With the outbreak of World War II, only a few European states, attacked by Nazi Germany and its allies, were able to offer the fascists a worthy resistance. Moreover, as a rule, in these countries the resistance was of a partisan nature, since the regular armed forces of almost all European states lost to the Wehrmacht many times in armament, equipment, training and fighting spirit. One of the most serious partisan movements in the history of World War II took shape and launched military operations against Italian and German fascists in Greece.
Between the two wars. Monarchy and Republic
In the period between the two world wars, the political situation in Greece was not stable. As you know, Greece was a monarchy ruled by the Glucksburg dynasty. In 1922, George II ascended the throne - another representative of the dynasty, but in 1924 the monarchy in the country was overthrown as a result of a military coup, led by a popular officer, participant in the Greek-Turkish war, Nikolaos Plastiras. Greek dissatisfaction with monarchical rule was due to the numerous socio-economic difficulties that the country faced after the First World War. In particular, the famous Greek-Turkish population exchange took place, as a result of which a significant part of Muslims - Turks and Islamized Greeks and Bulgarians were resettled from the territory of Greece to Asia Minor, and almost one and a half million Orthodox Greeks were resettled from Turkey to Greece. The presence of one and a half million refugees from Turkey did not help to solve the economic problems of the already weakened Greek monarchy. After the monarchy was overthrown, Plastiras handed over power to the National Assembly. In Greece, the regime of the Second Republic was established, which lasted more than ten years. However, the republican form of government also did not bring relief from economic and social problems for Greece.
More than ten years after the anti-monarchist coup, on March 1, 1935, a new military coup took place. It was headed by General Georgios Kondilis, the country's Armed Forces Minister. He returned power to the legitimate monarch George II. However, in 1936, Kondilis died suddenly of a heart attack and all the full power in the country passed to the Prime Minister of the country, General Ioannis Metaxas.
Metaxas (1871-1941) was a professional military man who back in 1913 headed the General Staff of the Greek Armed Forces. Politically, Metaxas sympathized with fascist Italy, since he saw in its regime the only alternative to the growing left socialist and communist sentiments in Greece. At the same time, Metaxas was well aware that the growing appetites of Italian fascism pose a serious threat to the political sovereignty of the Greek state. After all, Italy claimed a leading role in the Southern Balkans and sought to subjugate not only Dalmatia and Albania, but also Greece to its influence.
Italian-Greek War
On October 28, 1940, the Italian Ambassador to Greece, Emmanuele Grazzi, presented an ultimatum to Prime Minister Metaxas. In it, the Italian leadership demanded permission to bring Italian troops into Greece and take control of the country's strategic points and facilities. Prime Minister General Metaxas's response was short: no. In response, Italy launched a military invasion of Greece. Benito Mussolini, embarking on hostilities against the Greek state, counted on a quick defeat of the Greek army, especially since the Italians bribed several Greek senior officers. However, it was not so easy to conquer Greece. The freedom-loving Greek people rose to defend their homeland from the fascist invaders. In Greece, a general mobilization of the population began, and most of the Greek generals and officers were determined to defend their country. Despite the fact that the Italian armed forces were many times superior to the Greek army, the fighting spirit of the Hellenes did its job.
Italian troops advanced in the coastal regions of Western Macedonia and Epirus with the forces of the 3rd Alpine Division "Giulia", numbering 11 thousand troops. A brigade under the command of Colonel Davakis, numbering only 2 thousand soldiers and officers, was thrown against the Italian division. Nevertheless, despite the numerical superiority of the Italians, the Greeks managed to hold back their advance and launch a counterattack. The Greeks drove the Italians out of their country and continued fighting in neighboring Albania. In March 1941, Italian troops in the Balkans received fresh reinforcements and tried to repeat their attempt to invade Greece. However, the Greek units again defeated the Italians and approached the Albanian port of Vlora. For Europe in 1940, the success of the Greek army was paradoxical - before that, not a single country attacked by the Axis countries had been able to defend its independence. An angry Benito Mussolini was forced to seek help from Adolf Hitler.
