Eastern Macedonia Army Section

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The Eastern Macedonia Army Section (Greek : Τμήμα Στρατιάς Ανατολικής Μακεδονίας, ΤΣΑΜ; Tmima Stratias Anatolikis Makedonias, TSAM) was a field army of the Hellenic Army in World War II. It faced the initial German attack on Greece during the Battle of the Metaxas Line, and was forced to capitulate after four days of fighting on 9 April 1941.

Greek language language spoken in Greece, Cyprus and Southern Albania

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has the longest documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning more than 3000 years of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.

Field army military formation in many armed forces

A field army is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. Likewise, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces. A field army is composed of 100,000 to 150,000 troops.

Hellenic Army land warfare branch of Greeces military

The Hellenic Army, formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. Along with the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) and the Hellenic Navy (HN), it makes up the Hellenic Armed Forces. It is currently the largest branch of the three. The army is headed by the chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff (HAGS), which in turn is under the command of Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDGS).

Contents

History

Pre-war Greek planning focused on a possible conflict with Bulgaria in Macedonia and Western Thrace. For the defence of eastern Macedonia, the plans foresaw the creation of a Kavala Army Section (Τμήμα Στρατιάς Καβάλας), headquartered at Kavala and composed of a Group of Divisions (Ομάς Μεραρχιών) in the Axios River area, comprising 6th and 17th Infantry Divisions and the Hellenic Army's sole Cavalry Division, as well as of the IV Army Corps (7th and 14th Divisions, 7th and 14th Brigades) in the area of Kavala. [1]

Bulgaria country in Southeast Europe

Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. The capital and largest city is Sofia; other major cities are Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 16th-largest country.

Macedonia (Greece) Traditional region of Greece

Macedonia is a geographic and former administrative region of Greece, in the southern Balkans. Macedonia is the largest and second-most-populous Greek region, with a population of 2.38 million in 2017. The region is highly mountainous, with most major urban centres such as Thessaloniki and Kavala being concentrated on its southern coastline. Together with Thrace, and sometimes also Thessaly and Epirus, it is part of Northern Greece. Greek Macedonia encompasses entirely the southern part of the region of Macedonia, making up 51% of the total area of the region. It also contains Mount Athos, an autonomous monastic region of Greece. Macedonia forms part of Greece's national frontier with three countries: Bulgaria to the north-east, the Republic of North Macedonia to the north, and Albania to the north-west.

Western Thrace Traditional region of Greece

Western Thrace or West Thrace is a geographic and historical region of Greece, between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country; East Thrace, which lies east of the river Evros, forms the European part of Turkey, and the area to the north, in Bulgaria, is known as Northern Thrace.

Following the Italian attack on Greece on 28 October 1940, Kavala Army Section was mobilized, under the command of Lt. General Markos Drakos, but was renamed as the Eastern Macedonia Army Section in early November. [2]

Markos Drakos (general)

Markos Drakos was a Lieutenant General of the Hellenic Army most notable for his leadership during the Greco-Italian War of 1940–41, as commander of the Eastern Macedonia Army Section and of the Epirus Army Section.

Leadership

Commanders

Konstantinos Th. Bakopoulos (1889-1950) was a Greek General in the Hellenic Army who took part in the Balkan Wars (1912-3), played a crucial conciliatory role in Greek military politics during the 1930s and distinguished himself in the fight against the Nazis during World War II. In 1943 he was imprisoned in German concentration camps until the end of the war in 1945.

Chiefs of staff

Headquarters

Serres Place in Greece

Sérres 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 Northern Greece. The city is situated in a fertile plain at an elevation of about 70 metres, some 24 kilometres northeast of the Strymon river and 69 km (43 mi) north-east of Thessaloniki, respectively. Serres' official municipal population was 76,817 in 2011 with the total number of people living in the city and its immediate surroundings estimated at around 100,000. The city is home to the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Technological Educational Institute of Central Macedonia, composed of the School of Technological Applications, the School of Management and Finance and the School of Graphic Arts and Design, with at least 10,000 Greek and international students.

Thessaloniki City in Macedonia, Greece

Thessaloniki, also familiarly known as Thessalonica, Salonica or Salonika, is the second-largest city in Greece, with over 1 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of Greek Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace. Its nickname is η Συμπρωτεύουσα (Symprotévousa), literally "the co-capital", a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (Symvasilévousa) or "co-reigning" city of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, alongside Constantinople.

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References

  1. ↑ An Abridged History, p. 14.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 An Abridged History, p. 300.

Sources

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