Noose – Chapter 10

Noose – Chapter 10

Life and judgment of the generals.

1.

One night before welcoming the New Year, General Tsaruhas lay awake and at about five o’clock in the morning got up and placed a small pot filled with water on the fireplace to boil himself some tea. He ate some toasted bread (paksimadi) with butter and then lit a cigarette. He felt energetic but a bit unstable. He then picked up a detailed farewell letter from Rula, which he had already read. He rolled over on the thick mattress filled with dry ferns, bit the upper part of his hand and began to read: “Dear General, I am puzzled as to why you did not want to remain in my heart?” He paused, adjusted himself and continued: “Live life now because we don’t know what will happen tomorrow... I expected you to be a lover with a vivid imagination, with many passions and strengths, and you, what did you do? Every evening you picked up communist propaganda written by the Party Leader Zahariadis and, by the dim light of the kerosene lamp, read it over and over again; you old fox, that’s how you earned your rank as a General…, and that’s how you got the best underground barracks in Gramos – Tsaruhas’s barracks in Likorahi Camp, the most important barracks in the area. I, on the other hand, am a human being who loves people so I have decided to return and be with them...” He looked up, thought for a moment and continued reading: “But I am troubled, like the 320 young people who have been brought here to your Headquarters from Macedonia for you to send into chaos and to ask of them to achieve the unachievable, here in the wild where there is no rule of law. General, your commitment to your Party makes you very cruel. I did not know that this would be my first such love, and perhaps last in this world. With its disappearance I was tossed into the abyss. Despite my great suffering in this damp underground barracks I mysteriously found serenity in the thought of being back with those ‘wild boys’. But please tell me honestly, for once, did you renew your old love for Vangelitsa after my arrival as your hostess at your barracks in Gramos? Now that I am not there you can do and say whatever you want, even in your dreams, you can even spread yourself all over the barracks.” The general smiled. Even though he was a hunchback he persistently tried not to stoop. He also combed his brownish hair up to cover his bald head. He got up and looked in the mirror that was hanging on a wooden post and said: “Here is an old Party member who still rejoices in every new day and in each new step toward Communism, and the Party knows how to reward. Now I am General of the famous Democratic Army of Greece (DAG).” As he kept looking at himself in the mirror he caught sight of the black bags hanging under his eyes and his sunken and sagging cheeks. But at that very moment something strange happened; the wooden post with his mirror hanging on it fell and the mirror broke. But, even though he was a staunch atheist, he said to himself: “A broken mirror brings seven years of bad luck.” He then put the wooden post back, tapped on it and said: “For good luck. When your luck favours you and you want to talk about it, knock on wood. That way the evil spirits will not be able to hear what you say and will not become jealous.” These words he remembered from his grandmother. At one time people believed that spirits lived in trees because the brilliance of lightening could not penetrate the tree. The General also remembered that the church provided shelter to all kinds of people hiding from all kinds of evil, because the church’s safety was symbolized by the church’s great big wooden door. Unfortunately, now the General found himself inside a barracks without a door. When he snapped out of his thoughts the General said: “God’s work.” It was the last day of the year 1947. The General remembered being with the Leader Zahariadis and with General Markos that crazy night, preparing to welcome the New Year 1948. It had become a tradition for the leadership to gather together in the cold cave after a win, but this time the occasion was to welcome the New Year.

