The feud between Nikos Zachariadis and his entourage with Markos Vafiadis broke out on the occasion of the transformation of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) from a rebel to a regular force. After the break between Tito and Stalin, Marcos did not see a happy end to the war without the support from the communist bloc.
The feud may have had other parameters, but this was the reason. Already with his "Platform" Markos made it clear that "the monarcho-fascist army, despite its failure to deal serious blows to the DSE, continues to fight for two years without calculable cases of stops, accessions to the DSE, desertions... It has not only the possibility of replenishing the losses, but also of a normal numerical increase...", he wrote.
"Today, the DSE has approximately 25,000 fighters who oppose the 300,000 thousand total armed forces available to monarcho-fascism. In order for the DSE to act aggressively for the liberation of serious areas as a support for the total overthrow of monarcho-fascism, in the months of October - December 1948, January - February - March 1949, it must reach 65-70,000 men... with the best conditions we had... we succeeded to recruit about 15,000 in one year.
"Consequently it is impossible to reach a military performance such as follows from the decisions of the 4th Plenary" , Marcos wrote and saw as the only solution the continuation of the armed struggle with intense partisan action throughout the country. Markos's views did not pass and the DSE continued the path drawn by Zachariadis, also strengthened by the non-completion of the victory of the Greek Army during Operation "Koronis".
"After the overthrow of the opponent in Vichy and the favorable situation created for DSE, N. Zachariadis went to Moscow for talks. Indeed he met with Stalin and other members of the Soviet leadership. He asked for help in armaments, food, clothing, medical aid and treatment of our wounded, help for the recruitment of Greeks living abroad ", says Giorgos Goussias, "lieutenant general" even then and future replacement of Markos in the leadership of the DSE.
“The Soviet leadership agreed to this assistance. They appointed a war factory to work on behalf of the DSE. By the end of the winter of 1948-49, in addition to the other weapons, 1,000 cannons of different calibers with 1,000,000 rounds, 1,000 anti-aircraft guns with more than 1,000,000 rounds, 1,000 anti-tank guns, planes to supply the our parts of Peloponnese, Roumeli, Thessaly. It was decided to help pass 8,000 Greeks that we would recruit in Western countries" , reports Gousias.
"Zachariadis, returning to the DSE General Headquarters from Moscow, announced to us the discussion and the full agreement of the Soviet leadership and Stalin. Immediately we gathered all the pilot officers of the air force and some other personnel and sent them for training to be ready to receive the planes. We prepared airfields and notified southern Greece to designate drop points in the Peloponnese, Roumeli and Thessaly. Based on this agreement, we proceeded with the elaboration of the business plan for the winter period", wrote Goussias...
If what the personal opponent of Markos, Gousias, reports is true, then surely someone was lying, either Zachariadis, or Stalin, with the first possibility much more likely. Stalin was a criminal, not serious . The granting of 3,000 guns by the Soviets to the DSE, and indeed in a period of a few months (within the winter of 1948-49), if ever realized, would be recorded in the annals of military history as a great achievement. Actually only for the service of 3,000 cannons was not enough the total strength, at that time, of the DSE... Even if the Soviets gave them would the DSE fight with the cannons as individual weapons of its rebels? Also, was the transfer of such a quantity of heavy weapons possible to go unnoticed by the Greeks and the Americans?
And if such were found to be the case, wouldn't they, given the absolute and catalytic air superiority enjoyed by the Air Force (then EBA) alone, aim to destroy them before they were even deployed? Or wouldn't American B-29s appear over Greece? An even bigger lie was the one about planes. These were the ones that had no chance of surviving in the Greek skies even for a few hours.
Apparently this lie was told as a morale booster for the rebels. In the long run, however, it had the opposite results as eight months later the DSE tasted the power of the Greek Army and the Air Force in Grammos and Vitsi with the only defense being its machine guns made of tree trunks... without the thousands of Soviet guns at disposal.