Dig Two Graves: Revenge or Honor (39 page)

“I wish Ceres could have been here today,” AJ said. “He worked for years for this and never stopped believing in my grandfather. He deserved to see this, to be recognized here today, too.”

“You can bring him here when he’s fully recovered. How does he like Lister Hospital? I bet that nurse is taking good care of him.

“He’s doing much better. I spoke to him last night. Anna is coming to visit soon,” AJ chuckled and continued, “I’m not sure how he likes London but I think he’s sweet on his nurse.”

“That’s funny,” Gia chuckled. “She’s a nice woman. He could do worse.”

AJ looked off into the distance, straining to see the Parthenon in the haze. Even with the wind, the place steeped in history remained hidden, enigmatic.
So could I
, AJ thought.

“AJ,” Gia said taking his arm. “I think he knew he wouldn’t be able to finish the job alone. That’s why he enlisted your father and then you, to see the thing through. You have been a good friend to him.”

“I wasn’t always such a good friend. I have to admit my motives starting out were less than noble. I wanted … well you know what I wanted. Then, as the story came together, I wanted revenge. I stumbled many times,” AJ said and gently shook his head as his eyes became moist again. It had been an emotional afternoon. “I started out deceiving Ceres. I …”

“You stumbled, but you got up again,” Gia said taking his arm. “You have changed AJ. You’ve defeated your demons.” Gia leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

“I’m not so sure I have defeated them, but I have three good men who’ve shown me what it takes to be worthy in life, my grandfather, my father and Ceres,” he replied. “I think I can live up to those examples now, with a little help.”

“Have anyone in mind as your helper?” She smiled broadly, as AJ took her in his arms.

“I have a pretty good candidate in mind, if she’s interested in the job.”

“Oh, she’s interested all right and I hope the interview process will be very exhaustive,” Gia said as their lips met.

When the Italian and Bulgarian armies invaded Greece in October 1940 the Greek Army with help from the British, pushed the invaders back all the way into neighboring occupied Albania and fought them to a stalemate. The Germans joined the fray in April 1941 invading Yugoslavia and Greece with half a million men. The German Balkan intervention delayed Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia, ultimately leading to its failure.

Germany overran the Greek mainland in four weeks. Crete was conquered a month later following a German airborne invasion. The quotation, attributed to Winston Churchill, “Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks!’ was included in a speech by the British Prime Minister given at the Greek Embassy in Washington D.C in April 1941. Mr. Churchill was commenting on the Greek Army’s resistance to the Axis invasion forces.

Italy, Bulgaria, and German divided Greece into separate occupation zones. The Germans maintained control of Athens, Crete and Thessaloniki, which they deemed the most important regions. The occupation visited terrible suffering on the civilian population. More than 300,000 civilians died in Athens alone from starvation and disease during the Great Famine in the winter of 1941. Thousands more died as the result of reprisals. Standing orders from the German commander were that for every German killed one hundred hostages would die. When Italy surrendered in September 1943, the Germans took control of the entire country and quickly introduced their anti Jewish policies nationwide.

Greece’s history includes a long association with Judaism. Through the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Periods Jews were an important part of Greece and her culture. After their expulsion from Spain in 1492, as many as twenty thousand Jews settled in the area around Thessaloniki. Greece became a refuge for Jews and developed a tradition of tolerance.

When the Germans made the political decision to deport Greece’s Jews, Merten, was the Military Governor of the Northern Greece, where Thessaloniki (Salonika) was the largest city. Merten had an idea, apparently for his own benefit. He made a deal with Thessaloniki’s Jewish community. In return for a fee for each man, woman and child, he would release Jewish prisoners in local labor camps and block their deportation. Merten collected gold, silver, precious stones, and other valuables with an estimated worth of more than two billion dollars. With the ransom in his hands, he sent the Jewish community to concentration camps in Poland. Accustomed to the temperate Greek climate, thousands died in the bitter cold of Poland. Thousands more died in German gas chambers. The number of Greeks from the area killed was between 60,000 and 80,000. Fewer than 5,000 survived the Greek Holocaust.

What happened to the ransom remains a mystery. Merten reportedly loaded the treasure on a ship in 1943 and scuttled it in either the Aegean or the Gulf of Messinina. Other reports hint the fabulous fortune could be on a Greek island or in the mountains or hidden in Germany. Merten returned to Greece in 1957, reportedly to recover the lost fortune. When a concentration camp survivor recognized him, the Greek authorities arrested him. The Greek government convicted him of war crimes but he spent only eight months in prison. He died in 1970.

