-- WORLD WARS -- - Part 02

August 2, 1944 – The Lerin-Kostur Macedonian battalion is formed in the village Pozdivishcha, Kostur Region. This was due to the persistent demands from the Macedonian people in Lerin and Kostur Regions to have their own army. On August 2nd, 1944 Ilija Dimovski – Gotse along with 30 more Macedonian fighters arrived in Pozdivishcha and took command of the battalion as ordered.

1944 - August 21, Kostur rebels disarmed

Immediately after its creation, the so-called “Slavo-Macedonian” battalions received orders to prepare to liquidate the rebel formations. Then, on August 21, 1944, the Kostur battalion attacked several armed rebel villages and managed to disarm a number of rebels.

At the end of August about 300 rebels from Kostur Region joined the Lerin - Kostur Macedonian battalion which, at the time, belonged to ELAS under the command of Captain Markos. But Captain Markos did not want the Macedonian battalions in Macedonia and demanded that they be transferred to Epirus with new tasks.

1944 - September 10, Greek leads Macedonian battalion

Under orders from ELAS regiment 28, Kozmas Spatos – Amintas, a Greek of Albanian descent, was appointed commander of the battalion. Ilija Dimovski – Gotse was reduced to captain and Hristo Kolentsev was reduced to party secretary of the battalion.

Afraid that the Macedonians would develop their own military capabilities, and perhaps slip out of its control, the CPG leadership made every effort to prevent the renewed Macedonian movement from expanding but for the time the Greek communist tricks did not work.

Stringos, secretary of the CPG Macedonian bureau, questioned Renos’s rational for allowing the formation of a battalion when orders were given to only form one Cheta (unit) in Kostur Region and Karadzhova. Renos replied with a question: “And what will have been the damages if divisions were to be formed?” To which Stringos replied: “You are naïve. If the Macedonians had divisions, then they would not be found in Macedonia…” (Quote taken from a letter from Renos to Dobrivoje Radosavlejvich Ortse. The original text can be found in the Yugoslav military historical archives).

1944 - September 12, CPG stops Macedonians from joining the partisans

One of the measures undertaken was to stop Macedonians from joining the ranks of the Partisans. In a communiqué to the Central committee of the Macedonian Bureau on September 12, 1944 the Greek Communist Party, among other things, said: “Let it be noted that our side reckons it’s time to stop recruiting fighters from the ranks of the Slavo-Macedonians”.

The commissar of the Greek division of the National Liberation Army of Greece for Macedonia, Markos Vafiadis prohibited the Macedonian battalions from inducting new recruits, with aims of ultimately disbanding them.

Decisions made by the Greek party leadership to stop the recruitment of Macedonian fighters into the Macedonian battalions were ignored by the Macedonian leadership. The Macedonian battalions continued to induct volunteer Macedonian recruits into their ranks even though the commissar of the Greek division of the National Liberation Army of Greece for Macedonia, Markos Vafiadis sent them further orders by telegraph to cease the recruitment.

Later ELAS was immediate placed under the command of Georgios Papandreou’s government, in accordance with the September 26, 1944 Caserta agreement, brought into the forefront the question as to what to do with the Macedonian battalions. The rightist government as a direct commander of ELAS did not want to allow the continuation of the Macedonian units because their existence provided undeniable proof that a Macedonian population existed in Greece.

1944 - September 26, Caserta Agreement is signed

Under the Caserta agreement of September 1944, all the resistance forces in Greece were placed under the command of the British.

1944 - Stalin and Churchill discuss Balkan division

October 5th to the 20th 1944, Stalin and Churchill discuss Balkan division of spheres of influence in Yalta.

The Yalta Agreement guaranteed that no socialist system would be implemented in Greece. This Agreement negated and made the need for the Greek Civil War unnecessary. So if the War was not about “installing” socialism in Greece, then there was only one other option left: internationalize the problem, crush the communists and legally ethnically cleanse the ethnic Macedonian population in Greek occupied Macedonia and then replace it with the new Asia Minor colonists and settlers, commonly known as “Prosfigi”.

1944 - Churchill on division of spheres of influence

Here is what Churchill wrote in his memoirs about the Balkans: We arrived in Moscow in the late hours of October 9, 1944. We had our first significant meeting and counseling in the Kremlin the next day, October 10. Attending the meeting were Stalin, Molotov, Eden and myself. The Majors Boris and Popov performed the translations… An agreement was reached on the division of spheres of influence. Under this deal, Greece was entirely left to the British sphere of influence with rights, if necessary, at any time to be able to intervene with all possible means.

