Greek American Commandos of World War II: Behind-Enemy-Lines ...

THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6, 2009

“OXI” DAY

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Greek American Commandos of World War II: Behind-Enemy-Lines in Greece By Steve Frangos Special to The National Herald It was the first, and only time, a foreign flag had flown with Old Glory to lead a formation of American troops. Proudly marching behind the Greek and American flags, the 122nd Infantry Battalion, commonly known as the “Greek Battalion,” passed in review before President Franklin D. Roosevelt and various high-ranking military personnel. It was April 24, 1943, Camp Carson, Colorado and as the New York Times reported, the day was filled with “spectacular demonstrations” such as the use of the new “secret antitank rocket gun, dubbed the ‘bazooka,’ which knifed a projectile through two inches of armor plate.” As Roosevelt waved his hat high over his head and spoke here and there individually to the troops, we will never know what he thought as the Greek Battalion gallantly passed in strict formation. This all-volunteer unit composed of a mix of Greek Americans and Greek nationals was founded in January 1943 via an executive order issued by President Roosevelt, himself. These men had joined this special Battalion to fight on America’s behalf to free Greece of Axis occupation. Nothing was what it seemed. When the Greek Battalion’s commander Major Peter Clainos had received his orders to take command of this newly formed unit he was told something none of the others in the Battalion knew at the time. As Clainos, revealed, decades later, “When I was briefed by the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. before going to Colorado Springs, I was told the Greek Battalion in American uniforms would never go to Greece. No American unit would be allowed in the Balkans because it was the British domain.” If that was the case, then why,

Major Peter Clainos

Greeks of the 122nd Infantry Battalion at Camp Carson, Colorado, vow to avenge the brutal invasion and occupation of their native land. This all-volunteer unit contained a mix of Greek Americans and Greek nationals. form this special unit at all? Logically, we are only left with the assumption that Roosevelt, ever the consummate politician, was being expedient with the social forces and political pressures at home as well as those abroad. Fighting alone the small nation of Greece was the first to stop the Axis juggernaut. The Greek War Relief Association was raising millions of dollars in relief supplies, Red Cross aid and these same Greek immigrants consistently proved to be among the most successful war bond salesmen (and women) in the entire nation. On that day in early spring, none of these Greek soldiers, so smart and precise in executing their formations, realized they were little more than political pawns. Yet, these very same Greek American soldiers had a destiny, no president or general could have foreseen. Uncertain of where this battalion might be deployed, Clainos set a vigorous training program to eliminate the unfit and train the rest for any contingency. It was Major Clainos who was responsible for not allowing the 122nd to build up to battalion strength. He later said this was done two reasons: first, he was not satisfied with the physical and mental condition of many of the Greek nationals who were older and not physically able to compete; many had been forced to join the battalion because they were Greek immigrants. Clainos discharged the phys-

ically or mentally unfit and kept only those who proved they could withstand the rigorous training. The second reason was even more significant. Given that Clainos knew the Pentagon would never allow any American unit into Greece or the Balkans given that they were in the British sphere of influence he worried the battalion would be sent to the Pacific. Clainos explained it, this way, decades later: “By the time we completed our training and received assignment to a regiment, it would have been too late for the European Theater. We would have been sent to Japan. I couldn't visualize Greek nationals, who had suffered atrocities under the German occupation, putting on their belts and their bayonets to fight the Japanese on the other side of the world. It was not my job to decide where the Greek Battalion would go; it was up to the Pentagon”. Still Clainos was particularly worried some of the Greek nationals who had been promised to return to their homeland to fight the Nazis might desert in protest. He was also concerned the Greek Battalion would set a bad example for all of Greek America if there were desertions. Mainstream America would neither understand nor excuse the desertions and would not bother to learn about the political ramifications of the Balkans agreed on at the Teheran Conference by the three Allied powers, the United States,