Wehrmacht invasion
On April 6, 1941, Germany intervened in the Italian-Greek war on the side of Italy. Wehrmacht units invaded Greece from Macedonian territory. The situation was complicated by the fact that most of the Greek army - 15 infantry divisions united in the armies of Epirus and West Macedonia - were in Albania, where they were concentrated against the Italian troops. The invasion of the German army from the territory of Bulgaria put the Greek command into an impasse. Operationally, no more than six infantry divisions could be transferred from the western front. Although on March 5, 1941, a British expeditionary force, which had arrived from Egypt, began to land in Greece, its forces were also insufficient to organize full-fledged resistance to the Wehrmacht. The expeditionary force included the 2nd New Zealand and 6th Australian divisions, the British 1st armored brigade and 9 air squadrons. The Axis countries concentrated over 80 divisions against Greece - 32 German, 40 Italian and 8 Hungarian.
Three days after the invasion of the Nazis, on April 9, 1941, the commander of the British forces, General Wilson, decided to retreat the expeditionary corps. The Greek troops did not have the strength to resist the Wehrmacht, and on April 23, 1941, an act of surrender was signed in Thessaloniki. On the Greek side, it was signed by General Georgios Tsolakoglu, who violated the order of the Greek commander-in-chief. On the same day, King George II of Greece with his government flew to Crete. The loading of British troops on the ships began on April 25, 1941. Under the cover of 6 cruisers and 19 destroyers of the British Navy, on 11 transport ships, the units of the British contingent retreated from the territory of Greece for five days. On April 25, Wehrmacht units entered Thebes, on April 26 - in Corinth, and on April 27 they occupied Athens. In May 1941, German troops captured the island of Crete.
Creation of EAM / ELAS
Resistance to the German and Italian invaders after the flight of the king and the betrayal of a significant part of the generals and senior officers were led by the Greek political parties of the republican orientation. On September 27, 1941, the communist, socialist, agrarian parties and the Union of People's Democracy announced the creation of the EAM - the National Liberation Front of Greece. In fact, the EAM became the main organizational structure that united all the political forces of Greek society, which decided to rise up to fight the German and Italian invaders.
Three months after the creation of EAM, a paramilitary wing of the front was created - the People's Liberation Army of Greece (ELAS). EAM-ELAS set as their main goal the unification of all the patriotic forces of Greece, interested in the liberation of the country from foreign invaders. At the beginning of 1942, the first ELAS units began military operations against the Italian and German invaders. Aris Veluhiotis (1905-1945) was at the head of the ELAS detachments. This fearless man from his youth participated in the activities of the Communist Party of Greece, during the dictatorship of General Metaxas he was imprisoned on the island of Corfu. As a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army of Greece and led it in 1942-1944. It was under the leadership of Aris that ELAS carried out brilliant operations against the occupying forces, including the famous explosion of the Gorgopotamos bridge.
At the same time, the activities of ELAS caused discontent among the Greek royal government in exile, behind which was Great Britain. The British leadership feared that ELAS, in case of victory, would lead the communists to power in Greece, therefore, they saw in the People's Liberation Army of Greece almost a greater threat than in the Nazis and Italian fascists. In September 1942, British officers from the Special Operations Directorate were sent to Greece, tasked with establishing contacts with representatives of the underground and carrying out sabotage operations. Under British control, a royalist anti-communist guerrilla organization was created - the National Republican Greek League (EDES) under the leadership of Napoleon Zervas. However, the forces of ELAS and EDES were incomparable, as well as the level of their real activity. Therefore, British officers, abandoned in Greece, were forced to get in touch with the ELAS partisans and start planning joint operations with them. The explosion of the Gorgopotamos bridge was carried out with the joint participation of the ELAS partisans, EDES and British saboteurs. 150 ELAS fighters, 52 EDES fighters and 12 British officers participated directly in the operation. On the night of November 25, 1942, partisans destroyed the Italian garrison and blew up the bridge over the Gorgopotamos River. Thanks to this act of sabotage, the supply of weapons and ammunition to the troops of General Rommel, who fought in North Africa and depended on constant cargoes arriving from the center through Greece, was disrupted. However, participation in the joint operation did not contribute to the further development of cooperation between the royalists of EDES and the left ELAS.
