ABSTRACT
Both in Greece and Yugoslavia, terminology was an important tool of British propaganda, used to confer or withhold recognition of resistance organisations, indicate impartiality, or encourage unity by deliberately blurring distinctions. The decision to despatch an expeditionary force to Greece was a political one, adopted against sound military logic. The ELAS campaign against EDES and other rival organisations cast doubt on its value as a fighting force against axis occupation. The task of the SOE mission in Greece was to some extent eased by the desire of EAM and KKE to gain respectability through recognition of their armed wing, ELAS, as an allied force by the British military authorities. The Italian capitulation faced British propaganda to Greece with dilemmas and opportunities. Indeed, the impact on foreign public opinion loomed large when, in February 1941, the Churchill government decided to send an expeditionary force into Greece.