Britain, and the USSR. This was 1943 and Greeks, among the last immigrant groups to arrive in America, were second-class citizens in most parts of the country. Major Clainos continued the intense training, biding his time, eliminating soldiers who were not physically fit and keeping the battalion from reaching its maximum strength; U.S. battalion strength of 1100 men. This negative became a positive because the quality of Clainos' battalion improved with every dismissal. Clainos continued to remove the undesirables until fortunately a group from the OSS arrived on the scene and asked for volunteers. By September 1943, after roughly seven months of special training, the Greek Battalion, numbered at approximately 600 individuals. Even after such a short time the Greeks had earned a reputation within Camp Carson as a crack unit. It is said that word of this reputation had reached all the way to Washington. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed as a wartime intelligence agency with General William Donovan as co-coordinator in July 1941. In August 1943, OSS personnel visited Camp Carson and Major Clainos. Two things happened simultaneously: the Greek Battalion was disbanded and the OSS requested volunteers to fight behind the lines in Greece. Those who volun-

teered must speak Greek fluently, be in top physical condition, and realize that their missions would experience a projected ninety to 95 percent causality rate. The OSS personnel had come to the camp expecting they would get some 10 to 12 volunteers. As Clainos tells the tale, once he placed that prospect to the Battalion, he and all of them immediately volunteered for duty. The OSS men accepted some 160 men. In early October 1943, these Greek American soldiers arrived at the Congressional Country Club just outside Washington D.C. Once at this luxurious location, they were made to live in tents on the club grounds. By this time, these men were known, in military jargon, as the Greek American Operational Group or Greek/OGS for short. Space does not allow me to describe but only outline the kind but not the full scope of the commando training these young Greeks were given which included but was not limited to hand-to-hand combat, knife throwing, extensive training in explosives, and in time paratroop training. After this intensive training, these men were moved again to a remote camp near Hagerstown Maryland for more demolition training. Clainos was not among their number. This was never explained to him although some mention of his politics was made. Years later Clainos said, the saddest moment in his entire life, was watching the buses filled with those young Greek American soldiers drive away without him. On December 23, 1943, this Greek American unit boarded a troop ship and two days later left for Egypt. On January 23, 1944, 185 men (16 officers and 169 men) landed in Egypt the group at this moment in time was known as Third Contingent, Unit B. The later and now official name of this group became Company C 2671 Special Reconnaissance Battalion which was not given sometime in August 1944. Here I would like to draw directly upon Andrew S. Mousalimas’ especially fine account, “Greek-American Operational Group Office of Strategic Services (OSS): Memoirs of World War 2” (www.pahh.com). Aside from his own experiences Mr. Mousalimas has spent decades speaking with others in the various units and combing the National Archives for records on the Greek Battalion and the 2671 Special Reconnaissance Battalion. Now, be aware, other memoirs by other members of this elite unit exist and each is unique in its own way and deserves our close attention since, as we shall see, the various units operated independently of each other. As Mousalimas reports: “The six

groups of our unit split up in Egypt, January 1944. Three of our groups then operated in Yugoslavia while the other three went directly into Greece. After five months of combat by some in Yugoslavia, our six groups were reunited in Greece where each group was operating autonomously. Now, all six of our Greek American groups of the Greek/USOG were operating behind enemy lines in Greece, disrupting Axis garrisons, convoys, and trains. We did not discover the great extent of the damage these small groups inflicted on the Germans and Bulgarians in Greece (or on the Germans in Yugoslavia) until our records were opened by the CIA in 1989. Unfortunately, our records re-

April 1943. Family bid Andrew goodbye in Salinas four days after induction. L to R: Grandma Caredis, Andrew, Cousin Leo Malliaris, Mother Susie, Cousin Sophie Cominos, Aunt Helen Cominos, Cousin Marie Cominos and Cousin Bessie Cominos. mained top secret until then.” For 219 days continuously from April 23 to November 1944 these Greek commandos were behind the lines totally on their own. On April 23, Group I. Captain Verghis, commanding went to Epirus landing in an undisclosed location by sea. On May 16, Group VII Captain Andy Rogers, commanding parachuted into the northern Peloponnesus. On May 1, Group V Lieutenant George Papazoglou, commanding went to the region near Mount Paikon by sea. On June 18, Group II Lieutenant John Giannaris, commanding went to Roumeli, with a base about 25 miles southwest of Lamia. On July 16, Group VIII Captain Ronald Darr, commanding went by sea to Macedonia near Vermion. On July 19, Continued on page 10

