Napoleon Zervas

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Napoleon Zervas ( Arta, May 17, 1891 - 1957) was a Greek general and resistance leader during World War II. He organized and led the National Republican Greek League (EDES), a resistance organization against the Nazi occupation of Greece.

Originally a Venizelist, Zervas incorporated royalists into his movement who saw EDES as the only acceptable alternative to EAM, the Communist-dominated resistance movement. His activities were largely confined to Epirus, though he took part in the sabotage of Gorgopotamos bridge, which seriously hampered the German supply route to Rommel's Afrika Korps.

After Liberation, Zervas participated in Dimitrios Maximos' cabinet as Minister of Public Order and in Sophoklis Venizelos' cabinet as Minister of Works. Zervas was forced to resign in 1947, when details of his contacts with the German occupation authorities surfaced, after his troops had been attacked by communist andartes. He was also accused by greek leftwingers of violence against Cham Albanians as retaliation for the collaborationist attitudes of the Muslim Albanian-speaking minority. EDES operations against Chams who had actively collaborated with Nazi occupation forces were ordered by the Allied headquarters in Alexandria, Egypt, and several British officers served in the EDES staff as liaisons coordinating the operations, the exact extent of which remains undocumented.

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Last updated on Monday February 18, 2008 at 09:47:36 PST (GMT -0800)
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