Democratic Army of Greece

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This article is based on a translation of an article from the Greek Wikipedia.

The Democratic Army of Greece (Greek: Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας, DSE), was the armed unit supporting the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War, 1946 – 1949.

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[edit] History

After the liberation of Greece from the Axis occupation, and the Varkiza Agreement (in which the communist liberation forces who had fought the Germans agreed to surrender their guns) the "hunting" of communists, who were rapidly increasing, started in Greece. In 1945 the British Armed Forces together with the National Army of the Greek government, had at their disposal 60,000 troops, 200 tanks, and 80 airplanes to fight the National Liberation Front (EAM). In Greece there were 166 different anti-communist groups, such as those of Sourla and Kalabaliki in Thessaly, and Papadopoulos in Macedonia. Archives of D.S. National Solidarity? indicate that by 31 March 1946, nationwide, 1,289 suspected communists had been killed, 6,671 had been wounded, 84,931 had been arrested, 165 been raped, and the property of 18,767 was looted. Imprisoned suspected communists numbered in excess of 30,000. Those responsible for the murders, according to the DSE, were anti-communist groups, national guards, rural police, and members of the British armed forces.

Under these circumstances, the persecuted communists started to form guerrilla groups named People’s Fighters' Protection Groups, (OPLA)[1]. By the summer of 1946 cells of OPLA had been established throughout Greece. The start of the armed struggle came with the attack on the rural police station at Litochoro by 33 guerillas on 31 March 1946, an election day.

The Communist Party of Greece led the armed struggle, through the General Guerilla Command, which was created on 28 October 1946, and headed by Markos Vafiadis. Order number 19 of the General Command, issued on 27 December 1946, renamed the guerilla groups to the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE). The relevant order[2] included the following comment regarding the DSE: It is the national people’s revolutionary army of the new Democratic Greece and fights with gun in hand for our National independence and for People’s Democracy

The biggest battle of the three year Greek Civil War took place in the Grammos mountains. In this battle, government forces, with the codename Operation Koronis, deployed 100,000 troops, while the DSE had 12,000. The battle lasted from 16 June until 21 August 1948. On that day, DSE forces, after a hard fight, broke out of the encircling government troops and headed east towards Vitsi. The maneuvre from Grammos to Vitsi is considered one of the most important tactical actions of DSE during the war, from a military point of view. Towards the end of August 1949, the government army, strengthened now by American forces, altogether about 100,000 troops, defeated the DSE army on the Grammos-Vitsi front. After this defeat, the DSE guerillas crossed the border into Albania.

[edit] The Oath of the DSE fighter

The following text was the oath that DSE members must swear and abide by. During enrolment, the member would swear:

I, a child of the Greek people and a DSE fighter, swear to battle with gun in hand, to shed my blood, and give even my life to banish from the soil of my motherland every last foreign occupier. To banish every trace of fascism. To secure and defend the national independence and territorial integrity of my motherland. To secure and defend democracy, honour, work, fortune, and progress of my people.

I swear to be a good, brave and disciplined soldier, to carry out all the orders of my superiors, to observe all regulations, and not betray any secrets of the DSE.

I swear to be a good example to the people, to encourage popular unity and reconciliation, and to avoid any action that reduces and dishonours me, as a person and as a fighter.

My ideal is a free and strong democratic Greece and the progress and prosperity of the people. And in the service of my ideal I offer my gun and my life.

If I ever prove to be a liar, and with bad intent violate my oath, let the vengeful hand of the nation, and the hate and scorn of the people, fall upon me implacably. [3] [4]

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ In Greek, the acronym "OPLA" functions as a pun for Greek: όπλα, arms or weapons
  2. ^ Daily Orders General Command, DSE, 28th December 1946
  3. ^ Πολιτική επιτροπή για την Ανασύνταξη του ΚΚΕ 1918-55
  4. ^ ΡΙΖΟΣΠΑΣΤΗΣ : Ο χαρακτήρας του και η βασική του στρατηγική επιδίωξη
  • «Oath of the fighter» Source: Website of the Political Committee for the Re-establishment of the Communist Party of Greece, 1918 - 1955. Downloaded 15 July 2006
  • «Oath of the DSE fighter» Source: Website of Rizospastis, newspaper of the Communist Party of Greece. Downloaded 15 July 2006

[edit] Bibliography

  • Nikos Kiritsis, "Democratic Army of Greece, basic steps of the struggle."