April 1941, Greece. German forces launch a   sudden invasion of the country, sending tanks  and aircraft deep into Greek territory while   paratroopers seize key bridges and airfields.  Within weeks the Greek army collapses,   and the country falls under Axis occupation.

What follows is a harsh system of control based   on fear. German occupation authorities carry out  arrests, executions, and collective punishments   against civilians suspected of helping resistance  fighters. In the mountains and forests of Greece,   however, resistance movements begin to  grow. Villages provide food, shelter,   and information to guerrilla units, making entire  communities targets for German reprisals.

By 1944,   as the resistance becomes stronger in northern  Greece, the German command launches a large   anti-partisan operation in Western Macedonia  known as May Storm. Its aim is to destroy   guerrilla bases and secure vital transport  routes. During this campaign German forces   and their collaborators attack villages across the  region.

On 24 April 1944, the village of Pyrgoi   is singled out. 327 inhabitants are murdered and  most of the settlement is burned to the ground.   However, those who murdered Greek civilians  will pay for their crimes with their own lives. The Pyrgoi massacre unfolded during the Second  World War, which had begun on 1 September 1939,   when Germany invaded Poland.

Greece itself  had fallen under Axis occupation in April 1941   after a rapid German campaign. The country was  divided into zones controlled by Germany, Italy,   and Bulgaria. After Italy’s capitulation  in September 1943, German forces took full   control of large parts of Greece and intensified  their campaign against resistance movements.   The largest of these movements was ELAS – the  Greek People’s Liberation Army – which operated   mainly in mountainous areas, relying on local  support for shelter, food, and intelligence.

One of the main areas of resistance activity and  clashes with the German occupation forces became   Western Macedonia in north-western Greece, where  the Vermio Mountains provided natural protection   for guerrilla fighters. However, by late 1943,  the guerrilla units of ELAS operating in the   Vermio region began to face serious shortages  of food, money, and ammunition.

British aid   had been interrupted after conflicts between  ELAS and other Greek resistance organizations,   forcing guerrilla fighters to search for food  and refuge in nearby mountain settlements. At   the same time, attacks on German soldiers became  more frequent. Guerrillas carried out ambushes   and sabotage operations that threatened the  roads and railway lines connecting Upper and   Lower Macedonia.

The mountain village of Pyrgoi,  home to around 1,300 inhabitants, stood directly   in this important transport corridor, making  it especially dangerous for its residents.  In March 1944, the German command launched  a large-scale anti-partisan operation in   Western Macedonia, codenamed Maigenwitter  meaning May Storm. Its declared objective   was to create a protective buffer zone around  German positions and transport routes through   the region. The operation brought together a  complex coalition of forces.

Units of the SS,   paramilitary units of the Nazi party, and the  Wehrmacht, the regular German armed forces,   formed the core, and they were also supported  by Italians who had joined German service after   Italy’s surrender in September 1943. Muslim  volunteers from Turkmenistan were also present   and Greek collaborators with Nazis took part as  well.

Among the Greek collaborators who assisted   the Germans was the unit of Colonel Georgios  Poulos. Poulos was a former officer of the Greek   army and a strongly anti-communist nationalist  who chose to cooperate with Nazi Germany during   the occupation. In 1943 he organized an armed  collaborationist formation known as the Poulos   Verband.

This unit operated mainly in northern  Greece and worked closely with German security   forces in anti-partisan operations. Poulos and  his men participated in raids against villages   suspected of supporting the resistance and  were responsible for arrests, executions,   and intimidation of civilians. During Operation  Maigenwitter, members of his unit took part in   the German campaign in Western Macedonia and were  present during operations against villages, among   them Pyrgoi.

Their role included guiding German  units through the mountainous region, guarding   prisoners, and helping confiscate livestock,  food, and valuables from the local population.  The 4th SS Police Panzer Grenadier Division played  a central role in these operations. Sent to Greece   in 1943, it was tasked with so-called security  warfare, meaning anti-partisan operations that   often blurred the line between combat and  collective punishment against civilians.

The 7th Regiment of this division was commanded  by SS-Obersturmbannführer Karl Schümers. Under   his leadership, the regiment had already been  involved in severe reprisals. On 5 April 1944,   in the village of Kleisoura in north-western  Greece, he ordered the execution of all   inhabitants regardless of age or sex following  a guerrilla ambush.

At the end of the massacre   280 civilians were killed and the village  was burned. German internal inquiries later   accepted Schümers explanation that guerrillas  had hidden among civilians, although after the   war his testimony was recognized as false. In the weeks before the attack on Pyrgoi,   operations were carried out in the town of  Ermakia and surrounding settlements.

