Part Three: Megali Lost -- the 1000 Day Siege of Greece, Jan 1944 - Sept 1946
Greece has entered her darkest hour.
The Five-Point Pact, the alliance of Germany, Hungary, Japan, Italy, and Greece that once spanned the Old World and Pacific is all but lost. Everything east of the Rhine River has been consumed by the Red Army, the Third Reich having crumbled into dust. In the west a Franco-British Union has been established, in an attempt to keep a counterweight to Soviet aggression alive on mainland Europe.
But the war is not yet done. Germany has fallen, Hungary has been overrun, but together Italy and Greece fight defensive actions in the south of their countries-- and on the other side of the world Japan begins using suicide attacks in order to keep the American fleets at bay.
Despite all the hardship, however, the Greek people remain united. Of the land not yet occupied by the Red Army, food supplies are strained but keeping up with demand, and support for the ruling People's Party grows with each passing day. Running on a platform declaring they will "keep Communism out of Greece", the People's Party eventually takes nearly 60% of the vote in the 1944 election, guaranteeing stability behind the Greek lines.
On January 30th, 1944 Greece finally stands alone in Europe. Having fought an intensive defensive action around the city of Napoli, its fall finally breaks the back of Italian resistance. On January 28th Mussolini is shot by partisans while making preparations to flee into Sicily. On his way to a hospital through the chaos consuming the south of Italy he disappears, marking the start of a lingering mystery-- and a thousand different conspiracy theories.
A handful of Italian fascists will relocate to occupied Cyprus, where they will be sustained by the occasional supply ship from Greece until the British arrive to retake the island, but otherwise the withered corpse of Italian fascism officially enters the history books.
And Greece prepares for renewed onslaughts.
Onslaughts that never come.
Months pass, then years, with the Allies ignoring 'Fortress Greece' entirely, while the Soviets seem content to only launch constant probing attacks, keeping up the pressure but doing little to actually break through the fortified Greek lines. The Greek people are left asking: 'why?' The answer, as is the answer to all questionable acts of state-- is politics.
The Allied powers regard Greece as little more than a lingering sideshow, with Britain's newspapers in particular lambasting "Stalin's Dirty Little War". As such, the elected officials of the Allied nations are wholly against intervening in Greece, as the tenacity of her defenders had undoubtedly been proven, and would thus require casualty levels no one could approve of in pursuit of such insignificant results. Any peace offering, meanwhile, is made impossible by Stalin's constant demands they not sign a separate peace-- and the lingering animosity for any of Hitler's former allies. The only token effort launched by Britain is a reduction of the Greek fleet via aircraft, the big ships having nowhere to run.
On the flip side, however, the Soviets are equally unwilling to induce a final end to the conflict. They certainly have the willingness to take casualties, after all, but the problem is the political aspect of such a grinding offensive-- it could humiliate the Red Army, at a time when tensions along the Rhine River are especially intense. Stalin, perhaps succumbing to another bought of paranoia, is thus unwilling to commit to any intensive military action against the besieged nation.
Greece may have been alone in Europe for almost two years by November 23rd, 1945-- but she becomes truly orphaned throughout the world on that day, when Japan surrenders unconditionally. Having been invaded in the north by Britain and the south by the United States, its unclear how much control Emperor Hirohito retained while being surrounded by so many hard-liners-- but whatever the case he perishes along with the last vestiges of Japanese militarism, during a brutal final assault on the Imperial Palace.
By early February 1946, the Great Siege of Greece has been ongoing for over 900 days. Greek troops had grown confident in their defensive emplacements and the country's political position. Further back, in Athens and the Peloponnese, life has regained a sense of normality. Luxuries brought in via imports are things of the past, but the common folk are well fed, safe, and most imporantly free of Communist oversight. The Greek government, despite the paternalistic inclinations of the People's Party has even embraced a series of liberal reforms, keeping pace with similar developments in the Franco-British Union.
