Aris Velouchiotis
Encyclopedia
Aris Velouchiotis the nom de guerre of Athanasios (Thanasis) Klaras , was the most prominent leader and chief instigator of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), the military branch of the National Liberation Front (EAM), which was the major resistance organization
in occupied Greece from 1942 to 1945. Aris Velouchiotis was appointed military leader of ELAS at the beginning of the Resistance Movement, by the EAM leadership, being at the same time a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece
.
, Greece in 1905, in a family of the upper urban class. His father was a well-known lawyer in the area. As a youth, he studied for a while as a journalist and later attented and graduated with enough effort (due to a vagrant youth) from the Geoponic School of Larissa
. He participated in the leftist
movement and later became a member of the Communist Party of Greece
(KKE). During the Ioannis Metaxas
dictatorship (1936–1941), he was arrested for his communist ideas and jailed in Aegina
prison. During his trial, he escaped and joined the (then illegal) Communist Party. He was arrested again in 1939 and was sent to Corfu
prison, and remained there until he signed a "statement of renouncement" of the Communist Party, a very humiliating act for a communist at the time.
(1940–1941) against the Italian
army, until the German invasion
in April 1941 and Greece's subsequent surrender and occupation.
After Germany's offensive campaign
in the Soviet Union
, the Greek Communist Party championed the creation of the National Liberation Front (EAM), and Klaras was sent to Central Greece
(Greek Roumeli) to assess the potential for the development of a guerrilla movement against the occupation forces. His proposals were adopted by the party, and in January 1942, Klaras moved to the mountains to start setting up guerrilla groups.
The first appearance of the partisans
organised by Klaras occurred on June 7, 1942 in the village of Domnista in Evritania in Central Greece. There he presented himself as Major of Artillery (for gaining extra prestige among the villagers) with the nom de guerre of Aris Velouchiotis (from Ares
, the Greek god of war, and Velouchi, a local mountain) and proclaimed the existence of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS).
One of the most important early operations of the Greek resistance movement (in which Velouchiotis and his fighters, after long negotiations with the British, finally agreed to participate alongside Napoleon Zervas
's republican EDES resistance forces and twelve British saboteurs under the leadership of Major E. C. W. "Eddie" Myers), was the blowing-up of the Gorgopotamos
railway viaduct, south of Lamia, on November 25, 1942 (Operation Harling
). The destruction of the viaduct cut the single Thessaloniki
-Athens
rail line, thus the line connecting the Balkans with southern Greece, but did not disrupt any supply lines - as would have been the case had it happened, as the British intended, two months earlier - for Erwin Rommel
's German forces in Northern Africa because it took place one month after the commencement of the El Alamein
battle on October 23, 1942, in which Rommel was badly defeated by the British.
The destruction of the Gorgopotamos viaduct was to be the last operation where the communist-influenced ELAS organisation fought alongside with Greek Republican resistance forces, such as the EKKA's 5/42 Evzones Regiment (military arm of EKKA) and EOEA (National Groups of Greek Guerillas, Εthnikes Omades Ellinwn Antartwn, military arm of EDES). But despite the signing of an agreement in May 1943 between the three main Resistance groups (EAM/ELAS, EDES and EKKA) to cooperate and to subject themselves to the Allied Middle East High Command under General Wilson (the "National Bands Agreement"), in the political field, the mutual mistrust between EAM and the other groups escalated. EAM-ELAS was by now the dominant political and military force in Greece, and EDES and EKKA, along with the British and the Greek government-in-exile, feared that after the inevitable German withdrawal, it would try to dominate the country and establish a soviet regime The rift ultimately led to a mini-civil war in late 1943 and early 1944, in which ELAS attacked EDES, EOEA and destroyed EKKA
's 5/42 Evzones Regiment, savagely executing its leader Col. Dimitrios Psarros
.
