“Greeks Fight Like Heroes – Heroes Fight Like Greeks”: Not by Churchill

5 November 2021 Comments 0 Comments

Q: Did Churchill say this about the Greeks?

“Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.” This quote is attributed to Churchill and sometimes accompanied by an audio clip which does not sound like him. My assumption is that he may have written it but the words were delivered by someone else. Is there any source of this quote or possible misquote? It is used regularly by the Greeks during Ohi Day celebrations.* It would be nice to find a source either way. —M.A., via email

(Note: When Benito Mussolini demanded Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas submit to Italian occupation on 28 October 1940, Metaxas allegedly replied with a single laconic word: όχι (No!). His actual reply was, “Alors, c’est la guerre!” Nevertheless, the 28th has been celebrated in Greece ever since.)

A: Churchill’s sentiments but not his words

It’s rather good, but I cannot track that quotation. It may be bowdlerized from something Churchill said about the Italians. From Martin Gilbert, ed., Winston S. Churchill, Document Volume 15, Never Surrender, May 1940-December 1940 (Hillsdale College Press, 2011), 853….

John Colville: diary (Colville papers) 22 September 1940:
The PM gave vent to a most horrific display of abusive epithets when he saw a telegram about Sir S. Symes,* Governor General of the Sudan, who is said to be “bored with the war.” So strongly did he feel that he had to call me back and say, “Don’t put it to Cadogan in quite those terms.” (The report had come from [Ambassador Miles] Lampson at Cairo.) Discuss the Egyptian battle which now seems to be opening. The PM is full of confidence and says that we have enough good troops out there to do what is necessary “unless, of course, our men fight like skunks and the Italians like heroes.” But he feels the opposite is more likely to be the case.

Alexander Cadogan, Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (1938-46), was a frequent critic of Churchill’s. As a civil servant he was relatively insulated, and WSC was careful with his language where Cadogan was concerned.

Possible origins

Of course the “Greeks” phrase might have escaped my search and have been said on some other occasion. Churchill was attracted to good turns of phrase and retreaded and revised them often.

It is true that WSC was not impressed by the Italian army. Equally unsubstantiated is the crack he made about it in his famous meeting with von Ribbentrop in 1937. When the German Ambassador reminded him that if there was another war, Germany would have the Italians on her side, Churchill’s supposed reply (thus far undocumented) was: “It’s only fair. We had them last time.” (I mention this purely in the impartial role of historian.)

*Sir George Symes DSO

George Stewart Symes (1882-1962) entered the Army in 1900. He saw active service in South Africa (1902), Aden (1903-04, DSO), and on the Western Front in the First World War, where he was mentioned in despatches. He was Assistant Director of Intelligence, Sudan, 1918-19; Governor of the Northern District, Palestine, 1920-25; Chief Secretary, Government of Palestine, 1925-28; Resident and Commander-in-Chief, Aden, 1928-31; Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Tanganyika, 1931-33; and Governor-General of the Sudan, 1934-40. He was knighted in 1928.