ELAS against the Royalists and the British
At the end of 1942, armed clashes broke out between the two largest partisan armies in Greece. ELAS during 1943 managed to bring under its control almost half of the territory of Greece. By October 1944, ELAS units managed to liberate almost the entire country, causing the retreat of the Wehrmacht units, which feared to be completely cut off as a result of the advance of Soviet troops in the Balkans. By this time, ELAS was the largest armed organization in Greece and included 119,000 officers, soldiers, partisans and 6,000 members of the national militia. Ten ELAS divisions were formed - 1st Thessalian, 2nd Attic, 3rd Peloponnesian, 6th Macedonian, 8th Epirus, 9th, 10th and 11th Macedonian, 13th Rumel and 16 -I Thessalian. Each division was a small arms formation with a total number of 3,000 to 6,000 fighters and commanders, armed mainly with small arms. The ELAS also included the Cavalry Brigade, which was considered one of the most efficient formations of the People's Liberation Army. The cavalry units of the Greek partisans were organized in the mountains of Thessaly and proved to be excellent in military operations in the highlands. By 1944, the cavalry brigade numbered 1,100 fighters and commanders, had 1,000 horses, as well as several tanks and armored vehicles.
While the Soviet army was liberating Yugoslavia, the British began to land troops on the territory of Greece. On October 4, 1944, the first units of the British Army landed. The purpose of the landing on the territory of Greece, where the resistance of the Wehrmacht had actually ended, was to prevent the invasion of the country by Soviet troops. For the British, the liberation of Greece by units and formations of the Red Army was more terrible than preserving the country under the rule of the Nazi occupiers, since Great Britain feared that if a pro-Soviet regime was established in Greece, all the Balkans would come under the full control of Stalin. Back in April 1943, Great Britain began to provide comprehensive assistance to the anti-communist units of the Greek Resistance. In October 1943, EDES units fought against the communist partisans in alliance with … collaborationist troops controlled by the Nazi invaders. Hermann Neubacher recalled that the British military command even tried to persuade the Nazis not to retreat from Greece, but to stay here in order to continue the fight against the communist formations of ELAS.
On October 12, 1944, the Wehrmacht units left Athens, and the flag of Nazi Germany was lowered from the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis. On November 4, 1944, the last units of the Hitlerite army left Greece. At this time, under the control of the communists from ELAS were 31, 5 of the 33 regions of Greece. EDES controlled only 1, 5 regions. However, when General Scobie appeared in Athens, he announced a demand for the dissolution of the armed forces of ELAS. Communist representatives refused to sign the decree dissolving ELAS and resigned from the Greek government. In Athens, a huge demonstration took place against the actions of the British command and the Greek government controlled by them, which brought together 500 thousand participants. Police were sent to disperse the demonstration, and on December 5, 1944, units of the British army entered the battle against ELAS. For a month, British troops fought against the Greek communists. And this was in those days when the fate of Hitlerite Germany was being decided in Central Europe, Soviet troops liberated cities and villages of European states with bloody battles. However, the British failed to defeat ELAS and the British command began diplomatic "tricks". On December 26, a conference was convened in Athens, in which representatives of ELAS and the Greek government controlled by the British took part. The conference was chaired by Bishop Damaskinos, a protege of the British. He was appointed regent of the country, and this despite the fact that during the years of the occupation of the country by the Italians and the Nazis, he blessed the proteges of the occupiers - Tsolakoglu and Rallis.
General Nicholas Plastiras was appointed Prime Minister of the newly created Greek government - the same one who, in 1924, twenty years earlier, led the anti-monarchist military coup. However, despite his anti-monarchist and republican convictions, General Plastiras was widely known as an ardent opponent of the Soviet Union and the communists, so the British made a bet on him, instructing him to head the Greek government. Meanwhile, while ELAS was negotiating with representatives of the bourgeois forces, British troops continued to attack the positions of the communists. Only from December 3, 1944until January 15, 1945, within a month and a week, the British aircraft made 1665 sorties over the territory of Greece. Air strikes destroyed 455 vehicles, 4 artillery pieces and 6 steam locomotives belonging to ELAS. Ultimately, using numerical superiority and superiority in weapons, the British established control over the territory of Greece. In January 1945, the Greek partisans from ELAS were forced to agree to the unfavorable terms of the armistice put forward by the Greek pro-British government, and on February 12, 1945, the Greek government on the one hand and the leadership of ELAS and the Greek Communist Party on the other, concluded a peace agreement in the city of Varkiza. … In accordance with this agreement, ELAS was disbanded, and its fighters were subject to demobilization.
