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

[1] After the second party congress of KKE in February 1946, approximately 250 leftist self-defence militias, known as Groups of Democratic Armed Persecuted Fighters (ODEKA), were formed across Greece, totaling some 3,000 men.

Between April and June 1946, ODEKA fighters took part in 72 clashes, mainly targeting the Greek Gendarmerie and right wing paramilitary squads.

The first coordinated attack by ODEKA took place on the night of 30/31 March 1946 when a band of 33 guerillas struck the Gendarmerie station at Litochoro, killing 13 gendarmes.

[4] The Communist Party of Greece led the armed struggle, through the General Partisan 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 Provisional Government and the KKE intended to establish a People's Republic of Greece in which all nationalities would work together in a Socialist state.

At the same time, the efforts of the HQ of DSE to capture and hold a major town in the North such as Konitsa or Florina led to catastrophic defeat of the partisan army, which never recovered.

The operation took place after the Hellenic Army had secured the Peloponnese, where it managed to defeat the DSE's III Division, numbering 20,000 fighters.

In 1981, when the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party came to power in Greece following a long period of right-wing dominance, the political refugees of the DSE were finally given permission to return to their homeland (Slavic Macedonians excluded) by the new Interior Minister, George Gennimatas.

On 4 April 1948, the Provisional Democratic Government's Law Number 13 established awards and decorations in order to mark extraordinary bravery and courage, as well as distinguished service during times of war by individual DSE soldiers and well as units.