Ο πρώτος γύρος του εμφυλίου πολέμου στη γερμανοκρατούμενη δυτική πλευρά του Στρυμόνα, Σεπτέμβριος-Δεκέμβριος 1943

Abstract

The focus of this article will be on the preconditions for and causes of the
engagement in conflict of the left wing Greek Popular Liberation Army (ELAS)
with other armed groups, chiefly those of the right wing Panhellenic
Liberation Organisation (PAO). It is less concerned with battles and strategy,
or questions such as the atrocities committed by both sides. There are three
avenues of investigation. The first is to trace, in the political tendencies that
were formed before the war, the reasons why the various communities in the
area sided with ELAS or PAO, and to discover whether these tendencies still
existed during the occupation (Katochi) by the Axis forces, since it seems that
the different origins of the various communities (e.g. natives, Sarakatsani,
grecophone or turkophone refugees) had a decisive influence on their political
choice. The second is to estimate the extent to which the political choice of
these communities was influenced by the tactics followed by the rival organisations
during the Katochi, especially in 1943. Finally, further apparently  significant factors will be examined, such as the Bulgarian and German
reprisals of 1941, which followed the first armed resistance activities in the
area, and the expansion of the Bulgarian occupied zone in Central Macedonia
in July 1943.