The Second World War

by Winston S. Churchill

  This was the final German offensive of the war. It caused us no little anxiety and postponed our own advance, but we benefited in the end. The Germans could not replace their losses, and our subsequent battles on the Rhine, though severe, were undoubtedly eased. Their High Command, and even Hitler, must have been disillusioned. Taken by surprise, Eisenhower and his commanders acted swiftly, but they will agree that the major credit lies elsewhere. In Montgomery’s words, “The Battle of the Ardennes was won primarily by the staunch fighting qualities of the American soldier.” The United States troops had indeed done almost all the fighting, and had suffered almost all the losses.

  CHAPTER XXI

  CHRISTMAS AT ATHENS

  THE Greeks rival the Jews in being the most politically-minded race in the world. No matter how forlorn their circumstances or how grave the peril to their country, they are always divided into many parties, with many leaders who fight among themselves with desperate vigour. It has been well said that wherever there are three Jews it will be found that there are two Prime Ministers and one leader of the Opposition. The same is true of this other famous ancient race, whose stormy and endless struggle for life stretches back to the fountain springs of human thought. No two races have set such a mark upon the world. Both have shown a capacity for survival, in spite of unending perils and sufferings from external oppressors, matched only by their own ceaseless feuds, quarrels, and convulsions. The passage of several thousand years sees no change in their characteristics and no diminution of their trials or their vitality. They have survived in spite of all that the world could do against them, and all they could do against themselves, and each of them from angles so different have left us the inheritance of their genius and wisdom. No two cities have counted more with mankind than Athens and Jerusalem. Their messages in religion, philosophy, and art have been the main guiding lights of modern faith and culture. Centuries of foreign rule and indescribable, endless oppression leave them still living, active communities and forces in the modern world, quarrelling among themselves with insatiable vivacity. Personally I have always been on the side of both, and believed in their invincible power to survive internal strife and the world tides threatening their extinction.

  Before leaving Italy at the end of August I had asked the Chief of the Imperial General Staff to work out the details of a British expedition to Greece in case the Germans there collapsed.* We gave it the code-name “Manna”, and by September our preparations were well advanced. M. Papandreou and his colleagues were brought to Italy and installed in a villa near Caserta. Here he set to work with the representatives of E.A.M. and their Nationalist rivals, E.D.E.S.† and, aided by Mr. Macmillan, as Minister Resident in the Mediterranean, and Mr. Leeper, our Ambassador to the Greek Government, a comprehensive agreement was signed on the 26th. It laid down that all guerrilla forces in the country should place themselves under the orders of the Greek Government, who in their turn put them under the British commander, General Scobie. The Greek guerrilla leaders declared that none of their men would take the law into their own hands. Any action in Athens would be taken only on General Scobie’s direct orders. This document, known as the Caserta Agreement, governed our future action.

  In October the liberation of Greece began. Commando units were sent into Southern Greece, and in the early hours of October 4 our troops occupied Patras. This was our first foothold since the tragic exit of 1941. On the 12th General Wilson learnt that the Germans were evacuating Athens, and next day British parachutists landed on the Megara airfield, about eight miles west of the capital. On the 14th the rest of the paratroopers arrived, and occupied the city on the heels of the German withdrawal. Our naval forces entered the Piræus, bringing with them General Scobie and the main part of his force, and two days later the Greek Government arrived, together with our Ambassador.

  The testing time for our arrangements had now come. At the Moscow conference I had obtained Russian abstention at a heavy price. We were pledged to support Papandreou’s Provisional Administration, in which E.A.M. was fully represented. All parties were bound by the Caserta Agreement, and we wished to hand over authority to a stable Greek Government without loss of time. But Greece was in ruins. The Germans destroyed roads and railways as they retreated northwards, and though harassed by our Air Force we could do little to interfere on land. E.L.A.S. armed bands filled the gap left by the departing invaders, and their central command made little effort to enforce the solemn promises they had given. Everywhere was want and dissension. Finances were disordered and food exhausted. Our own military resources were stretched to the limit.

  At the end of the month Mr. Eden visited Athens on his way home from Moscow, and received a tumultuous welcome in memory of his efforts for Greece in 1941. With him were Lord Moyne, the Minister Resident in Cairo, and Mr. Macmillan. The whole question of relief was discussed and everything humanly possible was done. Our troops willingly went on half-rations to increase the food supplies, and British sappers started to build emergency communications. By November 1 the Germans had evacuated Salonika and Florina. Ten days later the last of their forces had crossed the northern frontier, and apart from a few isolated island garrisons, Greece was free.

  But the Athens Government had not enough troops to control the country and compel E.L.A.S. to observe the Caserta Agreement. Disorder grew and spread. A revolt by E.A.M. was imminent, and on November 15 General Scobie was directed to make counter-preparations. Athens was to be declared a military area, and authority was given to order all E.L.A.S. troops to leave it. The 4th Indian Division was sent from Italy. So also was the Greek Brigade, which became the centre of controversy between Papandreou and his E.A.M. colleagues. It was evident that the only chance of averting civil war was to disarm the guerrillas and other forces by mutual agreement and establish a new National Army and police force under the direct control of the Government in Athens.

