Democratic Army of Greece

Emblem of the Democratic Army of Greece

The Democratic Army of Greece ( DAG ; Greek Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας ) is the armed wing of the Communist Party of Greece during the civil war of 1946-49 . She was the organizational successor of the People's Liberation Army of Greece , who fought with the German, Bulgarian and Italian invaders and local collaborators . She spoke from anti-fascist and anti-monarchist positions (the word δημοκρατία in Greek means both democracy and the republic). The number was up to 50,000 fighters. Leaders - Nikos Zahariadis and Marcos Wafiadis .

DAG fighters

The creation of the Democratic Army of Greece was announced on October 26, 1946. In May 1947, the Secretary General of the KKE N. Zakhariadis flew to Moscow on a Soviet plane and handed over two notes on the needs of the DAG. He assured that in case of adequate assistance from the USSR, the Democratic Army would achieve serious success in 1947, which would allow taking control of the rebels in the northern part of the country. I. Stalin promised material and diplomatic assistance to the Greek Communists. The USSR and the SFRY began to supply DAG weapons, including small-caliber artillery pieces.

In December 1947, an Interim Democratic Government was created in the territory controlled by the rebels, led by the commander of the DAG, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Marcos Vafyadis (“General Marcos”).

But, despite the supply of weapons through Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria , the DAG continued to lack ammunition and artillery amid increased pressure from government forces equipped with everything necessary and trained by the United States and Britain .

By the beginning of 1949, the Soviet leadership had finally become convinced of the futility of the rebel movement in Greece, and in April 1949 the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks gave direct instructions to the leadership of the KKE to end the civil war. At the same time, Soviet military assistance to the DAG was sharply reduced. In early May 1949, the USSR began negotiations with the United States to resolve the Greek crisis.

Despite the change in Soviet position, the KKE continued the armed struggle. However, in August 1949, the DAG suffered a final defeat.

During September 1949, all surviving DAG soldiers and members of their families (8571 men, 3401 women and 28 children ^[1] ) were transported to the USSR through Albanian ports. Upon arrival in Poti, they were transported to Tashkent , where 14 residential towns were urgently organized for them (see the article Greek Town ). Even before that, in 1948, thousands of children of DAG fighters were taken to kindergartens of socialist countries specially organized for them, and only in 1954 they were able to connect with their parents.

Former DAG fighters and their families were only able to return to their homeland after the fall of the dictatorship of the “Black Colonels” in Greece in 1974. Many children of political emigrants moved to their homeland only in the 1990s.