Russian Mission on the Mountains of Greece, Summer 1944 (A View from the Ranks

Abstract

It is generally agreed that the summer of 1944, when the end of the second world war in Europe was approaching, was a most critical period, affecting and dominating events in Greece for many years to come. It was marked by the first practical attempt in modern Greek history to break away from the traditional relationship with the western powers, an attempt spearheaded by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), but not universally accepted or supported by members of the Greek National Liberation Front (EAM) and certainly not by those to its right. It was also an attempt to challenge the foundations of the Greek state and change them into some form of socialist base. This is attested by the spirit and letter of the prolific legislative activity of the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA). As a later attempt under a new guise in different circumstances narrowly failed, the events surrounding the first attempt command considerable interest, although for different reasons, among critics, historians and apologists alike. One of these events was the arrival by plane of the Russian military mission on the mountains of Free Greece in Thessaly. The mission presented its credentials to the Greek Popular Liberation Army (ELAS) at a time when the PEEA was discussing terms for its participation in the newly-formed Greek government in Cairo.2 There has been much discussion about the importance of this mission under Lieutenant Colonel Gregori Popov. The key questions that remain unanswered concern: (a) its objectives and instructions; (b) the office in the USSR, where orders for the mission originated; (c) the nature of its contacts and its impact, if any, on the decision of the KKE and PEEA to join the Greek government in exile; (d) its success as seen from Moscow. That pressure was exerted by the Russians on