George Grivas
Encyclopedia
Georgios Grivas (July 5, 1898 - January 27, 1974), also known by his nom de guerre Digenis (Διγενής), which he adopted while in EOKA
, was a Cyprus
-born general in the Greek Army, leader of the EOKA
guerrilla organization and EOKA B
paramilitary organisation.
, Famagusta District
, the fourth child of Theodoros Grivas and Kalomira Hadjimichael. He grew up in his family home at Trikomo. After attending his village school he studied at the Pancyprian Gymnasium
in Nicosia (1909–1915) where he stayed with his grandmother.
of London, his father intended him to become a physician. On learning this, Grivas fled his home and Cyprus in 1916 to study at the Athens Military Academy
. He completed his military studies at the École Militaire
in Paris. He graduated in 1919 with the rank of sub-lieutenant and was immediately posted on the Asia Minor front. Grivas served in the 10th Division of the Greek Army and participated in its advance from Smyrna
to Panormos and Eskişehir
, past Bursa and the Sakarya River
. With the subsequent rout and defeat of the Greek Army and its complete withdrawal from Asia Minor in 1922 he was placed at Redestos, Thrace
. He was decorated for his bravery and promoted to lieutenant
. He was later selected to study at the French Military Academy and upon his return to Greece
he served in a number of posts, including that of a lecturer at the Military School of Greece. He was promoted to captain in 1925 and to major in 1935. Two years later he married Vasiliki Deka, the daughter of a pharmacist
, in Athens.
Grivas was transferred to the operations department of the central headquarters of the Greek army, working on the northern Greece's strategic defense plans. Three months after the Italian attack on Greece, Georgios Grivas was transferred to the Albanian front as chief of staff of the 2nd Division where he arrived in December 1940.
During the German-Italian-Bulgarian occupation of Greece in World War II he founded and led the Organisation X
, a minor resistance
organisation made up of officers of the Greek army whose influence was limited in certain neighbourhoods of Athens.
During the events of December 1944, members of Organisation X (armed by the German army in their retreat from Greece) fought alongside British and Greek monarchist forces to take control of Athens from EAM/ELAS fighters (see Greek Civil War
). In 1946 he retired from the Greek army on his own request but his subsequent attempts to enter politics were unsuccessful.
). As a member of the secret Committee for the Cyprus Struggle he took the oath of Enosis together with the newly elected Archbishop Makarios III
, with whom he collaborated for preparing the armed struggle. He arrived secretly in Cyprus in November 1954 and began immediately the formation of his guerrilla organization EOKA. On April 1, 1955 with a declaration that he signed as DIGENIS and a number of explosions in the four major cities and military installations, he announced the beginning of his campaign for Self Determination – Union with Greece.
He directed the first EOKA operations from his hideout in Nicosia but soon after he moved to the Troodos mountains to lead his guerrilla teams. He recruited Grigoris Afxentiou
as one of the team leaders, initially of the Famagusta district. Grivas escaped capture twice after he was surrounded by British forces at Spilia in December 1955, leading to the Battle of Spilia
, and at Kykkos in May 1956. A month later he left the mountains and found refuge in a hideout at Limassol from where he directed not only the military activities but also the political campaign, since Archbishop Makarios in March 1956 was exiled by the authorities.
During the struggle, the British colonial administration had offered a reward of 10,000 British pounds plus passage to anywhere in the world for information leading to the arrest of Colonel Grivas.
in early 1959 and the declaration of Cyprus as an independent state Grivas reluctantly ordered cease-fire, since the struggle's main objective of Enosis was not achieved. His views were at odds with those of Makarios who had accepted the above agreements on behalf of the Greek Cypriot population. In March 1959, Digenis came out of his hideout and departed (in exile, requested by the UK as part of the cease fire agreement) for Athens where he received a hero's welcome as the liberator of the Greek Cypriots and was subsequently decorated with the highest honours by the Greek Parliament and the Athens Academy and promoted to the rank of General. Not long after his return general Grivas was persuaded to head a coalition party but soon abandoned this route after the disappointing percentage his party obtained in the general election of 1963.
