Two years ago, photographer Artur Bondar bought photographic films taken by the American military and dated 1944 at an online auction in the United States. All the negatives were rolled into one large roll and stored in a round Kodak metal can marked “Military censored.”
It was not possible to reliably establish the identity of the author of the photographs and his further fate, but nevertheless it was possible to find out some details of his military path. The negatives most likely belonged to a front-line photojournalist from the US Army Signal Corps. He covered the service of the aviators of the First US Army in the area of military operations in southern Europe – in Italy and Greece, as well as their meeting during the liberation of the south of the Balkans with the armed detachments of the People’s Liberation Army of Greece (EAM – ELAS), which since 1941 fought against the German, Bulgarian and Italian occupiers.
This previously unknown archive contains footage taken during Operation Manna by the British Army in Greece in mid-October 1944. The main purpose of the operation was to deliver humanitarian aid to the Greek population, which is why it received such a biblical name. However, according to another version, the key task of the operation was to prevent the seizure of power in Greece by local communists after the Germans left.
At the entrance to the headquarters of the American pilots. Above the entrance is the inscription: “Only for pilots of aircraft. Other personnel are not allowed”/ Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
German bombs left at the airfield during the retreat. Near the remains of the engine and fuselage of the aircraft. Presumably the Elefsis airfield is 30 kilometers from Athens / Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
Savoia Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero is an Italian medium bomber and torpedo bomber. Presumably the Elefsis airfield is 30 kilometers from Athens / Photo: Artur Bondar private collection
By that time, the German command was already gradually withdrawing its troops from Greece, occupied by the Wehrmacht in 1941, so the British landing operation was not caused by urgent military necessity. On October 12, the day the Germans left Athens, the EAM-ELAS city detachments, contrary to the recently concluded Caserta agreement on military cooperation between the British and all the patriotic forces of Greece, began to occupy the center of the Greek capital. After that, the 4th Battalion of the British 2nd Airborne Brigade parachuted onto the airstrip at Megara, 50 kilometers west of Athens.
The operation plan called for the landing of 26 British Waco CG-4 gliders. It is with these planes that our unknown photographer may have flown to the Balkans. The Greek government in exile, led by Georgios Papandreou Sr. and accompanied by the British “military-political network” led by General Ronald Scobie, arrived in Athens on October 18, 1944. On November 7, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill told his ambassador in Athens:
Since you are aware of the high price we have paid to gain freedom of action in Greece from the USSR, we should not hesitate to use British troops to support Papandreou’s Greek royal government.
A column of American military arrives in the city. The arch at the entrance is decorated with communist symbols / Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
The building of the headquarters of the Communist Party of Greece / Photo: Artur Bondar private collection
Demonstration of representatives of the Communist Party of Greece / Photo: Artur Bondar private collection
The coalition status of the government of Georgios Papandreou Sr. did not last long. Its members, associated with EAM – ELAS, resigned after the demands of General Scobie for the speedy disarmament of all partisan detachments of the left forces, especially the communist ones. An exception was allowed only for those of them that the British, if necessary, were going to use in military operations in Crete and the Southern Sporades (the Dodecades archipelago in the southeastern part of the Aegean Sea), against the still resisting units of the Wehrmacht. As a result, a military-political crisis immediately arose in newly liberated Greece: the leftist forces, in order to achieve a military-political balance in the country, demanded the disarmament of the main armed formations of the pro-British government of Greece – the 3rd Greek Brigade and the Holy Detachment. Georgios Papandreou Sr. refused to do so. He argued his decision by the fact that these were the only combat-ready units of the Greek army that had previously fought in North Africa and Italy.
Already in December 1944, the landing operation, which was initially considered humanitarian, turned into military clashes with the city detachments of EAM – ELAS. This period was later called Decembrian.
Since the initial arrival of British troops was not enough, it was decided to openly use the “security battalions” of former Greek collaborators who had previously collaborated with the German occupiers, together with the army of the United Kingdom. In the days that followed, another 6,000 British soldiers were brought to Greece, and by the end of December, their number reached 40,000 in Athens and the surrounding areas. As a result, in early December 1944, a full-fledged armed conflict broke out in Athens and other Greek cities between the expeditionary force of the United Kingdom and the Greek rebels.
