The National Guard Defence Battalions or TEA () were a paramilitary battalions unit organization active in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

(especially Northern Greece) between 1948 and 1982, under the control of the

Defence Ministry A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

. It was tasked with counterinsurgency, internal security, and supporting military operations. The TEA were formed in September 1948, in the midst of the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

, by decision of the Hellenic Army General Staff. They were staffed by men of proven "anticommunist" credentials. They were abolished in 1982 by the socialist government of

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...

, and replaced by the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

References

{{Greek Civil War 1948 establishments in Greece 1982 disestablishments in Greece Anti-communist organizations in Greece Paramilitary organizations based in Greece History of Greece (1949–1974)

See also

References