It was night. The huge tree stump extracted from under the snow was smoldering in the fireplace in the darkness of the underground barracks. In the quiet the General was listening to the gurgling sounds of water moving underground, coming from all directions. He was listening to the sounds of all kinds of birds outside and to the continuous roar coming from inside his head. It was fear. Thick smells of roasted pig, lamb and Kalamata olives were coming from the festively decorated cave. General Tsaruhas became upset when he remembered the conduct of all those bearded officers, commanders and political commissars and their screaming every time they drank a shot of Vodka or a glass of retsina. He was especially upset seeing the men drinking vodka, as a specialty only at the Leader’s receptions. All the time these men and women were chomping on something: baked lamb, roasted chicken, even on an entire roasted pig. There was so much chomping there was no time for the men to wipe their greasy beards. And from their greedy chomping the men’s bellies and women’s thighs and backsides grew quickly. After much chomping, some would come out of the cave to get some fresh air and stretch, moving snowflakes out of the way and preventing them from falling in their natural order. Some came out to talk about the beautiful women belonging to the generals. Rula naturally was always in their conversations and in their desire to roll with her in the snow. These people had a great desire to portray themselves as fighters of the new society. This was because they were the new society’s first members and new masters of the dim underground barracks. These underground barracks dwellers wanted very much to be seen and talked about as the “sly ones”, and from their own stupidity they created a monument of their “slyness.” Their own “fraud” they called freedom, from which there was a need to conclude that everything in the realm of freedom and limitless opportunities led towards communism. One of these underground barracks dwellers belonging to high command, working on a long study, wished to ask a question: “How can a nation endure living in the underground barracks of Gramos?” He came to the conclusion that it was easy to enter, but dreadfully long to exit. It was like having to wait on the platform for a freight train to pass. He established that darkness would become one’s friend and that was a natural living environment of the underground barracks, which was not recommended for people to live in because, over time, they would develop the characteristics of a wicked mole. Another phenomenon, explained in the study with additional analysis and support, was the plentiful consumption of greasy foods which had a tendency to damage the brain. Besides causing clogging of blood vessels, greasy food, he alleged, could seriously damage the human brain, therefore large amounts of fat would reduce almost all brain functions. But more so, greasy foods would cause resistance to insulin resulting in diabetes. After reading this extensive study, the Leader became worried. What frightened him the most was the brain damage already incurred in some of the top leadership. Signs of damage apparently showed up in several generals, one of whom was sent for treatment all the way to Siberia. The second thing that caused concern for the Leader was diabetes appearing in his revolutionary activists thus weakening and robbing them of their fighting spirit. The third thing he feared was the spread of fear, or the “black cough” becoming rampant. The Leader went as far as calling this “an alarming situation”. The Leader, however, to the last moment had great hope in General Tsaruhas coming to the rescue. But General Tsaruhas was not there. He was sitting in his barracks silent and all alone, occasionally talking to himself, saying: “Now the Leader sitting calmly in the ‘cave’ is cheerful, working on a trusted plan and I’m sure he is asking: ‘Where is General Tsaruhas with the beautiful Rula, to shine’...?”

General Tsaruhas thought for a moment. His hand automatically reached for his waist. He pulled out his revolver and placed it close to his temple. He kept silent. “No! No!...” he then said to himself. “It might still leave me alive and I will then have to suffer.” He then raised his eyes to the ceiling of the barracks and kept looking. It was a moonless night. He ran his fingers over the ammunition hanging on the wall and said, “I am so ashamed and so sad.” Tsaruhas found himself in a vulnerable position without any help... He feared that if he cried out for help his tears would be replaced with a cynical smile. He remembered being at a meeting when a young officer, who had been drinking, approached Rula and said: “Be a lady, be sexy and don’t take life so seriously…” Tsaruhas often thought about writing a farewell letter to the Leader and letting him know how he felt. “How? What kind of letter would that be? Should I tell him the truth? I will write it! I will write a nice letter, no insults, just human feelings, decisive and positive. I will tell him that Rula was a different kind of element in the Party who would have caused us great damage, which is why I sent her away… and I did this because I care...” he said to himself. Looking into the cold December, foggy distance through the machine gun shaft, he sighed and began to cry. He was now all alone and his future looked bleak... The glasses were just raised, not yet empty, when the duty officer, Captain Tassos Karanikas entered the cave and, for a moment, waited for them to finish their drinks before he made the announcement: “Συντροφε Αρχιγε (Comrade Leader) General Tsaruhas was found hanged in his barracks without any signs of violence.” The Leader finished drinking the rest of the Russian vodka out of his shot glass and said: “Did that beautiful Rula leave him? Βρε ο βλακας (that stupid man)?? Playing at being a solid unwavering communist.”

2.

