Archived at the Flinders Academic Commons: http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/
This is the published version of the following article:
Barnes, K 2019, 'Gorgopotamos and after: Tom Barnes' Greek archive 1942-45', Journal of Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) — Special Issue, pp. 163-185.
Reproduced with permission of the publisher.
© 2019 the author. Gorgopotamos and After: Tom Barnes’ Gree Ar e –
Katherine Barnes
Cecil dward Tom arnes took part in the famous sabotage operation of the Gorgopotamos ridge in November 194 as leader of the demolition party. Remaining in Greece after the attack, he rose to become one of two Area Commanders for the Allied Military Mission in Greece. The archive he left behind at his death in 195 includes over 1000 photos, war diaries, letters and reports, mainly relating to his experiences in Greece. This study demonstrates how these eye witness records illuminate important aspects of these critical years in modern Greek history including the Gorgopotamos operation itself and the trek across Greece which followed, the “Animals” operation which was conducted to convince Hitler that the Allied landings would take place in Greece and distract his attention from Sicily, surrender overtures from the German commander in pirus General Hubert von Lan , and the so called first two rounds of Civil War in 1943 and 1944.
ntrod t on
When Captain later Lieutenant Colonel) “Tom” arnes was parachuted into Greece in late 194 at the age of 35 as one of three engineers for a Special Operations xecutive SO mission against the German and Italian occupying forces, he had with him several small notebooks. One of these he used as a diary, another held the key to a numbered code he was using for villages mentioned in the diary. Tom had kept a daily diary since 1937. In 193 he spent a year in New Guinea as a surveyor, and his experiences there encouraged him to cram his pages with accounts of huge spiders, crocodile shooting, cockroaches that moved “like greased lightning”, malarial mosquitoes and other native fauna. mbarking for World War II service in Africa with the New ealand ngineers in early 1941, he continued his diary record.
1 3
AT A
The had een founded in ondon two ears efore it recruited Tom Barnes, under the famous injunction from Churchill to “set Europe ablaze”. The inister for conomic arfare ugh alton was handed res onsi ilit for the new organisation on ul ts rief was sa otage ehind enem lines, working with and uilding u local resistance organisations and so on nitiall its staff were civilians rimaril from the anking sector whose networks of contacts in uro e were e ected to e useful for its esta lishment ne of them was ickham weet scott, a former anker with Courtaulds, whom Tom was to meet in Cairo in The Cairo office of SOE operated out of the Rustum Buildings and was known locally as “the spy house”. The diaries Tom ke t in Greece from to rovide a detailed e e witness account of events that hel ed sha e modern Greece, as he worked alongside Greeks of the two main resistance organisations, A Ελληνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός, ational o ular i eration Arm ) and Εθνικός Δημοκρατικός Ελληνικός Σύνδεσμος, Greek ational e u lican rganisation), oth at the famous Gorgo otamos ridge o eration, where he led the art that laid the e losives under the ridge, and later in further sa otage o erations in the irus region The success of Gorgo otamos ins ired the to continue and e tend o erations in Greece with the esta lishment of the ritish ilitar ission later Allied ilitar ission) to uild the ca a ilit of A and as what were effectivel militar forces acting against the occu ing forces The ma orit of the original arling art and other ersonnel who were arachuted into Greece from earl formed the asis of the ission, acting as liaison officers to the leaders of the resistance organisations and organising sa otage o erations The most nota le of these was operation “Animals”, a series of coordinated sa otage activities across Greece carried out to ersuade itler that the Allied landings in uro e in would take lace in Greece rather than icil Tom la ed an im ortant art in Noah’s Ark activities in Epirus, leading sabotage operations there in une Tom e erienced at first hand the so called first and second rounds of civil war in and and the dissolution of the organisation after the German withdrawal, having risen to ecome one of two Area Commanders for the Allied ilitar ission t was to him as the senior Allied officer in western Greece that General u ert von an , commander
Coo er, – tafford, –
OR O O A OS AND AFTER: TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942– of the erman forces in north west reece and southern Albania, made surrender overtures in . om was also a keen photographer. is detailed photographic record of events in reece comprises around photos taken as he lived and worked in the often primitive and poverty stricken reek mountain villages that were the epicentre of Resistance activities. he subjects that took his eye as a non reek include family and village life — weaving on an outdoor loom, baking coffee beans igure — as well as groups assembled for official events such as the laka and ebanon conferences. At his death in he also left behind a number of movie films, several of which may have been shot in reece.
