The National Bands Agreement ( el, Σύμφωνο των Εθνικών Ομάδων) was an agreement concluded on 5 July 1943 at the village of Liaskovo, between the British military mission to occupied Greece and the three main Greek Resistance organizations,

EAM-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 ...

EDES The National Republican Greek League ( el, Εθνικός Δημοκρατικός Ελληνικός Σύνδεσμος (ΕΔΕΣ), ''Ethnikós Dimokratikós Ellinikós Sýndesmos'' (EDES)) was one of the major resistance groups formed during t ...

and

EKKA The Ekka is the annual agricultural show of Queensland, Australia. Its formal title is the Royal Queensland Show, and it is held at the Brisbane Showgrounds. It was originally called the Brisbane Exhibition, but it is more commonly known as the ...

. Its aim was to coordinate the actions of the Resistance movement in Greece, including the establishment of a joint headquarters under the aegis of the British GHQ Middle East . The negotiations were begun by the British military mission in March 1943 as an attempt to avoid a repeat of the clashes between the Communist-controlled ELAS, by far the largest armed guerrilla organization, and the other groups. In addition, the British were concerned with presenting the Germans with the real possibility of an Allied invasion of the Balkans, and an increased and coordinated guerrilla effort was vital for this (

Operation Animals Operation Animals was a World War II mission by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), in cooperation with the Greek Resistance groups ELAS, Zeus, EDES, PAO and the United States Army Air Force. The operation took place between 21 June ...

, cf. also

Operation Mincemeat Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception operation of the Second World War to disguise the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. Two members of British intelligence obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from eating ...

and

Operation Barclay Operation Barclay was a World War II deception by the Allies in support of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. The goal was to deceive the Axis powers as to the location of the Allies' assault across the Mediterranea ...

). On 6 June, representatives from ELAS (Colonel Stefanos Sarafis and

Andreas Tzimas Andreas Tzimas ( el, Ανδρέας Τζήμας; Kastoria, 1 September 1909 – Prague, 1 December 1972), known also under his World War II-era ''nom de guerre'' of Vasilis Samariniotis (Βασίλης Σαμαρινιώτης), was a leading Gre ...

), EDES (Colonel

Napoleon Zervas Napoleon Zervas ( el, Ναπολέων Ζέρβας; May 17, 1891 – December 10, 1957) was a Hellenic Army officer and resistance leader during World War II. He organized and led the National Republican Greek League (EDES), the second most signi ...

and

Komninos Pyromaglou Komninos Pyromaglou ( el, Κομνηνός Πυρομάγλου; 1899 – 15 December 1980), was a Greek teacher and politician, and one of the driving forces behind the foundation of the National Republican Greek League (EDES), the second-largest ...

) and the British mission (

Eddie Myers Brigadier Edmund Charles Wolf Myers, (12 October 1906 – 6 December 1997) was a British Army officer who fought in the Second World War. Myers was an officer in the Royal Engineers. Military career From October 1942 to early 1944, brevetted ...

and Christopher Woodhouse) assembled in the village of Liaskovo. The negotiations lasted on-and-off for a month, until the agreement was signed on 5 July. EKKA, which at the time did not have any armed force in the field due to its forcible disarmament by ELAS, signed the agreement on 18 July, represented by Colonel Dimitrios Psarros and

Georgios Kartalis Georgios Kartalis ( el, Γεώργιος Καρτάλης, 1908–1957) was a Greek politician. Early life and political career Kartalis was born in Athens to a distinguished family from Volos. He went to school in Geneva and enrolled in the ET ...

. The

Panhellenic Liberation Organization The Panhellenic Liberation Organization ( el, Πανελλήνιος Απελευθερωτική Οργάνωσις (ΠΑΟ), ''Panellinios Apeleftherotiki Organosis'' (PAO)), was a Greek resistance organization against the Axis occupation of Gr ...

(PAO), another nationalist group active in Macedonia but also hostile to ELAS, was also considered for later inclusion. In the event, the agreed joint headquarters, where ELAS had the majority, failed to coordinate the guerrillas' movements, best evidenced following the

capitulation of Italy The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Briga ...

in September 1943, when each organization tried to get as much as it could from the spoils of the Italian army of occupation. ELAS seized the majority, and clashes between the groups began again in October 1943 with an attack on EDES by ELAS forces.

Sources

* * {{Greece during World War II 1943 in Greece National Liberation Front (Greece) National Republican Greek League Treaties of the United Kingdom Treaties concluded in 1943 Treaties entered into force in 1943 World War II treaties July 1943 events