Likorahi, January 15, 1948. A meeting of the Military Council was scheduled to take place in the spacious barracks following the bloody defeat at the city Konitsa. The purpose of this meeting was to analyze military details of the disastrous defeat and determine why the famous Democratic Army of Greece, under the command of General Markos, failed to take the city. The strategic and political goal of the Partisan fighters was very clear; to overthrow the Royal government authority, by defeating the government army. In parallel with that their purpose was to raise awareness, faith and sympathy for DAG. But of no less importance was the secondary goal: to convince the governments of socialist countries that DAG was capable of taking and holding onto towns and thus push for recognition of the newly created Provisional Democratic Government. Logotetis Georgios (Samaridis), Chief of Staff for DAG Military Operations was responsible for reporting on all strategic and tactical views. At the top in Military Headquarters, he was an old - new face in politics, skillful in language, but one got the impression that he was somewhat unfamiliar with military practices. Tragicomically he was responsible for putting together the plan to attack the city Konitsa. When he spoke nothing was understood, he was a lost man in the field of military matters. He had arrived early that day and was pacing in front of General Markos’s barracks feeling somewhat uneasy. With his high qualifications, Logotetis was the kind of man who would put a person under a bad light for the slightest delay to a meeting, especially to a high level meeting such as this one. This was a habit of his after having to work underground. But now Logotetis was trying not to forget what was important in order to emphasize it in front of the senior military forum, that in war there are two areas and the basic peculiarities of warfare are strategy and tactics. These two components accounted for a single and consistent moral system and were the strongest and most important factors in the history of war. And this is exactly what he had written in his notes in his study of military theory when he studied Russian military giants such as Suvorov, Kutuzov, Zhukov and Voroshilov... but he managed to leave out Chapaev, whom he had studied the most, because the scholarship of our generals was almost the same as that of the famous Chapaev. So, Logotetis tried hard to remember that if you fight to win, you need to develop a strict strategy and great tactics. Hanging on the wall in the barracks was a sign on which, written in large letters, was the slogan: “ΠΡΟΣ ΤΗ ΝΙΚΗ! ΖΙΤΩ Ο ∆ΣΕ!” (To victory! Long live DAG!). Zahariadis was used to being cheered but at the moment he was expecting high ranking people from Military Headquarters to arrive, people who were considered to be the best part of that society and the future of the people. The applause shook the barracks as the officers clapped loudly and shouted: “Long live Comrade Zahariadis! Long live the greatest son of the working people!” “Comrades!” said Zahariadis smiling and making a motion for the meeting to begin. Logotetis, who in Headquarters was a respected senior officer, had a great sense of responsibility. He was a strict and trusted man of the Communist Party. They said about him that: He could compel a person to continually rework something for as long as the person was told that it was not perfect. And that was confirmed when Logotetis spread out a large page on the table, exposing the many colorful arrows on it. Logotetis then said: “The red arrows indicate our attacks which should have totally broken the enemy. The green arrows are enemy strongholds.” Someone from the group of attendees spoke up and said: “From a strategic standpoint, the entire action was thoroughly and carefully planned. In one word it was a ‘chapaevski’ attack.” Waving a sheet of paper Logotetis began to read a whole array of definitions that explained the basic rules of military strategy and tactics.

“Real knowledge! I expected this from a smart person like you Comrade Logotetis!” said General Markos as he took a puff of smoke from his “Papastratos” brand of cigarette. The Leader knew General Markos as a man who fanatically moved toward his goal. His readiness was confirmed by the raising of his hands up high and by the thoughtless persistence of a great stubborn person. The Leader once called him the genius of the stubborn people and attributed to him animal characteristics. He often said to him “...General, you are as stubborn as a mule crossing a bridge” or “General, you are a stubborn ass.” But the General continued with business as usual and thought that his stubbornness was as sweet as honey and with it he gave meaning to his career, he defined it, he worked it. He was a nationalist, intelligent, with a great deal of informal education, sly and dangerous. The Leader knew that only a few daft officers still believed that Markos’s stubbornness and his muttering expression were an expression of high intelligence and political maturity, which he used for his own interests while stepping on others. For the Leader his gallop, like the god of Gramos, was and is in the wrong direction. And what bothered the Leader the most was the fact that Markos could not understand who needed to be a god. The Leader followed him for a long time, especially after he had made him a General and the head of DAG. One time he even called him: “A muddy mystic with no particular education or strategic readiness; an ideal type that does not understand things and who has become the masked prisoner of obsessions.” Zahariadis often laughed in discussions with Markos when Markos categorically rejected his views. “Look, General of mine! They speak of you as an ignorant and immature person. You prefer the collective personal experiences of humanity. Up to now I have not met a less objective person than you.”

* * *

The plan was so well-developed that even the entire government with its ministries was functionally established in the gymnasium located inside the city Konitsa. Things were so well planned (which were derived from the functions of ministries) that each ministry would have its own location. Even what was to be written on each door had been decided. For example; First floor: Vice President and Minister of Interior – GIANIS IOANNIDIS. Second floor: President of the Provisional Government of Free Greece and Minister of DAG - General MARKOS VAFIADIS. Third floor: Minister of Justice - MILTIADIS PORFIROGENIS. Third floor: Minister of Foreign Affairs - PETROS RUSOS. The City Hospital: Department of Health - PETROS KOKALIS. The City Hotel: Ministry of Welfare and care for working people -VASSILIS BARDZHIOTAS. The City Café: Ministry of National Economy - LEONIDAS STRINGOS. In one part of the Post Office: Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock -VLANDAS MICHOS.

Logotetis, in a calm tone of voice, explained that the attack involved two battalions with about 3,000 fighters, one independent battalion and four battalions deployed in the depth of the area of the city Konitsa, shown on the diagram with arrows. He took a deep breath, looking a little sad, as if wanting to express some sympathy for the failure, and said: “This is the first time our Democratic Army employed cannon shelling using two cannon batteries deployed over the city,” showing their locations on the diagram. After that he gave information used by General Headquarters showing the defences of the city Konitsa defended and guarded by an infantry battalion, one regiment of armed citizens who loved their city very much and some police forces. “All in all,” he said, “the opponent had less than 2,000 soldiers. The attack began on December 24, 1947 and lasted until January 4, 1948.” He paused and then said: “Losses: our side received 700 partisan casualties of whom 250 died. The government military casualties were 513 soldiers from whom 104 died.” He stood at attention, to show respect, and said: “Our attack on Konitsa failed!”