Degree of influence as agreed:

Romania, Russia 90% Other 10% Yugoslavia, Russia 50% Other 50% Hungary, Russia 50% Other 50% Bulgaria, Russia 75% Other 25% Greece, Russia 10% Other 90%

1944 - Macedonian battalion surpasses 1500 fighters

Immediately after the “Gotse” and the “Voden” battalions were formed a massive number of Macedonians began to join the ranks of the Partisans. With these kinds of numbers, it was possible to not only form brigades but divisions. When the Gotse battalion was formed it had 400 fighters. About a month later (September 16) it was numbering 650 and by October 10th, 1944 the number jumped to 1,500. This was unprecedented for the resistance movement in Greek occupied Macedonia especially since the CPG had entered into the unfavorable Lebanon agreement with the enemy the “right”.

1944 - Lerin-Kostur Battalion crosses to Yugoslavia

To avoid bloodshed, on October 13th, 1944 the Macedonian battalion crossed over the Greek-Yugoslav border in Prespa and entered the Republic of Macedonia where it was put to good use fighting against the Germans who had entered Bitola-Prilep from Lerin.

1944 - Voden Battalion crosses over to Yugoslavia

The Voden Region Macedonian battalion also facing similar prospects of being disarmed and destroyed, on October 16th, 1944 left Kozhuf Mountain and also crossed over the Greek-Yugoslav border in Kavadartsi Region and entered the Republic of Macedonia.

1944 - Lerin-Kostur Macedonian brigade is born

On October 22, 1944 in the village Dragosh, Bitola Region the battalion, in the presence of Dime Bojanovski – Dize the General Headquarters representative of the People’s Liberation Army of Vardar Macedonia, was reorganized into a brigade called the Lerin-Kostur Region Macedonian brigade (LKRMB). Ilija Dimovski – Gotse was given command of the brigade and Naum Shupurkovski – Leon was appointed as its political commissar.

After the brigade’s formation, the brigade’s command presented a document to the General Headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army of Vardar Macedonia outlining the Macedonian people’s struggle in Aegean Macedonia, the Greek attitude and mistakes made towards the Macedonian People’s national question, etc., which explained the overall situation in Greece and the battalion’s decision and motives for leaving Greece.

In the village Graeshintsa, where the seat of command was situated, the brigade conducted exercises to prepare for operations at the roads and highways connecting Lerin and Bitola to Solun.

The commandant and commissar of LKRMB, Ilija Dimovski – Goce and Naum Shupurkovski – Leon, through their new orders, which they received towards the end of October, 1944 from the political leadership of Macedonia, wrote a letter addressed to the Communist Party of Greece in which they requested from the Greek Party leadership to allow the formation of a Macedonian army with its own Macedonian headquarters, in which there would also be a representative of ELAS, to allow the formation of a Macedonian organization – a Macedonian Aegean National LiberationError! Bookmark not defined. Front with a representative from the Greek National Liberation Front as well as to allow a Macedonian representative in EAM. The Macedonian right to self-determination was to be propagated through the press and the right to unification to be propagated only by word of mouth. Unfortunately these requests were rejected by the Greek Communist Party, qualifying them as provocative, unfriendly and nationalistic demands.

1944 - British armed forces enter Solun before ELAS

On October 31, 1944 a large group of English soldiers in armoured vehicles entered Solun before ELAS did. Three days later the BBC in London announced that British troops had liberated Solun.

1944 - Lerin-Kostur brigade helps liberate Bitola

November 4, 1944 - The Lerin-Kostur Region Macedonian brigade takes part in the liberation of Bitola and on November 18, 1944 it added its first all Aegean shock brigade consisting of fighters from the Voden and Lerin-Kostur Region Macedonian battalions, which separated from ELAS in October 1944 and from the detachment of the “Gotse Delchev” brigade.

The brigade’s commanders at the time of its formation consisted of Ilija Dimovski – Gotse as its commandant, Naum Pejov as its second commandant, Mohailo Keramitdzhiev as its commissar, Vangel Ajanovski -Oche as its second commissar and Steve Georgiev - Dimov as its chief.