But Greece's high command remains committed to the dream of total liberation, and finally an opportunity presents itself. Reports from the front lines suddenly pour into Athens, with everyone reporting the same thing-- the Soviets had pulled most of their troops out! Just where they were being sent, or if perhaps this was intended as an elaborate ruse are simply unknown, and now the Greek High Command must make a fatal decision: do they go back onto the offensive?
Nearly a week passes, each day marked with a flurry of communication between generals at the front and King George II's court burrowed beneath the Acropolis in the heart of Athens. In the end, however, the decision is made-- this opportunity cannot be lost. Even if the army fails to hold any seized land, it can at least strip it as thoroughly as possible, thus bringing further supplies back into the siege lines.
The initial attacks on Gardiki are a resounding success. In short order Greek troops reenter the long lost first defensive line, to the tune of the Greek Anthem being played by accompanying military bands. From there the advance spreads out, picking up the pace. Two entire Soviet rifle divisions are soon surrounded and destroyed, leaving for the time being only a singular tank division and a local Soviet headquarters in the area who through intercepted transmissions can be heard begging for reinforcements.
News of the Greek success spreads like wildfire throughout the nation, Europe, and the world. In occupied Tirane and Salonica patriotic citizen mobs rise up, lynching Soviet bureaucrats and appeasers wherever they can be found. London's newspapers carry full page stories on the "Greek Beast Escaping its Cage," and "the Return of the Second World War." Shocked Americans, many serving along the border with Soviet-occupied Germany, seemingly wake up overnight to the continued presence of an Axis power still clinging to life.
Only in Moscow is there silence, with no one willing to criticize the decision that allowed for such a stunning reversal.
By the 15th of March the Greeks have retaken Tirane in the west, while street fighting in the east marks the 2nd Battle for Salonica. To Moscow's humiliation Greek troops have even passed across the mountainous border with Yugoslavia, again occupying a sliver of the nation they had once felled alongside the Germans.
But this is no longer a race to the north. Soviet reinforcements are pouring into the area, whipped along by commanders fearing retribution if the Greek situation is not brought under control.
The fighting quickly turns brutual in Tirane, where Greek cavalry units conduct a house-by-house defense of the newly liberated city against a full Soviet tank division. Lacking any weapons heavier than rifles, the Greeks nevertheless use the cramped environment to their full advantage, galloping down alleyways and between streets, constantly flanking advancing Soviet troops. Every house becomes a fortress, ever road a moat. It soon becomes clear the Soviets will win out, but the losses they're sustaining are intensive.
The Fall of Tirane marks the official end of the Greek advance. In the east the attack on Salonica falters, the patriotic groups that had risen in rebellion crushed by the return of frontline Soviet troops. What follows is a massacre, those Greeks that had showed their continued support of the regime in Athens being rounded up and shipped east en masse. Others are simply shot, and thousands more disappear in the confusion.
And still more Soviet divisions unload from railyards in southern Yugoslavia, for the march South to the front. The writing is on the wall, and soon enough the Greek Army expects it-- they cannot hold the liberated land. A retreat must be made back into the defensive lines along the Attican approach.
Instead of retreating immediately, however, the army digs in. In the portions of Greece that are expected to fall again to the Soviets civilians are implored to evacaute south. The army will hold its positions for as long as possible, hopefully giving them enough time to clear the roads and make it to safety.
The Greek Army is officially asked to hold for five days.
They manage to hold out for almost fourteen days.
By mid-morning on April 4th the front line units beging pulling out, beginning what was intended by the Greek High Command as an orderly fighting retreat back into the defensive positions at the southern base of the country.
The Soviet troops nipping at their heels, however, have other ideas. Once again the Greek lack of motorized troops or armor is used against them, the Soviet divisions simply proving capable of advancing faster than the Greeks could retreat. At times the Greeks are forced to stop and make a stand, so as to allow other divisions to slip through the lines and continue south, but this also opens the halted units to being cut off themselves.
