LE SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL LE LIVRE. LA ROUMANIE. L ...

288 APOSTOLOS PATELAKIS
towards the plan set up by the Greek comrades”. the representative of the
Greek Communist party, Ioannidis, referred to their most pressing problem
at that time, namely, the transport. they do not have enough trucks to carry
daily 300t of material at the final point. the task of procuring materials
was thus divided: a) poles – arms, ammunition, explosives, b) Czech
republic – means of transport, c) hungarians – telecommunications, d)
poles – equipment, e) hungarians – food, f) romanians – cereals horses,
soap. 24
Such fraternal meetings were held also on the 8 th of September in
Warsaw, on the 20 th –21 st of January 1949 in prague and on the 15 th –16 th
of February 1949 in Budapest. A union of Communist parties from the Se
europe was constituted in order to support the Greek communists, under
the direct supervision and guidance of the Soviet union. the romanian
Communists sent in the period 1947–1948, large quantities of food,
clothing, drugs, weapons and larger amounts of fuel. 25
the emergence of open conflict between Stalin and tito, in June
1948, was fatal to the Greek Democratic Army and to the provisional
Government. the Greek Communist leaders were facing the situation of
choosing between the political directives issued by Stalin and offered by
tito. zahariadis, convinced Stalinsit, threw himself into the arms of Stalin,
though he knew that the Soviets wanted to end with the Greek question.
Although the aid received in secret by the Greek partisans from the
socialist states was great, it could not be obviously compared with the
economic and military aid received by the Greek government from the
Americans. In July 1948, near the Battle from the Grammos Mountain,
the regular army numbered 70,000 trained and well equipped fighters, in
comparison to 12,000 supporters, mostly young men with summary military
training. the Government military planes played a decisive role in winning
this battle, despite the heroic resistance of the partisans.
on the 7 th of February 1949, Markos was removed from leadership by
zahariadis’s provisional government, being accused of titoism and sent to
Moscow to give explainations. 26 In fact, Markos was rejected because he
claimed that the Democratic Army could not become a regular army, and
therefore, it had to use guerrilla tactics.
In April, Moscow, following the pressure of the Albanian leader,
24 Arhivele Naţionale ale româniei, Document nepublicat, dos. 36/1948, f. 32-41/
the national Archives of romania, Unpublished document, dos. 36/1948, f. 32-41.
25 Νίκος Μαραντζίδης, op. cit., σελ. 47/MArANTZidis, N., op. cit, p. 47.
26 Ι. Μουρέλος – Ι. Μιχαηλίδης, op. cit., σελ. 129/MourElos, i., MihAilids, i.,
op. cit., p. 129.