Antonis Drossoyannis (, January 26, 1922 – November 5, 2006) was a

Greek Army The Hellenic Army (, 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 the largest of the three branches of the Hellenic Armed F ...

general and politician of the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was one of the two major parties in the country, along with New Democracy, its main political r ...

(PASOK) and cabinet minister.

Life

Born in 1922 in the village of Dafni, Phthiotis, he enrolled in the Hellenic Army Academy in 1939. Upon the start of the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian campaign in Greece, Italian invasion of Greece, and War of '40 in Greece, took place between Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This conflict began the Balk ...

in October 1940 he was sent to the

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

n front. Following the

German invasion of Greece The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Kingdom of Greece, Greece by Kingdom of Italy, Italy and Nazi Germany, Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Gr ...

and the occupation of the country, he fled to the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

where he joined the armed forces of the Greek government in exile, first in the ranks of the 2nd Greek Brigade and then in the Sacred Squadron

special forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

unit, with which he fought in the Western Desert and

Tunisia Campaign The Tunisian campaign (also known as the battle of Tunisia) was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces from 17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943. The ...

s, as well as in operations against the German garrisons of the Aegean islands. During the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

(1946–49) he was commander of the 62nd Mountain Raider Company, and in 1955–58 commanded the Raider Units Training Centre (KEMK). He served in various staff and command positions of the Greek army's special forces, culminating as commander of the Special Operations Command of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff. Following the establishment of the Regime of the Colonels, he was dismissed from the army as opposed to the new regime. With the restoration of democracy in 1974, he was recommissioned and eventually retired as a major general. He was later promoted to honorary lieutenant general. Despite his own career in the arch-conservative special forces, and his family's royalist background, he became a close friend of the founder of the

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...

, whose head of security he was. When Papandreou became the country's first socialist prime minister in 1981, Drossoyannis greatly helped in effectively controlling the largely conservative Greek officer corps. In the Papandreou cabinets, he served as Vice Minister of National Defence from 21 October 1981 to 10 January 1984, when he became Alternate Minister of National Defence until 25 April 1986, during which time Papandreou himself held the portfolio of National Defence in tandem with his premiership. From 25 April 1986 until 22 June 1988, he was Minister of Public Order. He was first elected to Parliament in the 1985 elections with PASOK (for his home

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

Phthiotis Phthiotis (, ''Fthiótida'' ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece (administrative region), Central Greece. The capital is the city of La ...

) and again in the elections of 1989, 1990 and 1993. He died in November 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drossoyannis, Antonis 1922 births 2006 deaths PASOK politicians Hellenic Army generals Greek military personnel of World War II Government ministers of Greece Greek MPs 1985–1989 Greek MPs 1989 (June–November) Greek MPs 1990–1993 Greek MPs 1993–1996 Ministers of public order of Greece People from Ypati