Orders, Decorations and Medals

A very rare Greek Civil War M.M. group of seven awarded to Gunner F. W. Mitchell, 276 L.A.A. Battery, Royal Artillery, for gallantry in Athens when H.Q. 23rd Armoured Brigade was attacked by ELAS forces in December 1944

Military Medal, G.VI.R. (2035671 Gnr. F. W. Mitchell, R.A.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals; Efficiency Medal, Territorial, G.VI.R., 1st issue (2035671 Gnr. F. W. Mitchell, R.A.) extremely fine (7) £1800-2200

M.M. London Gazette 15 March 1945: ‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished conduct in the field:- Gunner Frank Walter Mitchell, Royal Regiment of Artillery.’

No recommendation for this award appears to survive but the following details were gleaned from the War Diary of 66th L.A.A. Regiment R.A.: ‘Old Faliron 7 February 1945 - 151 Sub Area letter 31A dated 6 Feb 45 received notifying immediate award of Military Medal to 2035671 Gnr (Dvr Mech) Frank Walter Mitchell, 276 LAA Bty, for gallantry on the night of 12/13 Dec 44 when HQ 23 Armd Bde in Athens was attacked by ELAS forces.’

Captain J. R. C. Holroyd-Smith, 276 LAA Battery, R.A., was killed in action in this same attack on the night of 12/13 December 1944.

The German evacuation of Greece in September 1944 set the stage for confrontation. ELAS (National Popular Liberation Army) forces, the British army and the royalist Mountain Brigade all entered Athens. The British-backed Papandreou government proposed to disarm all guerilla units. EAM (the National Liberation Front) rejected this plan which would have left the Mountain Brigade with a monopoly on Greek armed forces. EAM proposed instead to create a new army made up of equal numbers of royalists and ELAS veterans. On 28 November 1944, Papandreou proposed instead shares for ELAS, the Mountain Brigade and the anti-Communist EDES, and the British set a 10 December deadline for compliance. Unwilling to settle for a one-third share, the Communists and Socialists resigned from Papandreou's cabinet in protest. A street demonstration the next day led to shooting between royalist police and Communists. EAM declared itself to be the government of Greece; Churchill on the other hand used the British army to back the royalists. The Soviet Union stood by and did nothing. Before an armistice was negotiated in February 1945, 11,000 people had been killed as the British defeated the weaker guerillas. At the February 1945 Yalta Conference, Stalin raised no objections to Churchill's deeds.