g re : Baking coffee beans
he photos complement the diary record and together with Tom’s official reports, a diary summary, and some notes made after his return to Australia, form an important archive which has largely remained in family hands. Tom’s letters to his fianc e Beth arris are also an important part of the archive but are not discussed here. A few of the photos and e tracts from official reports have been circulated or discussed, but much of the archive was largely unknown until the
KATHERINE BARNES
publication of the author’s book based on the archives, , in 2 1 2 This article s r e s the main elements of the archi e and gi es e am les in chronological order of the light the throw on im ortant as ects of Allied Militar Mission and Resistance acti ities d ring the German occ ation of Greece
T e d ar es and d ar s mmar es
Tom Barnes’ war diaries begin in 1941 and end in 1945. The 1941 diary records his first da of training with the New ealand Engineers, an ar (“Marched in in evening after dinner … fairly rotten quarters” He embarked in the “Niew Amsterdam” on Sat rda 1 Fe r ar , tra elling first to India Deolali Cam efore arri ing in Eg t on 24 March and tra elling immediatel to the New ealand Forces Cam at Maadi so th of Cairo The rest of the 1941 diar and most of the 1942 diar record engineering acti ities in Gianaclis and A a a Ba Trans ordan efore Tom ret rned to Cairo in an attem t to transfer to the New ealand Di ision The Gree mission is first anno nced in the entr for 22 Se tem er in the large 1942 diar , t the acco nt rea s off at 2 Se tem er to recommence in the small red note oo that was among the gear Tom carried on his erson when he arach ted into Greece This red note oo is of considera le significance for its acco nt of the lead to the Gorgo o otamos o eration, the o eration itself, the tre across Greece that followed, and acti ities in the indos mo ntains after the decision the SOE to ee the art in Greece This small note oo is written in encil thro gho t A n m er of ages are sm dged and some words and hrases ha e so far ro ed indeci hera le The handwriting is small, with up to three or four days’ activities crammed into one small page, in which case the writing ecomes e en more cram ed Each small section co ers the acti ities of one n m ered wee da ater, clearl , Tom has ret rned to the diar with a en, mar ing the months at the to of the age as the change, and in some cases adding dates Initiall , Tom was clearl ner o s a o t etra ing critical information (probably he was not allowed to keep a diary at all). “D” signifies donkeys
2 For discussion of Tom Barnes’ role in the Allied Military Mission to Greece, see Brown, 2 14:192–2 For a non academic st d , see Ogden, 2 12, Cha ter
1
GORGOPOTAMOS AND AFTER: TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942–45
(actually mules) but also demolition. “W” appears to refer to wogs, i.e. Italians. “V” is for village. More importantly, as mentioned above, village names are recorded in a separate notebook and only a number appears in the diaries. n the more than seventy years since they were created, the reek diaries have remained in the family and the account has not been tampered with. Any changes Tom himself made (for e ample adding months to the first diary as noted above) are clearly apparent. The only other ma or change relates to the transfer from the first notebook, which was used until early August 194 , to a real 194 diary which Tom presumably acquired only after the first aircraft landing strip behind enemy lines in reece went into operation in mid 194 . The wording of the transcription is close but not identical. At some time after the diary record was first created, Tom created a document he called “Notes and dates from diaries”. As the document is largely typed, we can speculate that he created it in airo at the same time as he was writing his Final eport, discussed below. The document uses some pseudonyms for village names, for example “Ludwig” refers to hardiki village near Mavrolithari. There is also a separate short document entitled “Dates etc during war period”, which begins with Tom leaving the ublic orks Department in Tasmania for the ngineers T ( fficer adet Training nit) in asula, New outh ales. e records marching out of the T as 1st ieutenant before applying for leave for the Duration and taking ship for New ealand to oin the econd New ealand peditionary Force ( N F). The document finishes with Tom’s official discharge from the 2NZEF on 13 February 194 before commencing work with the Tasmanian ydroelectric ommission on April 194 . The combination of the diary records themselves and the later summaries is very useful. ith few e ceptions such as those mentioned above, the diaries record day to day events as they happened, while the diary summaries provide a later overview where Tom is able to focus on those events whose significance could not have been anticipated at the time but later became apparent.