Ten days later, and the Greek retreat is turning into a rout. While fresh divisions have been pulled out of Athens to man the defensive fortifiations along the Attican, and thus prevent a triumphant Soviet advance into the capital, its clear some Greek military units will not make it to safety.
The problem is compounded by the suprise introduction of American troops into the fight. If the Americans intended to merely assist the Soviets or perhaps were intervening to slow the Soviets, and thus allow the Greeks to reach safety remains a mystery-- but whatever the case it does by the Hellenic army a precious few hours. The Americans then halt their attacks, having seized the port of Kerkyra and little else.
Five months after the first troops set foot north of the Attican defensive lines, the Greeks return to their defensive positions in a decidedly worse position.
While the offensive had achieved a remarkable early success, and had raised troop morale across the board, it had also focused the world's attention on the "bleeding wound in Greece" for the first time in years. Soviet and Allied politicans, often found bickering over the scraps of Europe, finally find common ground in the shared desire to finally end the Greek siege.
The Soviets commit three entire Fronts (Army Groups) to the effort, the intent being to smash through the fabled Greek defensive lines with overwhelming force. Its not immediately clear if that will prove enough, however, even with the losses sustained by the Greek army during the offensive.
The British meanwhile finally concentrate their massive airforce on Greek industry, which had already been faltering due to the total lack of imports coming in. Now, for the first time ever, British bombers fly over Athens, pounding its infrastructure and factories. British losses due to the extensive heavy anti-air batteries that sprout from nearly every Greek rooftop are extreme, but the British people are finally united with the desire to end the war.
In early July 1946 the British demonstrate just how deeply that commitment ran. Shocking the world, British troops storm ashore in Argos, an unprotected portion of the Greek Peloponnese. If Athens proper served as the besieged nation's soul, the rural areas now being trod by British troops had been Greece's heart.
In short order the British seize port facilities, then drive north, linking up with Soviets crossing the now abandoned Gulf of Corinth. The few Greek troops in the area, consisting primarily of garrison units and a cavalry division, flee east. The western approaches to Athens had been covered with defensive fortifications, but they were both less extensive than those built to the north, and now the possibility loomed of a two-sided assault upon the city.
As if to embolden those fears, soon after the Soviets launch a fresh offensive, powering through and again seizing the first Greek defensive line. At the second, however, they are again savaged and then turned back by the heavy emplacements, overlapping fields of fire, and utterly accurate artillery barrages the Greeks could call up.
The three year anniversary of the start of the Greek siege finds the beleaguered nation beset on all sides. To the north the Soviets slam again and again into the Greek defenses, taking terrible losses but forcing the bulk of the Greek army to remain tied down in the defense of the last trenches before entering the suburbs of Athens itself.
To the south and west the British are wrapping up their occupation of the Peloponnese, marking the end of agricultural production for the Greek state. Their attacks upon the relatively week defensive positions along the road to Athens are less intensive than the Soviet attempts, although many in the Greek High Command expect further surprises as all eyes fall upon Athens itself. There, from the air, the British continue to pound day and night.
The city, long reinforced and prepared for a grueling siege, is now truly experiencing it. Food rationing grows stricter every week, so much so in fact that the Greek High Command is temporarily relocated to Chalkida province-- the last Greek province except Athens itself not currently on the front lines.
Despite the adversity, the Greek Army again demonstrates its remarkable defensive skills. With many soldiers having now been in direct service since 1938, the Greek Army is widely seen as the most experienced in the world. Its non-commissioned officers in particular are famed for their battle-hardened skill, and their capability for inspiring "do-or-die" defensive actions even in the case of overwhelming odds.
Even while having to thin out the front line troops to account for the new British threat to the south, the Hellenic Army continues to hold. Every Soviet attack comes away with appalling casualties, the Greek positions proving so deady many Soviet troops only advance under the threat of subsequent execution of they refuse. The British, facing far less substantial static formations along the southern approach to Athens nevertheless appears just as unwilling to make the attempt.
