Aristeidis Chasapidis

Aristeidis Chasapidis
Chasapidis in uniform.
Chasapidis c. 1936
Native name
Αριστείδης Χασαπίδης
Bornc. 1875
Rentina, Karditsa, Kingdom of Greece
Diedc. 1941
Athens, Hellenic State
AllegianceGreece Kingdom of Greece
Greece Second Hellenic Republic
Service / branch Hellenic Army
Years of service1896–1936
Rank Lieutenant General
Commands3rd Infantry Division (company commander)
9th Infantry Division (operations officer)
2nd Infantry Division (Chief of Staff)
I Army Corps
II Army Corps (10th and 8th divisions)
Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff
Battles / wars

Aristeidis Chasapidis (Greek: Αριστείδης Χασαπίδης, 1875–1941) was a Hellenic Army officer who reached the rank of lieutenant general and served as Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff in 1935–36.

Life

Aristeidis Chasapidis was born on 3 January 1875[1] in the village of Rentina in Thessaly, then part of the Ottoman Empire.[2] He enlisted in the Hellenic Army as a volunteer on 7 October 1896, and fought in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 as a non-commissioned officer. He then attended the NCO School graduating on 26 July 1906 as a second lieutenant of infantry.[2][3]

Promoted to lieutenant in 1912, he fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 as a company commander in the 3rd Infantry Division's 10th Infantry Regiment.[2][3] He was then promoted to captain in 1913 and major in 1916.[3]

With Greece's formal entry into World War I in 1917, he was operations officer of the 9th Infantry Division, while in 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned as chief of staff of the 2nd Infantry Division. He retained this post for the next four years, during the division's service in Ukraine as part of the Southern Russia Intervention (1919), and later in Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22.[2][3] He particularly distinguished himself during the decisive Turkish offensive in August 1922, where he repelled the Turkish attacks on his sector. During the subsequent Greek retreat to the Aegean shore, he served as chief of staff of I Army Corps and of Major General Athanasios Frangou's Southern Group of Divisions.[2]

Following the evacuation from Anatolia, he immediately joined the 11 September 1922 Revolution, becoming again chief of staff of I Corps and member of the 12-man Revolutionary Committee, under the chairmanship of Colonel Stylianos Gonatas, which demanded the led the army to Athens and secured the abdication of the government of Petros Protopapadakis and of King Constantine I.[3] Promoted to full colonel in 1923 and major general in 1928, he served as commander of the 10th and the 8th divisions and of II Army Corps.[3] In 1934 he was promoted to lieutenant general, assuming the post of Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff in 1935, until his retirement in 1936.[3]

He died in 1941.[3]

References

  1. ^ Note: Greece officially adopted the Gregorian calendar on 16 February 1923 (which became 1 March). All dates prior to that, unless specifically denoted, are Old Style.
  2. ^ a b c d e Μεγάλη Στρατιωτικὴ καὶ Ναυτικὴ Ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία. Tόμος Ἔκτος: Σαράντα Ἐκκλησίαι–Ὤχρα [Great Military and Naval Encyclopaedia. Volume VI: Kirk Kilisse–Ochre] (in Greek). Athens: Ἔκδοσις Μεγάλης Στρατιωτικῆς καὶ Ναυτικῆς Ἐγκυκλοπαιδείας. 1930. p. 643. OCLC 31255024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Αντιστράτηγος ΧΑΣΑΠΙΔΗΣ ΑΡΙΣΤΕΙΔΗΣ του ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΥ, ΑΜ 5440". Συνοπτική Ιστορία του Γενικού Επιτελείου Στρατού 1901–2001 [A Concise History of the Hellenic Army General Staff 1901–2001] (in Greek). Athens: Hellenic Army History Directorate. 2001. p. 156. ISBN 960-7897-44-7.
Military offices
Preceded by Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff
March 1935 – July 1936 		Succeeded by
Lt. General Alexandros Papagos