E.E.S The Greek Volunteer Battalions

[grekiskaGripen]

E.E.S, Greek Volunteer Army, the name for Volunteer battalions or companies formed in late 1943 and 1944 in northern Greece.
They made anti-guerilla operations along with german units and gave ELAS partisans a hard time in some battles,
(see Istoria tou Kilkis, katoxh 1944).

The units, battalion- or company-sized were concentreted to a certain area with a basecamp in a german garrison. This made them independent from there counterparts in other areas. This was though because of the german authority tradition that ruled over Thessaloniki area from the begining of the occupation in contrast to southern Greece were the Rallis government formed Security Battalions, as tactical national guard units.

But the Volunteers Battalions concentrated in Edessa, Thessaloniki, Verria, Kilkis and Serres had often commanders, either prominent nationlist officers, gendarmerie or army or ex-veterans. They enjoied local support consisting of local militias that often fought and was recognized as volunteer soldiers, often in sources. These commanders co-operated with one another along with german local command against the partisans.

There common organisation consisted of:

1. The Leader, the notorious outspoken colonel George Poulos, who began his career for the germans collecting information about the jews of Thessaloniki. He formed his own battalion, as a core unit and many village militias as the other E.E.S forces. He and his unit withdrew with the germans in october 1944 to Slovenia and later Austria surrendering to american troops there. It is also known that he, along with other greek volunteer officers, send a letter of loyalty to Hitler after the muder attempt (Foni ton Ellinon, september 1944).

2. The public saw the men of this formations and there supporting militiamen as a part of the german army, this because that they often wore german field unifroms, except for militias, even helmets and had a greek flag in their right or left sleeve. The members even had german-greek ID's, containing their rank, age, rifle etc etc (I will scan such id soon to show it on the forum)

3. The majority of them were ex-members of PAO (Pan-hellenic Liberation Organisation) an nationalist guerilla, primarly in war with Bulgarian occupation forces, which units were disband by ELAS (the partisans) after many clashes. They were strong anti-communists often armed in whole villages. The saw ELAS as a collaborator to Yugoslavian and Bulgarian Communists and feared a conspiracy, this due to geografical factor of northern Greece and the border conflicts of the Balkans.

[grekiskaGripen]

Greek Volunteers in street fight, late 1944

[grekiskaGripen]

Greek volunteers patrolling a village.

The text describes them as Evzone troops along with germans.
This is wrong, they are memebers of a volunteer battalion.

[grekiskaGripen]

Excellent picture showing Poulos giving a speech in a village in northern Greece.
The men are german officers, greek volunteers (officers, NCO and soldiers), greek militia men and even a priest.
A clear view how the militia, volunteer units and germans collaboreted.

[Mr Holmes]

@grekiska

Sometimes I wish there was a "worship smiley" here. I would use it in this instance! These are truly excellent, I have never seen these before. From which book are they taken from? I'll see if I can get my aunty to buy it for me as she'll be coming down to Australia at the end of the year.

Thank you Sir!

[grekiskaGripen]

No problem, will add Greek volunteer Id soon

as for the books;

1. December 1944, Kessler

2. Eikones Katoxeis, Vasos Mathiopoulos, printed in Athens 1991

3. Inside Hitler's Greece, Mark Mazower

How do we order the "Mavri Skia" from Stratiotiki Istoria magazine 4 august tiped us about???????

[Mr Holmes]

Thank you adelfe (=brother)

I have been through a small selection of Greekpublishing houses, but am unale to find anything substantial yet. I will keep looking though. Unfortunately, Greek commerce websites are not very common yet, so unless either one of us two goes to Greece soon, it seems as though we are in for a long wait!

I am an idiot with regards to the Stratiotiki Istoria magazine. Not only did I used to have the first issue... I threw it away! I could have written them a request for the issue that we need... but I will see if I can get my hands on a copy within the fortnight.


P.S. I hope the wordwrap is OK here. I am typing this from an Amiga using IB 2.3 and the textbox given is not large enough. If it turns out warped, I'll fix it up when I am on the PC again.

[''X'']

grekiska Gripen,

In the 1st photo these are ELAS members in the Battle of Athens (Dekembriana) wearing German helmets

In the 2nd photo they look like men of the Security Battalions that were formed by Rallis puppet Government and their area of action was stricly Southern Greece & Peloponnisos.The Security Battalions had no relation with EES and other volunteers that operated in Northern Greece (Western and Central Macedonia) which were not under the direct control of Rallis goverment.Have you got any idea where the photo was taken ?



