Triumph and Tragedy (The Second World War) (61 page)

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 Strait of Corinth. Athens and the Piraeus unfolded like a map beneath us on a gigantic scale, and we gazed down upon it wondering who held what.

At about noon we landed at the Kalamaki airfield, which was guarded by about two thousand British airmen, all well armed and active. Here were Field-Marshal Alexander, Mr.

Leeper, and Mr. Macmillan. They came on board the plane, and we spent nearly three hours in hard discussion of the whole position, military and political. We were, I think, in complete agreement at the end, and about the immediate steps to be taken.

I and my party were to sleep on board the
Ajax,
anchored off the Piraeus, the famous light cruiser of the Plate River battle,
1
which now seemed a long time ago. The road was reported clear, and with an escort of several armoured cars we traversed the few miles without incident. We boarded the
Ajax
before darkness fell, and I realised for the first time that it was Christmas Day. All preparations had been made by the ship’s company for a jolly evening, and we certainly disturbed them as little as possible.

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The sailors had a plan for a dozen of them to be dressed up in every kind of costume and disguise, as Chinese, Negroes, Red Indians, Cockneys, clowns — all to serenade the officers and warrant officers, and generally inaugurate revels suitable to the occasion. The Archbishop with his attendants arrived — an enormous tall figure in the robes and high hat of a dignitary of the Greek Church. The two parties met. The sailors thought he was part of their show of which they had not been told, and danced around him enthusiastically. The Archbishop thought this motley gang was a premeditated insult, and might well have departed to the shore but for the timely arrival of the captain, who, after some embarrassment, explained matters satisfactorily.

Meanwhile I waited, wondering what had happened. But all ended happily.

I sent an account of our various discussions to the War Cabinet.

Prime

Minister

26 Dec. 44

(Athens) to Deputy

Prime Minister and

others

On our arrival at air-port at Athens Foreign Secretary
and I held a conference with Field-Marshal Alexander,
Mr. Macmillan, and Mr. Leeper.

2. Field-Marshal Alexander gave an encouraging
account of present military situation, which had been
grave a fortnight ago but was now much better. The
Field-Marshal however had formed the decided view
that behind the E.L.A.S. units there was a stubborn
core of resistance, Communist in character, which was
stronger than we had thought and would be very
difficult to eradicate. If we were successful in pushing
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376

the E.L.A.S. force outside the boundaries of Athens we
should still be faced with a tremendous task if we tried
to eliminate them altogether.

3. Mr. Macmillan and Mr. Leeper informed us they
had been considering the summoning of a conference
of all the political leaders, which E.L.A.S. would be
invited to attend. We felt that the convening of such a
conference, with the declared object of putting an end
to fratricidal strife in Greece, would, even if E.L.A.S.

refused the invitation, ensure that our intentions would
have been made clear to the world. We also agreed it
would be a good move that the Archbishop should be
chairman of the conference. At our meeting [in the
airplane] we drew up the text of a public statement
which Messrs. Macmillan and Leeper were to show to
the Greek Prime Minister and the Archbishop, text of
which has already been telegraphed to you.

4. We expressed our wishes that the conference
should rapidly become a conference among Greeks,
though we would stay there as long as it was helpful.

When the time came to put this to the Archbishop we
had been informed beforehand that he would agree to
play his part. When he came to see us [on board the
Ajax] he spoke with great bitterness against the
atrocities of E.L.A.S. and the dark, sinister hand behind
E.A.M. Listening to him, it was impossible to doubt that
he greatly feared the Communist, or Trot-skyite as he
called it, combination in Greek affairs. He told us that
he had issued an encyclical to-day condemning the E.L.

A.S. crowd for taking eight thousand hostages, middle-class people, many of them Egyptians, and shooting a
few every day, and that he had said that he would
report these matters to the Press of the world if the
women were not released. After some wrangling he
understood that the women would be released.

Generally he impressed me with a good deal of
confidence. He is a magnificent figure, and he
immediately accepted the proposal of being chairman
of the conference. We are asking the U.S. and Soviet
representatives in Athens to be present as observers.

The conference is fixed for 4 P.M. on December 26.