and Greek Cypriots
to take over the Supreme Command of the Greek Cypriot forces organised under Makarios's National Guard as well as the Greek military division sent to Cyprus by the government of George Papandreou
to assist in the island's defence against a possible Turkish attack. He directed the construction of defense forts and complexes aiming at withstanding a Turkish invasion. On the 15th of November, 1967 Greek Cypriot National Guard under his direct command overran two small villages on the critical Larnaca, Limassol, Nicosia intersection, resulting in the deaths of 27 people, mostly unarmed Turkish Cypriot civilians as well as Turkish Cypriot resistance fighters at Kofinou
and Agios Theodoros
. Immediate result of this event was Turkey's ultimatum, which prompted the Greek military government to recall both the Greek Division and General Grivas to Athens.
, Nikolaos Lytras and George Karousos as well as Greek Cypriot students and professionals many of them former EOKA fighters. Grivas began the formation of armed resistance cells in a number of neighbourhoods in Athens which were armed with guns and explosives thate were brought in secretly from Cyprus. The organisation, however, was discovered by the authorities and many of the organization's members were arrested.
His boat that he used to return to Cyprus is housed on the beach between Limassol and Paphos.
He died of heart failure at the age of 75 on January 27, 1974 while in hiding in a house in the city of Limassol
. Grivas' funeral and burial was held on January 29, 1974, in the garden of the house that had been Grivas' last hideout during the EOKA struggle (1955–1959) and attended by tens of thousands of Greek Cypriots. Upon his death, the Cypriot Government declared a three-day official mourning and three days later, the Cypriot Parliament
declared General Grivas "a worthy son of the motherland". The government of Archbishop
Makarios, the target of Grivas' campaign for enosis, formally boycotted the event.
The Junta of the Colonels
overthrew Makarios
just six months after Grivas' death. The military coup
of July 15, 1974 which overthrew Makarios was executed by forces of the Cypriot National Guard
under direct instructions from Greece. The coup was swiftly followed by the Turkish military invasion of Cyprus
.
EOKA
EOKA was an anticolonial, antiimperialist nationalist organisation with the ultimate goal of "The liberation of Cyprus from the British yoke". Although not stated in its initial declaration of existence which was printed and distributed on the 1st of April 1955, EOKA also had a target of achieving...
, was a Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
-born general in the Greek Army, leader of the EOKA
EOKA
EOKA was an anticolonial, antiimperialist nationalist organisation with the ultimate goal of "The liberation of Cyprus from the British yoke". Although not stated in its initial declaration of existence which was printed and distributed on the 1st of April 1955, EOKA also had a target of achieving...
guerrilla organization and EOKA B
EOKA B
EOKA-B was a Greek Cypriot paramilitary organisation formed in 1971. It followed a right-wing nationalistic ideology and had the ultimate goal of achieving the enosis of Cyprus with Greece...
paramilitary organisation.
Early life
Georgios Grivas (aka Digenis) was born on July 5, 1898 in TrikomoTrikomo, Cyprus
Trikomo is a town in the Famagusta District of Cyprus. It is in the area controlled by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and seat of its İskele District It has been under Turkish control since the 1974 invasion, driving the local Greek Cypriot villagers out of the area....
, Famagusta District
Famagusta District
Famagusta District is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its main town is the island's most important port, Famagusta. The city of Famagusta is currently controlled by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus ....
, the fourth child of Theodoros Grivas and Kalomira Hadjimichael. He grew up in his family home at Trikomo. After attending his village school he studied at the Pancyprian Gymnasium
Pancyprian Gymnasium
The Pancyprian Gymnasium was founded in 1812 by Archbishop Kyprianos at a time when Cyprus was still under Ottoman occupation. It was originally called the Hellenic School and is the oldest high school still in operation on the island...
in Nicosia (1909–1915) where he stayed with his grandmother.
