1944 Greek naval mutiny

Newspaper created by imprisoned pro-EAM mutineers

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 Ierax
• Greek destroyer Pindos

References

1. Jones, Mark c. (2002). "Misunderstood and Forgotten: The Greek Naval Mutiny of April 1944". Journal of Modern Greek Studies. 20 (2): 367–397. doi:10.1353/mgs.2002.0026. S2CID 144133142.
2. Grigorios Mezeviris. "theitalianattack". www.mezeviris.gr. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
3. Sempa, Francis P. (2002). Geopolitics: From the Cold War to the 21st Century. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. p. 44. ISBN 0-7658-0122-1.

Further reading

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