3.

“It is truly astounding how much you know, Comrade Logotetis!” said General Gusias, adding to the congratulations from the Leader to General Markos. Gusias was a small and fat man, with a nurtured interior, well-fed with the best food and drink. On the exterior he wore an officer’s uniform, sported a moustache, was well groomed, wore cologne and was seamlessly buttoned top to bottom. Up to now he had been unimportant and was feeling a bit hesitant of becoming involved in anything. He was however an old compromiser and a “chef” of political intrigue among the combinations of cadres in the Party. But now, here at Gramos, he had reached the top of an established system of relations and combinations; and he had become dangerous. But now he was at play for technical reasons, even though so far in the military field he had been a totally unremarkable military figure, who would have found it hard to even carry on as a sergeant. The leader used to talk about him saying: “Gusias is a man who can camouflage his anger and express it in an indirect manner in the form of constant talking, spitefulness, nasty and sarcastic responses, ignoring or interrupting conversations etc.” But the leader also knew that Gusias was an excessive drinker and enjoyed his food, which dampened his feelings and alleviated his anger. Some of the officers used to ask one another: “Who is this guy?” And the answer was always: “He is everything, except a politician and a person educated in military matters.” Colonel Sofianos was not completely convinced about the effectiveness of the “plan” but did not know how to approach the subject so he chose a longer route, using different arguments. He said: “In that plan, truly the only things missing are the footsteps of the ants. Everything is neatly drawn by Logotetis. We however fought a war, we were not playing soccer. Real bullets were whizzing over our heads.” Suddenly the barracks echoed with howls of laughter. Everyone laughed, Logotetis observed how everyone’s Adam’s apples danced while they were laughing. The Leader and General Markos also laughed. But then the Leader knocked on the table with his fingers and the barracks went silent. They all stopped laughing like well-trained puppies before their master. The colonel continued: “How many of us will be facing our conscience, just to be able to tell their mothers. And you know how many were gone from our ranks: according to the report, which the officer from Headquarters just showed us, there were about two hundred and forty-five dead and more than fifty heavily wounded by sniper bullets.” After Colonel Sofianos, Georgios Gianulis wanted to speak. Gianulis was an honest man, well-intentioned, firm with the moral values of a good officer. He was open, communicative and desired to be close to the people. He was capable and experienced in guerrilla warfare. He had a good character, strong convictions, strong will and was loyal to the Party. When he got his turn to speak, Gianulis said: “Colonel Sofianos is being perfectly honest. He is an exemplary soldier and he values the fighters like he values himself. We are all disappointed by this plan and from what we can see there is no reason for joy, only for regret having fallen into such a military trap, which we experienced with many casualties and lost many young lives. Our great ambition was applied at the wrong time, ending in disaster. We brought this major failure on ourselves. What kind of excuse are we going to give to the hundreds of mothers whose sons we killed?! This is no less evil than what Herod did in Bethlehem, although this is a smaller figure, it still reminds me of the murder of 14,000 holy children. We will never be able to pay for our sins for what we did to these young and inexperienced children. Colonel Sofianos shivered and said: “Nothing happened today that has not happened before. But today we sacrificed children and scornfully proclaimed them to be heroes. This act that we committed, as leaders of this war, will take us into ruin.”

Markos and Zahariadis’s eyes opened wide because they could not believe what they were hearing coming out of Sofianos’s mouth. The leader drank a few gulps of water and for a long time kept silent. He then spoke: “People?” he asked, baffled and shaken, he continued: “No, no, if it is true then it is a disaster for the Party. Here we need to look for the blame in the military cadres, but by no means are we to blame the Party. It is true that they were not trained soldiers, better said, they were people, children; children under seventeen years old. We don’t need that. It could not happen to us.”

At that moment he refrained from expressing anger. He freed himself of the unproductive frustration and asked to take the stand and properly direct his anger. In his own style and way he wished to explain and shed a different light on the situation in which they discussed military strategy, but suggested they first take a long break.

4.

Their faces looked terrified. There was silence in the barracks and the only thing being heard was the wind howling through the window like a sick dog. “I did not expect such criticisms from you Colonel Sofianis,” said Logotetis with an angry tone in his voice. “But you, yourself told me that you don’t know anything about war and that even at your age you could not have mastered all the military strategies and tactics, like a teacher of geometry.” “I drew all that from reading the work of the great Russian generals. I can’t! I can’t understand why you want me to be disqualified? And what would have happened if I worked with literature from the capitalist countries?” replied Logotetis. The Colonel smiled.