In October 1944, the Nazis evacuated Greece and a new government was formed under Georgios Papandreou
, the leader of the Greek National Unity Government which was established following the Treaties of Lebanon
and Caserta
. When the Varkiza agreement was signed to end the Dekemvriana fighting between EAM forces in Athens and governmental forces (with the support of the British troops), Velouchiotis vehemently refused to comply, in defiance of the Communist Party leadership, who consequently accused him of treachery and spurned him as a member of KKE.,
) against the new government and the British
allies who supported them. He was reported to have denounced the sell-out to the British in the 'Varkiza Agreement' to lay down the National Resistance arms; particularly moving was the sight of his elite massed Mavroskoufides (Black Berets) openly mourning. He was out-manoeuvred by the KKE leadership and resolved to leave Greece; he repeatedly requested permission from the party to be allowed to be left to depart, but was refused. Though most of his associates abandoned him, he was reported to have continued to conduct guerrilla activities until June 1945. He was denounced by the KKE Central Committee and increasingly isolated until he was ambushed with his unit in the mountain of Agrafa - some say that he was set up or even betrayed by KKE contacts, in 1945 - by para-military groups controlled by the Athens government. Although many members of the Security Battalions
and the organisation 'X' (leader of the X team was the Colonel, at the time, Georgios Grivas), which had collaborated with the German occupying forces, were rounded up and detained in Korydallos Prison in Athens, the majority of their officers were allowed to join the new Greek police force, organised by the British. The new Greek police force was formed under the expert leadership of British officers who had formed the paramilitary organization in Ireland called the 'Black & Tans'.
Aris and his second in command, Leon Javellas, were isolated by the main unit and finally Aris was killed with his comrade either by a hand grenade or by a bullet. Rumors want him to "commit suicide with his commander Javellas when his thoughts were that there is no better future for his revolution and its betrayals.".
The corpses of Velouchiotis and his second in command were subsequently decapitated, and the heads displayed, hanging from a lamp post in the central square of the town of Trikala
. When British Labour government members of Parliament objected to the barbarity of the operation, they received the reply that the display was in accordance to "Ancient Greek War Custom".
Following the rehabilitation in Greece of the EAM and subsequently of the KKE itself, busts and statues of Aris have been erected in his native town; the KKE moved discreetly for Velouchiotis' rehabilitation, following in turn the expulsion of the KKE's wartime leader who had denounced him, Party Secretary Zahariadis, who had survived incarceration at Dachau
.
and a hero of the communist cause. Critics see him as a perpetrator of atrocities and murders against rural
people who were perceived as opponents of communism
. Velouchiotis is responsible also for the massacre of some one thousand five hundred right-wing guerrillas, collaborators from the Security Battalions
in Meligala, a village in south-western Peloponnese
, in October 1944, right after the German retreat from that part of Greece. His involvement in attacks against non-communist Greek resistance forces and insurgency against the post-liberation government also draw criticism: C.M. Woodhouse remarked that Velouchiotis "fought Greeks more often than he did Germans".
However, he was a man of strong communist and patriotic beliefs, who many times was just executing commands of the leadership of KKE
. He was, indeed, especially cruel to Greeks who sought collaboration with the German forces and people who sought the British help and involvement in Greek politics, because they were considered by him as a threat of the communist and patriotic cause of Resistance.
Greek Resistance
The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...
in occupied Greece from 1942 to 1945. Aris Velouchiotis was appointed military leader of ELAS at the beginning of the Resistance Movement, by the EAM leadership, being at the same time a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
.
Early years
Thanasis Klaras was born in LamiaLamia (city)
Lamia is a city in central Greece. The city has a continuous history since antiquity, and is today the capital of the regional unit of Phthiotis and of the Central Greece region .-Name:...
, Greece in 1905, in a family of the upper urban class. His father was a well-known lawyer in the area. As a youth, he studied for a while as a journalist and later attented and graduated with enough effort (due to a vagrant youth) from the Geoponic School of Larissa
Larissa
Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...
. He participated in the leftist
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
movement and later became a member of the Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
(KKE). During the Ioannis Metaxas
Ioannis Metaxas
Ioannis Metaxas was a Greek general, politician, and dictator, serving as Prime Minister of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941...
dictatorship (1936–1941), he was arrested for his communist ideas and jailed in Aegina
Aegina
Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island. During ancient times, Aegina was a rival to Athens, the great sea power of the era.-Municipality:The municipality...
prison. During his trial, he escaped and joined the (then illegal) Communist Party. He was arrested again in 1939 and was sent to Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
prison, and remained there until he signed a "statement of renouncement" of the Communist Party, a very humiliating act for a communist at the time.
World War II
During World War II, he was drafted as reserve officer of the Hellenic Army but due to indisciplined behavior he was degraded and sent to serve as a corporal to a disciplinary squad of Artillery at the Albanian frontGreco-Italian War
The Greco-Italian War was a conflict between Italy and Greece which lasted from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. It marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II...
