Dimitrios Matthaiopoulos ( el, Δημήτριος Ματθαιόπουλος, 1861–1923) was a senior

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 participated in the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...

of 1912–1913.

Biography

He was born in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saro ...

in 1861, entered the

Hellenic Military Academy The Hellenic Army Academy ( el, Στρατιωτική Σχολή Ευελπίδων), commonly known as the Evelpidon, is a military academy. It is the Officer cadet school of the Greek Army and the oldest third-level educational institution in G ...

and was commissioned as an Engineer officer on 24 March 1881. He participated 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 ...

. Between 1900 and 1910 Matthaiopoulos taught military engineering and fortification works at the

. Between 1910 and 1912, as colonel, he supervised the construction of fortifications around on the Greco-Ottoman border in

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...

. During the mobilization before the outbreak 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 ...

, Matthaiopoulos was placed as CO of the 5th Infantry Division, newly formed from reservists. During the war, he was tasked with covering the left flank of the

Army of Thessaly The Army of Thessaly ( el, Στρατιά Θεσσαλίας) was a field army of Greece, activated in Thessaly during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and the First Balkan War in 1912, both times against the Ottoman Empire and commanded by Crown Prin ...

through his division's advance into

Western Macedonia Western Macedonia ( el, Δυτική Μακεδονία, translit=Ditikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen regions of Greece, consisting of the western part of Macedonia. Located in north-western Greece, it is divided into the regional uni ...

. His division, however, was attacked by superior Ottoman troops and driven back at the Battle of Sorovich, on 22–24 October 1912. Dismissed from his command, he was placed in charge of the 8th Infantry Division in the

Army of Epirus The following is the order of battle of the Hellenic Army during the First Balkan War. Background Greece, a state of 2,666,000 people in 1912,Erickson (2003), p. 70 was considered the weakest of the three main Balkan allies, since it fielded th ...

, with which he participated in the

Battle of Bizani The Battle of Bizani (, ''Máchi tou Bizaníou''; tr, Bizani Muharebesi, italic=no) took place in Epirus on . The battle was fought between Greek and Ottoman forces during the last stages of the First Balkan War, and revolved around the forts ...

where he was wounded. During the

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 ...

, the 8th Infantry Division under Matthaiopoulos conducted an amphibious operation which resulted in the Greek annexation of

Western Thrace Western Thrace or West Thrace ( el, �υτικήΘράκη, '' ytikíThráki'' ; tr, Batı Trakya; bg, Западна/Беломорска Тракия, ''Zapadna/Belomorska Trakiya''), also known as Greek Thrace, is a geographic and historica ...

. He retired in November 1922, with the rank of lieutenant general. He died in December 1923.

Footnotes

Sources

* 1861 births 1923 deaths Hellenic Army lieutenant generals Greek military personnel of the Balkan Wars Military personnel from Piraeus {{Greece-mil-bio-stub