Republicans Revolt

Most Greeks have more than a suspicion that their Royalist Premier, ruthless M. Panyoti Tsaldaris, expected to restore Greek King George II two years ago, if hired assassins had only succeeded in slaying the greatest of living Greeks, foxy old M. Eleutherios Venizelos, eight times Premier and even in retirement the strong "Shield of the Republic."

Ever since M. and Mme Venizelos were taken, wounded but miraculously alive, from their bullet-riddled limousine (TIME, June 19. 1933), Greeks have been expecting the trial of Gangster Georgios Karathanasios if it ever began to end in a revolution. Before his belated arrest last October, Gangster Karathanasios boasted openly in Athens' cafes: "The Government will protect me!" Witnesses against Prisoner Karathanasios were kidnapped, beaten and their homes in some instances bombed. As popular exasperation mounted, the Government last week appointed a new prosecutor who called 600 witnesses and announced "justice will be done."

One day at noon 20 men looking extraordinarily fat and bloated met at a Stadium Street restaurant in Athens for lunch. They had secret instructions from the island of Crete where M. Venizelos has been hiding to avoid assassination, his villa guarded night & day by Republican youths with machine guns. Immediately after lunch the 20 bloated men in Athens stripped off their baggy civilian clothes, revealed themselves completely dressed in naval uniform. Tearing through the streets in motor cars, they rushed to the Salamis naval arsenal. A high ranking officer shot the sentry dead. Five warships including the two finest in the Greek Navy, the armored cruiser Averoff and the cruiser-minelayer Helle, were tied up at the arsenal. A brisk skirmish took place with the loyal garrison, but the ships were finally able to load shells and put to sea.

Fox Venizelos' greatest political strength has always been in his native Crete and among the Macedonian mountaineers along the northern frontier. Macedonians too are the best-known troops in the Greek Army, the be-tasseled, be-kilted Evzones familiar to all tourists. Other plotters had been at work in Macedonia where rebellion spread like quicksilver. They were less successful with the white-kilted Evzones. The Athens detachment rebelled tentatively, was quickly subdued with a few volleys of gunfire. Next morning other Evzones regiments were patrolling the city beside loyal Tsaldaris troops.

The ships swung south to Crete where the revolution was thriving. Canea, a city of 33,000, was captured, other small ports were held, and Governor Aposkitis of Crete was a hostage.

High over the ocean came federal bombing planes from the mainland, to zoom down on the rebel fleet anchored at Suda Bay. One bomb landed squarely on the bridge of the Averoff, an explosion that caused howls of dismay in London.

Britain regards the Greek Navy with a protective motherly eye, British officers having trained it, British shipyards having helped build it. Naval officers in London pointed out last week that if the Averoff and Helle should be sunk "the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean would pass to Turkey." Just to be sure, three British cruisers and four destroyers were promptly sent to the British island of Cyprus. Greeks in Greece, who know that their deposed King George II is a close friend of King-Emperor George V and a frequent guest at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, suspected the worst.

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