1
KATHERINE BARNES
T e p otograp s
Tom’s diary records his first photograph on his tenth day in Greece: “photo of mai mai” a mai mai is a ma eshift Maori shelter, in this case using a parachute as a roof , so he must have arrived in Greece with a camera. The photographic archive consists of an al um with captioned photographs, 2 rolls of developed film with a list of su ects, and numerous prints. The movie films mentioned earlier have not een catalogued at this point. The al um was presumably put together either in Cairo or after Tom’s return to Australia and covers significant events during his time in Greece. With most pages titled and captioned, this is a ver important record. It egins with preparations for the Gorgopotamos operation and covers ma or personnel and events during the rest of Tom’s time in Greece, including a num er of photos of the final months in Corfu. The main photographic archive dates from after the Gorgopotamos operation, when Tom was serving with the Allied Militar Mission in Epirus, and he selected man of these photos to record later events in the al um. This archive is documented in a small note oo which appears to have first been used in Tom’s early (pre Greece da s in Cairo as some details relating to Gianaclis are recorded on the front endpapers. The note oo lists the su ects of each of 2 separate films which are still extant as negatives. The films themselves do not appear to have een listed in order, as the twelfth listed is Corfu, where Tom saw EDES dis anded in earl 194 , whereas the thirteenth relates to the Epirus region and records the ceremon of the conferral of the MBE on General Zervas which too place at Plaisia in late Fe ruar 1944. However, as the rolls of film are still extant as negatives, the order in which each roll of film was shot is clear. The archive also includes a num er of prints, some ut not all of which are among those listed in the note oo .
G er a arfare
This is a set of 21 handwritten pages which can e dated to post war Australia. The could have een written over a period of time as the writing varies from page to page and apparentl from pencil to pencil, and a note
1 GORGOPOTAMOS AND AFTER: TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942–
from a later period has clearly been made on page three owever, from page twelve, the manuscript is written on the bac of sheets of paper with the tate lectricity Commission of ictoria letterhead, with the address “Briquetting project Wallace Street, Morwell” [Victoria , dating them to the period between mid when Tom started wor with the C, and his death in mid 1952. Tom describes in the notes how he sets out to “recount some adventures that were rather off the beaten trac for security reasons these events were not publicised”, events “concerning a British party over a year period in Greece from ct 5”. eference will be made to this document as appropriate in what follows There is another similar but shorter set of notes, untitled and missing the first page, which could be an earlier version of “Guerilla warfare – ” t is possible that both sets of notes were made for tal s given at the eturned ervices eague in obart or elbourne
T e Gorgopotamos operat on from t e ar e
Tom’s excitement at the opportunity to volunteer for a special mission in Greece is recorded in an appropriately guarded way in his diary entry for September 1942: “Saw Lt Col Hanson re a special C in C Commander in Chief ob – will have to leave to morrow sic if everything is Great opportunity and job promises some excitement”. This is followed two days later by this: “Were taken more into confidence. It will be a wonderful camp if it comes off and we’ll make it so”. s Tom finished his first day of parachute training for the drop into Greece, we find out that “This is usually preceded by wee s ground wor — we are doing one day, but should be Got our harness fitted to night We jump from 800’ from a Wimpy [Wellington bomber] @ daybreak to morrow”. This is the prelude to the mission, code named “Harling”, that became the successful attac on the Gorgopotamos railway viaduct, in the rallos ass area on the east coast of Greece f three possible targets identified at the outset, Gorgopotamos was the only one that proved feasible in the circumstances (another of the targets, the sopos viaduct, was later
C arnes, “Guerilla arfare ”. Unpublished manuscript, p pelling and abbreviations are reproduced exactly as they appear in Tom’s records.
KATHERINE BARNES
successfully sabotaged by a small party of Allied soldiers only, approaching via a steep and treacherous gorge . Operation Harling was an initiative of the SOE. Twelve men in three parties of four each with leader, interpreter, engineer and signaller were parachuted into Greece on the night of 0 September 1 October 1942, landing in a region of precipitous slopes on Mount Giona instead of in the Pindos ranges as arranged, owing to a garbled signal. The correct dropping point would have landed them to “General” Napoleon ervas whose headquarters for his EDES resistance organisation were in the village of Megalochari. Instead, it proved extremely difficult to make contact with the Resistance organisations without whom the operation could not succeed. “Guerilla warfare 1942 5” describes early pre operation days like this:
An old Greek Barba Niko befriended us undoubtedly saved us from capture or starvation.
Conditions in Greece were then at a low ebb as Britain seemed to be suffering reverses everywhere German propaganda exploited this — but the Greeks were wonderful to us shared their meagre food with us.