Early military career
According to his obituary in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of London, his father intended him to become a physician. On learning this, Grivas fled his home and Cyprus in 1916 to study at the Athens Military Academy
Hellenic Military Academy
The Evelpidon Military Academy is the oldest tertiary level educational institution in Greece. It was founded in 1828 in Nafplio by Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Governor of the modern Greek State....
. He completed his military studies at the École Militaire
École Militaire
The École Militaire is a vast complex of buildings housing various military training facilities located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, southeast of the Champ de Mars....
in Paris. He graduated in 1919 with the rank of sub-lieutenant and was immediately posted on the Asia Minor front. Grivas served in the 10th Division of the Greek Army and participated in its advance from Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
to Panormos and Eskişehir
Eskisehir
Eskişehir is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. According to the 2009 census, the population of the city is 631,905. The city is located on the banks of the Porsuk River, 792 m above sea level, where it overlooks the fertile Phrygian Valley. In the nearby...
, past Bursa and the Sakarya River
Battle of Sakarya
The Battle of Sakarya , also known as the Battle of the Sangarios , was an important engagement in the Greco-Turkish War and Turkish War of Independence....
. With the subsequent rout and defeat of the Greek Army and its complete withdrawal from Asia Minor in 1922 he was placed at Redestos, Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
. He was decorated for his bravery and promoted to lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
. He was later selected to study at the French Military Academy and upon his return to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
he served in a number of posts, including that of a lecturer at the Military School of Greece. He was promoted to captain in 1925 and to major in 1935. Two years later he married Vasiliki Deka, the daughter of a pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
, in Athens.
World War II and German occupation
With the beginning of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Grivas was transferred to the operations department of the central headquarters of the Greek army, working on the northern Greece's strategic defense plans. Three months after the Italian attack on Greece, Georgios Grivas was transferred to the Albanian front as chief of staff of the 2nd Division where he arrived in December 1940.
During the German-Italian-Bulgarian occupation of Greece in World War II he founded and led the Organisation X
Organization of National Resistance of the Interior X (Chi)
The Organization of National Resistance of the Interior X , commonly known as Organization X or simply X , was a resistance group formed during the Axis occupation of Greece, in June 1941...
, a minor resistance
Greek Resistance
The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...
organisation made up of officers of the Greek army whose influence was limited in certain neighbourhoods of Athens.
During the events of December 1944, members of Organisation X (armed by the German army in their retreat from Greece) fought alongside British and Greek monarchist forces to take control of Athens from EAM/ELAS fighters (see Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
). In 1946 he retired from the Greek army on his own request but his subsequent attempts to enter politics were unsuccessful.
The EOKA guerrilla campaign
Thereafter Grivas focussed on the idea of liberating Cyprus from British colonial rule and the aim of Union with Greece (EnosisEnosis
Enosis refers to the movement of the Greek-Cypriot population to incorporate the island of Cyprus into Greece.Similar movements had previously developed in other regions with ethnic Greek majorities such as the Ionian Islands, Crete and the Dodecanese. These regions were eventually incorporated...
). As a member of the secret Committee for the Cyprus Struggle he took the oath of Enosis together with the newly elected Archbishop Makarios III
Makarios III
Makarios III , born Andreas Christodolou Mouskos , was the archbishop and primate of the autocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church and the first President of the Republic of Cyprus ....
, with whom he collaborated for preparing the armed struggle. He arrived secretly in Cyprus in November 1954 and began immediately the formation of his guerrilla organization EOKA. On April 1, 1955 with a declaration that he signed as DIGENIS and a number of explosions in the four major cities and military installations, he announced the beginning of his campaign for Self Determination – Union with Greece.
