REVOLUTION IN GREECE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14713, 3 July 1948, Page 2

REVOLUTION IN GREECE

ACTIVITIES OF COMMUNISTS

Greek General's Letter To Tauranga Resident Systematic Extermination Of People A vivid account of Qc bid by the Communists for power in Greece is given by LieutenantGeneral Tsakalotos, Commander of a Greek Army Corps which recently carried out successful operations against <he srucrnUa forces in the Roumeli area, in a letter to Mr E. W. Aked, of Tauranga. Mr Aked, a former Lieutenant-Colonel in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, was associated dnr'nar tb«* war with Licatenant-General Tsakalotos against the Fascists in Italy and, as the General describes them, the Red Fascists in Greece. In a brief account of the Communist - inspired revolution in Greece, General Tsakalotos opens by stating that it was well known that the policy of the Communist parties all over the world, wherever they were politically weak, was to gain power by force and by taking advantage, by propaganda, of any form of Democratic freedom.

"In Greece," he says, "the Communists have taken the opportunity to arm the masses of the people since 1941. When the known resistance forces were born during the German occupation, the Communists attacked openly with arms and dismissed those who refused to join them. They said at the time that they were only fighting the collaborators with the conqueror, but anybody having opposite ideas to theirs were accused by the Communists nf collaboration with the Germans." Greece Saved General Tsakalotos stated that, because of political mistakes and other reasons, KKE (the Communist Party of Greece) failed to remain the only party that counted in Greece in 1944. They decided on the revolution of 1944, hoping to succeed in this way, but. he added, thanks to the Third Greek Brigade, the British troops and, above all, the firm decision of Mr Churchill, Greece was saved. Communism was also saved, unfortunately, thanks to the agreement of Varkiza. Communist leaders and a large number of criminals were granted an amnesty. The former criminals, sent to provinces in Greece by KKE, became a constant provocation to those whn were mourning for victims executed by the Communists. Weapons in good condition were hidden and National Guard forces discovered quantities of arms surpassing the numbers of weapons which had been handed over by the Communists.

"A number of chieftains living in the mountains refused to acknowledge the Varkiza Agreement," contirni.o,-! General "The KKE leaders, pretending to be lawabiding, denied the agreement and also betrayed to the Army, Aris Velouchiotis. then supreme commander of ELAS—the Communist forces. In this way they rid themselves of a very dangerous competitor. The remaining chieftains were well looked after by KKE as a ready cadre for future activities, °'id immediately afterwards KKE began to threaten." Some thousands of chieftains and men of ELAS—many by force—Mod towards ' Albania and Yugoslavi -1 where they were trained and armed in order to be employed in the forthcoming revolution which was being planned. The provocation of civilians was commenced systematically. Every morning and evening workers, transported on lorries to and from their work, sang the song "Come on ELAS" and other revnlntionary songs. "There is no example of a conrnoror m history " eJ7>"'lh!n«^se f ' , *' ,<, i General, "who has shown impertinence and provocation." Later on when the right time came—in other words when KKE were ordered f~">~-> to begin their task (offensive action) — they began to appear in the form of small armed groups, after having refused to particin-ile in the elections which were followed by international observers. In order to camouflage the betrayal which they were preparing, the Communists explained that the groims in the mountains were democratic citizens defending themelves from Fascists.

General Tsakalotos pointed out that the first activities of the Communists was to take the law in their hands. Executions took place, th~ countrv population was terrorised and it was their intention to paralyse all forms of communications. On the other side they were hysterically complaining that they were pursued. The small groups gradually joined into stronger forces and these forces were increased by the mobilisation, by threats, of all the old members of the party. Later on enlistment, irrespective of any age or sex. was carried out. quite openlv and extend pH to the inhuman kidnapping of children. Description of Markos

For reasons, he added, which could not be mentioned at present, the State tried to face the situation with what, was then available, while the ne'io' l^bo " , ' ,,; '"T assisted the KKE. Anv effort by the State was inadequate lons* before it was put into practice. The bandits had created a new situation and KKE had complete freedom in the very heart of Athens from where everything was conducted.

Referring: to the guerrilla leader, Markos. General Tsaka-loto-t described him as a Communist released from prison. Markos had never s»en service in the Armv. ; n fac* he was a deserter, added the Gw°rai. H> was a tobacco workc and h's education noor. Dnrine thn i-t--nation he was the leader of ELAS f«~«»,e S j n Ms'^etJonia.

The generals or commanders of Markos' hism formations, nominated by him, were ex-prisoners and old members of KKE with poor education, great fanaticism and overcome by an inferiority complex. Only the political commissars possessed a fair standard of education and they were the leading members. Ex-officers of the Army who ioined the bandits never obtained the rank of general. Thev were merely employed as staff officers o)' in minor commands. The prpsent retentions of th," Communists in Greece, concluded General Tsakalotos, was to make a Communistic Greece, but the actual fact was that they were merely agents of the Slavs, helnin* to extend their territories in Macedonia—the heart of Greece. They carried oul a systematic extermination of the Greek race by the slaughter and kidnapping of

children. pV« "They destroy systematically M everything in order to cause |p misery to Greece," concluded t& e m; General. "They generally torture m their victims before executing I them. There is no kind of criffl* 1/ which they have not done."