We lived in caves and under trees using our parachutes for blankets tents were kept continually on the move with Barba Niko as our saviour. It was a most precarious existence.5
In order to locate the resistance organisations, eventually the second in command of the Harling party, Monty Chris Woodhouse, aged in his mid twenties at the time, undertook a return trip on foot across the central ranges of Greece, there and back in nineteen days. He located ervas, who agreed to assist with the operation. On the way back to Mount Giona with ervas and his men, Chris located Aris Velouchiotis Athanasiοs Klaras , gained his agreement to take part, and returned with both parties at the eleventh hour. Already the intended deadline the start of the battle of El Alamein had gone by. The combined force of Resistance fighters and Allied operatives set out for the operation from Mavrolithari village on 21 November. On the night of 25 November the party descended Mount Oiti, Tom leading a small
5 “Guerilla Warfare 1942 5”, pp. 3–4.
1 0
G G ’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942–
part on t n o three en neer , ommando tra ned en am on, two ur h pr ot who had een on the run n Gree e unt l p ed up the arl n art , and everal hter rom oth and . ere the atta a described in Tom’s diary for 25 ovem er
hole an w th mule — t wa dar a p t h the o n lood . — he plan or m demol t on part to wa t unt l the r d e lear then o n. ero hour 3 — he tr p down wa done n a olute dar ne len e — we ro ed the r ver and were on our own — o loaded the mule — and pro eeded to our rende vou — ot there 3. — r n 3. — ullet h t around u ut — G med um ma h ne un G l ht ma h ne un r le . un omm un and Grenade — o ere nal o went n . a a a — thou ht he aw an t went n w th G — pro eeded to r. r d e — had to ut throu h w re tw e. – er not a e pe ted — hape — rthur, nder and rthur and nder are the other en neer la d har e on the ro mem er — th too nearl an hour — ma n har e mall — rthur n hed multaneou l . hoot n , G , G , Grenade , o n o all around — 3 wh tle — over — terr an — pan down — one tw ted — p er t ll tood — tw ted and lean n . 12’ shorter. — went a — mo t o helper leared o — la d har e on ront o . demol hed p er on mem er o a dropped pan and on p p er ne t to a utment … r w a held 3 hr . — u e ul — ro eeded uph ll to rende vou — all hand u t a out all n … elluva l m up to rende vou . onder ul weather or operat on — ra n n heav o all the t me … alted rende vou — damned t red — ever one too t red to e elated over u e o o … we had een hr on our eet.
the d ar nd ate , t had een ne e ar to la the e plo ve under re. he tal an arr on were po l orewarned o the atta and ou ht a tron l , ta n mu h lon er to u due than ant pated, o the red lare the demol t on part wa e pe t n a the r nal to o n never eventuated. wo pa e o the photo d ar deal w th Gor opotamo . he r t, t tled “In the beginning — 1942” includes the well nown photo o General erva and r ad er er tt n de de, a roup o to the r r ht
ot to e onfused with Lieut.Col Frederick “ ull” an on, who wa nvolved n re ru t n om or the arl n perat on a ment oned on the r t pa e o th art le.
KATHERI E AR E and a mountain slo e rising stee ly behind. Alongside a hoto of a grou of and another of officers with Chris oodhouse the ca tion notes the lack of uniforms) is one showing “Loading mules with explosive and ammo. for the Gorgopotamos operation” and another “At the rear rendezvous” (the abandoned Hondroyannis sawmill). On the next page are hotos of the Harling party. One, captioned “Col. E. yers (‘Eddie’) leader of party” has been remo ed or fallen out. There is a hoto of enys Hamson, and another of Tom with Arthur Edmunds, Ca tains ohn Cook, at arker and Inder Gill together, the caption reading “Capt. I Inder, (Inder), Sapper” suggesting that Tom may ha e been unaware that Inder short for Inder it was a first name, not a surname. This age also includes the well known photo of Inder and Themis Marinos with Inder’s arm around Themis’ shoulder. These hotos show the same structure in the background so resumably were taken at the same time. In contrast, a hoto ca tioned for Chris oodhouse is actually from a much later eriod, showing the A re resentati es at the laka conference in early 1944.
T e reports
The most im ortant re ort by Tom arnes is undoubtedly his “Final report on acti ities and obser ations in Greece, eriod 1 ctober 1942—2 February 1945 final re ort ”, written in Cairo after his de arture from Greece in February 1945. The re ort runs to 49 ty ewritten ages and finishes with the eriod of the second round of ci il war which broke out in ecember 1944 the ), the evacuation of EDES and Tom’s HQ to Corfu, the formation of the ational Guard and the formal disbanding of E E . sefully, this re ort lists the three re ious re orts Tom submitted, one of which, the “ ummary er as acti ities uly– ctober 1944”, Ref F 1 1 I ha e not seen. The other two re orts are “Covering July ’43–April ’44 written in Cairo 1 une 1944 ref. GCA 1 ” and “Short report on er as organisation of a critical nature written in field on 14 August, 1944”. The “Final re ort” covers all aspects of Tom’s service in Greece from the Harling o eration onwards, including notably “Civil war ct. ‘43–Feb. ‘44” and “Civil war — e acuation of Preveza. Dec. ‘44”.
