1944
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Liberated Athenians greet British soldiers in Athens
Events
January
- January 11: Allied airplanes bombard the harbour of Piraeus.
- January 21: Four units of the Hellenic Navy take part in the landing at Anzio.
- January 26: 43 Greeks are executed outside Kozani by the occupation forces.
February
- February 29: Greek resistance movements EDES, EAM and EKKA sign a cooperation pact at Plaka, Epirus.
March
- March 10: The Political Committee of National Liberation (the "government of the mountains") is formed at Viniani, Evritania prefecture. Evripidis Bakirtzis is sworn in as Prime Minister.
April
- April 5: 270 Greeks are executed in the village of Kleisoura (Kastoria), by the German occupation forces, in retaliation for the killing of two German soldiers in the area.
- April 17: Communist resistance group ELAS attack and annihilate EKKA, a republican resistance group. EKKA leader, Dimitrios Psaros, is captured and executed.
- April 18: Alexandros Svolos replaces Evripidis Bakirtzis as head of the Political Committee of National Liberation (the government of the mountains).
- April 24: 318 Greeks are killed by German occupation troops in Pyrgos, Kozani prefecture. 180 of them were burned alive.
- April 26: Greek guerrilas and British commandos kidnap Gen. Heinrich Kreipe, commander of the German garrison of Crete.
May
- May 1: 200 Greek patriots are executed by the Nazis at Kaisariani.
- May 4: The village of Saktouria in Rethymno prefecture, Crete, is totally destroyed by German occupation troops.
- May 9: 10 Greeks are hanged by the German occupation forces at Psila Alonia, Achaea prefecture. Several were members of the resistance group EAM.
- May 17: The Greek government-in-exile meets with representatives of the various guerrila movements in Lebanon.
June
- June 10: German occupation troops execute 218 Greeks in Distomo, Boeotia prefecture.
August
- August 11: The Greek 3rd mountain brigade lands in Taranto, Italy.
September
- September 8: Lela Karayianni, leader of the "Bouboulina" resistance movement, is executed by the Germans.
- September 15: ELAS Guerrilas attack and capture Meligala, Messinia. Atrocities follow.
- September 21: The Greek 3rd mountain brigade enters Rimini after defeating its German defenders.
- September 26: EAM/ELAS and EDES agree in Caserta, Italy, to place their men under the command of British Maj. Gen. Ronald Skobie.
October
- October 12: The WWII German occupying forces move out of Athens.
- October 17: The Greek government-in-exile boards the Battleship Georgios Averof for the return trip to Athens.
- October 18: The Greek Government in exile, under Georgios Papandreou, arrives in Piraeus.
- October 20: Joseph Stalin and Sir Winston Churchill partition eastern Europe into "spheres of influence". Greece is marked as 90% under British and only 10% under Soviet influence.
- October 28: German soldiers, while on retreat, sabotage and destroy the bridge of Papadia, and the tunnel and bridge of Brallos.
- October 30: Thessaloniki is liberated from the German World War II occupying forces
November
- November 3: A 100 billion drachma note is put into circulation - the largest denomination of currency ever in Greece.
December
- December 1: Gen. Ronald Scobie issues a proclamation calling for the disolution of the National Popular Liberation Army (ELAS). His call will go unheeded.
- December 4: Communist organisation ELAS and nationalist Organisation X battle at Theseum for control of Athens.
- December 24: Sir Winston Churchill arrives in Athens in an attempt to resolve the political crisis between EAM and the re-instated Greek government of Georgios Papandreou.
- December 27: PM Georgios Papandreou submits his resignation in the midst of the post-World War II December crisis ("Δεκεμβριανά"). Winston Churchill leaves Athens for London.
Births
January
- January 9: Michalis Violaris, popular singer
March
- March 14: Mariza Koch, singer
- March 17: Juan Ramon Veron, footballer
April
- April 20: Yiannis Gaitatzis, footballer
June
- June 21: Corinna Tsopei, Miss Universe of 1964.
October
- October 7: Nikos Dadinopoulos, actor
November
- November 1: Sergio Markarian, football coach
December
- December 2: Dionysis Savvopoulos, music composer, lyricist and singer
Deaths
November
- November 12: Tellos Agras, poet.
December
- December 3: Prince Andrew of Greece, in Monaco where he had been exiled.