During the initiation ceremonies Lazo Kalajdzhiski – Dobri, the commandant of the Bitola Region Military District, surrendered the

flag for his brigade to Ilija Dimovski – Gotse and among other things said: “I surrender this flag to you from the Ilinden Uprising and trust that forever you will guard it until the ultimate liberation of all of Macedonia”. Upon receiving the flag Ilija Dimovski – Gotse replied: “We accept this flag and we will protect it to the last drop of our blood”.

The first military assignment given to the first all Aegean Shock Brigade was to clean up the Balisti bands in the village Ostrets, Bitola Region, which it did in the first ten days of December 1944.

1944 - Battalions combine to form brigade

On November 17th, 1944 the two Macedonian battalions from Greek occupied Macedonia came together in the liberated territory of Bitola and joined forces to create the first Macedonian Shock Brigade. Ilija Dimovski – Gotse was appointed commander and Mohailo Keramidchiev became its commissar. A few days later the brigade was dispatched to Mount Shar to put down the Balisti, an Albanian group of German allies.

1944 - December 2, Papandreou government resigns

Just barely two months after the Germans left Greece, the Leftist ministers in the Papandreou government quit after being unable to agree on the composition of the new police force and who should control the armed forces.

1944 - Britain begins intervention against ELAS

On December 3, 1944 Britain began its military intervention against ELAS in Athens. Given the situation the fighters and officers of the Macedonian brigade in the Republic of Macedonia could not remain indifferent about what was happening in Greece, being aware that defeat of the democratic forces in Greece would worsen the situation of the Macedonian people. They were all in agreement that there was a need to explore all means to help ELAS, which meant first hand involvement of the brigade in the conflict. At this point the Aegean Macedonian leadership contemplated around this question searching for conditions under which to become involved. Naum

Shupurkovski, a member of the Secretariat of the Macedonian Political Commission under Greece, in his report addressed to the Political Bureau of the Greek Communist Party commented that on December 3, 1944 on the day of the formation of the Political Commission, at a meeting attended by Mohailo Keramidchiev, Naum Pejov, Paskal Mitrevski, Dimitar Vlahov, Petse Trajkov and himself, Lazar Kolishevski addressed the preoccupied Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia, according to Naum Shupurkovski – Leon, as follows: “Leave immediately for down there (Aegean Macedonia). Get agreement from the Greek Communist Party and fight like democrats under its leadership without pretensions…” Several days later, Liljana Chalovska, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece in the accommodations of the Political Commission of the Macedonians under Greece, in Bitola, addressed Paskal Mitrevski, Naum Pejov, Mohailo Keramidchiev and Naum Shupurkovski – Leon and among other things told them the following: “You need not wait to be pacified by the parties. Take your own initiative and go down there without asking for anything from the Communist Party of Greece. As long as you stay here you tolerate liability. Down there (Greece) it is not only Greece’s and Macedonia’s fate that is decided, but that of all the Balkan nations…”

Four or five days later a joint meeting was held between the brigade’s headquarters and the political committee to discuss the circumstances under which it would be appropriate for the brigade and all the Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia who were presently in Yugoslavia to return to Greece and to engage in the struggle on the side of ELAS and how to communicate these circumstances to the Communist Party of Greece. Naum Pejov, Lazo Poplazarov, Paskal Mitrevski and Mohailo Keramitdzhiev, keeping in mind what had happened in the past, insisted on going to Greece as a distinct people; they insisted that the brigade should have its own headquarters, its own flag with the five ray star and be recognized by Greece as a Macedonian army. Contrary to that, Naum Shupurkovski – Leon figured that such conditions were not necessary. Paskal Mitrevski intervened and insisted on having the political committee situated inside the city Lerin.

1944 - December 3, EAM demonstrates. An EAM organized demonstration brakes out in Athens and began to march towards Constitutional Square. The police opened fire and killed a number of demonstrators.

Fighting at the time was isolated to Athens and continued until January 1945 when both sides agreed to talk. Meetings were held at Varkiza, a seaside resort near Athens, and a treaty was signed on February 12th, 1945. Signed by the Right, Left and the British, among other things, the Varkiza Treaty called for (a) EAM to disband ELAS, (b) legalize the Communist Party of Greece (CPG) and (c) hold a referendum on the return of the monarchy. ELAS troops were to be given political amnesty for the return of their weapons, people were to be guaranteed free speech, martial law was to be lifted and people were to be given amnesty for all political crimes.