Here is some more information on Poulos ( mostly taken from Xondromatidis book "The Black Shadow in Greece")

Poulos was a venizelist and regarded the Greek King as a puppet of Great Britain which accused of the Minor Asia defeat.But his hatred for the communists was bigger.Pre-war he was a member of a Greek national soscialist organization (EEE) that was outlawed by then Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas.He begun his "career" as a member of Sondercommando 2000.Poulos gathered 300 volunteers,having Kria Vrisi (in Pella) as a stronghold.His men wore Wehrmacht uniforms.Later Poulos Verband came under the command of the 2nd Brandeburg.Then his unit was stationed in Eordaia,Ptolemaida and recruited volunteers from the villages consisting of refugees of Pontian origin.The men of Poulos Verband under the command of reservist captain Menemenis and Andreas Anagnostopoulos (Macedonomaxos -fighter in the Greek struggle for Macedonia- from Kleisoura) conducted raids against the guerillas of the area.In January 1944 Poulos Verband received 100 men from Crete under the command Fritz Subert that commited several war crimes and atrocities in Crete.Poulos Verband terrorized Greek villagers while many were sumarilly executed for being "suspects" (and in the end most of them were not communists).They took the villagers supplies withe excuse of "aid against the communist bandits".In the same time communist terrorism had also grown.After guerillas killed a German officer Poulos men raided Giannitsa and murdered many innocent Greek civilians.With the war at its end Poulos and some of his men retreated to Central Europe.They fought fanatically in the Germans side until April 1945.After the war Poulos was given a trial and executed by the Greek goverment.PAO,one of the most anticommunist organizations of Northern Greece, reported on Poulos to the Greek government in exile in 22/10/1944 : No mercy for Poulos and his men.They must be treated as traitors.The people of Northern Greece would be more than pleasured to see them hanged.

Now as far as Poulos influence is considered,in villages that were anticommunist or had been raided by communist guerillas there were many volunteers but generally they operated under local chieftains and in near their villages and rarely came in contact with the Germans from whom they received only some light weapons and very few ammo supplies.That happened specially in villages of refugees of Pontian origin because the later had chosen to support nationalist PAO instead of communist ELAS,who chose to attack these villages.Thus the conflict was created.



Poulos men in Kria Vrisi.This photo comes from the Modern History Museum of Slovenia,Lubliana

Hope that helps

Giorgos

[Askold]

Great photos! Too bad we don't have a close up of the Greek flag patch. It appears in the last photot that Poulo's men were issued German police uniforms.

[Mr Holmes]

An account of this criminal's and his cohorts' actions in Giannitsa are given in Munoz (citing Mazower):

On September 14th Poulos and his men entered Yiannitsa. First to arrive was Sergeant Schubert and his Schubertiani, who immediately killed a town clerk with clubs and iron bars. What followed next was described by professor Mark Mazower in a recent study about the German occupation of Greece:

"By the time Poulos appeared, in Greek army uniform, six other men had been battered to death. Poulos simply made a short speech to the terrified civilians, and left again. By mid-afternoon many more people had been murdered, among them a woman who worked as an interpreter for the German commander. The final death toll amounted to at least seventy-five, not including people who were shot at random as they worked in their fields. Poulos's men took the victim's clothe's [sic], shoes, money and valuables, and burned many houses....As soon as the paramilitaries drove away, the survivors fled into the countryside. Wenger, a Swiss Red Cross worker, arrived in the town two days later, and found himself in a 'dead city'....... Wenger finally caught up with Poulos at his heavily fortified heaquarters in the village of Krya-Vrysi just outside of Salonika. He found the stocky colonel in a combative mood. Poulos told Wenger to take his complaints to the andartes, who were responsible for 'the entire situation'. He showed no remorse, and made his low opinion of the Red Cross clear."

Mazower's own account (this is a somewhat shortened version, but utilising Mazower's own words) is somewhat lengthier. I'll post later the fuller account, should anyone be interested. Poulos was responsible for other atrocities according to Mazower. Only Poulos was convicted of war crimes, not his subordinates.


Source of quote: Antonio J. Munoz, Herakles & the Swastika: Greek Volunteers in the German Army, Police & SS 1943-45, Axis Europa Books, New York, 2000, pp. 50-1.

[grekiskaGripen]

Yiasou Xiti!

Concerning the first photo - No it is actually Greek volunteers of "Eidiki Aspalia", and are commanded by Gendarmerie officer (Xorofilaki). I will get you the source under the day and also the whole photo


The second photo - Yes I also thought the were T.A, because the came in "Eikones Katoxhs" but the photo is from "Istoria tou Kilkis" (page 132) and is taken in a mountain village in Kilkis county. The men are members of E.E.S, Konstantin Papadopoulos, see also "Ellines enantion Ellinon".

The photo showing Tagma Leonidas or Poulos Verband, is a little controversial. Greek sources describe it as Tagma "Leonidas" and Slovenia (National Museum) as "Poulos Verband"

I will also bring in some more photos of Poulos and his men in wehrmacht uniforms and some more nice info! See http://www.vojska.net/eng/world-war-2/s ... s-verband/ some info Klemen and me pulled together.

