Ioannis Hatzopoulos ( el, Ιωάννης Χατζόπουλος, c. 1862–1918) was a

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 th ...

officer, who commanded the IV Army Corps in 1916 and was interned with his men in

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and is the largest town in Upper Lus ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Hatzopoulos was born in Patras in about 1862. A career artillery officer, he fought in the

Greco-Turkish War of 1897 The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War ( el, Ατυχής πόλεμος, Atychis polemos), was a w ...

and the Balkan Wars of 1912–13. In 1916, he was commander of the IV Army Corps in eastern Macedonia, with his headquarters at

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia and the capital of Kavala (regional unit), Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across ...

. The corps had been demobilized by the royal Greek government in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and numbered a fraction of its full strength. When the

Bulgarian Army The Bulgarian Land Forces ( bg, Сухопътни войски на България, Sukhopŭtni voĭski na Bŭlgariya, lit=Ground Forces of Bulgaria) are the ground warfare branch of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. The Land Forces were establishe ...

, with some German units, invaded eastern Macedonia in August 1916, Hatzopoulos was forbidden by the Greek government to offer any resistance. As a result, he and the bulk of his men—464 officers and 6373 soldiers—surrendered to the Germans and were interned for the rest of the war at

. These events provoked immediate reaction among the Greek officer corps, with the outbreak of a French-backed military 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 metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

and the establishment of the Provisional Government of National Defence there, eventually leading to Greece's formal entry into

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 ...

on the side of the Entente. Hatzopoulos never saw Greece again, as he died at Görlitz on 15 April 1918.

References

1860s births 1918 deaths 20th-century Greek people Hellenic Army officers Greek military personnel of the Balkan Wars Greek military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1897) Greek military personnel of World War I Greek prisoners of war Military personnel from Patras World War I prisoners of war held by Germany Greek colonels {{Greece-mil-bio-stub