However, the most radical veterans of ELAS, headed by Aris Veluhiotis himself, the creator and first commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army of Greece, refused to lay down their arms and continued armed resistance against the British occupiers and their satellites from the Greek bourgeois government. However, most of the communist leaders did not take the side of Veluchiotis and the fearless partisan commander with only a few supporters continued the anti-British resistance. In June 1945, the ELAS detachment under the command of Veluhiotis was defeated in the Arta area. Aris Veluhiotis and his assistant Dzavelas had their heads cut off and put them on the square of Trikala. It is significant that in the battles against ELAS, the British and their allies from the Greek bourgeois government did not hesitate to use the help of the Nazis and collaborators who remained in Greece. As you know, one of the last Greek territories liberated from Nazi troops was the island of Crete. When the British paratroopers landed in Crete, they fought the local ELAS formations. The British requested help from … the 212nd tank battalion of the Wehrmacht, which was on the island. The Nazis did not fail to come to the aid of the British and together with them defeated the communist units of ELAS.
In September 1945, King George II returned to Greece, hoping for an unhindered restoration of the monarchy in the country. However, Georg had to face serious resistance from the Greek partisans from ELAS, whose troops continued to raid Greek territory from neighboring Yugoslavia and Albania, which were under the control of the Communists. The main role in organizing support for ELAS was played by Yugoslavia, in which the communist partisans of Joseph Broz Tito were still able to come to power. It was on the territory of Yugoslavia that the underground bases of the Greek partisans operated. When, in November 1944, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece P. Rusoe met with I. B. Tito, the latter agreed to provide military assistance to ELAS in the event of a conflict with the British. On the territory of Yugoslavia, a Macedonian brigade was formed, staffed by Greek refugees. It was her that Tito intended to use as the main military support for ELAS, since the Yugoslav communists could not yet put forward their own armed forces to help Greek like-minded people - the country was in ruins after the Nazi occupation and Tito had enough of his own problems that did not allow him to provide more substantial assistance to the Greek partisans …
On February 12-15, 1946, a plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece was held, at which the communist leadership decided to refuse to participate in the elections and go over to organizing armed resistance to the monarchical government and British occupiers. The General Secretary of the Communist Party N. Zahariadis believed that the Soviet Union and the people's democracies of Eastern Europe would help the victory of the socialist revolution in Greece. In Belgrade, Zachariadis met with Tito, and then, in Crimea, with Stalin. However, Stalin also did not have the resources that would allow him to provide significant assistance to the Greek communists, especially since there was an agreement between him and Churchill on the division of spheres of influence in Europe occupied by the allied forces. Therefore, the Soviet leadership was able to offer the Greeks only informational and diplomatic support. And, nevertheless, despite the limited resources, the Greek communists entered into an unequal confrontation with the royal government, behind which stood the United Kingdom and the United States.
The beginning of the civil war in Greece
On the eve of the elections, which were scheduled for March 31, 1946, an armed detachment of Greek partisans under the command of Ypsilanti captured the village of Litohoro. At the same time, in the west of Aegean Macedonia, an armed uprising of the National Liberation Front of the Slav-Macedonians began, which also opposed the monarchist government. On July 3, militants of the front launched an armed attack on the positions of the Greek gendarmerie near the village of Idomeni. Having retreated to Yugoslavian territory, the partisans gathered their strength and undertook several new raids. By the end of the summer of 1946, the National Liberation Front of the Slavic-Macedonians managed to take control of almost the entire territory of Aegean Macedonia. However, the Greek population for the most part was worried about the actions of the front, since they saw in it an instrument of asserting Yugoslav influence, which threatened the territorial integrity of Greece (the Greeks believed that Tito was going to "cut off" the regions inhabited by Slavic-Macedonians from the country). Therefore, the leadership of the Communist Party, in order not to lose the support of the Greek population, refused any cooperation with the National Liberation Front of the Slavic-Macedonians.