A month passes, then two. The Greek army struggles to maintain adequate supplies for the city and its own troops, but the Greek state endures.
The British, however, are relentless. Having committed to finishing off their foes once and for all, everything now relies upon accomplishing that as soon as possible-- both to placate the doves in Parliment, and to convince the Americans to assist with their crack infantry divisions returning from the war against Japan.
To achieve that goal, Britain would need to find a novel approach to breaching the defensive fortifactions Greece had perfected, and that had given the Soviets so much trouble thus far. The answer? Avoid them entirely. Amphibious attacks are instead planned, always a dangerous option when landing upon occupied and defended shores, but here it appears safer than attacking the defensive lines directly.
The first such attack is attempted upon the defense works to the south-west of Athens, where the last remaining Greek marine division and a comparable infantry unit are occupying pillboxes and bunkers running straight across the rapidly narrowing landmass. When British forces storm ashore from the beaches, however, they're quickly caught by surprise. Turning to engage enemies now slipping into and behind the defensive forts, the Greeks then have to deal with limited frontal attacks from land based units as well. In the air British planes pound the Greek positions, while at sea battleships roam the coast, providing shore bombardments with complete immunity.
Despite putting up fanatic resistence, the Greeks are eventually driven back. Every step forward by their enemies, however, is paid for in blood-- even with an eventual 10-1 advantage in manpower.
Nafplio is lost, and for the first time enemy forces enter into the suburbs of Athens. Early probing attacks, perhaps intending to take the city by assault while the main Greek army units remained deployed north against the Soviets, finds a grim picture awaiting them however: Athens was a more fortress than city by this point.
The defense-system built up continually in some form or another since 1936 was centered around the five main hills in the city, the Hill of the Pynx, Filopappos Hill, Lykavittos Hill, Areopagus Hill, and the rocky escarpment known the world over as the Parthenon. Each bristled with machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, and artillery-- with many bricked in, allowing defenders to fire through tiny gunports. Others are built on retractable mounts, so that they could be rolled out, fired, and then retreat back into relative safety. Heavy bunkers and stockpiles of supplies are buried nearby as well, allowing both the civilian population and troops to take shelter.
Between the hills every house and city block has been turned into a miniature fortress, allowing even small teams of men to hold them indefinitely. Barbed wire and barricades along the roads make them impassible to vehicles, while elsewhere heavy concrete tank traps are emplaced to prevent armor from moving forward. Nearly every basement has been converted into an air raid shelter as well, again for both troops and civilians.
The only large open space is the National Gardens, capped with the Parliament Building at one end. Here the only mobile unit the Greeks had ever utilized, the famed Ippiko Merarkhia, had been stationed to allow them some room to maneuver.
If all else failed the final stand would be made around the Pantheon itself, under which King George II's bunker and additional resources for the eventual return of Army Command could be found.
Greece is beset by her enemies on every side, on land, sea, and air. Her allies are years dead, their once great armies ground into dust by the murderous Slavs and treacherous allies. The economy of Free Greece has ground to a halt, with only a handful of services still provided. Her civilians shelter in bunkers and air raid shelters, preparing for the inevitable roar of artillery. There is little hope.
But the Greek spirit endures. The army stands ready to make its final stand. The civilian population, those still free of occupation, are prepared to endure the worst. And at the center of Athens King George II continues to make his nightly speeches, delivered over radio. He makes the same demand he had always made for ending the war-- a free Greece without Communist shackles or Capitalist strangulation. A free Greece encompassing all those of Greek descent, and those former territories the illustrious Byzantine Empire had once ruled over. A free Greece capable of pursuing her destiny, holding forth the light of liberty even Muhammad's blood thirsty hordes had fail to extinguish in 1453!
If the Greek Dream, if the Megali Idea must end, it will not go quietly into the night! They can take Athens, but they will find only ashes! No peace! No surrender!
