From: epetraki@.stern.nyu.edu (Emmanuel Petrakis)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.greek,soc.culture.europe,alt.news.macedonia
Subject: The origins of Tito's macedonia (was Bulgarian occupation of Greece during World war 2)
Date: 27 Jan 93 02:08:53 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.greek
Organization: NYU Stern School of Business

This is the last part of the 4-part article on the Bulgarian
occupation of Greece, on the creation of the Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia and on who the self-proclaimed Yugoslav Macedonians
are.



Part 4  



The open secessionist propaganda of SNOF (Slavomacedonian
Liberation Front) could not pass unnoticed by the Greek members
of EAM/ELAS.  Within a short period of time the leadership of
SNOF and the Macedonian Bureau of KKE antagonized each other in
the area around Thessaloniki.  Nevertheless, it was in the
general interest of KKE to maintain close ties with the
Yugoslavian Communist resistance forces.  This impeded the
leadership of KKE  from taking action against secessionist SNOF.
 Only during May 1944, did KKE give the order to disband and
destroy SNOF and arrest its leaders.  The result was that many
of its leaders and fighters fled to Yugoslavia, where they
started to organize in groups of "Aegean Macedonians" whose goal
was to invade Greece and "liberate" Macedonia.



The unfolding events within the Balkans started to influence the
development of the situation even more.  The German retreat
appeared certain, and KKE's primary goal became the ascension to
power in Greece.  In this case, good relations with Tito's
partisans were more than necessary.  As a result of this,
Siantos, the Secretary General of KKE, after intense
negotiations, agreed to have the men of SNOF return to Greece to
fight within the ranks of the Greek resistance.  The
negotiations for the Greek side were by carried out by Andreas
Tzimas, who was KKE's liaison to Tito's headquarters.  One of
the terms agreed was the formation of separate slavomacedonian
battalions within the larger military formations of ELAS in
Macedonia.  Yiannis Ioannides, one of the leading members of the
Political Bureau of KKE,  himself testified that he personally
ordered the formation of the slavomacedonian battalions.



During July and August 1944, within the suspicious atmosphere in
Macedonia that existed within ELAS vis--vis the
slavomacedonians, two such battalions were formed.  The first as
a battalion within the 28th regiment of ELAS in the general area
of Florina-Castoria (Western Macedonia) headed by Elias Dimakis
(Goce) and the second as a unit of the 30th regiment in
Aridaia-Edessa (Central West Macedonia) headed by Urdov.  Within
a short period of time the battalions, especially that of Goce,
grew in size and soon reached the size of a regiment.  Moreover,
Goce and Urdov started to ignore the orders of the ELAS
headquarters and of the political directives of KKE.  Based on
written evidence, Goce's battalion had become the center of the
secession movement within Greek Macedonia.  Volunteers from as
far as Bulgaria and Yugoslavia came to enlist.  At the same
time, the battalions welcomed any defectors from the Bulgarian
fascist/terrorist group "Ochrana." 



Faced with this situation on the eve of the liberation of Athens
and of the rest of Greece, KKE clashed in battle with Goce's
battalion and Goce was forced to withdraw from Greece.  At the
same time the second battalion withdrew from Greece without
clashing with ELAS units.  The fighting between SNOF and ELAS
was the result of the strong reaction of the ELAS leaders in
Western Macedonia and was undertaken under orders from the
General Headquarters of ELAS in Macedonia that circumvented the
reaction of local units of EAM/ELAS and of the Macedonian
Political Bureau of KKE in Thessalonike. 

The armed guerrillas who fled to Yugoslav Macedonia enlisted in
the Yugoslav Macedonian units and formed the "First Attack
Brigade of Macedonia and the Aegean."  It was the nucleus of the
armed force that was being prepared to attack Greece in a second
round of conflict.



Based on numerous documents of the period and many recent
interviews of communist leaders in Greece and Yugoslavia, it
appears that only a part of the slavophone population of Greek
Macedonia followed the secessionist of SNOF.  Another large part
of the slavophone population refused to join, despite the
terrorist acts against them and rejected both the pro-Bulgarian
("Ochrana") and pro-Yugoslavian (SNOF) organizations.  These
slavophones joined ELAS and other resistance movements to fight
and liberate Greece from the German and Bulgarian occupation.



On October 30, 1944, Thessalonike was liberated.  Within a few
days, the German-controlled territories of Greek Macedonia was
under the control of ELAS.  On November 3, the commanding
officer of the ELAS Army Division Group in Macedonia, general
Euripides Bakirtzis ordered the deployment of his forces along
the Northern Greek border  to "secure and control the border." 
His Communiqu stated that " the deployment of the forces should
be such that under no circumstances should there be any
possibility of infiltration by Macedonian secessionists."



This communiqu emphasized the low point which the relations
between the Greek and Yugoslav resistance movements had reached
as a result of the Macedonian question.  It should be also
emphasized that the Greek Communists needed the Yugoslav
support, for the events that were to follow after the retreat of
the occupying forces from Greece.



Finally, the solution to the problem for Greece had been reached
at the Yalta conference, on October 9, where Stalin and
Churchill,  divided the world in spheres of influence:  Greece
was 90/10 under the influence of Britain, Bulgaria was 25/75 and
Yugoslavia was 50/50.  This may explain why the Soviet armed
forces under general Tobulchin did not cross the Bulgarian
frontier to Greece, despite Erithriades' plea (KKE leader) and
why the "newly allied" Bulgarian Army retreated from the Aegean
coast for the third time within 32 years.  It may also explain
why on the Western side of Macedonia, the Macedonian Brigades of
Tito, that were advancing toward Thessalonike, were suddenly
ordered to turn north in pursuit of the retreating German Army.



END

Newsgroups: soc.culture.greek,alt.news.macedonia