5/42 Evzone Regiment

The 5/42 Evzone Regiment (Greek: 5/42 Σύνταγμα Ευζώνων, 5/42 ΣΕ) or 42nd Regiment (42° Σύνταγμα) was an elite regiment of Evzones of the Hellenic Army, recruited in Phthiotis, Central Greece and headquartered in Lamia. The unit was formed after the Balkan Wars, and served in the Entente intervention in the Russian Civil War, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 and the Greco-Italian War during World War II.

During the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, the Turks called their leader Nikolaos Plastiras Şeytanın kumandanı ("Satan's commandant") or Kara Şeytan ("Black Satan") while the 5/42 Evzone Regiment became known as the Şeytanın Ordusu ("Satan's Army") or Şeytanın askerleri ("Satan's soldiers").

The unit was disbanded after the conquest of the country by the Germans in 1941.

Use of the name in the Occupation

During the Axis Occupation of Greece however, the armed wing of the National and Social Liberation resistance group was named after it as 5/42 Evzone Regiment by EKKA's military leader, Colonel Dimitrios Psarros.

In April 1944 the Regiment was attacked by ELAS (controlled by the Communist Party of Greece) and dissolved. After the battle troops of ELAS tortured and executed all the captives, including Psarros.

References