D I G E N I S

Γεώργιος Γρίβας [little dark age edit] Georgios Grivas “Διγενής“ 1897 - 1974 Georgios Grivas was born on June 6 1897 in Nicosia, with origins from the village of Trikomo in Karpasia. From 1909-1915 he attended the Pancyprian Gymnasium in Nicosia. In 1916 he moved to Athens and joined the Evelpidon Military Academy. He graduated in 1919 as a second-lieutenant. He volunteered for the Asia Minor campaign in May and fought with the 30/10th regiment for which he was awarded the Gold Medal of Bravery & the Martial Cross. In 1923 he was promoted to lieutenant, and was selected to study at the Ecole Militaire in Paris. He was made captain in 1926, Major in 1935 and was made lecturer at the Evelpidon Academy. In 1939, Alexandros Papagos transferred him to the operations directorate of the General Staff, to plan for a potential invasion of Greece. When Italy attacked through Albania, Grivas was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and requested to be placed at the front. He assumed command of the 2nd Infantry Division, repelled the Italians at Klisura and counter-attacked at Lekli, Pestani & Dkoliko. After the occupation of Greece in 1941, Grivas founded the resistance organisation “X“ to resist foreign occupation. By 1942 “X“ had expanded across Athens, and began intelligence gathering for the Government-in-Exile in Cairo. On March 25 1943 “X“ laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Syntagma, which was forbidden by the Germans. This led to a wave of anti-Axis sentiment in Athens, and the collaborationist Rallis Government was compelled to order the arrest of Grivas on 12th of June 1944. He escaped, although his assets were frozen and his family & friends were persecuted. By August 16 1944 “X“ sent 100 officers to Egypt to form the core of the army-in-exile. PM Papandreou issued arms to Grivas from Egypt and from the liberation of Athens on October 12 until December 1944 , “X“ was part of the violent ’Dekembriana’ between the allied-backed Greek Government and ELAS (EAM) forces. During the civil war that followed, Grivas retired to private life, and most of his men were reformed into the 143rd National Guard Battalion. After he had fought for Greece and the Allies against the Italian and German threat, by 1948 Grivas was determined that armed struggle was necessary for the liberation of Cyprus and began reaching out to friends and supporters. He wrote: “The attitude of Westerners towards their friends and allies has been contrary to their promises“. In 1951 & 1953 he visited Cyprus to study the situation on the ground and establish ties with the Pancyprian National Youth Organisation and Orthodox Christian Youth Organisation. Returning to Athens, he was informed that neither the Papagos government nor Archbishop Makarios would support him, either from fear of upsetting Britain or doubts about its success. He wrote: “I will take up the struggle against my old friends and allies, to defend the exact same ideas, for which we had fought with them in the fields of the 1st and 2nd world wars“. In 1954 he departed again for Cyprus & on April 1 1955 under the nom de guerre Digenis he signed the official declaration of EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) which coincided with coordinated bombings at British military installations around Cyprus. He wrote: “With the help of God, our honest struggle and the support of all Hellenism, it is time to show the world that if international diplomacy is unfair and cowardly, the Cypriot soul is brave. If our oppressors do not want to give away our freedom, whom we fought alongside against Nazism and Fascism, we can claim it with our own hands and blood. Greeks, wherever you are, you heard our voice; onwards, all together, for the freedom of our Cyprus!“ For 4 and 1/2 years, Digenis and the brave men and women of EOKA, outgunned & persecuted, with opposition not just from the British, but AKEL (Cypriot Communist party) and TMT (Turkish Paramilitary Organisation), struggled for one goal: Self-Determination - Union with Greece! In 1959, Cyprus was given the self-determination thousands had been killed and tortured for. But not Enosis. Grivas was forced to leave Cyprus per British demand, & returned to Greece where he was given the honour of “Worthy Child of the Fatherland“ (given only to Kolokotronis). In 1963 Grivas returned to Cyprus with the support of PM Papandreou and a “Greek Division“, was appointed head of the Cypriot National Guard and successfully quelled an armed insurgency by the Turkish minority. Turkey threatened to invade in 1967 unless Grivas & the Greek Division leave Cyprus, which the new Junta in Greece complied with. In 1971 Grivas returned to Cyprus again to found EOKA B’ and pursue the ultimate goal of Enosis. Unfortunately there was now strife between Grivas’ pro-enosis supporters and those of pro-independence Makarios. On January 27 1974, Grivas aged 76 & still fighting, passed in Nicosia after 58 years in service to Hellenism.