1 2 GORGOPOTAMOS AND AFTER: TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942–4
It is typical of Tom that in discussing the Harling operation in his final report, he pays tribute to the bravery of the Greek in carrying out their mission “for the most part badly clothed, badly shod (many barefooted except for a piece of cloth or goat hide)” but does not mention that the mission was threatened with failure because the cross section of the bridge piers was not as intelligence gathering had led them to believe, necessitating the dismantling and re shaping of the pre prepared charges after Tom had personally recalculated the charges in his head while under fire and extreme time constraints. The report records that “a full Sapper report was later submitted to Col M ERS, who sent it on, but I understand it did not reach CAIRO”. This could be explained by the unsatisfactory wireless transmission arrangements pertaining at the time. Tom’s “Report on observations in Greece from July 943 to April 944” is much shorter seven typewritten pages. The Foreign Office file is accompanied by commentary by Ma DS Laskey. The “Report on ervas Andarte movement” is dated Epirus, 4 August 944. It is primarily a survey of ervas’ four divisions, one brigade and four independent units including the EDES 3 4 regiment commanded by Col. orgos Agoros. Agoros and Tom became very close friends as they worked together on two ma or operations, “Animals” and then “Noah’s Ark”.
T e tre a ross Gree e from t e reports d ar entr es and p otograp a m
An undertaking had been given by the SOE to take the Harling party off by submarine after the demolition. The rendezvous point was eren a ay, south of Parga on the west coast of Greece. The submarine was to signal on three successive nights from December. To make the rendezvous, the Harling party, conducted by General Zervas’s personal adjutant Captain Mihalis Myridakis with a small group of EDES fighters, had to cross the Pindos ranges and the Megdova, Acheloos and Arachtos Rivers. The trip was undertaken in conditions of extreme privation after the first few relatively wealthy villages had been passed. Myridakis led them through
C.E. arnes “Final report on activities and observations in Greece. Period October 94 February 94 ”, HS 9 , p. 4.
3
KATHERINE BARNES
remote and difficult country as they tried to evade the inevitable Italian pursuit after Gorgopotamos. ndoubtedly, the reality was that without the help of the resistance fighters and the villagers of the mountains, the party could not have made it to the rende vous. The “Notes and dates from diaries”, which is not identical to the individual diary entries, gives a useful overview of the first part of trek, describing how the party were:
Observing great secrecy — travelling during the day on high mountain tracks or hiding up in the mountains except at night. Our party is not strong enough to meet any attacks and the people are well under the thumb of the Italians and cannot all be trusted.
Tom’s “Final report” puts things this way:
The next Three weeks, from Dec 12 to an , 194 , were spent making an arduous and fruitless return trip to the est Coast, where we hoped to pick up a submarine promised before we left CAIRO. This was for all of us the hungriest and most uncomfortable three weeks in our lives, as we carried all our KIT without mules), travelled mostly at night in bad weather, and food was very scarce indeed in Epireus.9 The diary record for December tells of one terrifying night:
eft pm along good tracks until dark then along a bloddy sic track along the river in darkness — the track is a narrow ledge along a precipice face. – for hours we would move 10’ & stop up to 15 mins in pitch darkness — we heard there were Itis on our way — finally reached a girder bridge crossed and reached the vill age tired hungry at hr. – 1 hours on the way — fed up to the back teeth — lousy welcome at vill age — nothing prepared — Tired as hell — Good sleep — no option. in a room.
Two pages of the photograph album record these early events before the British Military Mission to Greece was established. The first is titled “The retreat Nov Dec 1942 after the successful demolition of the Gorgopotamos Railway Bridge” and includes a photograph of the “Harling party on the trail”. The second is “At Megalohori sic village Gen. Zervas’ base H in the Epireus Mountains Dec. 1942”. It is notable that the background of the
C.E. Barnes “Notes and dates from diaries”. Unpublished manuscript, entry for December 1 –1 1942. 9 “Final report”, p. .