(1940–1941) against the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
army, until the German invasion
Battle of Greece
The Battle of Greece is the common name for the invasion and conquest of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941. Greece was supported by British Commonwealth forces, while the Germans' Axis allies Italy and Bulgaria played secondary roles...
in April 1941 and Greece's subsequent surrender and occupation.
After Germany's offensive campaign
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, the Greek Communist Party championed the creation of the National Liberation Front (EAM), and Klaras was sent to Central Greece
Central Greece
Continental Greece or Central Greece , colloquially known as Roúmeli , is a geographical region of Greece. Its territory is divided into the administrative regions of Central Greece, Attica, and part of West Greece...
(Greek Roumeli) to assess the potential for the development of a guerrilla movement against the occupation forces. His proposals were adopted by the party, and in January 1942, Klaras moved to the mountains to start setting up guerrilla groups.
The first appearance of the partisans
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
organised by Klaras occurred on June 7, 1942 in the village of Domnista in Evritania in Central Greece. There he presented himself as Major of Artillery (for gaining extra prestige among the villagers) with the nom de guerre of Aris Velouchiotis (from Ares
Ares
Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...
, the Greek god of war, and Velouchi, a local mountain) and proclaimed the existence of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS).
Napoleon Zervas
Napoleon Zervas was a Greek general and resistance leader during World War II. He organized and led the National Republican Greek League , the second most significant , in terms of size and activity, resistance organization against the Axis Occupation of Greece.-Early life and army career:Zervas...
's republican EDES resistance forces and twelve British saboteurs under the leadership of Major E. C. W. "Eddie" Myers), was the blowing-up of the Gorgopotamos
Gorgopotamos
Gorgopotamos is a village and a former municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lamia, of which it is a municipal unit. It is located 10 km southwest of Lamia. Its 2001 population was 443 for the village and 4,510 for the...
railway viaduct, south of Lamia, on November 25, 1942 (Operation Harling
Operation Harling
Operation Harling was a World War II mission by the British Special Operations Executive , in cooperation with the Greek Resistance groups ELAS and EDES, which destroyed the heavily guarded Gorgopotamos viaduct in Central Greece on 25 November 1942...
). The destruction of the viaduct cut the single Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
-Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
rail line, thus the line connecting the Balkans with southern Greece, but did not disrupt any supply lines - as would have been the case had it happened, as the British intended, two months earlier - for Erwin Rommel
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
's German forces in Northern Africa because it took place one month after the commencement of the El Alamein
El Alamein
El Alamein is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. As of 2007, it has a local population of 7,397 inhabitants.- Climate :...
battle on October 23, 1942, in which Rommel was badly defeated by the British.
The destruction of the Gorgopotamos viaduct was to be the last operation where the communist-influenced ELAS organisation fought alongside with Greek Republican resistance forces, such as the EKKA's 5/42 Evzones Regiment (military arm of EKKA) and EOEA (National Groups of Greek Guerillas, Εthnikes Omades Ellinwn Antartwn, military arm of EDES). But despite the signing of an agreement in May 1943 between the three main Resistance groups (EAM/ELAS, EDES and EKKA) to cooperate and to subject themselves to the Allied Middle East High Command under General Wilson (the "National Bands Agreement"), in the political field, the mutual mistrust between EAM and the other groups escalated. EAM-ELAS was by now the dominant political and military force in Greece, and EDES and EKKA, along with the British and the Greek government-in-exile, feared that after the inevitable German withdrawal, it would try to dominate the country and establish a soviet regime The rift ultimately led to a mini-civil war in late 1943 and early 1944, in which ELAS attacked EDES, EOEA and destroyed EKKA
EKKA
EKKA can be one of the following:* The ICAO-code for Karup Airport.* National and Social Liberation , the Greek Resistance movement founded by Colonel Dimitrios Psarros....
's 5/42 Evzones Regiment, savagely executing its leader Col. Dimitrios Psarros
Dimitrios Psarros
Dimitrios Psarros was a Greek army officer and resistance leader. He was the founder and leader of the resistance group National and Social Liberation , the third-most significant organization of the Greek Resistance movement after the National Liberation Front and the National Republican Greek...
.
In October 1944, the Nazis evacuated Greece and a new government was formed under Georgios Papandreou
George Papandreou (senior)
Georgios Papandreou was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as Prime Minister of Greece...
, the leader of the Greek National Unity Government which was established following the Treaties of Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and Caserta
Caserta
Caserta is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range...