1944 - Damning British diplomatic report

December 11, 1944 – In a British diplomatic report sent from Leeper to Eden, dated Athens November, 14, 1944, referring to the Macedonian people in Greek occupied Macedonia, among other things Leeper said:

“4. The problem of the Western Macedonian Bulgarophones, who are briefly mentioned in paragraph 7 of the paper, also remains serious and formidable, in spite of its limited dimensions. This minority, which extends through the region from Florina and Kastoria through Siatista to the plain of Yannitsa, has proved exceedingly unreliable during the war. Satisfactory data are not available, but it appears from events during the occupation that the dissatisfied minority must be considerably larger than is suggested by Greek census figures; and it is certain that successive Greek Governments have shirked facing the problem and have preferred to persuade even themselves that it did not exist. On the assumptions (1) that the policy of His Majesty’s Government is to treat Greece as the most important Balkan country from the point of view of British interests, and to support those elements in Greece which are most stably pro-British and (2) that Greece does not wish to belong to a Balkan Federation in which there would be a large Slav majority, it

would appear to follow that Greece had better not contain any Slav minorities at all. And since the amputation of the Slav areas in Western Macedonia and their annexation to a Slav Federation is a practical impossibility and would also be economically disastrous for Greece. It would follow that, difficult as it may be, a home must be found for perhaps 120,000 Slav Macedonians north of the Greek frontiers of 1941.”

I would like to draw your attention to the sentence “It would follow that, difficult as it may be, a home must be found for perhaps 120,000 Slav Macedonians north of the Greek frontiers of 1941”.

Allow us to give you an overview of the situation. Greece had always been lying to its patrons, particularly to Britain about its ethnic composition. In the late 1920’s, after all the population exchanges with Turkey and Bulgaria, Greece declared itself a pure Greek nation with 98% of its population being Greek and 2% Muslim Greek. During World War II British spies and military personnel were dispatched in Northern Greece (Greek occupied Macedonia) to monitor the war situation during which time they discovered, contrary to Greek claims, that a sizable Macedonian population, speaking the Macedonian language and aware of its Macedonian consciousness, was living in this territory. The British panicked because they figured if Russia found out then it would want to carve out the Greek territory to accommodate the wishes of these Macedonians. So Britain decided that the Macedonian people had to go; leave Greek occupied Macedonia. This information was later discovered in declassified British diplomatic dispatches.

British Ambassador to Athens Mr. R.A. Leeper, back in November 1944, toyed with the idea of displacing 120,000 Macedonians from Greek occupied Macedonia and moving them north of the Greek border. Mr. Leeper suggested this to Mr. Eden, then UK Foreign Minister, in a letter dated November 24, 1944 in which, among other things, he wrote “…and since the amputation of the Slav areas in Western Macedonia and their annexation to a Slav Federation is a practical impossibility and would also be economically disastrous for Greece. It would follow that, difficult as it may be, a home must be found for perhaps 120,000 Slav Macedonians north of the Greek

frontiers of 1941.” (5a) (See: FO 371/43649 XP 00201 R 20431/1009/67.)

In doing this the British requested the assistance of the former (fascist) Yugoslav government, before the communists came to power. The British received a positive response from Yugoslavia. The Fascist Yugoslav government in fact agreed to take these Macedonians out of Greece and resettle them on Yugoslav territory. The fascist Yugoslav government, however, fell to the communists before it had a chance to implement the plan. But after the war (WW II) it was difficult to move 120,000 people without causing world attention. So “someone” decided to force them out by other means… by legal means so that there would be no ramifications after the fact. But how? With the CPY/CPM’s cooperation, for sure!