1 4
GORGOPOTAMOS AND AFTER: TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942–45
photo of “Gen. Zervas and staff officers” appears the same as the background of three of the photos from the Harling page as mentioned above. Tom appears to have selected photos for inclusion in this album that were not necessarily taken at the time of the events depicted on the page. rriving at the rende vous weak but hopeful, the party watched for signals as directed, but on hristmas Day a message was received that the submarine would not be arriving. The e hausted party had to backtrack to egalochari village, where ddie yers received new instructions to take command of “co ordinating and developing further activities of the ”.10
p r s e r ar to er
The rigours of the return ourney may have literally nearly killed yers a regular soldier and older again than Tom , who fell ill with pneumonia days after the return to egalochari. n the “Notes and dates from diaries” there is a brief summary of this frightening episode dates relate to February 194
15 EDDIE’s temp 105 — sent for doctor — he is delirious half the time. pecting a drop of ammo tonight. 1 DR HR T U arrd fm G H R sic and said DD had Bronchial neumonia and we cannot move him. News of two ti Bns battalions 4 hours away — no Zervas andartes near. ent runners off to Zervas and HR and preparing to move.
1 tis 2 hours away heading for village in two directions — evacuated everything incl DD and Doc, whom we hid in a house three hours distant. Remainder of party to R H U .11
ithout the care of Dr apachristou and his D Themis arinos, the only Greek member of the Harling party, and the provision of &B tablets, an early antibiotic, it is most unlikely that ddie would have survived.
10 yers, 1955 9 . 11 “Notes and dates from diaries”, 15–1 February. This event is described in , 2015 1 –1 1.
1 5 KATHERINE BARNES
A ere no t ro n into t e inescapa e po itica t rmoi and controvers t at as t e Gree resistance. After a period of time in a rat er menia ro e at erin and distri tin mi itar s pp ies dropped Britis p anes, Tom as posted to Epir s in t e est for iaison d ties it Genera Zervas. He set p is ead arters in t e Romanon monaster in a a S ei. Other Allied soldiers “dropped in” and Britis Mi itar Mission BMM stations ere set p in vario s ocations in Epir s as Tom and is officers prepared for a second ro nd of sa ota e operations. Working with Zervas’ andartes, Tom learnt the essentials of warfare at first and. Anticipatin on a sma sca e t e prod ced t e Specia Operations Researc Office of T e American niversit in 19 1, Tom ives in “G eri a arfare 1942 5” his own list of “Essentials of guerilla warfare”:
Friend pop ation—Gree s S ita e terrain—Epir s Safe ases—d mp food ammo Comparative ass red s pp ies food ammo T oro no ed e of terrain Good inte i ence G eri as t emse ves To , discip ined, ard E treme mo i it Hard ittin forces Minimise cas a ties Good comm nications Good i t eapons.12
rst ro nd of ar to er e r ar
Civi ar ro e o t et een E AS and EDES in Octo er 194 , rin in a read e istin tensions et een t e t o main resistance ro ps o t into t e open. T e Germans ad ro t p t eir e ite mo ntain troops to
12 “Guerilla warfare 1942 5”, p. 12.
1 GO GO OTA O A A TE TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942– 5
annina in ul 1 , and the were ui k to take advantage of the ivil war to atta k E E . The result is des ri ed in the handwritten “Guerilla war 1 2 5” where Tom notes
… in reased guerilla a tivit rought violent rea tion from the enem — enem ground drives unsu essful owing e treme mo ilit of guerillas lo alt in spite of frightful reprisals against villages — urning et .
German then mounted air atta ks — these were severe — one on eautiful village oulgareli si — waves of tukas from am– pm.
1 une ploded om s in luding 5 kilos, 5 kilos 1 kilos 1 .1
owever, over the ourse of this terri le period, the demonstrated their apa it to fight a k. Tom’s “ eport on Zervas Andarte movement” e plains wh morale at the point of writing the report April 1 was high t is espe iall omforting to hear A A TE sa that the old GE A oge is now gone — as after re ent ops the find the GE A soldier is not the invin i le eing the previousl imagined, ut he an e routed out from defended positions and over ome even when a ked up art artiller and superiorit in num ers.1
Major Laskey’s commentary on Tom’s “ eport on o servations in Gree e” shows on ern with the potential pro Zervas ias of the report, for e ample
ol arnes himself sa s that his report is pro Zervas. t was hardl likel to e an thing else ut a great deal of it rests on fa ts and it is indisputa le that Zervas has proved onsistentl lo al and ooperative while E A have often een the reverse.15
1 “Guerilla warfare 1942 5”, p. 11. The German atta k on ourgareli village in mid 1 is des ri ed in hapter 1 of . 1 .E. Barnes, “Report on o servations in Gree e from ul 1 to April 1 ”, O 1 5, The ational Ar hives, , p. . 15 . . aske “Situation in Greece report a ompan ing E arnes” “Report on o servations in Gree e from ul 1 to April 1 ”, O 1 5, The ational Ar hives, .
