The Leader

About General Georgios Grivas

Born : 6 june 1887 – Nicosia

passed away: 27 january 1974 – Limassol

Grivas left Cyprus, for Athens, to pursue a military career. There he had a glorious military life. He enrolled in the School of Guards in 1916 and graduated in 1919 with the rank of Lieutenant Infantry. With this degree he participated in the great Asia Minor campaign that ended in the Asia Minor catastrophe.

In 1923 he was promoted to lieutenant, in 1926 to captain, in 1938 to major and in 1941 to lieutenant colonel. In the meantime, he completed his military studies by attending the Versailles Infantry Training School, the Châlai – Sur – Marne Shooting School and the Higher War Schools of Greece and France. During the Second World War he served in the ranks of the Greek army in Albania, first in the operations office of the General Staff and then (1940 – 41) as Chief of Staff of the 2nd Infantry Division.

After the German advance and the defeat of Greece, Grivas founded the secret organization “X”, of which he was also the leader. However, he was not able to obtain the recognition of his secret organization by the allied headquarters in Cairo (to which the secretly fighting forces in occupied Greece belonged administratively) and he did not receive material or moral help from the allies, because they considered “X” suspicious organization.

Grivas led his organization in an anti-communist struggle, a struggle that continued during the first period immediately after the German occupation. Their greatest battle against the Greek fighters of ELAS, the men of Grivas, the so-called “Hites”, gave it in December 1944, defending part of central Athens. The communists never forgot him and till nowadays still hate him because of that.

In 1945, at his own request, he was demobilized with the rank of colonel. He then founded a political party, the Hittite Party, which took part in the first two post-war elections. However, he didn’t succeed. Grivas abandoned it and devoted his forces to the preparation of the armed liberation struggle of the Greeks of Cyprus. He had the reputation of being a tough, simple, and brave General. He was the most capable man to lead the military battle against British army.

General Grivas secretly arrived in Chlorakas (Pafos) with a ship called ‘Saint-George’. It was loaded with weapons and ammunition to support the armed campaign against the British occupier. A museum and a statue are erected at the scene.