Μολών λαβέ! Come and get them!
Greece has entered her darkest hour.
The Five-Point Pact, the alliance of Germany, Hungary, Japan, Italy, and Greece that once spanned the Old World and Pacific is all but lost. Everything east of the Rhine River has been consumed by the Red Army, the Third Reich having crumbled into dust. In the west a Franco-British Union has been established, in an attempt to keep a counterweight to Soviet aggression alive on mainland Europe.
But the war is not yet done. Germany has fallen, Hungary has been overrun, but together Italy and Greece fight defensive actions in the south of their countries-- and on the other side of the world Japan begins using suicide attacks in order to keep the American fleets at bay.
Despite all the hardship, however, the Greek people remain united. Of the land not yet occupied by the Red Army, food supplies are strained but keeping up with demand, and support for the ruling People's Party grows with each passing day. Running on a platform declaring they will "keep Communism out of Greece", the People's Party eventually takes nearly 60% of the vote in the 1944 election, guaranteeing stability behind the Greek lines.
On January 30th, 1944 Greece finally stands alone in Europe. Having fought an intensive defensive action around the city of Napoli, its fall finally breaks the back of Italian resistance. On January 28th Mussolini is shot by partisans while making preparations to flee into Sicily. On his way to a hospital through the chaos consuming the south of Italy he disappears, marking the start of a lingering mystery-- and a thousand different conspiracy theories.
A handful of Italian fascists will relocate to occupied Cyprus, where they will be sustained by the occasional supply ship from Greece until the British arrive to retake the island, but otherwise the withered corpse of Italian fascism officially enters the history books.
And Greece prepares for renewed onslaughts.
Onslaughts that never come.
Months pass, then years, with the Allies ignoring 'Fortress Greece' entirely, while the Soviets seem content to only launch constant probing attacks, keeping up the pressure but doing little to actually break through the fortified Greek lines. The Greek people are left asking: 'why?' The answer, as is the answer to all questionable acts of state-- is politics.
The Allied powers regard Greece as little more than a lingering sideshow, with Britain's newspapers in particular lambasting "Stalin's Dirty Little War". As such, the elected officials of the Allied nations are wholly against intervening in Greece, as the tenacity of her defenders had undoubtedly been proven, and would thus require casualty levels no one could approve of in pursuit of such insignificant results. Any peace offering, meanwhile, is made impossible by Stalin's constant demands they not sign a separate peace-- and the lingering animosity for any of Hitler's former allies. The only token effort launched by Britain is a reduction of the Greek fleet via aircraft, the big ships having nowhere to run.
On the flip side, however, the Soviets are equally unwilling to induce a final end to the conflict. They certainly have the willingness to take casualties, after all, but the problem is the political aspect of such a grinding offensive-- it could humiliate the Red Army, at a time when tensions along the Rhine River are especially intense. Stalin, perhaps succumbing to another bought of paranoia, is thus unwilling to commit to any intensive military action against the besieged nation.
Greece may have been alone in Europe for almost two years by November 23rd, 1945-- but she becomes truly orphaned throughout the world on that day, when Japan surrenders unconditionally. Having been invaded in the north by Britain and the south by the United States, its unclear how much control Emperor Hirohito retained while being surrounded by so many hard-liners-- but whatever the case he perishes along with the last vestiges of Japanese militarism, during a brutal final assault on the Imperial Palace.
By early February 1946, the Great Siege of Greece has been ongoing for over 900 days. Greek troops had grown confident in their defensive emplacements and the country's political position. Further back, in Athens and the Peloponnese, life has regained a sense of normality. Luxuries brought in via imports are things of the past, but the common folk are well fed, safe, and most imporantly free of Communist oversight. The Greek government, despite the paternalistic inclinations of the People's Party has even embraced a series of liberal reforms, keeping pace with similar developments in the Franco-British Union.
