Qualla: Battle of Meligalas https://qualla.com/battle-of-meligalas en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:40:35 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/e/battle-of-meligalas-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Meligalas https://qualla.com/battle-of-meligalas Battle of Meligalas: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-meligalas/ Photo credit Ασμοδαίος, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 13 September 1944, ELAS — the Greek People's Liberation Army, the armed wing of the left-wing resistance movement EAM — began its siege of Meligalas, a town in Messenia where around a thousand members of the collaborationist Security Battalions had gathered as the German army withdrew from the Peloponnese. Two days later, the town fell. What happened in the days that followed — the executions, the bodies cast into a well at the edge of town — has not stopped being argued about in Greece in the eight decades since.

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Image: Ασμοδαίος | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/e/battle-of-meligalas-wp/sqxe-battle-of-meligalas-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Meligalas: The Context of Occupation https://qualla.com/battle-of-meligalas/ Photo credit Drehsen, CC BY-SA 3.0 de. The Security Battalions were Greek paramilitary units formed under the Axis occupation governments from 1943 onward. They participated in anti-guerrilla operations alongside German forces, and their actions against partisan-supporting villages — burning homes, carrying out repris...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/e/battle-of-meligalas-wp/sqxe-battle-of-meligalas-the-context-of-occupation.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Meligalas: The Siege and Its Aftermath https://qualla.com/battle-of-meligalas/ Photo credit Cuno, CC BY-SA 3.0 de. As the Red Army's advances in Romania accelerated the German withdrawal from Greece in late August 1944, the collaborationist forces in the Kalamata area retreated to Meligalas. ELAS forces encircled the town. After two days of fighting, on 15 September 1944, the ELAS forces brok...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/e/battle-of-meligalas-wp/sqxe-battle-of-meligalas-the-siege-and-its-aftermath.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Meligalas: Counting the Dead https://qualla.com/battle-of-meligalas/ Photo credit Schütte, CC BY-SA 3.0 de. The number of people who died at Meligalas is itself a matter of historical contest, and the estimates vary widely depending on their source. An ELAS communique of 26 September 1944 reported 800 killed. A Red Cross report, described by observers as attempting objectivity, stated ...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/e/battle-of-meligalas-wp/sqxe-battle-of-meligalas-counting-the-dead.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Meligalas: Memory and Division https://qualla.com/battle-of-meligalas/ Photo credit Dimkoa, Public domain. After Greece's Civil War ended in 1949 with the defeat of the left, the right-wing governments that followed treated Meligalas as a symbol of what they called 'communist barbarity.' Annual memorial services were held, attended by official state representatives. In the speeches an...

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Image: Dimkoa | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/x/e/battle-of-meligalas-wp/sqxe-battle-of-meligalas-memory-and-division.mp3 0:06 5 full