  A draft decree for the demobilisation of the guerrillas, drawn up at M. Papandreou’s request by the E.A.M. Ministers themselves, was presented to the distracted Cabinet. The regular Greek Mountain Brigade and the “Sacred Squadron” of the Air Force were to remain. E.L.A.S. were to keep a brigade of their own, and E.D.E.S. were to be given a small force. But at the last moment the E.A.M. Ministers went back on their own proposals, on which they had wasted a precious week, and demanded that the Mountain Brigade should be disbanded. The Communist tactic was now in full swing. On December 1 the six Ministers associated with E.A.M. resigned, and a general strike in Athens was proclaimed for the following day. The rest of the Cabinet passed a decree dissolving the guerrillas, and the Communist Party moved its headquarters from the capital. General Scobie issued a message to the people of Greece stating that he stood firm behind the present constitutional Government “until the Greek State can be established with a legally armed force and free elections can be held”. I issued a similar personal statement from London.

  On Sunday, December 3, Communist supporters, engaging in a banned demonstration, collided with the police and civil war began. The next day General Scobie ordered E.L.A.S. to evacuate Athens and the Piræus forthwith. Instead their troops and armed civilians tried to seize the capital by force.

  At this moment I took a more direct control of the affair. On learning that the Communists had already captured almost all the police stations in Athens, murdering the bulk of their occupants not already pledged to their attack, and were within half a mile of the Government offices, I ordered General Scobie and his 5,000 British troops, who ten days before had been received with rapture as deliverers by the population, to intervene and fire upon the treacherous aggressors. It is no use doing things like this by halves. The mob violence by which the Communists sought to conquer the city and present themselves to the world as the Government demanded by the Greek people could only be met by firearms. There was no time for the Cabinet to be called.

  Anthony and I were together till about two o’clock, and were entirely agreed that we must open fire. S
eeing how tired he was, I said to him, “If you like to go to bed, leave it to me.” He did, and at about 3 a.m. I drafted the following telegram to General Scobie:

  “ … You are responsible for maintaining order in Athens and for neutralising or destroying all E.A.M.-E.L.A.S. bands approaching the city. You may make any regulations you like for the strict control of the streets or for the rounding up of any number of truculent persons. Naturally E.L.A.S. will try to put women and children in the van where shooting may occur. You must be clever about this and avoid mistakes. But do not hesitate to fire at any armed male in Athens who assails the British authority or Greek authority with which we are working. It would be well of course if your command were reinforced by the authority of some Greek Government and Papandreou is being told by Leeper to stop and help. Do not however hesitate to act as if you were in a conquered city where a local rebellion is in progress.*

  “With regard to E.L.A.S. bands approaching from the outside, you should surely be able with your armour to give some of these a lesson which will make others unlikely to try. You may count upon my support in all reasonable and sensible action taken on this basis. We have to hold and dominate Athens. It would be a great thing for you to succeed in this without bloodshed if possible, but also with bloodshed if necessary.”

  This telegram was dispatched at 4.50 a.m. on the 5th. I must admit that it was somewhat strident in tone. I felt it so necessary to give a strong lead to the military commander that I intentionally worded it in the sharpest terms. The fact that he had such an order in his possession would not only encourage him to decisive action but gave him the certain assurance that I should be with him in any well-conceived action he might take, whatever the consequences might be. I felt grave concern about the whole business, but I was sure that there should be no room for doubts or hedging. I had in my mind Arthur Balfour’s celebrated telegram in the eighties to the British authorities in Ireland: “Don’t hesitate to shoot.” This was sent through the open telegraph offices. There was a furious storm about it in the House of Commons of those days, but it certainly prevented loss of life. It was one of the key stepping-stones by which Balfour advanced to power and control. The setting of the scene was now entirely different. Nevertheless “Don’t hesitate to shoot” hung in my mind as a prompter from those far-off days.

  Now that the free world has learnt so much more than was then understood about the Communist movement in Greece and elsewhere, many readers will be astonished at the vehement attacks to which His Majesty’s Government, and I in particular at its head, were subjected. The vast majority of the American Press violently condemned our action, which they declared falsified the cause for which they had gone to war. The State Department, in the charge of Mr. Stettinius, issued a markedly critical pronouncement, which they were to regret, or at least reverse, in after-years. In England there was much perturbation. The Times and the Manchester Guardian pronounced their censures upon what they considered our reactionary policy. Stalin however adhered strictly and faithfully to our agreement of October, and during all the long weeks of fighting the Communists in the streets of Athens not one word of reproach came from Pravda or Isvestia.

  In the House of Commons there was a great stir. There was a strong current of vague opinion, and even passion, and any Government which had rested on a less solid foundation than the National Coalition might well have been shaken to pieces. But the War Cabinet stood like a rock against which all the waves and winds might beat in vain. When we recall what has happened to Poland, to Hungary, and Czechoslovakia in these later years we may be grateful to Fortune for giving us at this critical moment the calm, united strength of determined leaders of all parties. Space does not allow me to quote more than a few extracts from a speech I made on December 8.