By August 1946, about 4,000 communist partisans were active in Macedonia and Thessaly. The partisan detachments were recruited from the influx of volunteers from the peasant population of the mountainous regions. In turn, the Greek government had a regular royal army of 15 thousand soldiers and officers, and a 22 thousand national gendarmerie. However, many army personnel and even gendarmes sympathized with the communist partisans and, at times, even went over to their side, joining the partisan formations with their weapons. The northern regions of Greece became the arena of fierce confrontation between government forces and the communists, who were supported by neighboring Yugoslavia and Albania. On September 1, 1946, Soviet plenipotentiary D. Z. Manuilsky, who spoke out in defense of the Slavic-Macedonian population of Northern Greece. On September 4, the USSR announced its support for Albania, which at that moment was under the threat of a military invasion by the Greek royal army. Nevertheless, in September - November 1947, a UN General Assembly resolution was adopted condemning the policies of Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia for supporting "anti-government forces" in Greece. Meanwhile, on the territory of Greece, there was a strengthening of the partisan detachments of the communist orientation. The Democratic Army of Greece was formed, which became the successor to ELAS. It was led by General Marcos Vafiadis, a staunch apologist for the continuation of the guerrilla war against the royal government until complete victory. The Democratic Army of Greece received logistical support from neighboring Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavs supplied the Greek partisans with Soviet small arms, mortars, flamethrowers, and artillery pieces. Even several patrol ships and an Italian-made submarine, used to secretly deliver military supplies to the Greek coast, were in service with the Democratic Army of Greece. The number of the partisan army reached 25 thousand soldiers and commanders.
Guerrillas against the pro-American regime
The tactics of the Greek partisans in the period under review consisted of making quick raids on rural settlements, during which food was seized, the garrisons of government troops and gendarmerie were disarmed and destroyed, and volunteers were recruited from the peasant population. The command of the Democratic Army of Greece was convinced that such a tactic would wear down government troops, disperse their forces throughout the country and, ultimately, lead to the defeat of the royal government. But the "exhausting tactics" also had an obvious disadvantage, namely, a decrease in support for the communists from the peasant population, which suffered numerous losses during partisan raids. The raids were carried out, as a rule, in the border areas of Greece, since the partisans expected, in the event of an unsuccessful attack, to quickly retreat to Albanian or Yugoslav territory.
During the operation to seize the cities of Konsa and Florina, the Greek communists hoped to liberate these settlements and create a liberated territory where the Greek communist government was to be formed. But the formations of the Democratic Army of Greece failed to fulfill the assigned task, and the partisans were forced to retreat from the captured cities. In addition to raids, partisans resorted to sabotage tactics. Repeatedly partisan sabotage detachments made explosions on sections of the railway connecting Athens and Thessaloniki. At the same time, partisan detachments stationed in Albania and Yugoslavia shelled Greek cities and villages from artillery pieces. In turn, the government troops, fearing the outbreak of an armed conflict with the people's democracies of Yugoslavia and Albania, did not respond to these shelling and did not try to pursue the partisans retreating to the territory of neighboring states.
In 1947, the General Secretary of the KKE, Zachariadis, appealed to the leadership of Albania, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union with a request to increase the volume of military aid. In the spring of 1947, the strength of the Democratic Army of Greece increased and its position in the country was significantly strengthened. The Greek royal government, reorienting from Great Britain to the United States, also asked the allies for help in the fight against the communist guerrillas. The American leadership saw in the successful suppression of the Greek communists a guarantee of the gradual ousting of the communists in other countries of Eastern Europe. On December 23, 1947, the Greek Communist Party proclaimed the creation of a Provisional Democratic Government of Free Greece, which was actively supported by the Yugoslav, Bulgarian and Albanian leaderships. However, the Soviet Union did not recognize the government of the Greek communists. Stalin was not going to quarrel with Great Britain and the United States, and was also dissatisfied with the protracted civil war in Greece, since he saw in it a factor of political and economic destabilization for the entire Balkan Peninsula. In February 1948, meeting with the Yugoslav leadership, Stalin demanded the fastest possible collapse of the insurrectionary movement in Greece. But at the same time, the head of the Soviet Union did not give a direct order to end the partisan resistance. In this regard, the Yugoslav leaders, having met and discussed Stalin's words with the leaders of the Greek communists, came to the conclusion that the absence of a direct order to end the resistance means that there is an opportunity for its continuation, the USSR simply disclaims responsibility for supporting the Greek rebels. The democratic army of Greece switched to the tactics of seizing territories in the north of the country, where it intended to create a liberated territory. However, by this time, with the help of Great Britain and the United States, the Greek government forces had significantly strengthened, having received new weapons and increased the number to 180 thousand soldiers and officers. The command of the American army sent experienced military advisers to help the Greek government forces. Colossal sums of money were spent to help Greece in the fight against the communist partisans.