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5. The Archbishop, at my request, is sending me
proposals for the agenda of the conference. I cannot
foretell what may come out of it. It may be of course
that E.L.A.S. will refuse the invitation. If they do so they
will be shown before the world as making an unbridled
bid for power. If they do accept I do not rate the chance
of forming a united Government high. I was impressed,
especially from what the Archbishop said, by the
intensity of hatred for Communists in the country. We
had no doubt of this before we came here. Present
position is confirmed by all we have heard so far. There
is no doubt how the people of Athens would vote if they
had a chance, and we must keep the possibility of
getting them that chance steadily in view. We will send
you further reports after we have met E.L.A.S., if they
come tomorrow.

I had of course kept the President informed.

Prime Minister to

26 Dec. 44

President Roosevelt

Anthony and I are going out to see what we can do
to square this Greek entanglement. Basis of action: the
King does not go back until a plebiscite in his favour
has been taken. For the rest, we cannot abandon those
who have taken up arms in our cause, and must if
necessary fight it out with them. It must always be
understood that we seek nothing from Greece, in
territory or advantages. We have given much, and will
give more if it is in our power. I count on you to help us
in this time of unusual difficulty. In particular I should
like you to tell your Ambassador in Athens to make
contact with us and to help all he can in accordance
with the above principles.

He replied next day.

President Roosevelt

27 Dec. 44

to Prime Minister

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378

I have asked our Ambassador to call upon you as
soon as possible, and I am ready to be of all assistance
I can in this difficult situation.

I hope that your presence there on the spot will
result in achieving an entirely satisfactory solution.

On the morning of the 26th, “Boxing Day,” I set out for the Embassy. I remember that three or four shells from the fighting which was going on a mile away on our left raised spouts of water fairly near the
Ajax
as we were about to go ashore. Here an armoured car and military escort awaited us. I said to my Private Secretary, Jock Colville, “Where is your pistol?” and when he said that he had not got one I scolded him, for I certainly had my own. In a few moments, while we were crowding into our steel box, he said, “I have got a Tommy-gun.”“Where did you get it from?” I asked. “I borrowed it from the driver,” he replied. “What is
he
going to do?” I asked. “He will be busy driving.”“But there will be no trouble unless we are stopped,” I answered, “and what is he going to do then?” Jock had no reply. A black mark! We rumbled along the road to the Embassy without any trouble.

There I again met the Archbishop, on whom we were about to stake so much. He agreed to all that was proposed. We planned the procedure at the conference to be held in the afternoon. I was already convinced that he was the outstanding figure in the Greek turmoil. Among other things, I had learned that he had been a champion wrestler before he entered the Orthodox Church. Mr. Leeper has noted that I said, “It would distress me to think that any new task Your Beatitude assumes as Regent might in any way interfere with your spiritual functions.” He gave me all the necessary reassurance.

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About six o’clock that evening, December 26, the conference opened in the Greek Foreign Office. We took our seats in a large, bleak room after darkness fell. The winter is cold in Athens. There was no heating, and a few hurricane lamps cast a dim light upon the scene. I sat on the Archbishop’s right, with Mr. Eden, and Field-Marshal Alexander was on his left. Mr. MacVeagh, the American Ambassador, M. Baelen, the French Minister, and the Soviet military representative had all accepted our invitation. The three Communist leaders were late. It was not their fault. There had been prolonged bickering at the outposts. After half an hour we began our work, and I was already speaking when they entered the room. They were presentable figures in British battle dress. In my speech I said, among other things:

When we came here yesterday we thought it would
be a good thing to have a talk round a table. It is better
to let every effort be made to remake Greece as a
factor in the victory, and to do it now. Therefore we had
a talk with M. Papandreou, the Prime Minister…. We
proposed to him that there should be a conference like
this. Mr. Eden and I have come all this way, although
great battles are raging in Belgium and on the German
frontier, to make this effort to rescue Greece from a
miserable fate and raise her to a point of great fame
and repute. M. Papandreou told us immediately that he
would welcome such a conference, and we have all
met here now, in this city, where the sound of firing can
be heard from minute to minute at no great distance.

The next British step was to invite the Archbishop to be
the chairman of this Greek conference. We do not
intend to obstruct your deliberations. We British, and
other representatives of the great united victorious
Powers, will leave you Greeks to your own discussions
under this most eminent and most venerable citizen,
and we shall not trouble you unless you send for us
again. We may wait a little while, but we have many
other tasks to perform in this world of terrible storm. My