The culmination of the conflict among the resistance groups

The success of Operation Animals was of great importance for the smooth landing of the allied forces in Sicily in July 1943. At the same time, the cooperation between the resistance organisation with the British Military Mission in Greece restored optimism for a compromise solution for Greece's postwar constitutional issue.

When, however, representatives of ELAS travelled to Egypt for talks with the exiled Greek government, their claim for a plebiscite in order to decide the return or not of George II to Greece, was rejected by the King upon advice from the British government. Furthermore, ELAS demanded the Ministries of Interior, Justice and War in a postwar government, a demand which was rejected right away by the whole Greek political and constitutional leadership in Egypt.

From this point onwards, ELAS' stance hardened, both towards the Greek and British governments, as well as towards EDES. The situation deteriorated rapidly, as ELAS and EDES engaged in cleansing operations against one another, wishing to monopolise the glory of resistance action at the expense of the other. On the other hand, the British forces in Greece ceased to supply ELAS with military materiel, while theur substantially increased military assistance to EDES.

By the end of December 1943 the situation had gone completely out of hand, which prompted an international initiative for brokering an agreement between the two opposing sides. The compromise agreement, also known as the Agreement of Plaka, determined geographical zones of activity and control for each organisation in order to avoid future clashes for the control of the same region.