of Greece by German troops, the “Eleftheria” (“Freedom”) organization was founded in Central Macedonia, mainly on the initiative of the Office of the Communist Party of Greece for the region of Macedonia and Thrace, without the knowledge and approval by the Party. This was followed in the middle of the summer of 1941 by the creation of the guerrilla group Odysseas Androutsos in the area of Nigrita and the guerrilla group Athanasios Diakos in the mountains of the prefecture of Kilkis. In early September, guerrillas of the Odysseas Androutsos group, led by Ano Kerdylia teacher Thanassis Genios (nom de guerre: Lassanis) and deputy leader Pericles Stamatopoulos, disarmed the German gendarmerie stations in the villages of Efkarpia and Mavrothálassa and on September 27 they disarmed the German gendarmerie station of Dáfni in the Nigrita area.
Following the guerrilla attacks on the gendarmerie stations of the above villages, the German side focused its attention on this area. Investigations were carried out in the area and residents were questioned, noting that the continued assistance to the guerrillas would have extremely negative consequences for themselves and their villages. However, the information gathered by the occupying forces was not significant enough to identify the guerrillas and their aides. Thus, in a meeting held at the counterintelligence service in Thessaloniki at the end of September, it was decided to organize a network of informants (German: Vertrauensleute or V-Mann. In Greek they were named “People of trust”) in the area through which the Germans would get information about the guerrillas’ movements, where they hid their weapons and how they were fed.
In early October, Dimitrios Kikiras, a resident of Kato Kerdylia, received money from the guerrillas and an animal in order to buy and transport food to them. However, Kikiras embezzled the money and then one of the leaders of the guerrillas, Michalis Bogatsopoulos, threatened him in order to give them the food he should have bought or to return the money. In order to find the money, Kikiras tried to rob, on October 10, 1941, the monk Grigorios Karakalinos, from the monastery of Agios Dimitrios just outside Ano Kerdylia but finally killed the monk’s assistant, injured himself and escaped. The next day, after the monk reported the incident, Kikiras was arrested at a doctor’s house in Efkarpia. During the interrogation, he gave the names of the guerrillas who came from Ano and Kato Kerdylia as well as the names of those who fed them.
On October 12, 1941, the 382nd Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht searched the two villages, they gathered and interrogated the residents, and searched for those whom Kikiras had named without finding them. During the investigation, Konstantinos Psarras in Kato Kerdylia was executed, some houses belonging to partisans were burned and some people were arrested. The Germans told to the gathered residents that they should refrain from assisting the guerrillas because otherwise they would burn all the houses of the villages without exception and would execute all the male residents.
The residents were frightened and formed a committee consisting of the president of Ano Kerdylios, the secretary and the community councilor, who on October 16, 1941 went to Thessaloniki and submitted a petition to the General Administration to be forwarded to the German authorities. In this petition, the committee applauded the latest German operations and called for the deployment in the area of a detachment of the Greek gendarmerie or a German unit “ so that we can exterminate the bandits and calm down our province ”.
In the same day, the 382nd Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht invaded the villages of Zervochori, Dáfni and Sitochori and destroyed 20 houses and 2 barns. In the settlement of Oreskeia, two people were executed for possessing weapons. In Sitochori they executed two more “ because they confessed their participation in the well-known Nigrita movement but repentant they returned to their village ”.
In the early hours of October 17, 1941, two battalions of the 220th Pionier battalion of the Wehrmacht, with a force of 250 men under the command of Captains Wendler and Schreiner, set out from Stavrós, Thessaloniki for the Kerdylia, carrying with them prisoners of Kerdylia. Arriving near the villages, they left the cars, they climbed from three points and surrounded Ano Kerdylia and Kato Kerdylia. The timing of the operation and the fact that they left the cars far from the villages show that the German soldiers wanted to surprise the residents. Indeed, almost all the inhabitants of the two villages were arrested. No one tried to escape because the residents, having no similar partisan activity in their villages, did not take the German threats seriously.
Wehrmacht soldiers gathered male residents between the ages of 16 and 60 in two spots near the village. The women and children were first gathered at the village’s schools and then, after the men left, they were allowed to take with them as many things as they could and leave for Kastri and Efkarpia, while 23 elderly people were locked up in a community store.
At 09:00 in the morning the signal was given with a flare, and the German soldiers began to execute male residents aged 16 to 60 years. Seventeen people over the age of sixty were excluded from the execution in Ano Kerdylia; including the priest, the teacher, the forest ranger, and ten elders from Kato Kerdylia. These people were used after the executions to bury the dead. Every building of the villages were burned apart from the churches (the 23 elders locked in the community store were saved) and after the destruction, the inhabitants took refuge in the villages of Kastri and Efkarpia.
According to post-war lists, the death toll has risen to 214. The reports of the police authorities and the General Administration of Macedonia wrote for 211-212 executions, while the German occupation authorities for 207. The report compiled by the Hellenic National War Crimes Bureau stated that the death toll was 222. Finally, Giannis Papasymeon in his book concerning the razing, wrote for 230 people, including people from other villages.
The official announcement from the German administration of Thessaloniki, issued on November 2, 1941, stated: “ In the mountains west of Strymon, a communist gang has been operating for weeks, consisting of residents of the surrounding villages. They looted rich villagers of the area for acquiring money, they captured Greek policemen to take their weapons to execute German soldiers […] In late September two German soldiers were killed at Lahanas and a few days ago an attempt was made against the German army, resulting in the death of two German sailors and the serious injury of another in Kalokastro. Subsequently, by the measures taken by the German army the villages of Ano and Kato Kerdylia were destroyed, as their inhabitants were proved to belong to this gang, feeding it and supporting it in every possible way. ”
Both villages were not inhabited again, and the remaining inhabitants later built in 1955 the modern settlement of New Kerdylia. The massacre of Kerdylia was recognized by the Greek State in 1998 with the Presidential Decree 393 / 7-12-1998 and the community of New Kerdylia as “Martyred village”. The Kerdylia Holocaust is considered the first group execution of civilians by occupation troops in Northern Greece during World War II.
The Drama Uprising
The Drama Uprising was the largest and bloodiest revolt in Axis occupied Greece during 1941. It affected the course of future events not only in Bulgarian occupied territory, but in the whole Greece.
Background
After the end of the battle of Greece, Bulgaria occupied East Macedonia and Western Thrace (apart the 2/3 of Evros prefecture, including the Greco-Turkish borders, which remained under German control). There was already a history of bad blood between the inhabitants of the aforementioned areas and the Bulgarians. Since early 20th century, local Greek and Bulgarian irregulars clashed in Ottoman Macedonia over ethnic prevalence. During the Balkan Wars mutual violence of all Balkan armies led to atrocities and the Greek annexation of Drama (which was preceded by a massacre of the Bulgarian army against Greek civilians in the near town of Doxato) led to the first waves of Bulgarian refugees. During WW1, the city and the area was retaken by Bulgaria. 1965 civilians were sent to Bulgaria for forced labor (only the 2/3 returned alive) and by 1918 Drama, along with the rest East Macedonia was faced with a famine that cost the lives of c. 4000 civilians.
The Treaty of Neuilly, which ruled the voluntary (but in reality compulsory) population exchange between Greece and Bulgaria, resulted in the clearance of Greek Macedonia and Thrace from Bulgarians, and the arrival of Greek refugees from Bulgaria, and later from Turkey, after the Treaty of Lausanne. The Greek government settled most of the refugees in Macedonia, to increase the population. By 1940 the area had absolute Greek majority, and most of civilians saw the arrival of the Bulgarian authorities in April 1941 as a hostile act.
Indeed, Bulgaria justified their fears, as her goal was to resettle Bulgarian refugees from the area (Bulgarian settlers were 70.000 in 1943, at their peak), to change again the ethnic composition of the area, to solidify her goal of a permanent annexation. Among other things, the Greek authorities were overthrown and Greek intellectuals, scientists, bishops, clergy and civil servants were expelled, the use of the Bulgarian language was imposed with the simultaneous banning of Greek language, the offenders were fined, Greek schools were closed and replaced by Bulgarian ones, the possession of Greek history books and the operation of Greek printing houses were prohibited, while the inhabitants were forced to adopt Bulgarian suffixes in their adjectives. The property of the Greeks who left was given to Bulgarian settlers.
It must be noted that even the Germans were annoyed by this policy, since until 1942, around 30.000 Greeks left the Bulgarian sector for the German zone of occupation, creating a refugee crisis. By the end on occupation, in October 1944, the number of the Greek refugees from the Bulgarian zone was at 100.000.
All those events provoked a desire for uprising among the population. The first who seized the opportunity was the Macedonian Office of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). Since the party was hit hard during Metaxas’ regime and most of its leaders were either imprisoned or just escaped and reorganizing, and since transport and communication between the different zones of occupation was difficult, virtually impossible, the decision to move against the Bulgarians was a local initiative, without the approval of the Central Committee of the party, mainly led by the secretary of the regional committee of Drama, Pantelis Hamalidis.
Prewar Macedonia was a politically conservative area, where the communist party had little electoral power (mainly because of Comintern’s resolution on the Macedonian Question), but the inhabitants, regardless of their political views, supported the move for an uprising for patriotic reasons. The original plan included sabotage acts, by blowing up the Drama power plant and two bridges.
The Uprising
The uprising started on the night of September 28 from Doxato where guerrillas from the town and the neighboring town of Choristi, under Christos Kalaitzidis, attacked the local police station, killing some Bulgarian police officers.
The rebels similarly attacked about 25 settlements: in particular, they executed appointed Bulgarian officials (community leaders, community officials, etc.), as well as their Greek collaborators, and attacked police stations. Inside the city of Drama, the rebels managed to blow up one of the two power plants and threw leaflets. There was also a failed attack on the train station, while the camp belonging to the Logistic Corps was attacked - with poor results. Although the guerrillas managed to overthrow the Bulgarian authorities in the countryside, they failed to achieve their objective goals in Drama, due in part to poor operational planning and the rapid response of the Bulgarians, who were alarmed by the early conflict in Drama. The failure of the guerrillas in Drama led their leadership to leave the village of Mavrovato, 4 km south of Drama, which was an operational center in the early hours of the uprising, and to flee to the mountains.
At the same time, a group of saboteurs under Vasilis Germanidis tried to blow up the Nikiforos railway bridge, but failed due to the strong resistance of the Bulgarian outpost that was in charge of guarding it. According to Bulgarian historian Georgi Daskalov, the rebels did not resort to violence against Bulgarian civilians and prisoners. Moreover, after the first reaction of the Bulgarian forces, Hamalidis’ decision not to adopt guerrilla warfare tactics, but to try to confront the enemy in factional battles, deprived the insurgents of any chance of success.
By October 2, Bulgarian rule was fully restored, but the persecution of rebels and civilians who had fled their homes continued until early November.
The slaughter
From September 29 the Bulgarian forces, reacting with extreme severity, launched their counterattack, while it was obvious that the uprising had serious weaknesses due to poor coordination and lack of weapons. Massacres followed which spread even to areas that did not take part in the uprising, such as Serres, Kavala and Western Thrace. It is estimated that Bulgarian forces executed people en masse in more than 60 cities and settlements.
In the city of Drama, on the morning of September 29, mass arrests of civilians, killings in the streets, tortures in police stations and barracks, as well as the mass executions were initiated. These executions took place in the area of the Tobacco Institute, at the foot of Korylovo hill, on the road to Monastiraki (not to be confused with the same street in Athens), behind the Boys’ High School, behind the Komnenos park, on Alexander’s the Great Street and other places. The civilian victims inside Drama are estimated at between 366 and 500 people.
Apart from the city of Drama, 350 males were executed in Doxato and 135 in Choristi, 114 inhabitants of Kyrgia, 92 in Kormista in Serres regional, 30 in Philippi (the same place of the ancient city and the battle site of Octavian and Mark Antony vs Brutus and Cassius). Executions also took place in Prosotsani, Koudounia, Kokkinogeia, Platania, Drymotopos, Sitagros, Kalo Agros and in smaller settlements. In addition, many guerrillas were killed in battle or arrested and later executed by Bulgarian military courts. Also, many Greeks were imprisoned, while the members of the Communist Party (KKE from now on) who led the uprising were gradually killed, along with dozens of communist organizers and participants. Only one member of the Macedonian Office survived, Theoklitos Krokos, who apologized to a KKE committee for the spontaneous outbreak of the uprising, without the clearance from the party.
Τhe victims of the uprising and the Bulgarian purges of the following days exceeded 2,000, with some estimates saying at least 4,000 to 5,000 dead. The Bulgarian casualties were 104 killed and 107 wounded, both military and civilians (public servants, settlers, Greek collaborators etc.)
Aftermath
In many ways the Drama Uprising shaped the course not only of the Bulgarian zone of occupation, but the entire Greece.
Soon after the failure of the uprising, KKE sent the Central Committee member Chrysa Hatzivasileiou in Thessaloniki, to investigate the situation. As most of the senior instigators of the uprising were killed, it was difficult for her to assert a clear conclusion in her report, and for many years in the Greek historiography, in Left and Right political spectrums, the theory that the uprising was indirectly provoked by Bulgarian agents, who took advantage of the Greek patriotic feelings to have a justification to eliminate any threat was prevalent. Today, Greek and Bulgarian historians researching Bulgarian archives found no evidence supporting this theory.
In any case, despite the Bulgarian purge of the uprising, the whole situation instead of encouraging, discouraged Bulgarians to emigrate in East Macedonia and Western Thrace. Nevertheless, the Bulgarian army kept a very tight grip over its zone of occupation.
The failure of local and unorganized uprisings convinced the communists, who were the only pre-war party willing to resist, to create a nation-wide organization. Thus, with the participation of other smaller leftist parties they founded the National Liberation Front (EAM), which became the largest Resistance force in Greece.
In early 1944, when the Resistance managed to organize elections in Free Greece, those elections were impossible to held in the Bulgarian zone. Also, because of the communist failure, the partisan armies of ELAS (the armed branch of EAM), didn’t manage to get as strong foothold as in other areas, and they antagonized Rightist/Conservative Resistance organizations. Later, when the Bulgarian communist resistance grew, Bulgarian partisans cooperated with the forces of EAM/ELAS against the Bulgarian army in the occupation zone.
Sources
- Sfetas, Spyridon (2017). The failed uprising of Drama 1941 according to the Bulgarian military records. - Kyriakidis Brothers Publications. ISBN 978-960-599-075-6
- Hatzianastasiou, Tasos (2003). Partisans and captains. The National Resistance against the Bulgarian occupation of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, 1942-1944 . Thessaloniki: Kyriakidis Brothers Publications. ISBN 960-343-703-4.
- Kouzinopoulos, Spyros (2011). Drama 1941. A misunderstood uprising . Athens: Kastaniotis Publications
- History of the Greek Nation, vol. 16 , 1941-2000, Athens 2008, ISBN Set 960-213-095-4, ISBN 960-213-393-7
- History of the Greeks, vol. 13 , 1940-1949, Athens 2006, ISBN 960-8177-98-7
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