Mutiny in Alexandria

In big letters on kites flown from war ships and roofs of harbor buildings in Alexandria, Greek naval mutineers proclaimed themselves. The letters: EAM (Greek for National Liberation Front), name of the Communist guerrilla organization still fighting Germans in Greece.

The mutiny began April 6. Sailors put their officers ashore, patrolled decks with Tommy guns. They refused to sail until the government of Premier Emmanuel Tsouderos had been replaced by one that gave more representation to EAM. Tsouderos resigned, was replaced by Sophocles Venizelos (TIME, April 24), but the mutiny continued, spread. Some 200 sailors barricaded themselves in harbor buildings, flew their kites, were starved out.

Well provisioned men on the destroyer lerax, the corvettes Apostolis and Saktourls held out. Patiently British liaison officers explained that in the British Royal Navy orders are orders, politics are politics. They got nowhere. After more than two weeks Greek Vice Admiral Petros Voulgaris had had enough. This week he organized a boarding party made up entirely of Greeks. There was, in dry official language, "some exchange of machine-gun and rifle fire ... a few casualties." The Vice Admiral's flag rose on the Saktouris, the mutiny on the three ships was ended. In Cairo and Alexandria, Greek hotly debated with Greek whether it was more important to fight enemy or government.

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