THE CASE OF GOLD FROM THE BANK OF GREECE- HOW IT WAS TRANSFERRED

Since early April 1941 and since the country’s defeat is obvious, the Bank of Greece in
Athens was instructed to begin preparations to follow the government’s reserves to “areas
which are not captured”. According to clues that have come to the publicity, the Greece’s
total amounted at 611,000 ounces of gold (about 17.4 tonnes) in the form of bars and pounds.
The order for the transportation came up with the news of the German’ s division of defense
line Olympos- Tempi. The country’s stock of gold transferred with the utmost secrecy and
uploaded to the destroyers “King Georgios” and “Queen Olga” which sailed from Athens
and Piraeus to Heraklion of Crete where the precious cargo would be kept at the local branch
of the Bank of Greece.

The mission accompanied by Varvaressos (director) and Mantzavinos
(assistant manager) of Bank of Greece and three senior administrators. Beginning the mission
“Mercur” they took the decision to transfer the gold to Egypt instead of Crete. In the middle
of attacks from enemy bombers, the gold loaded into a British Royal Navy’s auxiliary ship,
the corvette “Salvia” (K97) destined to Souda of Crete where was located the British cruiser
“Dido” to transport the gold in Alexandria.

Arriving there, the leaders understood the gravity of the situation since the port was under
constant attack vertical dive bomber which were pertinent to the firing caused havoc in the
aggregated allied vessels.
But the governor managed to beat two of the German planes with small guns. But fearing
the loss of his ship, the commander of “Dido” captain McCall expect the precious cargo with
the engine running and the boat ready for immediate departure. The transfer of gold was
successful and the boat sailed at a speed to Egypt. According to the testimony of George
Mantzavinos during the transport, one of the boxes fell on the deck so it was filled with gold
coins. Nevertheless, on the way they found them all but one.

The cruiser “Dido” arrived the same day in Alexandria and from there the gold was transferred
for safekeeping at the Bank of Egypt in Cairo. But after a series of successes of Field Marshal
Rommel in Cyrenaia, revealed that there still reserves of Greece were unsafe.
At the same time, George II would left Egypt to go to London via South Africa (the rest of
royal family- his sister Catherine, brother Paulos and his wife Frideriki and two children,
would remain in South Africa until 1944). Not accidentally, the gold follows the king and
arrives in Gemiston, Transvaal, South Africa and decided that the gold coins should be
converted into bars. After a brief storage at the Bank of South Africa (South Africa Reserve
Bank) the cargo was transported to London when considered that this is not threatened
by the Germans.

After the liberation, when the Greek government asked the return of Greek reserve in gold
from Britain, was surprised to the answer that “it was used to cover the costs of the Greek
army in Middle East, and that the “crown” did not owe anything in Greece”. It should be
noted here that since March 9, 1942, the British Government had signed line with Greek,
according to which they undertake all the costs of equipment and maintenance of the Greek
Armed Forces (which were also under the command of the British Middle East Headquarters).
Therefore, any British objections lacked legal basis. But on the other hand the Greek government
(years 1945-1946) had found Britain as the only ally mith capable assistance in handling of most
internal problems that face about the restoration of order (political, social and economic) in
the newly liberated Greece.
So it is obvious that the country’s negotiation power was rather weak.
It is difficult to calculate which quantity of gold reserves of Bank of Greece was finally
returned in Greece. Possibly, some of the initial cargo led at Greek rebels (the British handed
out generously during the period 1942-1943)