The defeat of the communist movement
In early 1948, Greek government forces launched a decisive offensive against the guerrilla positions. Fierce battles took place in the mountainous regions of Greece, but the specifics of the mountainous terrain played into the hands of the partisans for a long time. Mountain villages in the winter became virtually inaccessible, as rain and snow washed out access dirt roads and made it impossible for cars and armored vehicles to move. In the winter, government troops stopped anti-partisan operations, since their capabilities became equal and government forces could not use their superiority in technology. When the United States delivered modern aircraft to Greece, Greek government forces began the tactics of air strikes against guerrilla bases. At the same time, the support of the communists from the local population also fell. The fact is that the peasants of the mountainous regions increasingly trusted the rebels, who brought some problems to the villages: after the partisan raids in the villages, government troops appeared. The greatest indignation of the peasant population was caused by the practice of forcible mobilization of rural residents, to which the command of the Democratic Army of Greece passed over. Moreover, the partisans forcibly captured teenagers aged 14-18, who were then transported to Albania and Yugoslavia to their bases and then thrown into battle against government forces. Many peasants who had previously sympathized with the Communists began to help the government troops and the gendarmerie in finding partisan detachments and identifying partisan supporters among the rural population. The tactics of lightning-fast raids from the territories of neighboring states, used by the partisans over the past years, also ceased to bear fruit.
In August 1948, government troops numbering 40,000 soldiers and officers surrounded an 8,000-strong partisan unit under the command of General Vafiadis himself. The partisans managed to break out of the encirclement only with heavy losses. In 1949, General Vafiadis was removed from the post of commander of the Democratic Army of Greece, which was personally headed by the General Secretary of the Greek Communist Party Zachariadis. Unlike Vafiadis, who insisted on the use of tactics of "exhausting" guerrilla warfare, Zachariadis advocated the conduct of a classical war with the forces of large military formations. However, this point of view was fundamentally wrong - the partisan detachments were not able to withstand clashes with government troops and were easily destroyed by the latter. Government forces, meanwhile, carried out a sweep of the territory of the Peloponnese, where, according to the command, the main underground bases of the partisans were located and their numerous supporters were located.
By the spring of 1949, government forces had succeeded in driving out the partisans from the Peloponnese and then destroying the insurgency in Central Greece. Soon, government forces surrounded the largest partisan base in Vitsi. The command of the Democratic Army of Greece decided to defend the base with 7, 5 thousand partisans, but this was a wrong decision. Government forces, outnumbering the guerrillas in numbers and weapons, drove them out of the base and practically destroyed them. Only scattered insurgent units managed to break into the territory of neighboring Albania. On August 24, government forces attacked another major partisan base, Grammos, which was also defeated. In fact, the insurgency in Greece suffered a crushing defeat. The defeat of the partisan movement in the country was also facilitated by the reorientation of Yugoslavia to cooperation with the West, after which in June 1949 Tito ordered the blockade of the Yugoslav-Greek border, which deprived the partisans of the opportunity to use Yugoslavian territory for their own purposes. The Greek communists accused Tito of treason and collusion with the "monarchist-fascist" government of Greece. The Soviet press also made similar accusations against Yugoslavia and its leader. However, despite the information support, the Soviet leadership did not go further than loud statements about Tito. The announcement of the Greek Communist Party to support the struggle for the creation of Macedonia and its entry into the "Balkan Federation" was also a serious mistake. For most Greeks, such a policy was associated with the destruction of the territorial integrity of the Greek state, which also did not contribute to the strengthening of the position of the communists in Greek society. As a result of the civil war, which lasted almost five years, 12,777 soldiers and officers of government forces were killed, about 38,000 partisans, 4,124 civilians were killed by partisans. 40 thousand partisans of the Democratic Army of Greece were captured. The civil war also wreaked havoc on the economic infrastructure of Greece.
The political consequences of the defeat of the Greek communists The Soviet Union "sorted out" the entire post-war period of its existence. Greece proved to be an outpost of American influence in the Balkans and the Mediterranean region, becoming an active member of NATO. In its domestic policy, Greece pursued a strategy of brutally suppressing the communist opposition, becoming one of the most brutal anti-communist regimes in post-war Europe. The Greek communists had to operate in clandestine conditions, suffer heavy losses as a result of massive repressions. However, the leftist movement in Greece for a long time remained one of the strongest in southern Europe, and it was this factor that largely became one of the reasons for the coup d'etat of the "black colonels".
