Free Greek Forces
After the fall of Greece to the Axis powers in April–May 1941, elements of the Greek Armed Forces managed to escape to the British-controlled Middle East. There they were placed under the Greek government in exile, and continued the fight alongside the Allies until the liberation of Greece in October 1944. These are known in Greek history as the Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East (Ελληνικές Ένοπλες Δυνάμεις Μέσης Ανατολής). Army In the face of the overwhelming German advance into Greece, several thousand Greek officers and soldiers were either evacuated, along with the Greek government, to Crete and then Egypt, in April–May 1941, or managed to flee, mainly via neutral Turkey, to the British-controlled Middle East. There a Greek army in exile started being formed, under British command and re-equipped with British arms. The core of this new military force was the "Phalanx of Egyptiote Greeks", from the Greek community in Egypt. On 15 Ju ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Greece
The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasion in April 1941. German landings on the island of Crete (May 1941) came after Allied forces had been defeated in mainland Greece. These battles were part of the greater Balkans Campaign of the Axis powers and their associates. Following the Italian invasion on 28 October 1940, Greece, with British air and material support, repelled the initial Italian attack and a counter-attack in March 1941. When the German invasion, known as Operation Marita, began on 6 April, the bulk of the Greek Army was on the Greek border with Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Sout ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos or Panayotis Kanellopoulos ( el, Παναγιώτης Κανελλόπουλος; 13 December 1902, in Patras, Achaea – 11 September 1986, in Athens) was a Greek writer, politician and Prime Minister of Greece. He was the Prime Minister of Greece deposed by the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. Biography Kanellopoulos studied law in Athens, Heidelberg and Munich. Kanellopoulos was an intellectual and author of books about politics, law, sociology, philosophy, and history. His book "I was born in 1402" received a literary award from the Academy of Athens. He married Theano Poulikakos (Θεανώ Πουλικάκου). After the start of the Axis occupation of Greece in 1941 he founded the '' Omiros'' resistance group, and in 1942 he fled to the Middle East, where he served as Minister of Defence under the Tsouderos government in exile during World War II. In November 1945, he served as Prime Minister for a short period of time. After the war h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philippe Leclerc De Hauteclocque
Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947) was a Free-French general during the Second World War. He became Marshal of France posthumously in 1952, and is known in France simply as le maréchal Leclerc or just Leclerc. The son of an aristocratic family, Hauteclocque graduated from the ''École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr'', the French military academy, in 1924. After service with the French Occupation of the Ruhr and in Morocco, he returned to Saint-Cyr as an instructor. He was awarded the '' croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures'' for leading ''goumiers'' in an attack on caves and ravines on Bou Amdoun on 11 August 1933. During the Second World War he fought in the Battle of France. He was one of the first who defied his government's Armistice to make his way to Britain to fight with the Free French under General Charles de Gaulle, adopting the '' nom de guerre'' of Leclerc so that his wife and childre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, direct action and covert reconnaissance. Much of the information about the SAS is highly classified, and the unit is not commented on by either the British government or the Ministry of Defence due to the secrecy and sensitivity of its operations. The corps currently consists of the 22 Special Air Service Regiment, the regular component, as well as the 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve) and the 23 Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve), which are reserve units, all under the operational command of United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF). Its sister unit is the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service which specialises in maritime counter-terrorism. Both units are under the operational control of the Directo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Christodoulos Tsigantes
Christodoulos Tsigantes ( el, Χριστόδουλος Τσιγάντες; 30 January 1897 – October 11, 1970) was a Greek general who distinguished himself as the commander of the Sacred Band during the Second World War. He was born in Tulcea, Romania to Greek parents of Kefalonian origin and died in London, where he was cremated. Following the failure of the 1935 Greek coup d'état attempt Lieutenant Colonel Christodoulos Tsigantes, his brother Captain Ioannis Tsigantes, Colonel Stefanos Sarafis and other participants of the coup were cashiered Cashiering (or degradation ceremony), generally within military forces, is a ritual dismissal of an individual from some position of responsibility for a breach of discipline. Etymology From the Flemish (to dismiss from service; to discard ... in a public ceremony. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsigantes, Christo 1897 births 1970 deaths Greek generals Greek military leaders of World War II Place of birth missing Rom ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sacred Band (World War II)
