The 5th Airmobile Brigade "5th Cretan Division" ( el, 5η Αερομεταφερόμενη Ταξιαρχία Πεζικού «V Μεραρχία Κρητών»), formerly the 5th Infantry Division (V Μεραρχία Πεζικού) and commonly referred to simply as the
Cretan
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
Division (Μεραρχία Κρητών), is an
air assault
Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft—such as the helicopter—to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind e ...
brigade of the
Hellenic Army
The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the ...
responsible for the defense of the southern Aegean sea.
History
The 5th Division was first formed in September 1912 at
Farsala
Farsala ( el, Φάρσαλα), known in Antiquity as Pharsalos ( grc, Φάρσαλος, la, Pharsalus), is a city in southern Thessaly, in Greece. Farsala is located in the southern part of Larissa regional unit, and is one of its largest towns. ...
, on the eve of the
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...
, following the mobilization of Greece and the other
Balkan League
The League of the Balkans was a quadruple alliance formed by a series of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 between the Eastern Orthodox kingdoms of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, and directed against the Ottoman Empire, which at the ...
states. Its first commander was Colonel
Dimitrios Matthaiopoulos
Dimitrios Matthaiopoulos ( el, Δημήτριος Ματθαιόπουλος, 1861–1923) was a senior Hellenic Army officer who participated in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913.
Biography
He was born in Piraeus in 1861, entered the Hellenic Milit ...
, and it comprised the
16th
16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and .
In English speech, ...
,
22nd and
23rd Infantry Regiments, the 3rd Squadron of the 1st Field Artillery Regiment and the 2nd Mountain Artillery Squadron.
The division fought in the First and
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 ( O.S.) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies r ...
, and was retained on the Army's order of battle afterwards. It was relocated to
Kilkis
Kilkis ( el, Κιλκίς) is a city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2011 there were 22,914 people living in the city proper, 28,745 people living in the municipal unit, and 51,926 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city o ...
in August 1913 and from December 1913 in
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
in
Macedonia, and subordinated to the newly formed
IV Army Corps. It comprised the 22nd and 23rd Infantry Regiments and the
3/37 Cretan Regiment. As Greece remained neutral initially during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the division remained at Drama. On 12 September 1916, along with the rest of IV Corps – at the time demobilized to a skeleton force of ca. 7,000 men – it surrendered to the Germans during the German-Bulgarian occupation of eastern Macedonia. For the remainder of the war, the 5th Division was interned at
Görlitz
Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, :de:Ostlausitzer Mundart, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and ...
in Germany,
[Informational guide for personnel transferred to Crete (2010), p. 4] and was disbanded upon the war's end.
Soon after, the outbreak of a
Venizelist
Venizelism ( el, Βενιζελισμός) was one of the major political movements in Greece from the 1900s until the mid-1970s.
Main ideas
Named after Eleftherios Venizelos, the key characteristics of Venizelism were:
*Greek irredentism: T ...
revolt in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
resulted in the formation of a "
Provisional Government of National Defence
The Provisional Government of National Defence (), also known as the State of Thessaloniki (Κράτος της Θεσσαλονίκης), was a parallel administration, set up in the city of Thessaloniki by former Prime Minister Eleftherios Ve ...
", which entered World War I on the side of the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
. The new government quickly extended its authority across northern Greece and the Aegean Islands, including Crete. There, from October 1916 until April 1917 a new Cretan Division, based at
Chania
Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion.
The muni ...
, was formed.
The division participated in the
Macedonian Front
The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of German ...
operations in 1917–1918, and subsequently in the
Asia Minor Campaign
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Afr ...
, during which it was distinguished in the
Battle of Sakarya
The Battle of the Sakarya ( tr, Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi, lit=Sakarya Field Battle), also known as the Battle of the Sangarios ( el, Μάχη του Σαγγαρίου, Máchi tou Sangaríou), was an important engagement in the Greco-Turkish Wa ...
. In early 1921, following the anti-Venizelist victory in the
November 1920 elections, the division was renamed to 5th Infantry Division in order to purge the Venizelist-associated name.
Following the Greek defeat in Asia Minor in August 1922, the division retreated along with the rest of the Greek army, to
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...
. It was reformed at
Serres
Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki.
Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northe ...
in early 1923, again as the Cretan Division, by merging the remnants of the 5th and
9th
9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding .
Evolution of the Arabic digit
In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
divisions. On 30 June 1923 it was re-renamed to 5th Infantry Division.
From 1924, the division was based again in Chania in Crete, comprising the
14th
14 (fourteen) is a natural number following 13 (number), 13 and preceding 15 (number), 15.
In relation to the word "four" (4), 14 is spelled "fourteen".
In mathematics
* 14 is a composite number.
* 14 is a square pyramidal number.
* 14 is a s ...
(Chania),
43rd (
Heraklion
Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...
) and
44th (
Rethymno
Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ( ...
) Infantry Regiments.
With the arrival of British troops that took over the defense of the island in late 1940, the division was transferred to the
Albanian front where it participated in the January–February offensives against the Italians, distinguishing itself in the
Capture of Kleisoura Pass and in the
Battle of Trebeshina
The Battle of Trebeshina ( el, Μάχη της Τρεμπεσίνας) or the Battle of Mal Trebeshinë, was a series of engagements fought between the Greek and Italian armies in south-eastern Albania during the Greco-Italian War. The twenty-day ...
. On January 29, 1941, the 14th Infantry Regiment under Colonel Nikolaos Spendos advanced through heavy blizzards to take the 1,923 meter Mount Trebeshinë, which had been abandoned by the Italians. After reinforcing defensive positions, they met consecutive Italian counter-attacks throughout the night and suffered considerable casualties to hold the position. The 11th Rifle Company, which had been tasked with holding the peak, saw particularly heavy fighting. Its commander, Captain Artemios Kourtessis, lost both his legs in the battle, while 2nd Lieutenant Hesiod Tsingos was awarded the Medal of Valour in Gold for conspicuous gallantry.
The division remained in the front until the Greek withdrawal from Albania in the face of the
German invasion 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 usu ...
in April. The division retreated to the
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
, where it dissolved itself in May 1941, as there was no way for it to reach Crete.
However, three battalions that had remained in Crete after the rest of the division was transferred to the mainland participated in the subsequent
Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete (german: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, el, Μάχη της Κρήτης), codenamed Operation Mercury (german: Unternehmen Merkur), was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island ...
.
Greece was liberated from German occupation in October 1944, although German garrisons remained on Crete until the German capitulation in May 1945. Soon after, the Independent Crete Military Command was established, comprising the 603rd, 606th and 607th National Guard Battalions. In April 1946, these troops were reformed as the 51st Independent Brigade (51η Ανεξάρτητη Ταξιαρχία). On 2 January 1951, it was reformed as the 5th Infantry Division,
comprising three battalions and a Mountain Artillery Squadron. In 1954, with the reduction of the army's size, the 5th Division was converted into a training and reserve formation.
[The history of the organization of the Hellenic Army, 1821–1954 (2005), p. 445]
On 1 July 2004, as part of a general reorganization of the Greek Army's structure, the division was disbanded and reorganized as the 5th Infantry Brigade (5η Ταξιαρχία Πεζικού).
On 20 October 2009 however, it was renamed as the 5th Cretan Division (V Μεραρχία Κρητών).
In a wide-ranging defence review in 2013, the brigade was transformed into an
air assault
Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft—such as the helicopter—to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind e ...
unit, earmarked for
rapid reaction in the southern
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...
. It retains its traditional name of "5th Cretan Division" as an honorary title, however.
Structure
* 5th Airmobile Brigade, based at
Chania
Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion.
The muni ...
* HQ Company (Λ/Σ 5ης Α/Μ ΤΑΞ ΠΖ)
* 5th Signal Corps Company (5 ΛΔΒ)
* 547th Airmobile Infantry Battalion (547 A/M ΤΠ) at
Rethimno
Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ( ...
.
* 545th Airmobile Infantry Battalion (545 A/M ΤΠ) at
Heraklion
Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...
.
* 5th Support Battalion (5 ΤΥΠ)
* 699th Outpost Weaponry Vault (699 ΠΑΠ)
* Rethymnon Home Guard Battalion (ΤΕ Ρεθυμνου)
* Heracleion Home Guard Battalion (ΤΕ Ηρακλειου)
* Chania Home Guard Battalion (ΤΕ Χανιων)
References
Sources
*
*
{{Greece divisions
Infantry brigades of Greece
2013 establishments in Greece
Crete
Airmobile brigades
Military units and formations established in 2013