Greece was still ruled by dictatorship when World War II broke out. But in spite of their differences, the Greeks sided unanimously with the Allies and rejected the Italian ultimatum presented on October 28, 1940 by which Italy sought free passage for its troops. The Greeks were successful in repulsing the attack and drove back the Italians 60 km. beyond the Albanian border. On April 6, 1941, Germany attacked and Hitler's armies marched into Greece. The government and the king went into exile. The "Occupation" was a particularly hard time for Greece. Starvation decimated the population while executions and deportations rounded off the catastrophe. From the very first moments of the occupation a mass resistance movement came into being. In 1941, political personalities, trade union groups, communists and representatives of related political bodies set up the National Liberation Front (EAM) and its military branch (ELAS).
The opposite political side set up Its own resistance organizations the most important of which were EKKA and EDES (National and Social Liberation and National Greek Democratic League). The leaders of ELAS, EKKA and EDES were former officers in the regular army. They organized the armed resistance movement of the Greek people while urban underground groups hampered the task of the conqueror with strikes and sabotage.
In spite of their successes, however, and particularly whenever opposed political organizations got together for some common activity, it became apparent that their permanent union was impossible. The peak moment of united action by ELAS and EDES came with the blowing up of the Gorgopotamos bridge in
November 1942 which was a heavy blow to the conqueror.
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