Distomo: Catastrophe in the Shadow of the Gods By Niles Southern Special to The National Herald LONGMONT, Col.- East of Delphi lies Distomo, site of one of the most brutal massacres of World War II. Loukas Loukas was two at the time of “the catastrophe” (June 10, 1944). He survived the war, as many children and infants did, through the heroic efforts of his family, particularly his older sisters and aunt. He attended Distomo’s bullet-ridden elementary school, where, lined-up against the outside wall, over 200 people had been executed in cold blood in a matter of hours. Tragically, it was the success of the resistance fighters on the road towards Osiou Luka monastery that led to his parents’ death. Mr. Loukas came to America in 1964, and is a caterer and chef in Denver, Colorado. When I sat down with him at Denver’s Assumption Cathedral, he was about to make the preparations for the Anniversary Dinner of the church. FROM “PINA” TO “CATASTROPHE” Things were desperate in Distomo even before the massacre. In 1941, it was known as the time of “pina”—or starvation. The Germans took all the food, not only in Distomo but all over Greece. To have fun, they would go out on the balcony of a house and throw a piece of bread, just to watch the children practically kill each other over it. On top of that, years before the massacre, the Germans were going around destroying and burning houses and terrorizing people—often in reprisal for acts of sabotage. People hid in caves and various places—because the Germans kept coming back. A STRATEGIC LOCATION FOR RESISTANCE There were many people in Distomo active with the resistance during the German and Italian occupations. The mountains are situated such that it allowed the resistance fighters to set traps, do hit-and-run raids and escape quickly. The Germans tried to put a stop to the resistance by routinely killing and terrorizing people. The Germans were scared to stay overnight in the small villages where the resistance was strong—they knew they’d be killed! So, it became a kind of routine: the Germans operated by day, the Greek fighters at night. THE ROUT THAT TRIGGERED A MASSACRE June 10, 1944 started as just an ordinary morning of killing and ter-

Loukas Loukas, a survivor of the massacre at the Assumption Cathedral in Denver, Col. His family includes his wife Ruby, born in Denver and of Greek descent, three daughters, a son, and six grandchildren. ror by the Germans in Distomo. That day, the resistance was based in the church Agios Symeon. When they learned of the morning attack on Distomo, they decided to wait for the Germans and ambush them as they left. Around noon, on the way to Steiri—about 2.5 kilometers from Distomo towards the Osiou Louka monastery, the Germans were ambushed and taken completely by surprise. Under heavy fire for two hours near the Agia Irini church, the Ger-

mans suffered great losses: 47 dead, 18 wounded. The resistance later took cover in Levadia where my parents were that day—that’s how they found out there had been fighting— and that there’d be more trouble in Distomo. DAY OF HORROR, JUNE 10, 1944 In reprisal, the Germans shot every living thing they could find— including goats, dogs—anything that moved. Many of the men were

PHOTOGRAPH FROM “DISTOMO” BY JOHN BASDEKIS. PUBLISHED IN GREECE, 1994.

Loukas Loukas’ parents, George and Pandora Loukas, who perished at Distomo. “This is the only picture we have of my parents. It was their engagement photograph. Everything else was destroyed.”