  The charge which is made against us … is that we are using His Majesty’s forces to disarm the friends of democracy in Greece and in other parts of Europe and to suppress those popular movements which have valorously assisted in the defeat of the enemy.…

  The question however arises, and one may be permitted to dwell on it for a moment, who are the friends of democracy, and also how is the word ‘democracy’ to be interpreted? My idea of it is that the plain, humble, common man, just the ordinary man who keeps a wife and family, who goes off to fight for his country when it is in trouble, goes to the poll at the appropriate time, and puts his cross on the ballot-paper showing the candidate he wishes to be elected to Parliament—that he is the foundation of democracy. And it is also essential to this foundation that this man or woman should do this without fear, and without any form of intimidation or victimisation. He marks his ballot-paper in strict secrecy, and then elected representatives meet and together decide what Government, or even, in times of stress, what form of government, they wish to have in their country. If that is democracy I salute it. I espouse it. I would work for it.… I stand upon the foundation of free elections based on universal suffrage, and that is what we consider the foundation for democracy. But I feel quite differently about a swindle democracy, a democracy which calls itself democracy because it is Left Wing. It takes all sorts to make democracy, not only Left Wing, or even Communist. I do not allow a party or a body to call themselves democrats because they are stretching farther and farther into the most extreme forms of revolution. I do not accept a party as necessarily representing democracy because it becomes more violent as it becomes less numerous.

  One must have some respect for democracy and not use the word too lightly. The last thing which resembles democracy is mob law, with bands of gangsters, armed with deadly weapons, forcing their way into great cities, seizing the police stations and key points of government, endeavouring to introduce a totalitarian régime with an iron hand, and clamouring, as they can nowadays if they get the power——[Interruption.]

  Democracy is not based on violence or terrorism, but on reason, on fair play, on freedom, on respecting the rights of other people. Democracy is no harlot to be picked up in the street by a man with a tommy gun. I trust the people, the mass of the people, in almost any country, but I like to make sure that it is the people and not a gang of bandits who think that by violence they can overturn constituted authority, in some cases ancient Parliaments, Governments, and States.…

  Only thirty members faced us in the division lobby. Nearly three hundred voted confidence. Here again was a moment in which the House of Commons showed its enduring strength and authority.

  There is no doubt that the emotional expression of American opinion and the train of thought at that time being followed by the State Department affected President Roosevelt and his immediate circle. The sentiments I had expressed in the House of Commons have now become commonplace of American doctrine and policy and command the assent of the United Nations. But in those days they had an air of novelty which was startling to those who were governed by impressions of the past and did not feel the onset of the new adverse tide in human affairs.

  Meanwhile British troops were fighting hard in the centre of Athens, hemmed in and outnumbered. We were engaged in house-to-house combat with an enemy at least four-fifths of whom were in plain clothes. Unlike many of the Allied newspaper correspondents in Athens, our troops had no difficulty in understanding the issues involved. Papandreou and his remaining Ministers had lost all authority. Previous proposals to set up a Regency under the Archbishop Damaskinos had been rejected by the King, but on December 10 Mr. Leeper revived the idea. King George was however against it, and we were reluctant at the time to press him.

  Amid these tumults Field-Marshal Alexander and Mr. Harold Macmillan arrived in Athens. On December 12 the War Cabinet gave Alexander a free hand in all military measures. The 4th British Division, on passage from Italy to Egypt, was diverted, and their arrival during the latter half of the month in due course turned the scale, but in the meantime street-fighting swayed to and fro on an enlarging scale. On the 15th Alexander warned me that it was most important to get a settlement quickly, and the be
st chance was through the Archbishop. “Otherwise,” he telegraphed, “I fear if rebel resistance continues at the same intensity as at present I shall have to send further large reinforcements from the Italian front to make sure of clearing the whole of Piræus-Athens, which is fifty square miles of houses.”

  A few days later I resolved to go and see for myself.

  It was December 24, and we had a family and children’s party for Christmas Eve. We had a Christmas tree—one sent from the President—and were all looking forward to a pleasant evening, the brighter perhaps because surrounded by dark shadows. But when I had finished reading my telegrams I felt sure I ought to fly to Athens, see the situation on the spot, and especially make the acquaintance of the Archbishop, around whom so much was turning. I therefore set the telephone working and arranged for an aeroplane to be ready at Northolt that night. I also spoilt Mr. Eden’s Christmas by the proposal, which he immediately accepted, that he should come too. After having been much reproached by the family for deserting the party, I motored to meet Eden at Northolt, where the Skymaster which General Arnold had recently sent me waited, attentive and efficient. We slept soundly until about eight o’clock, when we landed at Naples to refuel. Here were several generals, and we all had breakfast together or at adjoining tables. Breakfast is not my best hour of the day, and the news we had both from the Italian front and from Athens was bleak. In an hour we were off again, and in perfect weather flew over the Peloponnese and the Straits of Corinth. Athens and the Piræus unfolded like a map beneath us on a gigantic scale, and we gazed down upon it wondering who held what.