Aristeidis Chasapidis

Aristeidis Chasapidis
Born	1875 Rentina, Karditsa
Died	1941 Athens
Allegiance	Kingdom of Greece Second Hellenic Republic
Service/branch	Hellenic Army
Years of service	1896–1936
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff
Wars	Greco-Turkish War of 1897, Balkan Wars, World War I, Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22

Aristeidis Chasapidis (Greek: Αριστείδης Χασαπίδης, 1875–1941) was a Greek 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 Artillery.^[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 Lt. 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 the Ukraine as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War (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. Μεγάλη Στρατιωτική και Ναυτική Εγκυκλοπαιδεία. Τόμος Στ′: Σαράντα Εκκλησίαι – Ώχρα [Great Military and Naval Encyclopedia. Volume VI] (in Greek). Athens. 1930. p. 643.
3. "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: Army History Directorate. 2001. p. 156.