PRAYERS TO GREECE FIGHTING THE FIRES
Thanks in advance// Dimitrios Anastasiadis

[''X'']

I see,thank you for your asnwer.Papadopoulos was a ΕΕS commader in Kilkis.Other sources mention him as a PAO member which was a nationalist resistance organization.If i am not wrong,post war he became a member of the the Greek parliament.

Other commander of volunteers was Kiriakos Papadopoulos (nicknamed "Kisa Batzak'') in Pieria.He was a distinguished guerilla leader in Pontos against the Turks.In the battles between ELAS and his men in Kilkis he chose to commit suicide rather than surrender

Another commander,also of Pontiac orirgin, was Mixalis Papadopoulos (nicknamed "Mixalagas") who also had taken part in the guerilla war in Pontus.In the beginning he supported the formation of ELAS and even gave them supplies.Later he turned against them after they raided his farm and ELAS became cleary pro-communist.

These local commanders were in many ways different from Poulos.The last was a venizelist officer and was involved in national socialist organizations before the war erupted while the reasons behind his collaboration were more "ideological" (if that can be said).After all he followed the Germans in their departure.On the other side they were mainly peasants and farmers who after the clashes with ELAS took light weapons from the Germans and fortified their villages from where also the volunteers were drawn.Their area of operation was usually restricted in their place and they were commanded by local chieftains like Mixalagas,Kisa Mpatzak etc.The conflict had begun when many villages consisting of Pontian refugees from West Pontos chose to support nationalist PAO instead of ELAS.Pelargos,a village in Eordaia, was attacked by superior ELAS forces after the villagers refused to hand up their weapons.After the first attack the villagers asked the Germans to supply them arms which they did.ELAS attacked Pelargos again in bigger numbers and a bloody battle followed,many houses were burned, the commander of "16th ELAS regiment" ,Giorgos Oikonomopoulos , from Giannitsa was killed.Like Pelargos,Komnina and Maniaki villages were also equipeed and made up the "5th independent battalion of the Greek National Army -EES -" and took part in the antipartisan operations in Vermio.

As far as war crimes are concerned ,the violence of both sides was beyond limits.After the Battle of Kilkis ELAS murdered more than 3000 opponents in cold blood while the EES volunteers would not hesitate to shoot villagers even with the suscpison of being an ELAS sympathizers.


From where did you order "Ellines enantion Ellinwn" (Greeks against Greeks) ;

[''X'']

The photo showing Tagma Leonidas or Poulos Verband, is a little controversial. Greek sources describe it as Tagma "Leonidas" and Slovenia (National Museum) as "Poulos Verband"

Yes i have also seen the same photo with the description "Tagma Leonidas entering Kalamata".

[''X'']

Mixalagas(2) and Kisa Mpatzak (3)

[Mr Holmes]

As far as war crimes are concerned ,the violence of both sides was beyond limits.After the Battle of Kilkis ELAS murdered more than 3000 opponents in cold blood while the EES volunteers would not hesitate to shoot villagers even with the suscpison of being an ELAS sympathizers.

I presume that this was directed at me. As you would know, this section of AHF looks to researching "Foreign Volunteers & Collaboration" and as far as I am aware ELAS were not collaborators, whereas, as far as I am aware, Poulos and his brigands were. Why that about ELAS was slipped in, is beyond me. My post sought to contribute to this thread in a manner whereby ALL who read about this criminal do not forget what he 'accomplished'.

This stupidity that some Greek members have been displaying lately, "yours killed more than mine", "no, yours did!" and "my guys had bigger .....", "no, mine did!" has brought NOTHING fruitful to the discussions here. Somebody posts something and they are immediately shot down; somebody asks for help in a certain section but their calls for help are drowned out because of some petty politicking, as though AHF has become Greece's ballot box.

And tell me, since these discussions over the past few days have taken us at least up to the 1990 leftist coalition period; why should I be supportive of the Greek right (τήν στιγμή που αυτός ο "έθναρχος", ο θείος Καραμανλής, "πούλησε" τους γονείς μου και όλων αυτών που βρίσκονται στην διασπορά γιά δήθεν μιά... καλύτερη ζωή αλλά και για να ζήσετε εσείς εκεί καλύτερα. Ούτε πατρίδα γνώρισα και ούτε πρόκειται να γνωρίσω. Eμείς δίδουμε εξετάσεις ελληνικότητας καθημερινώς. Και το μόνο που ακούω από πολλούς σας εκεί είναι ένα σωρό αρλούμπες. Σοβαρευτείτε λίγο.)

Oh, and I have no attachments whatsoever to left or right either when it comes to Greece, or Australia. (Just in case I get blasted for being whatever)

I apologise for the rant, but I couldn't hold it any longer.