Nice image Henk ! British Airborne in Athens, Greece, late-war by all accounts........

Note the US M1 carbine, Thompson and wire cutters in pouch worn by the nearest soldier..........Greek graffiti on the wall too.......

Steve, no, you are wrong. This is Clapham in 1954 when the AMOC staged a raid on Russell's to liberate spares for their heavyweights. As we all know, this brave assault failed and Russell's remains impregnable. The graffiti is actually written in London-ese and translates as "Keep out you dirty bar stewards".

Yes the stacked slabs of cement look a little posed. I hope they got their spares!

I assume the photographer was bullet proof, nice G3l though.

The US Government want's their M-1 carbine back... they've been looking for it for 74 years...

email (option): bobdukw@aol.com

Lets hope they don't want their Jeeps and 741's back My shed is double locked and has a burgler alarm and security lights and CCTV cameras. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

It'll be the British Government that want's them back... I think they're still paying for them

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

The sign on the wall is Greek actually, from what I can see (poor photo quality) it says: "ΕΞΩ ΦΑΣΙΣΤΕΣ", "ΛΕΥΤΕΡΙΑ ΣΤΟ...", "ΚΚΕ" which means "Go away Fascists", "Freedom to...", and the initials of the communist party of Greece (KKE)...
Definitely taken in Athens, Greece!

email (option): ferrarakias@hotmail.com

Nice photo...I'd like to have seen the 3 Paras and a cameraman arriving on that Matchless!....

The London graffiti was written last week and says..'Go away Fascists, we've already got our own Fascists running the country'... ...Ian

We will be visiting Greece in about a week, we will actually be on Crete (again) but might visit Athens for a few days but that is not 100% sure yet.

Would be nice to find that location, any idea where that could be?

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Looks like downtown Athens to me, probably "Monastiraki" area?

email (option): ferrarakias@hotmail.com

Kostas, we're waiting for 'Then & Now' photos !

I took this photo in 1985 and this could be just about that location. It seems that they left the Matchless behind and put an M20 in front of it.

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Do you have that picture Peter? Can you post it?

email (option): ferrarakias@hotmail.com

Hi Kostas,

I have sent you an email.

Regards,
Peter

email (option): jonny.rudge@verizon.net

Photo was taken by Morris (Lt), No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit.

Paras from 5th (Scots) Parachute Battalion, 2nd Parachute Brigade, take cover on a street corner in Athens during operations against members of ELAS, 6 December 1944.

Regards,
Peter

Germany was pushed out of mainland Greece in October 44, so if this engagement is December 44 it is, in fact, part of the communist uprising, charitably called the "civil war" or the "movement."

email (option): jonny.rudge@verizon.net