The Greek resistance was considered one of the most effective resistance movements in occupied Europe. The Greek people had a history of armed insurrection dating back to the Ottoman period of the 1830’s. The term for the Greek resistance, Andartes, comes from the Greek word andartiko meaning guerrilla warfare. Greeks had fought bitter rebellions against the Byzantines and later the Ottomans. They won their independence from the Ottomans in 1832 after a two-year war involving troops from France and Britain.

Resistance to the Axis occupation was almost immediate. Organized armed paramilitary groups, spy networks and organized efforts to smuggle people out of the country all grew in scope and effectiveness. The Andartes began armed attacks on Axis troops and sabotage of roads, supply depots and rail lines. In some cases, local police stations even were disarmed. Dozens of resistance groups sprang up, each with their own political affiliation. The two largest of these groups the pro-Communist ELAS and the republican nationalist EDES. These and other smaller groups grew in size and effectiveness as displaced people fled to the mountains. The complicated politics of Greece, however, often set one resistance group against another. Ultimately, Greece continued to suffer when a bloody three-year long civil war broke out in 1946.

Help from the British following the 1940 invasion came in the form of an expeditionary corps. However, this force was evacuated just prior to the fall of the country. Commando units under the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) began activity as early as 1942. Several spectacular actions were undertaken including the destruction of the Gorgopatamos railway viaduct, code named Operation Harling, in 1941 and the abduction of the German commander of Crete, General Heinrich Kreipe, in 1944. Support, training and arming of the Greek resistance continued throughout the occupation though Allied leaders suspicions of the communist ELAS continually complicated the relationship.

American commando activity began in Greece when the Office of Strategic Services inserted approximately 224 men, comprising eight Operational Groups of varying sizes into Greece by parachute and boat beginning in April 1944. As Greece was within the British sphere of influence, American operations came under British authority but the OG’s, as they were referred to, worked independently. American Operational Groups were dispatched to work with the Andartes, disrupt transportation, and harass the anticipated German withdrawal.

The Security Battalions referred to in the story were collaborationist military units formed in 1943 by the puppet government of Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Rallis. They were founded due to concern about the success and dominance of the communist-backed ELAS resistance group. The Battalions comprised of former Army officers, conscripts, extreme-right radicals, and opportunists who believed the Nazis would win the war. The Security Battalions at their height numbered approximately 22,000 men and operated primarily in Central Greece and the Peloponnese. Their role was to suppress communist backed resistance groups but in reality, they worked to control the civilian population for the Axis powers. The paramilitary Security Battalions engaged resistance groups but also participated in several well-documented mass killings of civilians. The Greek people hated the Battalions not only for their collaboration but also for their unbridled brutality and cruelty. After the war, many members of the Security Battalions were tried and convicted of collaboration.

Andrew G. Saffas, a sculptor from California, created the statue referenced in the story. The monument commemorating the bravery and sacrifice of the Greek-American Operational Groups was erected on May 26, 2005 in Athens’ Hellenic Army Park and was funded by donations. The three-meter high statue sits atop a marble base with a plaque listing the names of 224 Operational Group members who fought in Greece.

Historical events inspired
Dig Two Graves
:
Revenge or Honor
. There is, however, nothing in the historical record to hint at an American Operational Group having any connection to the Merten loot or aiding refugees. In fact, the first American Operational Groups didn’t enter Greece until April 1944, many months after the destruction of the Thessaloniki (Salonika) Jews in early 1943.

For further information about the occupation of Greece, OSS operations and the Greek Holocaust see the following:

Giannaris, John. Yannis. Pilgrimage Publishing Inc. Tarrytown, NY. 1998.

Mazower, Mark. Inside Hitler's Greece: The Experience of Occupation, 1941-44. Yale University Press. New Haven, CT. 1995.

Perdue, Robert E. Behind The Lines in Greece The Story of OSS Operational Group II. Authorhouse. Bloomington, IN. 2010.

Psychoundakis, George. The Cretan Runner His Story of the German Occupation. Penguin Books. New York, New York. 1998.

http://www.ossog.org/greek.html

http://www.pahh.com/oss/toc.html

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/ossgreece.aspx

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005778

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/greece1.html

Nick Vellis retired after thirty years in law enforcement. He served in uniform, as an investigator, crime scene analyst, public information, and crime prevention officer. Following his retirement from public service, he began a second career in technology sales providing data analysis software to law enforcement, the military and industry until he retired a second time. What does a twice-retired cop/salesman do? Always a voracious reader and closet writer, Mr. Vellis enjoys time with his family and writing mysteries, thrillers and detective stories.

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