GadolHadofi: “You actually have a source that the Rebbe, zt”l informed the chassidim that he was mashiach?…
Please provide that source because from everything I heard, he couldn’t tolerate it when they said he was.”
There was indeed a stage when he would reprimand his followers for PUBLICLY referring to him as Mashiach, but that eventually changed. Look at the very clear “hints” in his sichos as to Mashiach’s identity.
Also, I was told by a very reliable Lubavich source that when he was told by Rabbi JJ Hecht that the world needs to become aware of the identity of Mashiach, he replied that they see pictures of him on the Mitzvah tanks. (I would be interested to see if anyone here can find me the source for that discussion, as I have searched for it unsuccessfully.)