Speaking 76 years later, it is not bad at all, on the contrary, to give a definition of the term. Therefore, we call the conflicts that took place, mainly in Athens and Attica, from Sunday 3 December 1944 to Thursday 11 January 1945. Typically, the December conflicts ended at 7:35 on the evening of Monday 12 February 1945, when the Varkiza Agreement was signed.
BY ELIAS DALOUMIS
How important the Decembriana were can also be seen from the fact that to this day, after 76 years, their history has not been written. And when we say history, we mean it. Many books have been written on both sides. These are personal testimonies, justification of positions and actions, and even propaganda. In no one will we find a complete record of the events, with the causes and occasions, with the apportionment of responsibilities and the drawing of conclusions. Of course, we must admit that the undertaking is not at all - but not at all - easy. But in the difficult times the good ones appear. And here we have clearly failed as a people. We probably don't like the truth...
In the lines that follow, of course, we do not aspire to present the history of the Decembrians. We will simply try to list, clearly epigrammatically, the most striking events of the period and - without fear and passion - express some judgments. At the end of the day, after all this time we can talk without prejudices and commitments.
The beginning
Sunday, December 3, 1944, 11.00:The Panathenaic rally organized by the EAM begins and the government has banned it, although it had initially returned it. It's one of the biggest, so far, and definitely has a lot of passion. The "line" given by the organizers is:"we demonstrate unarmed". It is strictly observed although shortly before the start, someone throws a grenade outside the house where Prime Minister George Papandreou lives and kills a deputy guard.
The demonstrators with banners, flags and dudukes - they were called funnels then - arrive at the Athens Police Department. Corner of Panepisopitu and Vasilissis Sofias. With their volume alone they can occupy the building. They are shooting from the side of the guard. The same is done by other police officers who are in the Parliament building. Some of the crowd go down in shock. Panic reigns.
The situation calms down – as they say, of course – as soon as British tanks and armored vehicles appear, which are greeted with cheers by the demonstrators. Dead and wounded are collected. The government will talk about 11 and 60 respectively. EAM will oppose 21 and 140. As cynical as it sounds, it doesn't matter how many casualties there were that day. The ones that will follow the next ones will be many times more. The December holidays have just begun...
The opposing forces
But what did each of the opponents have? ELAS, which has been on alert since November 30, has the following powers:
– Headquarters of the First Army Corps in N. Philadelphia.
– 1st Brigade with the 1st Regiment in N. Smyrni, Kallithea, N. Kosmos (then Katsipodi) and the 2nd Regiment in Kaisariani, Byrona, Pagrati and Gouva (behind the 1st Cemetery).
– 2nd Brigade with the 3rd Regiment in Patisia, Kypseli, Gyzi, Ampelokipos and the 4th Regiment in Peristeri, Kolonos, Nea Sfageia (today Tavros), Petralona.
– 5th Independent Regiment in Chalandri, Marousi, Kifissia.
– 6th Independent Regiment in Piraeus, Drapetsona, Keratsini, Kokkinia.
The strength of all these is 8,750 to 9,000 people. Their armament, rather insufficient, consists of 5,000 rifles, 300 automatics, 500 pistols, 10 machine guns, 8 mortars (2 group + 6 individual), 2 37mm anti-tank guns and 2 75mm guns.
– 2nd Division with the 2nd Regiment (Thebes), 7th Regiment (Chalkidas) and 34th
Syntagma (Elefsina), in the area from Elefsina to Hassia, with a
total strength of about 2,500 men.
– The ELAS Reserve of Athens with a force estimated at over
10,000 people, but which was practically unarmed.
– The 6th Regiment (Corinth) of the 3rd Division, the 5/42nd Regiment (Amfissa) and the 52nd Regiment (Domokos) of the 13th Division were ordered to move towards Athens.
The government side had at its disposal:
– 3rd EOT (Hellenic Mountain Brigade) with three battalions, but without its mortars and machine guns.
– 3rd Field Artillery Regiment without its guns.
– 6th Guards Regiment which was essentially a division.
All this force was encamped in the barracks in Goudi, where ASDYS is today.
– City Police with approximately 2,500 men distributed in the police stations of Athens and Piraeus and the various services.
– Gendarmerie with approximately 3,000 men also distributed among the various services.
The men of the 3rd EOT and the other military formations, were well armed, trained and with great combat experience. On the contrary, the men of the Police and Gendarmerie had little or no combat experience, were very poorly equipped and were scattered among the departments and services throughout Athens and Piraeus.
But the most important strength of the government side was the British departments which were:
23rd Armored Brigade with 25 Sherman tanks and 23 Humber armored vehicles, which had camped at Parapygmata, where today the NIMITS, the Concert Hall, the old ETA/ESA, the Naval Hospital and the American Embassy are located. Its strength included the 46th and 50th Tank Regiments, the 463rd Field Artillery Squadron with 8 25 lb guns, and the 64th Light Artillery Squadron, without guns, with one Squadron guarding the Averoff Prisons and the other at the Water Company's pumping station in Kifissia. Another Transport Company, an Engineer Company and a Transmission Company, were also in Parapygmata.
– 139th Infantry Brigade with only two battalions, the Durham Light Infantry in N. Faliro (Karaiskaki Field, which was then called "Cycle Track") and the Leicester in Skafaki of Piraiki.
– 2nd Parachute Brigade with:4th Battalion at the Air Force facilities in the Faliro Delta (closed Tae Kwo Do stadium). 5th Battalion in hotels of the Regiment. 6th Battalion with one company in hotels in Omonia and one in Psychiko (College). All three battalions had only two companies each.
Finally, the 64th Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, without cannons, which guarded various facilities (eg the Electric Company factory in the Prefecture of Faliro) in the area of Piraeus.
– 2902nd Squadron of the RAF (2902 Squadron, RAF Regiment) at the aforementioned Air Force facilities in Faliro.
These military forces consisted of about 2,500 Greeks and 4,500 British.
In the area of Athens, however, there were government forces that almost all Greek writers forget to mention. These are the units of the Navy and the Air Force, which in several cases played a decisive role in the development of operations. So these were:Various ships of the Navy anchored mainly outside the port of Piraeus, together with a few British warships. Fleet Headquarters at the Naval Cadet School. The Piraeus Naval Administration in the Vati mansion on the Miaouli Coast and a naval echelon in the area of the Naval Club in Turkolimanos.
At Hellinikon airport - then it was called Hassani and in British sources it is referred to as Kalamaki - the 337 Wing of the RAF was stationed with the following Squadrons:32 and 94 Squadrons with Spitfire V, 108 Squadron with Beaufighter VI, 216 Squadron with Dakota IV and 221 Squadron with Wellington XIII. There were still - under the same British command - the 335, 336 and 13 Greek Squadrons (the first two with Spitfire V and the third with Baltimore V), but they had no participation in the operations.
All government forces were under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Ronald MacKenzie Scobie (1893-1969).
CONTINUED