In January 1944 he was appointed chief of staff of the Slovak Ground Forces in Banská Bystrica, where he gathered a group of influential anti-Nazi-oriented officers maintaining contact with the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London.

His units were intended to serve only as support for two Slovak divisions in eastern Slovakia that were supposed to secure a connection with the Soviet Red Army.

From the beginning of September Golian along with his staff organized the defence of the Slovak units encircled in central Slovakia.

According to the testimony of his chief of staff Major Július Nosko, Golian assumed that the resistance defence against the German attacks could not last more than 14 days.

[3] On 7 October 1944 Golian was replaced in command of the resistance army forces by General Viest.