During the summer of 1944 , the head of the local resistance organization , Napoleon Zervas , asked the Cham Albanians to join EDES in its fight against the left-wing ELAS , but their response was negative . After that and in accordance to orders given specifically to EDES by the Allied forces to push them out of the area , fierce fighting occurred between the two sides . According to British reports , the Cham collaborationist bands managed to flee to Albania with all of their equipment , together with half million stolen cattle as well as 3,000 horses , leaving only the elderly members of the community behind . On 18 June 1944 , EDES forces with Allied support launched an attack on Paramythia . After short-term conflict against a combined Cham-German garrison , the town was finally under Allied command . Soon after , violent reprisals were carried out against the town 's Muslim community , which was considered responsible for the massacre of September 1943
the massacre of September 1943
Paramythia executions
Cham Albanians