. When the Varkiza agreement was signed to end the Dekemvriana fighting between EAM forces in Athens and governmental forces (with the support of the British troops), Velouchiotis vehemently refused to comply, in defiance of the Communist Party leadership, who consequently accused him of treachery and spurned him as a member of KKE.,
Death
Velouchiotis moved again to the mountains of Central Greece in order to start an insurgency (see Greek Civil WarGreek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
) against the new government and the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
allies who supported them. He was reported to have denounced the sell-out to the British in the 'Varkiza Agreement' to lay down the National Resistance arms; particularly moving was the sight of his elite massed Mavroskoufides (Black Berets) openly mourning. He was out-manoeuvred by the KKE leadership and resolved to leave Greece; he repeatedly requested permission from the party to be allowed to be left to depart, but was refused. Though most of his associates abandoned him, he was reported to have continued to conduct guerrilla activities until June 1945. He was denounced by the KKE Central Committee and increasingly isolated until he was ambushed with his unit in the mountain of Agrafa - some say that he was set up or even betrayed by KKE contacts, in 1945 - by para-military groups controlled by the Athens government. Although many members of the Security Battalions
Security Battalions
The Security Battalions were Greek collaborationist military groups, formed during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II in order to support the German occupation troops.- History :...
and the organisation 'X' (leader of the X team was the Colonel, at the time, Georgios Grivas), which had collaborated with the German occupying forces, were rounded up and detained in Korydallos Prison in Athens, the majority of their officers were allowed to join the new Greek police force, organised by the British. The new Greek police force was formed under the expert leadership of British officers who had formed the paramilitary organization in Ireland called the 'Black & Tans'.
Aris and his second in command, Leon Javellas, were isolated by the main unit and finally Aris was killed with his comrade either by a hand grenade or by a bullet. Rumors want him to "commit suicide with his commander Javellas when his thoughts were that there is no better future for his revolution and its betrayals.".
The corpses of Velouchiotis and his second in command were subsequently decapitated, and the heads displayed, hanging from a lamp post in the central square of the town of Trikala
Trikala
Trikala is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece. It is the capital of the Trikala peripheral unit, and is located NW of Athens, NW, of Karditsa, E of Ioannina and Metsovo, S of Grevena, SW of Thessaloniki, and W of Larissa...
. When British Labour government members of Parliament objected to the barbarity of the operation, they received the reply that the display was in accordance to "Ancient Greek War Custom".
Following the rehabilitation in Greece of the EAM and subsequently of the KKE itself, busts and statues of Aris have been erected in his native town; the KKE moved discreetly for Velouchiotis' rehabilitation, following in turn the expulsion of the KKE's wartime leader who had denounced him, Party Secretary Zahariadis, who had survived incarceration at Dachau
Dachau
Dachau is a town in Upper Bavaria, in the southern part of Germany. It is a major district town—a Große Kreisstadt—of the administrative region of Upper Bavaria, about 20 km north-west of Munich. It is now a popular residential area for people working in Munich with roughly 40,000 inhabitants...
.
Cousinage with Zervas
In a game that only blind luck plays, in an extraordinary coincidence, the two leaders of the Grek Resistance were distant cousins. Zervas was descedant from a the famous Souliote clan of Zervades, who after the destruction of Souli by the Ottoman Turks fled to Aitoloakarnania, while Aris Velouchioti's mother was of Souliote descedance, from a family related to Zervades. However, Zervas had never before seen Velouchiotis before their first meeting during the Resistance era.Controversial figure
Supporters consider Aris Velouchiotis a symbol of Greek resistance against Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and a hero of the communist cause. Critics see him as a perpetrator of atrocities and murders against rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
people who were perceived as opponents of communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Velouchiotis is responsible also for the massacre of some one thousand five hundred right-wing guerrillas, collaborators from the Security Battalions
Security Battalions
The Security Battalions were Greek collaborationist military groups, formed during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II in order to support the German occupation troops.- History :...
in Meligala, a village in south-western Peloponnese
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...
, in October 1944, right after the German retreat from that part of Greece. His involvement in attacks against non-communist Greek resistance forces and insurgency against the post-liberation government also draw criticism: C.M. Woodhouse remarked that Velouchiotis "fought Greeks more often than he did Germans".
However, he was a man of strong communist and patriotic beliefs, who many times was just executing commands of the leadership of KKE
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
. He was, indeed, especially cruel to Greeks who sought collaboration with the German forces and people who sought the British help and involvement in Greek politics, because they were considered by him as a threat of the communist and patriotic cause of Resistance.