Democratic Army of Greece

From Phantis
Revision as of 01:57, June 24, 2006 by Lazarus (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Democratic Army of Greece (Dimokratikos Stratos Elladas, Greek: Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας) was the name of the Communist army during the Greek Civil War. In effect, it was the successor of ELAS as the communist resistance army was called during the German occupation of Greece.

The DSE was founded in October 1946 with Markos Vafiadis (General Markos) as its commander. He was replaced towards the end of 1948 after the DSE suffered several setbacks on the battlefield (Battle of Grammos, Battle of Vitsi).

After the defeat of the DSE, many of its members fled to the various socialist republics of Eastern Europe where many still live today though many have returned since 1974.