The Battle of Kalamata took place on September 9, 1944, between

ELAS The Greek People's Liberation Army ( el, Ελληνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός (ΕΛΑΣ), ''Ellinikós Laïkós Apeleftherotikós Stratós'' (ELAS) was the military arm of the left-wing National Liberat ...

(the army branch of EAM) against the collaborationist

security battalions The Security Battalions ( el, Τάγματα Ασφαλείας, Tagmata Asfaleias, derisively known as ''Germanotsoliades'' (Γερμανοτσολιάδες) or ''Tagmatasfalites'' (Ταγματασφαλίτες)) were Greek Collaboration with ...

and the

Hellenic gendarmerie The Hellenic Gendarmerie (, ''Elliniki Chorofylaki'') was the national gendarmerie and military police (until 1951) force of Greece. History 19th century The Greek Gendarmerie was established after the enthronement of Otto of Greece, King Otto ...

. It resulted in ELAS' victory and the liberation of

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...

. After the battle, members of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

collaborators were killed by the crowd.

The battle

At dawn of September 9, 1944, after failed negotiations of

Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

for the surrender of the security battalions (the proposal was rejected by the collaborationist prefect Dimitrios Perrotis) the battle broke out. The soldiers of the battalions had taken positions in various places throughout the city, from coffee shops to barracks. The forces of ELAS firstly attacked a prison building forcing the gendarmerie that guarded it to surrender and liberating imprisoned members of ELAS that consequently took arms and joined the fight. Giannis Servos, one of the leaders of the 9th regiment of ELAS, was killed in action by the Nazi collaborators that had taken positions in the castle of Kalamata. Gradually the positions of the security battalions fell to ELAS forces.'''' The hotel ''Rex'' and the coffee shop ''Pantheon'' were the last positions to be eliminated, at the evening of the same day. The remaining collaborationist forces fled to

Meligalas Meligalas ( el, Μελιγαλάς) is a town and former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oichalia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an are ...

and 87 security battalionists were arrested.

Aftermath

Along with the 9th regiment of ELAS, relatives of victims of the security battalions also came to the area. Residents of the city added to them after the battle to take revenge against the collaborators. The crowd proceeded to acts of violence killing two of them. After the

Battle of Meligalas The Battle of Meligalas ( el, Μάχη του Μελιγαλά, Machi tou Meligala) took place at Meligalas in Messenia in southwestern Greece, on 13–15 September 1944, between the Greek Resistance forces of the Greek People's Liberation Army ( ...

some days later, 18 or 19 members of the battalions were hanged in the central square of Kalamata, including leading figures of the local Nazi collaborators Dimitrios Perrotis and Ioannis Fragkoudakis.

References

{{coord missing, Greece Battles and operations involving the Greek Resistance Battles and operations involving the Greek People's Liberation Army 1944 in Greece Conflicts in 1944 September 1944 events History of Kalamata Peloponnese in World War II Military history of the Peloponnese