Evening star., 1944-12-10
Churchill Accusations
Denied by Spokesman
For Greek Leftisfs
BY the Associated Press.

for the EAM made a blanket denial
today of British Prime Minister
Churchills charges that the EAM
and its military auxiliary, the ELIAS
sought to seize power in Greece
and terrorize the countryside, but
said the present battle would con-
tinue until the government OF
Premier George Papandreou re-
signed. .
Asked by the Associated Press for
the ELIAS side of the story and for
any comment on Mr.. Churchill's s
assertion in the House of Commons
yesterday in defending British
armed intervention in Greece, the
EAM-ELAS~ group, through a
spokesman, declared:
IF the Elias desired to take over
the reins of authority by force ii
could have done SO Immediately
after the liberation of Athens, when
there were no Allied troops or sufn-
cient police or Quisling forces in the
capital"
DlSpatcn PaSSeS CenS0rS.
CThis dispatch came through
the Allied censorship in Athens,
which is under British and Greek
government control. 1t does not
identify the Fam spokesman
For two and a half years." the
spokesman said, "the sole effort
of the Elias was to exterminate the
Germans, Italians and Bulgarians.
"Churchill's contention that the
Elias had long prepared for a coup
d'etat is unfounded In fact, the
Elias has been attacking German
garriSons and conveys continuously
and relentlessly.
On many occasions while the
ELIAS was engaged in a fight with
the Germans, Zervas bands at
tackled the ELIAS simultaneously u
(This was reference to the
EDES, anti-German group led
by Gen. Napoleon Zervas. Mr..
Churchill said the ELIAS had
fought members of this group
instead of the Germans. The
ELIAS and EDES long were ad-
mittedly rivals.)
LOoting Is Denied.
The argument that the ELIAS
ravaged villages also is unfounded, -
the spokesman said, taking up an
other of Mr.. Churchill'S allega-
ttons. Villages were destroyed by
the Germans whenever their COL
umns were trying to clear noun
famous regions of ELIAS troops so
they should not offer shelter to
the Andartes green underground)
On the contrary" contended the
spokesman, st was the ,zervas
bands that ravaged villages"
The ELIAS spokesman asserted the
ELIAS never had any dealings or
contact with the Germans, whereas
according to evidence held by the
ELIAS, the Germans never harrassed
zervas (EDES men when the EDES
were attacking ELIAS troops"
In response to Mr.. ChurchilIs
statement that there were Germans
IN the ELIAS ranks, the spokesman
declared: The only Germans
among the ELIAS are a few dozen
antl-Fascists who joined the ELIAS
and were used in making propa-
ganda and in writing leaflets in
viting other Germans to desert or
cease fighting and denouncing Hit
ler."
Long Fight Cited.
The EAM spokesman said "the
ELIAS has been fighting for nearly
three years in order to liberate the
country from invaders and to
secure the peoples sovereignty.
For SO days after liberation moth
Ing was done as promised by Pap
andreou in his speech October 18.
In the meantime, the ELIAS was
aware of plans for the Kings res
toration by reactionaries encouraged
by the attitude of British authori-
ties here, and there was ample evi-
dence to corroborate our argument.
For this reason, we demanded addi-
tional Securities-mainly consisting
of disarmament of all regular forces
In Greece and setting up a new reg
ular army. This new army would
include only loyal officers after a
thorough purge by the Supreme
Military Council, which was agreed
upon
THE ban on Sundays demonstra-
ton gave rise to the armed conflict
between the ELIAS and the reac-
tionarieS," said the ELIAS Spokes-
man. THE fact that our argument
is irrefutable can be substantiated
by the appearance of armed EDES
and Exc Goyalists) with the po-
lice and regular troops.
ELIAS will fight on until Papan-
dreou resigns because they consider
him responsible for the bloodshed
and because the great majority of
the Greek people is on the ELIAS
side for a reaffirmation of political
liberty"