The idea here was to have the Macedonian people raise arms against Greece so that Greece would have “no other choice but to defend itself against an aggressor who wants to carve out parts of its territory”! Yugoslavia, for the sake of having good relations with the West, naturally prepared the groundwork through the creation and indoctrination of NOF and AFZH with aims at starting an armed uprising in Greek occupied Macedonia. The Macedonian people, however, did not want to fight and initially refused to participate. To get them motivated the Greek right, the Fascists, pitched in and initiated what was later termed the “white terror”. Greeks indiscriminately began to kill people and burn properties and homes. Fearing for their lives many Macedonians fled to the mountains (Vicho and Gramos) where they were armed and trained to protect themselves. And this is how the conflict was started. This was a war that would be fatal to the Macedonian people; it had to be an ideological war in order to involve the international factor (US and Britain); a war that Greece would have no choice but to fight in order to save its territory. This was going to be a legal genocide because these “Slavs” were prepared to carve out Greek territory! The Macedonians were told they needed the guns to protect themselves but as soon as the shooting started they were told they were fighting to “re-unite their Macedonia” and after Yugoslavia abandoned them they were told they were fighting for their human rights to gain equality with the Greeks. Then, when the war became very hot, they were told to fight for their lives; “to fight or die!”

There was no single Macedonian in those days who not only publicly proclaimed that he or she was fighting to re-unite Macedonia but many Macedonians were made to believe that it was possible to do that! And why do you suppose they believed that? Because the architects of this war, through NOV and AFZH, told them so…, naturally through lies and deception!

1944 - CPG asks Macedonian brigade to return

On December 14, 1944 Andreas Dzhimas, the representative of the Communist Party of Greece and ELAS in Yugoslavia, came to Bitola and asked for the brigade to be disbanded and its fighters to enlist in the ELAS units, or at least to surrender its arms to ELAS. The Aegean leadership did not agree with this recommendation. To solve the problem Andeas Dzhimas, Naum Pejov and Paskal Mitrevski went to Skopje to discuss the situation with the Vardar Macedonian leadership. In the meantime orders came from Tito prohibiting the brigade from going to Greece because the brigade was part of the Yugoslav army. Anyhow immediate events confirmed that one more brigade could not have saved the democratic national front of Greece.

1944 - First Aegean Brigade formed in Bitola

The “First Aegean Brigade” was formed in free Bitola on November 18, 1944 from the fighters of the two battalions that fled Greek occupied Macedonia. This Brigade was deployed on December 28, 1944 in Western Macedonia, mainly in Kichevo, Tetovo and Gostivar, tasked with fighting Dzhemo Mefail’s gang of balisti formed during the Italian-German occupation. The “First Aegean Brigade” was disbanded by special order number 236 (strictly confidential) issued by Marshal Tito on April 2, 1945.

-- 1945 --

1945 - Confidential documents found in USSR archives

Confidential documents about the Macedonian involvement in the Greek Civil War (1945-1949) found in the USSR archives How long are we going to allow the cover up the greatest and longest lasting ethnic cleansing perpetrated against the Macedonian people? How long are we going to allow ourselves to live with a sense of injustice and inhumanity? How long are we going to endure listening to others claiming that we don’t exist? And better yet, how much longer are we going to allow this genocide to be hidden?

Important historical research has surfaced from the former Soviet Union archives which deals with the indigenous Macedonian population living in Greek occupied Macedonia and reveals the lies and manipulation perpetrated against the Macedonian people, especially by the CPG, CPM/CPY, NOF and AFZH during the Greek Civil War years 1945 to 1949.

According to the former Soviet Union Ministry of Foreign, Zahariadis, the then leader of the CPG, delivered CPG confidential documents to the USSR and handed them over to the Soviet security organs.

So the question is:

1) Did the Macedonian NOF and AFZH activists, being in an original national liberation movement formed in Skopje, have independent political authority to act on behalf of the Macedonian people or were they pushed by someone else to act and purge the Macedonian people on mass under the Macedonian Testament “There is no greater virtue than to defend the roots of your ancestors!”

2) Did these activists feel guilt for creating the organization AFZH (women’s organization) and turning the Macedonian family into a political family; something the Greeks did not do!?

3) Many decades later, in an interview with the Athens daily newspaper “Ta Nea” and with the Solun newspaper “Elinikos Voras”, General Markos Vafiadis, said: “Zahariadis wanted and loved the disaster he created... He planned it this way… We were handed over to the leadership of the party!” (See “Ellinikos Voras”, August 3, 1978). Vafiadis also said: “At that time I had not come to

the conclusion that Zahariadis was a provocateur... I did not know that Zahariadis played the English and American game…” Dim. Gusidis, a correspondent, asked him: “What kind of evidence do you have today for these accusations? Are there such documents?” To that Vafiadis replied: “I have documents… but his deeds also speak very loud!” (See “Ta Nea”, August 22, 1978).