Christopher Montague Woodhouse
Christopher Montague Woodhouse
A Greece expert at the boundary of resistance and empire
After the 1942 Gorgopotamos operation, he stayed in Greece rather than evacuating, building the mission that linked the resistance to Cairo.
Christopher Montague Woodhouse was a British army officer, SOE and MI6 operative, and historian of Greek politics. In occupied Greece he helped establish and later led the British Military Mission, maintaining contact with ELAS and EDES while linking the resistance to Allied strategy. His work also reveals the tension between military cooperation with a broad resistance and Britain's effort to restore the monarchy and preserve its influence after liberation. He later served as an MP and wrote extensively on modern Greece.
Career timeline
- 1939Enlisted in the Royal Artillery
- 1941Served on an SOE mission to organize resistance in Crete
- 1942Second-in-command of the Harling Force in Operation Harling
- 1942–1943Maintained liaison with ELAS and EDES through the British Military Mission
- 1943–1945Commanded the Allied Military Mission in Greece
- 1945–1946Second Secretary at the British Embassy in Athens
- 1959–1974MP for Oxford and ministerial office in Conservative governments
- 1976Published The Struggle for Greece