But Greece's high command remains committed to the dream of total liberation, and finally an opportunity presents itself. Reports from the front lines suddenly pour into Athens, with everyone reporting the same thing-- the Soviets had pulled most of their troops out! Just where they were being sent, or if perhaps this was intended as an elaborate ruse are simply unknown, and now the Greek High Command must make a fatal decision: do they go back onto the offensive?
Nearly a week passes, each day marked with a flurry of communication between generals at the front and King George II's court burrowed beneath the Acropolis in the heart of Athens. In the end, however, the decision is made-- this opportunity cannot be lost. Even if the army fails to hold any seized land, it can at least strip it as thoroughly as possible, thus bringing further supplies back into the siege lines.
The initial attacks on Gardiki are a resounding success. In short order Greek troops reenter the long lost first defensive line, to the tune of the Greek Anthem being played by accompanying military bands. From there the advance spreads out, picking up the pace. Two entire Soviet rifle divisions are soon surrounded and destroyed, leaving for the time being only a singular tank division and a local Soviet headquarters in the area who through intercepted transmissions can be heard begging for reinforcements.
News of the Greek success spreads like wildfire throughout the nation, Europe, and the world. In occupied Tirane and Salonica patriotic citizen mobs rise up, lynching Soviet bureaucrats and appeasers wherever they can be found. London's newspapers carry full page stories on the "Greek Beast Escaping its Cage," and "the Return of the Second World War." Shocked Americans, many serving along the border with Soviet-occupied Germany, seemingly wake up overnight to the continued presence of an Axis power still clinging to life.
Only in Moscow is there silence, with no one willing to criticize the decision that allowed for such a stunning reversal.
By the 15th of March the Greeks have retaken Tirane in the west, while street fighting in the east marks the 2nd Battle for Salonica. To Moscow's humiliation Greek troops have even passed across the mountainous border with Yugoslavia, again occupying a sliver of the nation they had once felled alongside the Germans.
But this is no longer a race to the north. Soviet reinforcements are pouring into the area, whipped along by commanders fearing retribution if the Greek situation is not brought under control.
The fighting quickly turns brutual in Tirane, where Greek cavalry units conduct a house-by-house defense of the newly liberated city against a full Soviet tank division. Lacking any weapons heavier than rifles, the Greeks nevertheless use the cramped environment to their full advantage, galloping down alleyways and between streets, constantly flanking advancing Soviet troops. Every house becomes a fortress, ever road a moat. It soon becomes clear the Soviets will win out, but the losses they're sustaining are intensive.
The Fall of Tirane marks the official end of the Greek advance. In the east the attack on Salonica falters, the patriotic groups that had risen in rebellion crushed by the return of frontline Soviet troops. What follows is a massacre, those Greeks that had showed their continued support of the regime in Athens being rounded up and shipped east en masse. Others are simply shot, and thousands more disappear in the confusion.
And still more Soviet divisions unload from railyards in southern Yugoslavia, for the march South to the front. The writing is on the wall, and soon enough the Greek Army expects it-- they cannot hold the liberated land. A retreat must be made back into the defensive lines along the Attican approach.
Instead of retreating immediately, however, the army digs in. In the portions of Greece that are expected to fall again to the Soviets civilians are implored to evacaute south. The army will hold its positions for as long as possible, hopefully giving them enough time to clear the roads and make it to safety.
The Greek Army is officially asked to hold for five days.
They manage to hold out for almost fourteen days.
By mid-morning on April 4th the front line units beging pulling out, beginning what was intended by the Greek High Command as an orderly fighting retreat back into the defensive positions at the southern base of the country.
The Soviet troops nipping at their heels, however, have other ideas. Once again the Greek lack of motorized troops or armor is used against them, the Soviet divisions simply proving capable of advancing faster than the Greeks could retreat. At times the Greeks are forced to stop and make a stand, so as to allow other divisions to slip through the lines and continue south, but this also opens the halted units to being cut off themselves.
