EKKA
The National and Social Liberation known under the abbreviation EKKA ( Greek Εθνική και Κοινωνική Απελευθέρωσις , Ethniki ke Kinoniki Apeleftherosis ) was a resistance organization against the German occupation of Greece in World War II .
The republican-social democratic oriented organization was founded in October 1941 by the Venizelian Colonel Dimitrios Psarros (Δημήτριος Ψαρρός) together with the politician Georgios Kartalis . Military arm of the organization was founded in 1943 Evzones regiment 5/42 .
The organization had up to 1,000 fighters. It worked in part with the larger anti-communist resistance organization EDES , while the relationship with the communist-influenced Greek People's Liberation Army ELAS was characterized by rivalry from the start. The EKKA was mainly active in central Greece in the Fokida region . She was dependent on British support.
The ELAS, which claimed sole leadership of the resistance and claimed that the EKKA collaborated with the enemy, tried to disarm the EKKA as early as May 1943. At the urging of the British, however, the resistance organizations came to an agreement, the “National Gang Agreement”, in which they provided for a coordinated approach. However, concentrated ELAS forces of 1,400 men attacked Regiment 5/42 on April 14, 1944 near the village of Klima. The 450 men of Regiment 5/42 held their positions for several days until they were forced to retreat. However, most of the regiment stayed with Colonel Psarros, who refused to leave. Psarros was captured and killed. Many EKKA men were also arrested, mostly tortured and killed. This meant the end of the organization, even though Kartalis took part in the Lebanon conference of resistance groups and the government- in- exile as its representative the following month .
literature
- William Hardy McNeill: The Greek Dilemma, War and Aftermath. Philadelphia / New York 1947, p. 86 ff. ( Text file )
- Argyrios Mamarelis: The Special Operations Executive in Greece 1941-1944: The case of the 5/42 Regiment of Evzones. ( PDF )
- Procopis Papastratis: British policy towards Greece during the Second World War 1941-1944. Cambridge 1984, ISBN 978-0-521-24342-1