German   forces encountered armed resistance in the hills,  and each clash intensified their determination to   impose terror on the civilian population. By the  end of April 1944, Pyrgoi was marked as a target.  On 23 April, German forces moved against Pyrgoi  and the nearby village of Mesovouno. Guerrillas   in the area resisted fiercely and the fighting  further enraged the attackers.

When German troops   finally entered Pyrgoi, they began systematic  reprisals. According to the official count 327   of the 1,302 inhabitants were killed, but other  calculations suggest even higher numbers. Men   were rounded up and shot in groups. Women and  children were not spared and many villagers   were forced into barns that were then set on fire.

Flames consumed wooden structures within minutes,   trapping those inside. Survivors later testified  that infants were killed with bayonets and that   elderly people unable to move were burned where  they lay. The violence was methodical rather than   chaotic and it aimed not only to punish but to  destroy the entire community. Sexual violence   also accompanied the massacre with German soldiers  committing acts of rape during the occupation of   the village.

According to reports, some rapes took  place inside the church of the Transfiguration of   the Saviour, while others occurred in the open  village square. Greek collaborators aligned with   Nazi Germany, who were present during the  operation and participated in the crime,   were also involved in looting money and jewellery  from women. The destruction of property in the   village was almost total – of the 385 houses in  Pyrgoi, 365 were burned or blown up.

Livestock   and agricultural supplies were seized, as at  least ten tons of wheat were confiscated and   12000 sheep and goats and 3500 horses and  cattle were taken. The removal of animals   and grain ensured that even those who survived  the massacre would face starvation and death if   they tried to rebuild their homes.

Around 1,400  survivors from Pyrgoi and Mesovouno were marched   on foot to an inn in the town of Ptolemaida and  held as hostages. Two elderly women were executed   in cold blood because they were unable to follow. However, the massacre of Pyrgoi was one of many   atrocities committed by the 4th SS Police Panzer  Grenadier Division in Greece. On 10 June 1944,   elements of the same division carried out  the massacre at Distomo, where more than two   hundred civilians were killed in retaliation for  a resistance attack.

In central Greece, operations   in May and June 1944 led to further executions  and destruction of villages such as Sperchiada   and Ipati. Nevertheless, Operation Maigenwitter  failed to eliminate ELAS in the region. Guerrilla   activity continued, and brutal reprisals  often strengthened resistance rather than   crushing it. But perpetrators of these murders  paid for their crimes with their own lives.

Karl Schümers continued to command operations  of the regiment of this infamous formation,   and in July 1944 he was appointed to command  the entire division. He remained its commander   until August 1944, when, near the city of Arta  in north-western Greece, his vehicle struck a   mine which killed him.

The 4th SS Police Panzer  Grenadier Division remained in Greece until late   summer 1944 before being transferred to Serbia to  face the advancing Soviet Red Army. It suffered   heavy losses during fighting in the Balkans and  later in Hungary and Slovakia. By the end of 1944,   only a fraction of its original strength remained.  The extent of the formation’s losses is also   evident from the fact that while the division  had 16,139 men in June 1944, six months later,   in December 1944, it had only 9,000 men.

In 1945,  the depleted formation retreated through northern   Germany and eventually surrendered to American  forces near the Elbe River. The division that had   once carried out brutal reprisals in Greece ended  the war broken with thousands of its men killed.  The reckoning came for the  Greek collaborators as well. At the end of the Second World War, Georgios  Poulos attempted to avoid punishment for his   actions during the occupation.

He fled Greece  alongside German forces and remained in Austria   until the end of the war, where he and members  of his unit were captured by American soldiers.   In 1947 he was extradited back to Greece and  brought before a military court in Thessaloniki.   During the first trial he was accused of  espionage, but he was cleared of that charge.   Later the same year he was tried again  by the Special Court for Collaborators,   an institution established to prosecute Greeks  who had cooperated with the German occupation   authorities. The court examined his role in the  organization of collaborationist units and his   participation in the operations against Greek  civilians. He was found guilty of collaboration   and war crimes and was sentenced to death.  Poulos then attempted to save his life, begging   for mercy – despite having shown none to his own  victims. In a final effort to avoid execution,

he sent a letter to the Greek government, claiming  that his action stemmed from his patriotism and   offering to fight against the communists in the  Greek civil war which had been raging since 1946.   His wartime crimes and collaboration with the  Germans were so extensive that even in the midst   of the civil war, no clemency was granted.  On 11 June 1949, he was executed in Athens.

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