1 KATHERINE BARNES
This commentary is in response to Tom’s commentary on the civil war e a iour of er as an Aris
ERVAS is a strikin personality e is a coura eous an cunnin uerilla fi ter, wit a ery keen sense of umour an a s rew ju ment. I know e is a true patriot. His main fault is t at e oes not enforce iscipline as e s oul , is ar ument ein t at is men are mostly not sol iers ut illa ers. He is i ly respecte y is troops an y t e illa ers. My personal e perience of im is t at e is ery easy to work wit an t at e in aria ly tells me t e trut .
Aris is t e most ra i of all t e Communists in t e iel . He is sa istic, cruel an a solutely unscrupulous. In t e GORGO OTAMOS action owe er e s owe up well. I a e known im to e ot coura eous — an t e re erse.1
Naturally t ese o ser ations were s arpene y t e ci il war e periences of Tom an is Greek an Allie collea ues, an un ou te ly is elief t at er as always tol im t e trut is na e, as Lieut Col Nic olas Hammon later su este .1
omen n t e ar effort er ana
After t e first roun of ci il war was resol e at t e laka conference in late e ruary 1944, Tom set up is ea uarters in t e Lakka Sulei area, in t e illa e of er i iana, joinin General er as i ure 2 . He was to stay t ere until t e en of t e German occupation of Greece, w en e mo e is station to a now E ES controlle annina.
1 “Report on o ser ations in Greece from uly 194 to April 1944”, p. 4. 1 N.G.L. Hammond, “Report on AMM an Greek situation une 4 Au 2 , 1944”, O 1 4 9 , p. 4.
1 GORGOPOTAMOS AND AFTER: TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942–4
g re : Tom arnes, centre, lan ed y ol. or os, le t and ol. or alas, ri ht ervi iana
ne partic lar se ence o photos ta en in ervi iana in 1944 provides a ni e insi ht into the contri tion o villa e women to the resistance str le. ll three photos show villa e women nctionin as military transport, carryin amm nition mostly in the orm o canisters that wo ld have een dropped y parach te rom the om ays o llied aircra t on their ac s. The irst o the se ence is ta en ront on, and the viewer can see the rope harnesses that support the women’s loads. The second shows three women tr d in phill to oin the ile, while in the third one a woman loo s o t at the photo rapher while the others wal steadily on, heads owed*.
perat ons at A ona Ba
y early 1944 it was possi le or the llies to mo nt sea operations rom taly to s pply the ree resistance. The irst o these operations, “Glasshouse”, too place on 1 arch 1944, rin in in three tons o stores. Two personnel were evac ated on medical ro nds, alon with seventeen ritish and merican aircrew who had een orced down in reece.1
1 “Final report”, p. 1 . * Photograph 2 and 3 are not included in this publication.
1 9 KATHERINE BARNES
This operation was followed by several more “Glasshouse” operations a ter which the code name was changed to “Bracing”. As Tom reports:
The Pinpoints were two small a s on the est Coast a out ten Kms South o PARGA. No other suita le places e isted on our stretch o coast. The securit rom the sea was maintained by a caique ‘navy’ manned by ZERVAS Andartes. These were GREEK and captured GERMAN cra t, armed with VICKERS MGs and BREN MGs. The securit rom the land re uired appro imatel 2, troops with Allied demolition parties on the roads to the area. A road was uilt to the pinpoint and captured German MT, and later two in iltrated GMC ton truc s S arm truc s were used, as there were some 1, mule loads per CI andin Cra t In antr .
nloadin was well or anised a ter the irst two CSs andin Cra t Support essels — it was done hand down the an wa s. 1 tons o loaded in minutes ecame standard practice a ter the irst two ships.
This ecame the lar est suppl point in occupied GREECE i not in enem occupied MEDITERRANEAN. Two and three ships a month were recei ed, sometimes two on the same ni ht in di erent a s. The Na per ormed their di icult tas ma ni icentl —handlin their cra t in con ined waters and arri in punctuall at the pinpoint. …
The Feedin o personnel and up to 2, mules rom all parts o GREECE was also a ma or pro lem.19
The se uence o photos reproduced here Fi ures rin s this account to li e, with the photos showin the stores unloaded in Alona i Ba , ein pac ed onto the ac s o mules, carried uphill and inall the lon ile o men and mules unwindin across the plain into the distance.