Ten days later, and the Greek retreat is turning into a rout. While fresh divisions have been pulled out of Athens to man the defensive fortifiations along the Attican, and thus prevent a triumphant Soviet advance into the capital, its clear some Greek military units will not make it to safety.
The problem is compounded by the suprise introduction of American troops into the fight. If the Americans intended to merely assist the Soviets or perhaps were intervening to slow the Soviets, and thus allow the Greeks to reach safety remains a mystery-- but whatever the case it does by the Hellenic army a precious few hours. The Americans then halt their attacks, having seized the port of Kerkyra and little else.
Five months after the first troops set foot north of the Attican defensive lines, the Greeks return to their defensive positions in a decidedly worse position.
While the offensive had achieved a remarkable early success, and had raised troop morale across the board, it had also focused the world's attention on the "bleeding wound in Greece" for the first time in years. Soviet and Allied politicans, often found bickering over the scraps of Europe, finally find common ground in the shared desire to finally end the Greek siege.
The Soviets commit three entire Fronts (Army Groups) to the effort, the intent being to smash through the fabled Greek defensive lines with overwhelming force. Its not immediately clear if that will prove enough, however, even with the losses sustained by the Greek army during the offensive.
The British meanwhile finally concentrate their massive airforce on Greek industry, which had already been faltering due to the total lack of imports coming in. Now, for the first time ever, British bombers fly over Athens, pounding its infrastructure and factories. British losses due to the extensive heavy anti-air batteries that sprout from nearly every Greek rooftop are extreme, but the British people are finally united with the desire to end the war.
In early July 1946 the British demonstrate just how deeply that commitment ran. Shocking the world, British troops storm ashore in Argos, an unprotected portion of the Greek Peloponnese. If Athens proper served as the besieged nation's soul, the rural areas now being trod by British troops had been Greece's heart.
In short order the British seize port facilities, then drive north, linking up with Soviets crossing the now abandoned Gulf of Corinth. The few Greek troops in the area, consisting primarily of garrison units and a cavalry division, flee east. The western approaches to Athens had been covered with defensive fortifications, but they were both less extensive than those built to the north, and now the possibility loomed of a two-sided assault upon the city.
As if to embolden those fears, soon after the Soviets launch a fresh offensive, powering through and again seizing the first Greek defensive line. At the second, however, they are again savaged and then turned back by the heavy emplacements, overlapping fields of fire, and utterly accurate artillery barrages the Greeks could call up.
The three year anniversary of the start of the Greek siege finds the beleaguered nation beset on all sides. To the north the Soviets slam again and again into the Greek defenses, taking terrible losses but forcing the bulk of the Greek army to remain tied down in the defense of the last trenches before entering the suburbs of Athens itself.
To the south and west the British are wrapping up their occupation of the Peloponnese, marking the end of agricultural production for the Greek state. Their attacks upon the relatively week defensive positions along the road to Athens are less intensive than the Soviet attempts, although many in the Greek High Command expect further surprises as all eyes fall upon Athens itself. There, from the air, the British continue to pound day and night.
The city, long reinforced and prepared for a grueling siege, is now truly experiencing it. Food rationing grows stricter every week, so much so in fact that the Greek High Command is temporarily relocated to Chalkida province-- the last Greek province except Athens itself not currently on the front lines.
Despite the adversity, the Greek Army again demonstrates its remarkable defensive skills. With many soldiers having now been in direct service since 1938, the Greek Army is widely seen as the most experienced in the world. Its non-commissioned officers in particular are famed for their battle-hardened skill, and their capability for inspiring "do-or-die" defensive actions even in the case of overwhelming odds.
Even while having to thin out the front line troops to account for the new British threat to the south, the Hellenic Army continues to hold. Every Soviet attack comes away with appalling casualties, the Greek positions proving so deady many Soviet troops only advance under the threat of subsequent execution of they refuse. The British, facing far less substantial static formations along the southern approach to Athens nevertheless appears just as unwilling to make the attempt.