He directed the first EOKA operations from his hideout in Nicosia but soon after he moved to the Troodos mountains to lead his guerrilla teams. He recruited Grigoris Afxentiou
Grigoris Afxentiou
Grigoris Pieris Afxentiou was a guerrilla fighter who fought against the British rule of Cyprus and is considered a national hero. In the hierarchy of EOKA he was second in command to general Georgios Grivas...
as one of the team leaders, initially of the Famagusta district. Grivas escaped capture twice after he was surrounded by British forces at Spilia in December 1955, leading to the Battle of Spilia
Battle of Spilia
The Battle of Spilia was fought on December 12, 1955 in the EOKA campaign against the British in Cyprus.Acting on information provided by an informant 700 hundred soldiers of the British Army, attempted to encircle the headquarters of EOKA General Georgios Grivas on the Troodos mountains near the...
, and at Kykkos in May 1956. A month later he left the mountains and found refuge in a hideout at Limassol from where he directed not only the military activities but also the political campaign, since Archbishop Makarios in March 1956 was exiled by the authorities.
During the struggle, the British colonial administration had offered a reward of 10,000 British pounds plus passage to anywhere in the world for information leading to the arrest of Colonel Grivas.
Return to Greece
With the signing of the Zurich-London agreementsZürich and London Agreement
The Zürich and London Agreement for the constitution of Cyprus started with an agreement on the 19 February 1959 in Lancaster House in London, between Turkey, Greece, the United Kingdom and Cypriot community leaders...
in early 1959 and the declaration of Cyprus as an independent state Grivas reluctantly ordered cease-fire, since the struggle's main objective of Enosis was not achieved. His views were at odds with those of Makarios who had accepted the above agreements on behalf of the Greek Cypriot population. In March 1959, Digenis came out of his hideout and departed (in exile, requested by the UK as part of the cease fire agreement) for Athens where he received a hero's welcome as the liberator of the Greek Cypriots and was subsequently decorated with the highest honours by the Greek Parliament and the Athens Academy and promoted to the rank of General. Not long after his return general Grivas was persuaded to head a coalition party but soon abandoned this route after the disappointing percentage his party obtained in the general election of 1963.
Return to Cyprus in 1964
He returned to Cyprus in 1964 after the outbreak of intercommunal violence between Turkish CypriotsTurkish Cypriots
Turkish Cypriots are the ethnic Turks and members of the Turkish-speaking ethnolinguistic community of the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The term is used to refer explicitly to the indigenous Turkish Cypriots, whose Ottoman Turkish forbears colonised the island in 1571...
and Greek Cypriots
Greek Cypriots
Greek Cypriots are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community at 77% of the population. Greek Cypriots are mostly members of the Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity...
to take over the Supreme Command of the Greek Cypriot forces organised under Makarios's National Guard as well as the Greek military division sent to Cyprus by the government of George Papandreou
George Papandreou (senior)
Georgios Papandreou was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as Prime Minister of Greece...
to assist in the island's defence against a possible Turkish attack. He directed the construction of defense forts and complexes aiming at withstanding a Turkish invasion. On the 15th of November, 1967 Greek Cypriot National Guard under his direct command overran two small villages on the critical Larnaca, Limassol, Nicosia intersection, resulting in the deaths of 27 people, mostly unarmed Turkish Cypriot civilians as well as Turkish Cypriot resistance fighters at Kofinou
Kofinou
Kofinou is a village located in the Larnaca District of Cyprus.A small village where the roads from Nicosia, Larnaca and Limassol trisected, prior to the by-pass built in the 1990s.-History:...
and Agios Theodoros
Agios Theodoros
Agios Theodoros is the name of several villages in Cyprus :*Agios Theodoros, Famagusta*Agios Theodoros, Larnaca*Agios Theodoros, Limassol*Agios Theodoros, Nicosia...
. Immediate result of this event was Turkey's ultimatum, which prompted the Greek military government to recall both the Greek Division and General Grivas to Athens.