in the mountains and so it was mainly the women who were killed and the elderly, kids and infants, because they couldn’t run away. Apparently, one area was not guarded so well, and some of the young ones escaped. One lady hid two children in a wooden cask, hoping the Germans wouldn’t find them; but they shot the barrel full of holes, and killed them both. She found them later and went crazy. The Germans were especially brutal to the priest: They cut his head off and kicked it around like a soccer ball. They hit old women in their backs and opened them up with their bayonets; they opened the wombs of pregnant women. They burned houses, threw people out windows—it was just a total catastrophe until nighttime. SAVED BY AN ACT OF KINDNESS Distomo was, and still is, a small town, and the morning the Germans came, my parents had left for the larger village of Livadeia to purchase some supplies. We four kids had been left behind. When we heard about the massacre beginning, we ran into the neighbor’s house— about 14 or 15 of us—got in the basement, closed the door and waited there. One squad of Germans, about four of them, came to the house. The officer in charge was an Austrian. As soon as he opened the cellar door and saw us, he felt sorry for us young kids—and he decided not to kill us. He made some motions to be quiet, and closed the door. He put some red papers on the door and killed a dog and goat outside to indicate that the killings had taken place—so that other soldiers wouldn’t waste time as they did their socalled “work”. That’s how we were saved. As for my parents, when they heard there was going to be a massacre in Distomo, they immediately headed back to find and help us. Along the way, on a part of the road we call the “Steni”, or narrow pass, they came across my parents, killed them in their carriage, killed the horse, and dumped them all into a creek. BONES OF LOSS AND LOVE At the time of the massacre, I was two years old. I don’t remember my parents. I don’t remember anything of that day at all. The only incident I remember was a few years later when I was about five, and the bodies were exhumed. All the bones were taken and put in a box, with the names and so forth. My mother’s sister took me to the exhumation site

PHOTOGRAPH FROM “DISTOMO” BY JOHN BASDEKIS. PUBLISHED IN GREECE, 1994.

Etching on black marble commemorating the massacred people of Distomo, in the shadows of Delphi, illustrating the terrible carnage committed by German Nazi soldiers on that day, June 10th, 1944. and in front of these skeletons and skulls, she said, “This is your mother and father, kiss them!” So, my memory begins there. Of course I also know the stories of my sisters, who were teenagers at the time, and my brother, who was nine. SURVIVING THE AFTERMATH The Germans kept coming back and forth, terrorizing anyone still alive. We had some property; some olive trees and so forth down towards the sea—and so, one of my sisters took me on her back, to our little “kalivi,” as we call it; just four walls and a roof in the middle of the olive grove. We used to stay overnight there when we harvested olives. That was our hiding place. There were a couple other children who’d lost their parents who stayed with us there. As you know, June and July is a very hot time of year in Greece, and the bodies began to stink—but no one could go back to bury the dead. The massacre happened on Saturday, and by Tuesday an uncle of mine came with my sisters and they found the bodies and went to bury them. The Germans were coming back and forth—and many times the men had to stop their digging so as not to be killed. Many people were buried in temporary common cemeteries—in fact, the whole village became like a cemetery. We didn’t have any food to eat, or goods of any kind. My sisters would run back to the house secretly at night to try to get whatever food they could find. To help us survive, my mother’s brother’s wife—who, like my mother, was from Arachova – a nearby town, came over the mountains at night to find us and bring us food. It was horrible. After a while,

we couldn’t survive there anymore so, we went to Arachova, with my mother’s sisters. Later, my younger sister and I moved into our house in Distomo, and I grew up there until I was ten, and my brother went away to school in Levadia. Then I went to Arachova to live with my aunt. I went to school in Athens after that. DISTOMITAN’S PATRIOTIC SOCIETY OF CHICAGO There’s a big Distomo society in Chicago—founded in 1912. After the massacre, they wanted to do something to help the families in need. Rather than send money, they decided to bring one person from every Distomo family to the United States. The person who needed the most help in our family was me—because I was the youngest. But because I was only ten, my brother came instead. So ever since then, I had the idea to come to the United States. I grew up with a lot of hate towards all Germans—not only the Nazis. People used to ask me—“what are you going to do when you get older?” and I used to say, “kill Germans!” Even when I came here to the States, I got into fights with Germans—but finally, I began to differentiate people in my mind and recognize that not all Germans are criminals and monsters. Nile Southern is a writer and filmmaker living in Boulder, Colorado. He is the author of ‘The CANDYMen’; winner of Colorado’s ‘Book of the Year’ award, 2005. His proposed radio series ‘Greeks Out West; An Odyssey Through Story and Song’ still seeks underwriting and support. Contact: [email protected]