19 “Final report”, p. 1 .
1 GORGOPOTAMOS AND AFTER: TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942–
g re : nloading Alona i Bay
g re : oading up Alona i Bay
KATHERINE BARNES
g re : C
g re :
1 2 GORGOPOTAMOS AND AFTER: TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942–4
T e German s rrender ro nd t o of ar and t e f g t to orf
Tom’s Final Report records the sequence of events surrounding General Lanz’s surrender overtures in 1944:
D A , N GERMAN , G VON AN , C O 22 M C H ANNINA, GREEK E A A GERMAN , VON AN GERMAN GREECE A GERMAN AFH VON AN I O S 2 A VON AN GREECE H that VON LANZ was ‘anti Nazi’ N GERMAN A CAIRO 2
F G E 2 S , A O 1 T operation was known as “Noah’s Ark”:21 When the ‘second round’ of civil war broke out in December 1944, Tom :
EDES , R O R GREEK A NOAH’s ARK. Due to lack of supplies of food and money and EAM/E AS BBC , EDES BRITAIN A ,
2 “Final r ”, 21 “Final r ”, 2 – 1
1 KATHERINE BARNES
ELAS on the other hand had everything to gain, it was their big chance that they had waited years for. Their successes in ATHENS also cheered them. There were many fanatical ELAS who saw this as the fulfilment of their desires.22
In particular, Tom describes Gen Zervas’ attitude as:
… of a defeatist nature from the first days of the ELAS attack. He was bitterly disappointed. He had e pected to receive full BRITISH support and to be allied with BRITISH forces. In order to gain these two points he had obeyed religiously Gen SCOBIE’s orders thus sacrificing his best chances of withstanding ELAS attacks — these were to strengthen his vital positions by initial local initiatives . The advantages accruing to the initial attacker were also so well known to all guerillas. Gen ZERVAS’ attitude was ‘I have told Gen SCOBIE my requirements and he has met none of them. Our task is militarily impossible. We must all go to CORF as the only possible place to make a stand’. And there certainly was some truth in this.2
EDES evacuated annina on 22 2 December and moved to Preveza along with Tom’s HQ. Evacuation commenced with stores and civilians, with the last remaining troops loaded for Corfu on December . civilians and , Andartes were evacuated, plus 2 mules and horses. On February 16 1945 EDES was officially dissolved, and Tom’s HQ was evacuated to Italy on February 2 .24
B ograp
Barnes, 1941 C.E. Barnes,” Diary”. npublished manuscript. Barnes, 1942 C.E. Barnes, “Diary”. npublished manuscript.
22 “Final report”, p. . 2 “Final report”, pp. – . 24 “Final report”, pp. –4 .
1 4 G G T S D FTER: TOM BARNES’ GREEK ARCHIVE, 1942–45
Barnes C.E. Barnes, “ otebook diary kept between ctober 194 and ugust 194 ” npublished manuscript. Barnes C.E. Barnes, “Notes and dates from diaries”. npublished manuscript. Barnes C.E. Barnes, “Guerilla warfare 194 –5”. npublished manuscript. Barnes C.E. Barnes, “Final report on activities and observations in Greece. eriod 1 ctober 194 February 1945”. Typescript HS5 695, The ational rchives, . Barnes C.E. Barnes, “Report on observations in Greece from uly 194 to pril 1944”. Typescript F 1 4 6 5, The ational rchives, . Barnes C.E. Barnes, “Report on Zervas Andartes’ activities during period uly ctober 1944”. Typescript HS5 695, The ational rchives, . Barnes, 15 atherine Barnes, . Sydney and uckland HarperCollins. Brown, 14 artyn Brown, “After Crete–consistency and contradiction in the use of the ew Zealand military in Greek matters”, 1 19 – . Condit, 1961 D. . Condit, Special perations esearch ffice. ashington The merican niversity. Cooper, 19 9 rtemis Cooper, – . ondon enguin. Hammond .G. . Hammond, “ eport on and Greek situation une 4– ug , 1944”. F 1 4 69 , The ational rchives, . askey D.S. askey, “Situation in Greece manuscript report accompanying CE Barnes. eport on observations in Greece from uly 194 to pril 1944”. F 1 4 6 5, The ational rchives, . yers, 1955 E.C. . yers, . ondon Hart Davis. gden, 1 lan gden, . ondon Bene Factum ublishing. Stafford, David Stafford, Secret gent The True Story of the Special perations E ecutive. ondon BBC orldwide.
1 5