Recall to Greece in 1968
From 1968 to 1969 and while under strict surveillance he participated in a resistance movement aiming at deposing the ruling military Junta and restoring democracy in Greece, along with a number of Greek Army officers including Colonel Dimitrios Opropoulos and Majors Spyros MoustaklisSpyros Moustaklis
Major Spyros Moustaklis was an officer of the Greek Army. During the military junta years in Greece, he actively opposed the dictatorship and suffered permanent damage as the result of torture, making him a symbol of the anti-junta resistance.A graduate of the Hellenic Military Academy,...
, Nikolaos Lytras and George Karousos as well as Greek Cypriot students and professionals many of them former EOKA fighters. Grivas began the formation of armed resistance cells in a number of neighbourhoods in Athens which were armed with guns and explosives thate were brought in secretly from Cyprus. The organisation, however, was discovered by the authorities and many of the organization's members were arrested.
Final return to Cyprus
After the discovery of his plans by the authorities he secretly returned to Cyprus where he formed the armed organization EOKA B which he used as leverage in his attempts to persuade or force President Makarios to change his policy and adopt the line of "Self Determination – Union" with Greece.His boat that he used to return to Cyprus is housed on the beach between Limassol and Paphos.
He died of heart failure at the age of 75 on January 27, 1974 while in hiding in a house in the city of Limassol
Limassol
Limassol is the second-largest city in Cyprus, with a population of 228,000 . It is the largest city in geographical size, and the biggest municipality on the island. The city is located on Akrotiri Bay, on the island's southern coast and it is the capital of Limassol District.Limassol is the...
. Grivas' funeral and burial was held on January 29, 1974, in the garden of the house that had been Grivas' last hideout during the EOKA struggle (1955–1959) and attended by tens of thousands of Greek Cypriots. Upon his death, the Cypriot Government declared a three-day official mourning and three days later, the Cypriot Parliament
House of Representatives of Cyprus
The House of Representatives is the parliament of Cyprus. It has 59 members elected for a five year term, 56 members by proportional representation and 3 observer members representing the Maronite, Latin and Armenian minorities...
declared General Grivas "a worthy son of the motherland". The government of Archbishop
Makarios, the target of Grivas' campaign for enosis, formally boycotted the event.
The Junta of the Colonels
Greek military junta of 1967-1974
The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" , or in Greece "The Junta", and "The Seven Years" are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974...
overthrew Makarios
Makarios III
Makarios III , born Andreas Christodolou Mouskos , was the archbishop and primate of the autocephalous Cypriot Orthodox Church and the first President of the Republic of Cyprus ....
just six months after Grivas' death. The military coup
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of July 15, 1974 which overthrew Makarios was executed by forces of the Cypriot National Guard
Cypriot National Guard
The Cypriot National Guard , also known as the "Greek Cypriot National Guard" or simply as "National Guard", is the combined arms military force of the Republic of Cyprus...
under direct instructions from Greece. The coup was swiftly followed by the Turkish military invasion of Cyprus
Turkish invasion of Cyprus
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military invasion in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus...
.
Sources
- Grivas Georgios-Digenis, Apomnimoneumata Agonos E.O.K.A. 1955-59, Athens 1961.
- Grivas Georgios-Digenis, Crhonikon Agonos E.O.K.A. 1955059, Nicosia 1972
- Grivas George, General Grivas on Guerrilla Warfare. Translated by A. A. Palis, New York, N.Y., U.S.A., Praeger, 1965
- Grivas George, Guerrilla warfare and EOKA's struggle: a politico-military study. (Translated by A. A. Pallis). London, G.B.: Longmans, Green, 1964
- Grivas George, The Memoirs of General Grivas. Edited by Charles Foley, New York, Frederick A. Praeger, 1965
- Leonidas Leonidou F., Georgios Grivas Digenis, Viografia, Volume A, (1897–1950), [Cyprus 1995]
- Leonidas Leonidou F., Georgios Grivas Digenis, Viografia, Volume B, (1950–1959), Nicosia 1997
- Papageorgiou Spyros, O Grivas kai i "X", To Chameno Archeio, Athens 2004
- TyposOnline - EOKA