[2] Likewise the leftists were more accustomed to clandestine and conspiratorial activity, while the British understood early on that "effective sabotage or guerrillas can only thrive if a revolutionary atmosphere has been created previously", and were thus disposed to use the anti-monarchical elements in Greece, whether Republican or Communist, for their own ends.
It was led by Colonel Evripidis Bakirtzis (under the code name Προμηθεύς, "Prometheus"), and comprised several dismissed Republican officers, such as Charalambos Koutsogiannopoulos, Dimitris Bardopoulos, and Ilias Degiannis.
[4][5] The cell was named, but due to the German invasion of Greece and the rapid conquest of the country in April–May 1941, the British were not able to organize their clandestine network on a firm basis or provide them with suitable material such as radios.
Koutsogiannopoulos, fearing that this would scupper the efforts to create an EDES-led guerrilla force, went to Zervas and threatened him, virtually at gunpoint, to publicly denounce him as a traitor and collaborator over the BBC unless he left Athens to lead armed resistance.
Koutsogiannopoulos was arrested but managed to escape with the aid of Ioannis Peltekis, who bribed a clerk to place an order for his release in the pile of papers that the German commandant habitually signed.