A month passes, then two. The Greek army struggles to maintain adequate supplies for the city and its own troops, but the Greek state endures.
The British, however, are relentless. Having committed to finishing off their foes once and for all, everything now relies upon accomplishing that as soon as possible-- both to placate the doves in Parliment, and to convince the Americans to assist with their crack infantry divisions returning from the war against Japan.
To achieve that goal, Britain would need to find a novel approach to breaching the defensive fortifactions Greece had perfected, and that had given the Soviets so much trouble thus far. The answer? Avoid them entirely. Amphibious attacks are instead planned, always a dangerous option when landing upon occupied and defended shores, but here it appears safer than attacking the defensive lines directly.
The first such attack is attempted upon the defense works to the south-west of Athens, where the last remaining Greek marine division and a comparable infantry unit are occupying pillboxes and bunkers running straight across the rapidly narrowing landmass. When British forces storm ashore from the beaches, however, they're quickly caught by surprise. Turning to engage enemies now slipping into and behind the defensive forts, the Greeks then have to deal with limited frontal attacks from land based units as well. In the air British planes pound the Greek positions, while at sea battleships roam the coast, providing shore bombardments with complete immunity.
Despite putting up fanatic resistence, the Greeks are eventually driven back. Every step forward by their enemies, however, is paid for in blood-- even with an eventual 10-1 advantage in manpower.
Nafplio is lost, and for the first time enemy forces enter into the suburbs of Athens. Early probing attacks, perhaps intending to take the city by assault while the main Greek army units remained deployed north against the Soviets, finds a grim picture awaiting them however: Athens was a more fortress than city by this point.
The defense-system built up continually in some form or another since 1936 was centered around the five main hills in the city, the Hill of the Pynx, Filopappos Hill, Lykavittos Hill, Areopagus Hill, and the rocky escarpment known the world over as the Parthenon. Each bristled with machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, and artillery-- with many bricked in, allowing defenders to fire through tiny gunports. Others are built on retractable mounts, so that they could be rolled out, fired, and then retreat back into relative safety. Heavy bunkers and stockpiles of supplies are buried nearby as well, allowing both the civilian population and troops to take shelter.
Between the hills every house and city block has been turned into a miniature fortress, allowing even small teams of men to hold them indefinitely. Barbed wire and barricades along the roads make them impassible to vehicles, while elsewhere heavy concrete tank traps are emplaced to prevent armor from moving forward. Nearly every basement has been converted into an air raid shelter as well, again for both troops and civilians.
The only large open space is the National Gardens, capped with the Parliament Building at one end. Here the only mobile unit the Greeks had ever utilized, the famed Ippiko Merarkhia, had been stationed to allow them some room to maneuver.
If all else failed the final stand would be made around the Pantheon itself, under which King George II's bunker and additional resources for the eventual return of Army Command could be found.
Greece is beset by her enemies on every side, on land, sea, and air. Her allies are years dead, their once great armies ground into dust by the murderous Slavs and treacherous allies. The economy of Free Greece has ground to a halt, with only a handful of services still provided. Her civilians shelter in bunkers and air raid shelters, preparing for the inevitable roar of artillery. There is little hope.
But the Greek spirit endures. The army stands ready to make its final stand. The civilian population, those still free of occupation, are prepared to endure the worst. And at the center of Athens King George II continues to make his nightly speeches, delivered over radio. He makes the same demand he had always made for ending the war-- a free Greece without Communist shackles or Capitalist strangulation. A free Greece encompassing all those of Greek descent, and those former territories the illustrious Byzantine Empire had once ruled over. A free Greece capable of pursuing her destiny, holding forth the light of liberty even Muhammad's blood thirsty hordes had fail to extinguish in 1453!
If the Greek Dream, if the Megali Idea must end, it will not go quietly into the night! They can take Athens, but they will find only ashes! No peace! No surrender!
Μολών λαβέ! Come and get them!
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