The Potsdam Conference: July 19th 1945 – The Fate Of Europe

President Truman called the third plenary session to order at 4:05pm and Churchill immediately kicked this session off by highlighting the current unrest in the Balkans.

“One point Marshal Stalin raised at the previous meeting concerned an incident on the Bulgarian-Greek frontier. I have made some inquiries, but the British government has heard of no fighting, but we know that these people do not like each other very much and I have no doubt that there has been some sniping.”

In April 1941, Nazi Germany invaded Greece to assist its ally, Italy, which had been at war with Greece since October of 1940.

Greece fell within a couple of months and its territory was then divided into occupation zones run by the Axis powers. Germany administered the most important regions of the country, which included Athens and Thessaloniki, while other parts, like the Dodecanese Islands and Western Thrace were administered by Italy and Bulgaria, respectively.

Liberation in Greece finally came in October 1944 when Germany withdrew from the mainland in the face of the Soviet Red Army’s advance toward the region.

Greece then annexed back these regions from Italy and Bulgaria following the collapse of Nazi Germany and its allies. Unfortunately, tensions quickly flared and the country would eventually descend into a bloody civil war between communist forces, which were being supported by the Soviets, and the anti-communist Greek government.

Churchill went on to claim that there was no Greek field division in northern Greece, which was something the British knew as they had their own people there, and discussed the fact, while citing certain figures, that there were many more troops on the borders in Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria than there were in Greece .

“I mention this because this conference of the great powers should make clear that there should be no marauding attacks and that frontier questions should be settled by the peace conference,” Churchill stated. “It should be indicated that those who try to violate frontiers are likely to prejudice their own claims.”