1944 Greek naval mutiny explained

The 1944 Greek naval mutiny was a mutiny by sailors on five ships of the Royal Hellenic Navy in April 1944 over the composition of the Greek government-in-exile, in support of the National Liberation Front (EAM). Petros Voulgaris was called from retirement and appointed vice-admiral to quell the revolt.

The revolt began in Alexandria.^[1] Sailors Revolutionary Commissions were formed both on ships and the naval shore establishments on 4 April 1944.^[2]

The 1st Brigade of the Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East also suffered a EAM-inspired mutiny on 6 April 1944.

The American philosopher James Burnham, writing in the Partisan Review, saw the mutiny as the start of a "Third World War" as the start of a geopolitical confrontation between the Western Allies and Soviet communism.^[3]

Ships involved

• Greek corvette Apostolis
• Greek corvette Sachtouris
• Greek destroyer Kriti
  • Greek destroyer Pindos

Further reading

• Book: Spyropoulos . Evangelos . The Greek Military (1909-1941) and the Greek Mutinies in the Middle East (1941-1944) . 1993 . East European Monographs . Boulder . 9780880332576.
• Stavrianos . L. S. . The Mutiny in the Greek Armed Forces, April, 1944 . American Slavic and East European Review . 1950 . 9 . 4 . 302–311 . 10.2307/2492150. 2492150 .

Notes and References

1. Jones . Mark c. . Misunderstood and Forgotten: The Greek Naval Mutiny of April 1944 . Journal of Modern Greek Studies . 2002 . 20 . 2 . 367–397 . 10.1353/mgs.2002.0026 . 144133142 .
2. Web site: Grigorios Mezeviris . theitalianattack . www.mezeviris.gr . 13 June 2018 . 13 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180613112348/http://www.mezeviris.gr/mutiny.html . dead . Grigorios Mezeviris .
3. Book: Sempa . Francis P. . Geopolitics: From the Cold War to the 21st Century . 2002 . Transaction Publishers . New Brunswick . 0-7658-0122-1. 44.