The Sacred Band or Sacred Squadron ( el, Ιερός Λόχος) was a Greece, Greek special forces unit formed in 1942 in the Middle East, composed entirely of Greek officers and officer cadets under the command of Col. Christodoulos Tsigantes. It fought alongside the Special Air Service, SAS in the Western Desert (North Africa), Western Desert and the Aegean Sea, Aegean, as well as with General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Leclerc's ''Free French Forces'' in Tunisia. It was disbanded in August 1945 but is the precursor to the modern Special Forces of the Hellenic Army. History Establishment Immediately after the Battle of Greece, German occupation of Greece in April–May 1941, the Greek government in exile, Greek government fled to Egypt and started to form military units in exile. The plethora of officers in relation to the number of ordinary soldiers, led Hellenic Air Force, Air Force Lt. Colonel G. Alexandris to suggest the creation of an Army unit, formed by office ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Special Forces
Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special forces emerged in the early 20th century, with a significant growth in the field during the Second World War, when "every major army involved in the fighting" created formations devoted to special operations behind enemy lines. Depending on the country, special forces may perform functions including airborne operations, counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism, foreign internal defense, covert ops, direct action, hostage rescue, high-value targets/manhunt, intelligence operations, mobility operations, and unconventional warfare. In Russian-speaking countries, special forces of any country are typically called , an acronym for "special purpose". In the United State ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greek People's Liberation Army
Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. **Mycenaean Greek, most ancient attested form of the language (16th to 11th centuries BC). **Ancient Greek, forms of the language used c. 1000–330 BC. **Koine Greek, common form of Greek spoken and written during Classical antiquity. **Medieval Greek or Byzantine Language, language used between the Middle Ages and the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. **Modern Greek, varieties spoken in the modern era (from 1453 AD). *Greek alphabet, script used to write the Greek language. *Greek Orthodox Church, several Churches of the Eastern Orthodox Church. *Ancient Greece, the ancient civilization before the end of Antiquity. *Old Greek, the language as spoken from Late Antiquity to around 1500 AD. Other uses * '' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dekemvriana
The ''Dekemvriana'' ( el, Δεκεμβριανά, "December events") refers to a series of clashes fought during World War II in Athens from 3 December 1944 to 11 January 1945. The conflict was the culmination of months of tension between the communist EAM, some parts of its military wing, the ELAS stationed in Athens, the KKE and the OPLA from one side and from the other side, the , some parts of the Hellenic Royal Army, the Hellenic Gendarmerie, the Cities Police, the far-right Organization X, among others and also the British Army. Regardless of the tensions between the left and the right, in May 1944 it had been roughly agreed in the Lebanon Conference that all non-collaborationist factions would participate in a Government of National Unity; eventually 6 out of 24 ministers were appointed by EAM. Additionally, a few weeks before the withdrawal of the German troops in October 1944, it had been reaffirmed in the Caserta Agreement that all collaborationist forces would b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Rimini (1944)
The Battle of Rimini took place between 13 and 21 September 1944 during Operation Olive, the main Allied offensive on the Gothic Line in August and September 1944, part of the Italian Campaign in the Second World War. Rimini, a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy, anchored the Rimini Line, a German defensive line which was the third such line forming the Gothic Line defences. Rimini, which had been hit previously by 373 air raids, had 1,470,000 rounds fired against it by allied land forces; by the end of the battle, only 2% of all buildings in the city were still undamaged. Background On 23 August 1944 the Eighth Army launched Operation Olive, attacking on a three Corps front up the eastern flank of Italy into the Gothic Line defences. By the first week in September the offensive had broken through the forward defences of the Gothic Line and the defensive positions of the Green I line and United States Fifth Army entered the offensive in central Italy attacking towards Bolo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos
Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos ( el, Θρασύβουλος Τσακαλώτος; 3 April 1897 – 15 August 1989) was a distinguished Hellenic Army Lieutenant General who served in World War I, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, World War II and the Greek Civil War, rising to become Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff. He also served as Greece's Ambassador to Yugoslavia. Early life Tsakalotos was born in Preveza in 1897, at a time when it was still a province of the Ottoman Empire. At the age of thirteen, he went to Alexandria, to make the acquaintance of a cousin who lived there. Military career He entered the Hellenic Military Academy in 1913 and graduated from it as an Infantry 2nd Lieutenant on 1 October 1916. He fought at the Macedonian front of World War I, being promoted to Lieutenant in 1917, as well as in the Asia Minor Campaign, being promoted to Captain in 1920. In the interwar period he held various staff appointments and commands, as well as a teaching post i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |