December: When Athens Was Covered in Blood – Secret Testimonies and Documents

If the History pages really had color, then the December 3, 1944 page would have one of the darkest colors in Greek history.

On Sunday, December 3, 44, the tragic events that later became known as “December” begin in Athens. The armed conflict between the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS), the military arm of the National Liberation Front (EAM) and the British and Greek government forces.

December and Civil War

About two months ago, on October 12, Athens was liberated and gradually, as the German troops withdrew, the entire Greek territory.

But Greece fails to savor the joy of liberation. Before even emerging from the tumult of occupation, he entered the vortex of civil war, which, although officially beginning in 1946, has in fact already begun before Liberation.

What preceded

The Lebanese Congress of May 1944, in which all Greek political and resistance forces participated, led to an agreement to form a government of national unity.

With the Caserta Agreement (September 26, 1944) the two rival resistance organizations EAM / ELAS and EDES agree to be under the orders of British General Ronald Scobby and to refrain from any attempt to seize power.

But the next few weeks will show, in the harshest way, how fragile the agreements were between the British-Greek Government and EAM / ELAS.

In October 1944, however, EAM complied with the agreement and the ELAS forces did not enter Attica. In the rest of Greece, of course, the weather is not correspondingly normal.

December days

The main issues, as we arrive in December 44, are the conditions for the reconstruction of the Greek national army, the confrontation of the files and the security battalions, the collaborators of the Nazis and the disarmament of the guerrillas.

December 1st

General Scobby signs an order for the dissolution and disarmament of the rebel forces, excluding those loyal to the government and King George II, the 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade, on the grounds that they intend to join the new national army. That same day the ministers of the EAM of the government of National Unity resign.

December 2nd

The EAM leadership re-establishes the Central Committee of its military wing, ELAS, and is planning a protest rally in Syntagma Square on December 3 and a general strike on December 4. Prime Minister George Papandreou, while initially giving permission for the protests, eventually revoked it.

The journalist Costas Galanopoulos writes for December 3 in “NEA” of March 24, 1985.

“It was a cold day and Athens was just struggling to recover from the terror of famine and occupation. It was another significant day. Because everyone felt that there were problems that needed to be solved for this country, problems that could not last long.

“At the beginning, thousands of people began to gather in Syntagma Square. The crowd was quickly overflowing into the surrounding streets.

But as great as was the enthusiasm and determination of those gathered, so great was, apparently, the nervousness of those affected by the demonstration and even of General Ronald Scobby’s phlegmatic English, who patrolled the edges of the square, near Elli . police officers “

The shots

Suddenly shots are heard. The protesters lie dead on the ground. Many theories have been put forward as to what exactly happened. Some speak of an unprovoked attack by the Greek police, others of the execution of an order that came from the British, others that the first shots came from protesters and another even from an accident.

“The disaster happened as soon as the first shots were fired,” says Galanopoulos. “Even today, the matter has not been clarified. Some say they were the first to shoot.

The fact is that at some point, and after the episodes had progressed, the demonstrations turned into street fights. “And the first dead protesters and counter-protesters painted the asphalt of Athens with their blood, while around at least two police stations there was a fight between policemen and supporters of the left.”

Sotiris Rizas, Director of the Research Center for the History of Modern Hellenism at the Academy of Athens, speaking on the “New Times” program on One Channel, states:

“We do not know the details of this case, but it clearly appears to be an event that aims to either provoke or intimidate, in any case, the leadership of the left. (…) It is clear that these came from the government’s side. “But we do not know the operational or political context of this case.”

Declassified US Records

“TA NEA” published, in January 1979, a series of declassified documents from the CIA’s predecessor, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), as well as secret diplomatic reports, at the time.

At the time, the US embassy military attache was Lt. Col. Sterling L. Larabby, who reportedly shared his comments with US embassy staff member Harry Hill, and with members of the British 3rd Corps.

SHOOTING IN ATHENS

(…)

General Scobby specifically banned any left-wing demonstration on the 3rd of the month and informed the KKE / EAM / ELAS leaders about it.

However, despite General Scobby’s order, large crowds of protesters began to gather in Syntagma Square around 10 a.m. on December 3, holding flags (especially American, Greek and British), posters, banners, etc. while the leaders held megaphones. “

For US Lieutenant Colonel L. Larabis, as his report shows, the circumstances in which the armed conflict began on December 3 are clear:

While a group of people (who managed to pass through a police zone) tried to lead the way to the Foreign Ministry, the Greek police lost their temper and fired into the crowd, killing five men and a girl and wounding twenty. others approximately.

Three people died almost immediately in front of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier around 11 a.m. Coincidentally, Captain McNeill and Mr. Parsons from the embassy (who were on their way to McNeill’s headquarters at the “Great Britain” hotel hardly met in the orbit of these bullets thrown by the police.

BRITISH ACTION

After this incident, the crowd, now 25,000 to 30,000, spiraled out of control and gathered around “Great Britain”, the Foreign Office and the Greek Police, beating up people who (the crowd) claimed be traitors. .

A force of 12 British tanks, 6 armored vehicles and some trucks attempted to disperse this crowd for 2 hours with little or no success.

Finally, a battalion of British paratroopers arrived and, with the help of a few British military policemen, managed to clear the streets at around 3:30 p.m. , fortunately without major incidents and victims.

It should be noted that during all this confusion that lasted over six hours, not a single shot was fired by the British, tanks and soldiers.

And furthermore, as far as I can confirm, none of the leftists fired at the British or Greek police as well, at least in the central area where the demonstration took place.

Larabi’s position on the events of December 3 is confirmed by the US naval officer Howard A. Reed, who was in Athens in the first days of December 1944.

When the crowd had almost reached the corner of the “Great Britain” hotel, shots and grenades exploded and the crowd fell to the ground until they stopped. When some began to climb, a new wave of gunfire broke out.

At least three of those shots were received by the gathered crowd, coming from the Police Directorate, across the street.

I was on the side wall of the Police Department building, 13 meters away and from what I saw, it was the policemen who opened fire and shot into the heart of the crowd, without any warning shots into the air. I didn’t notice any shots from the protesters. (…)

I spoke with many official allies, who were eyewitnesses to the events (…) they all agreed with what I had seen myself, that is, the shots were fired by the Hellenic Police Directorate and from the roofs of the surrounding buildings , which were full of police officers “

The generalization of the conflict

The first clashes began on the night of December 3. The following day, the funerals of the victims take the form of an EAM rally, in which protesters are again attacked.

The conflict between the ELAS forces, on the one hand, and the Rimini Brigade forces and the gendarmerie, on the other, is spreading. ELAS, which has already successfully attacked many police stations and other targets, appears to be dominating, to the point of arousing the concern of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

As he mentions in his memoirs, in the early hours of December 5, he sent a telegram to Scobby giving him the order: “Treat Athens like a conquered city!”

However, ELAS ‘inability to prevail in key battles such as that of the Athens Gendarmerie Regiment in Makrigianni district on December 6 proved decisive.

Britain found time to move a large number of its military forces to Athens and, in mid-December, to defeat ELAS.

Thus, one of the most tragic episodes in the history of the Greek civil war is completed, towards which the Greeks were now marching at full speed.

According to “VIMA” of December 4, 1994, Angelos Th. Angelopoulos, professor and member of the Academy of Athens “while in military operations during the six months of the war 1940-1941 we had 15,000 hoplites and officers killed, in December we had 17,000 and in the Civil War 47,000 from both sides “

The Greeks, the vast majority of whom had fought and resisted so valiantly against fascism and Nazism, now condemned their homeland to a new bloodier war that would stigmatize the political and social life of the country for many. decades later.

And all this while the great powers, with the Anglo-Russian agreement on the percentages, had already determined, since October 9, 1944, our destiny … on a napkin.