The strong allegation that British troops fired on demonstrators was based on recollections, recounted as factThe Observer Magazine headline was arresting: “Athens ’44 – Britain’s dirty secret” it announced in big black type, alongside a stark photograph showing sprawling bodies surrounded by stunned and frightened demonstrators. “The day that changed history,” read the caption. “Unarmed protesters shot by the police and the British army in Athens on 3 December 1944.”In 6,500 words, spread over nine pages, the piece reflected not only on that terrible event but also on the controversial theory that Churchill’s efforts to stem communism in the Mediterranean had sown the seeds for the rise of the far right in modern Greece. But on the demonstration it included this unequivocal statement: “This was the day ... when the British army, still at war with Germany, opened fire on – and gave locals who had collaborated with the Nazis the guns to fire on – a civilian crowd demonstrating in support of the partisans with whom Britain had been allied for three years.”The reality is filtered through perceptions clouded by a day filled with violence and considerable confusion Continue reading...
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