4th "Ali Demi" Battalion - Aftermath

Aftermath

In an attempt to establish an ethnically pure border region, the Chams were evicted from northern Greece by guerrilla forces under the command of General Napoleon Zervas acting under the instructions of allied officers. Two attacks took place in July and August with the participation of EDES Tenth Division and the local Greek peasants, eager to gain revenge for the burning of their own homes. According to Cham testimonies, which are unconfirmed by Western reports, the most infamous massacre of Albanian Muslims by Greek irregulars occurred on 27 June 1944 in the district of Paramythia, when this forces entered the town and killed approximately 600 Muslim Chams, men, women and children. When ELAS briefly gained control of the Thesprotia region in late 1944, about four to five thousand Albanians returned to their homes. But after the Varkiza Agreement, EDES forces again expelled them, killing about 300 Muslim Cham Albanians in the process, while Orthodox Chams were allowed to stay in Greece. This region, as others in Northern Greece, became the heart of the Greek Civil War between the communist ELAS and the anti-communist forces of EDES and the Greek government, backed by the British allies.