Democratic Army of Greece

Democratic Army of Greece Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας
Participant in the Greek Civil War
Badge of the DSE. The letter Delta stands for Demokratia, meaning "Democracy" and "Republic"
Active	1946–1949
Ideology	Communism, Republicanism, Left-wing nationalism
Leaders	Nikos Zachariadis (Gen. Sec. of the KKE) Markos Vafiadis (military leader, President of the Provisional Government)
Allies	N.O.F., Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia
Opponents	Hellenic Army, Hellenic Gendarmerie

The Democratic Army of Greece (Greek: Δημοκρατικός Στρατός Ελλάδας, DSE (ΔΣΕ)), was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War, 1946–1949. At its height, it had a strength of around 50,000 men and women.

The DSE was backed up by the Popular Civil Guard (Λαϊκή Πολιτοφυλακή, ΛΠ), the Communist Party's security police force.

After the liberation of Greece from the Axis occupation, the Dekemvriana and the Varkiza Agreement (in which ELAS, the main Partisan Army in Greece, agreed to a disarmament), the persecution of left wing citizens, communists and officials of EAM, started. There were 166 different anti-communist groups, such as those of Sourlas and Kalabalikis 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 collaborationist groups, national guards, rural police, and members of the British armed forces.

Under these circumstances, the persecuted partisans that were still free, started to form guerrilla groups named Groups of Persecuted Fighters. By the summer of 1946 cells of these groups had been established throughout Greece. The official start of the armed struggle came with the attack on the Greek Gendarmerie station at by around 35 guerrillas on 31 March 1946, an election day. 12 Gendarmes and 2 civilians were killed, and this attack is generally considered the start of the Civil War.