Demonstration of representatives of the Communist Party of Greece / Photo: Artur Bondar private collection
Demonstration of representatives of the Communist Party of Greece / Photo: Artur Bondar private collection
Throughout the last month of 1944, fighting and small skirmishes continued between the Greek communists and the British, who gradually took control of the situation in the country. The pro-English “government of national unity”, headed by Georgios Papandreou Sr., lasted in power only until January 1945, but with the help of its curators managed to do the main thing – to bleed and disarm the combat detachments of the communist People’s Liberation Army EAM – ELAS, the main core of the armed anti-fascist resistance forces in Greece during World War II.
Many factors contributed to this: the disunity and inconsistency of the actions of the EAM-ELAS partisan detachments, their poor equipment, the lack of serious external support, and ideological and political differences within the leadership of the Greek communists.
Perhaps an important role here was played by the ambivalent position of not only Joseph Stalin, but also Josip Broz Tito
At that time, the future leader of socialist Yugoslavia helped the Greek Communist Party and at the same time was considered a key ally not only of the Stalinist USSR, but also of Great Britain.
A local resident and a priest at the National Library / Photo: Artur Bondar private collection
US military examine the ruins of the columns in the Athenian necropolis / Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
US military on a motorcycle passing the Zappeion building in the historic center of the city
Photo: Artur Bondar private collection / US military examines the ruins of columns in the Athens Necropolis.
The bloody and dramatic events in Greece caused a wave of bewilderment and protests in Great Britain and other states of the anti-Hitler coalition. US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in those days indignantly addressed his compatriots: “How dare the British do this? How far can they go to keep their past? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Winston [Черчилль] simply stated that he supported the Greek monarchists! It suits his character. But to kill guerrillas, using the cases of British soldiers for this … “
If I pressed him, he could say: “I am not interfering with what you are doing in Greece. Therefore, for what reason do you not allow me to act freely in Romania?”
The Stalinist Soviet Union did not react in any way to the unsightly actions of Great Britain, which in fact became reprisals against recent allies even before the defeat of the main enemy.
Despite the fact that by that time the Red Army, after the liberation of Bulgaria, had already reached the border of Greece, it did not make any attempts to cross it in order to help the Greek communists. Historians explain Stalin’s silence by fulfilling the commitments made to the USSR in Tehran and later in Yalta and unwillingness to jeopardize their own interests in other countries.
PHorse of Omonia (Consent) Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
Omonia Square (Consent) Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
Local residents greet the column of American military / Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
Local residents greet the column of American military / Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
A column of US military moves through the city / Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
A column of US military moves through the city / Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
Soon the confrontation between the Greek communists and the British Expeditionary Force passed into a sluggish stage. On February 12, 1945, the EAM-ELAS leadership signed the Varkiza Agreement with the official Greek government. It provided for the disarmament of EAM-ELAS, the restoration of full political freedoms in the country, an amnesty for political crimes (but not criminal ones), as well as the holding of free elections and a referendum on the future of Greece.
However, this agreement was never fully implemented by both parties.
An American photographer takes pictures of local residents on the central Syntagma Square / Photo: Artur Bondar’s private collection
A local resident rides a donkey cart / Photo: Artur Bondar private collection
Airplane view of Athens, Acropolis and Parthenon / Photo: Artur Bondar private collection
The main humanitarian aid to Greece after the liberation from the German-Italian occupation was provided by the UNRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration – United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), in which the United States was the main donor. After fighting in late 1944, the UNRA imported over $170 million worth of food, $45 million worth of agricultural equipment, and $7.5 million worth of medicines.
However, after the victorious end of the Second World War and the defeat of Nazism, peace could not reign on Greek soil for a long time. From March 1946 to October 1949, the country was rocked by a bitter and bloody civil war between right and left, ending in victory for the supporters of the monarchy. The civil war claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Greeks and even more people (mostly children) emigrated, mainly to the USSR and the countries of the socialist camp. This war still remains a severe wound and echoes bloody in the national memory of modern Greek society.
Published Tape.Ru
Read more about the role of Britain in military and post-war history in a series of publications:
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