– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 17 March 1947.
Mr Henry Strauss
, Combined English Universities
12:00,
17 March 1947
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will communicate to the House the reports of British investigating officers in Greece about violent injuries to life and limb, including the numbers of men, women and children killed or injured by the Democratic army during the last six months.
Mr. McNeil:
His Majesty's Government have no investigating officers in Greece. Our police mission, however, has been able to supply figures showing casualties inflicted by guerrilla forces from 1st September, 1946, to 28th February, 1947, and I will, with permission, circulate these in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Major Lyall Wilkes
, Newcastle upon Tyne Central
Can my right hon. Friend say whether the British Peace Mission have figures concerning the number of Leftists who have been killed in Greece during recent months? Are these figures kept on a basis of only counting the deaths on one side, or are they comprehensive figures which the Minister could publish, for instance, in the OFFICIAL REPORT?
Major Guy Lloyd
, Renfrewshire Eastern
Does one assume that there is a substantial difference between a Leftist and a member of the Democratic Army?
Mr Samuel Silverman
, Nelson and Colne
Since my right hon. Friend proposes in any case to circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT the casualties asked for in the Question, would it not be as well to circulate all the figures at the same time, without waiting for another Question to be printed?
The British Police Mission in Greece gives the following figures, based on figures supplied by the Greek Government, for civilians killed and wounded by the guerrillas between 1st September, 1946, and 28th February, 1947; men, 376 killed, 171 wounded; women, 33 killed, 4 wounded; children, 19 killed, 9 wounded. These figures refer to villagers who were not taking part in any fighting and who were massacred in their homes during raids. They do not, therefore, include members of agrarian guards and country selected-security units (home guards) killed fighting in support of the army or gendarmerie units. In addition, large numbers of nationalist villagers were abducted in raids and the fate of the majority of them is unknown. Gendarmerie casualties in the same period were 282 killed and 269 wounded.
Raids on villages by the guerrilla forces have frequently been accompanied by acts of extreme brutality. Houses have been burnt and in some cases villagers have been burnt alive. The most brutal raid reported by the Police Mission took place at Mandalos, near Yannitsa, in central Macedonia on 26th November, 1946. Five hundred bandits, after overcoming the gendarmerie garrison of 64, occupied the village and executed 24 Nationalist inhabitants of whom four were men, five women and 15 were children between three and nine years of age. Executions were carried out with guns, knives and axes. One pregnant woman was disembowelled and afterwards her eight children and their father were killed. Forty-five houses were set on fire. I am not in possession of military casualty figures for the same period.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
