In 1924, he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, beginning the process for its reorganization and re-equipment following the Asia Minor Disaster. Senior military commands in the Interwar period ![]() He was subsequently recalled to active service and placed as chief of staff of the Army of Evros in Western Thrace, and then participated in the Greek mission to Conference of Lausanne as a military adviser. Following the Greek defeat and retreat from Asia Minor in August 1922, he was appointed Greek representative at the armistice negotiations at Mudanya, but initially refused to sign the Armistice of Mudanya when it was revealed that Greece would have to evacuate Eastern Thrace. In 1921, he published a series of articles criticizing the new government's conduct of the war in Asia Minor, recommending the stabilization and fortification of the then-held lines instead of an advance into the interior of Turkey. Following the Venizelist defeat in the November 1920 elections, he resigned his commission. Returning to Asia, he led his division to new positions around Bursa, and commanded a series of raids against Turkish territory. After overcoming Turkish resistance at Lule Burgas, Babaeski and Çorlu and capturing the local Turkish commander, Cafer Tayyar, his units reached Adrianople. From there he and his division were recalled to be used in a landing operation in support of the occupation of Eastern Thrace: Mazarakis commanded the landings of troops ferried from Asia at Ereğli and Rodosto, and thence advanced north. In 1920 he was promoted to major general, and led his division to the capture of Balıkesir and in the advance towards Bursa during the Greek summer offensive. He returned to Greece in July 1919, and assumed command of the Smyrna Division in Asia Minor. He then accompanied Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos as a military expert to the Paris Peace Conference, and prepared ethnological and military studies to support the Greek claims. Promoted to lieutenant colonel and full colonel, he served in various General Staff departments during World War I. ![]() In September 1916, he joined the Venizelist Movement of National Defence in Thessaloniki. In 1914, he was promoted to major and became chief of staff of the 5th Infantry Division at Drama. In the Balkan Wars he served as a staff officer in the 7th Infantry Division. Balkan Wars and World War I Īfter returning from Macedonia, he came first in a contest for further studies in the École Supérieure de Guerre in France. Mazarakis-Ainian (left) with other Greek officials at the garden of the Greek Consulate-General in Thessaloniki, during the Macedonian Struggle. He served there for three and a half years, until the end of the Struggle in 1908. In 1905, during the Greek Struggle for Macedonia against the Bulgarian-sponsored Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), he was attached to the Greek Consulate-General in Thessaloniki under the cover name Ioannidis. He participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 commanding an artillery battery, and served for three years in the newly founded Geographical Service. He entered the Hellenic Army Academy in 1890 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Artillery on 30 June 1895. ![]() Life Early life and career Īlexandros Mazarakis-Ainian was born in Athens in about 1874. He served thrice as Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, occupied various important ministerial positions and became president of the Academy of Athens. 1874–1943) was a Hellenic Army officer who rose to the rank of lieutenant general.
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