Classical Spies: American Archaeologists with the OSS in World War II Greece

11. The Birds Began to Sing

eleven  The Birds Began to Sing after a year in cairo, Young was sick to death of politicking. He remained deskbound, his elbows sticking to the table, his ›ock ›own to Greece, his of‹ce ›ooded with their cabled chatter. Thrush continued to be most proli‹c, then Gander, but Dodo (Despot mission to Athens), Grackle (Settler to Athens), Loon (Oracle to Amphissa), Seagull (Crayon to the Cyclades ), Pheasant (Phalanx to Salonika), also joined the chorus. To process the warblers’ chorus, often written in Greek, Margaret Crosby had joined Young as reports of‹cer in Cairo, now a “rear headquarters,” and Columbia classicist Moses Hadas of R&A digested and distilled her work for R&A in Washington.1 Everyone sensed that the end was near. With Russians marching south, Young expected the Germans to withdraw fast. For months, his agents had monitored the harbors and railroads of occupied Greece waiting to transmit news of the German retreat. Meanwhile, Allied sabotage teams remained poised to strike at the enemy’s communication and transport channels . Young wanted to go in, too. In May, the birds noti‹ed Young that the Germans would evacuate southern Greece if the British let them go unopposed. As the troops began their withdrawal, curfews permitted circulation only during daylight, and forbade gatherings of more than ‹ve. Churches could only open for half an hour on Sundays, and only food shops could open at all. The British declared the Peloponnese a “zone of operations” on May 20. Young received troubling reports that in March the security battalions had begun to persecute their own countrymen and targeted the communists. Grackle reported 192 that as the Germans destroyed railroads and bridges in the Peloponnese and the SS pulled out of Kalamata, their Greek fascist protégés replaced them and policed the local population. In April, when all German construction ceased, the security battalions swelled with the unemployed and criminals paid with food and cash. A state of siege developed in Athens, as the Germans began disarming the capital’s security batallions, and some deserted to ELAS. Penguin contributed intelligence on George Papandreou, the postmutiny prime minister of the Greek government-in-exile. Employing EAM’s rhetoric, Papandreou fashioned himself “a crusader for national unity”and held a conference in Lebanon from May 17 to 20 in order to form a representative government and meet the demands of the mutineers. Among the twenty-eight delegates were Venizelos, Kanellopoulos, and the head of ELAS. But this was no independent Greek affair. The British staged and monitored it, placing their ambassador to Greece, Reginald Leeper, between Beirut and the conference hotel. MacVeagh refused to participate in the sham proceedings where Papandreou, with his audience captive and Britain behind him, cornered the EAM delegates and blamed them for the March mutinies and the civil war. EAM’s leaders in Greece tried to advise their representatives in Lebanon, but the British withheld their messages. By proffering a ray of hope that King George might ‹nally step aside, Papandreou secured an agreement and began to form a “Government of National Unity” with the king’s blessing. The majority of the Cabinet took their oaths of of‹ce on May 24. When EAM/ELAS threatened to abstain from endorsing the Lebanon Charter and joining Papandreou’s government , the British Foreign Of‹ce asked the Americans to intervene. The secretary of state refused to become embroiled in Greek domestic politics and, observing the Atlantic Charter, which guaranteed self-determination, demurred . Disgusted, Young wondered why he “ever believed that Washington could do or would do what they promised.”2 Meanwhile, Evros grew increasingly dangerous, and Young worried about Georgiades. After Sperling asked to be transferred, the Emniyet had him followed and arrested his manservant “Jeeves,” a Turkish Jew whom they interrogated and accused of espionage. Police inspectors stopped Georgiades’ assistant and grilled him about “a tall blond American named ‘Jermi Sperlin.’” Gander reported that the Germans increased their forces from 400 to 4,500 and intensi‹ed their terrorist tactics in Evros, in response to the increased guerrilla activities. The Nazis terrorized civilians, surThe Birds Began to Sing • 193 rounding and searching villages, seizing hostages from the local population, and posting guards at bridges, rail lines, and river crossings formerly used by Gander’s couriers.3 In spite of this, OSS managed back to back arms drops, and guerrillas ›ocked to the Chicago mission. Because of the sealed border, Lieutenant...