Insurgency & COIN in Greece (in WW2 and after)
I'm looking to write a 25-30 page paper on British action in Greece between October 1944 and January 1945, during which they fought the leading (and communist controlled, of course) Greek resistance force, the ELAS. I've found in the University library what seems to be a narrative of the 23rd Armoured Brigade (They were known as Monty's Foxhounds in North Africa), and I'm going to check it out first thing Monday. I'm interested in looking at how forces that were pretty much used to perfect limited war (the north africa desert campaigns) adapt to messy, political, civilian-rich, primarily urban (Athens) struggle.
Does anyone have any recommendations for books on this subject, or the Greek Civil War in general?
Barrie Pitt and Cornelli Barnett
My favorites on North Africa: Barrie Pitt's 3 Volume Series: The Crucible of War and Correlli Barnett The Desert Generals
There are many others of course.
Best
Tom
Case Study in Guerrilla Warfare: Greece During WWII
SORO, 1961: Case Study in Guerrilla Warfare: Greece During World War II
Quote:
....The Special Operations Research Office is convinced that this case study of guerrilla warfare, utilizing the example of Greece during World War II, holds many lessons for the 1960's, from both a military and political standpoint. While many of the lessons may be known to a few United States experts, it is also true that not all persons who will be intimately concerned with guerrilla warfare in the near future have this expert knowledge at, their fingertips. In this sense, this study should prove most useful to a variety of military and non-military audiences.
For the policy maker, this study represents a detailed and comprehensive review of the major aspects of a guerrilla campaign, including its political implications and long-range effects. For the military planner, the study indicates, not only many of the problems inherent in such a campaign-of selection and training of men, of logistics and communication, for example, but also some possible solutions. For persons who may some day he in the same position as that handful of Allied men in Greece during World War II, the study considers many aspects of tactical operations and affords a glimpse of the complexities in working relationships between individuals and groups with diverse backgrounds and aspirations. For those responsible for countering guerrilla operations in the future, the record of the German performance against the Greek guerrillas gives insight into the reasons for their tactical success in antiguerrilla combat and their simultaneous failure to eradicate the guerrilla movement.....
German antiguerrilla operations in the Balkans (1941-1944)
I didn't read it, just found it:
http://www.farposst.ru/2012/01/09/DA...941_1944_.html
Department of the Army, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1954, 8 MB, 100 pages
As I understand it, there's no copyright problem with this.
It might be interesting to contrast it with a report from the Greek Civil War ~1948/49.
British perfidy in Greece: a story worth remembering
A long Open Democracy article on the opening of the Greek Civil War, or what outsiders know as that; the authors write a very different explanation and are from impartial IMHO:https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-eu...th-remembering
The sub-title gives a glimpse:
Quote:
It was the day, seventy years ago this Tuesday, when the British Army at war with Germany switched their allegiance, opening fire upon – and arming Greek collaborators with the Nazis to fire upon – a civilian crowd in Syntagma Square.
There is a shorter version, which has aroused over seven hundred comments; it appears that this episode in Greece's history is still disputed:http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...s-dirty-secret
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Civil_War