August 30th, 1949 – The Battle of Grammos-Vitsi
After nearly 10 years of continuous fighting, beginning in 1940 during WW2, the last 4 years of which involved an armed struggle between communist guerrillas against the Hellenic Army. The last communist guerrilla strongholds were holed up between North-Western Macedonia and Epirus, between the mountain ranges of Grammos and Vitsi.
In July of 1949, Yugoslavia had closed its border with Greece, effectively putting an end to the until then, ongoing and continuous Yugoslav military assistance given by Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito to the communists in Greece. Yugoslavia also put a stop to its communist military camps, which were staging grounds to train and arm communist guerrillas, who were then being sent over the border to Greece to fight the Hellenic Army.
In mid-August of 1949, Albania had done the same thing, with their leader Enver Hoxha, also cutting off its supplies to the communists in Greece, while also closing the routes and passages the communists were using to travel between Greece and Albania.
Dubbed “Operation Pyrsos”, this was the successful operation launched by the Hellenic Army, which ultimately resulted in a Greek Victory and finally saw an end to the Communist Insurgency in Greece, effectively ending the conflict on the morning of August 30th.
Another attempt to destroy Greece and rip Northern Greece, particularly Macedonia, away from the Greek people had failed.
