Athanasios Fragkou or Fragkos (, 1864–1923) was a

Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the army, land force of Greece. The term Names of the Greeks, '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches ...

officer who reached the rank of Major General.

Biography

He was born on 1 January 1864 in the village of

Sourpi Sourpi () is a village and a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. It is predominantly populated by Aromanians (Vlachs). Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Almyros Almyros or Halmyros (, ) is a town ...

in the modern

Magnesia Prefecture Magnesia Prefecture () was one of the prefectures of Greece. Its capital was Volos. It was established in 1899 from the Larissa Prefecture. The prefecture was disbanded on 1 January 2011 by the Kallikratis programme, and split into the regional ...

(then under Ottoman rule). He joined the

on 5 November 1883, and later enrolled in the NCO School, from where he graduated in 1893 as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. 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 (), was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and the O ...

and the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

. As a monarchist, he was dismissed from the Army in 1917–1920 during the

National Schism The National Schism (), also sometimes called The Great Division, was a series of disagreements between Constantine I of Greece, King Constantine I and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos over Kingdom of Greece, Greece's foreign policy from 19 ...

. He was reinstated with the electoral defeat of

Eleftherios Venizelos Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos (, ; – 18 March 1936) was a Cretan State, Cretan Greeks, Greek statesman and prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement. As the leader of the Liberal Party (Greece), Liberal Party, Venizelos ser ...

in November 1920 which brought the monarchist opposition to power, and assumed command of the 1st Infantry Division in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, where he led it in all the battles of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922. He played a crucial role during the collapse of the Greek front in the

Battle of Dumlupınar The Battle of Dumlupınar (, ), or known as Field Battle of the Commander-in-Chief () in Turkey, was one of the important battles in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) (part of the Turkish War of Independence). The battle was fought from 26 ...

in August 1922, trying to rally the collapsing Greek forces: he assumed command of the remainders of I and II Corps, forming them together in the so-called "Southern Group" and led their retreat towards

Çeşme Çeşme, officially the Çeşme Municipality, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 285 km2, and its population is 48,924 (2022). It sits at Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on t ...

, where they embarked on ships for the islands of

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

and

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

. Following the outbreak of the

Venizelist Venizelism () was one of the major political movements in Greece beginning from the 1910s. The movement first formed under Eleftherios Venizelos in the 1910s and saw a resurgence of support in the 1960s when Georgios Papandreou united a coaliti ...

-led

11 September 1922 Revolution The 11 September 1922 Revolution () was an uprising by the Greek army and navy against the government in Athens, which installed a "Revolutionary Committee" in its place. The uprising took place on 24 September 1922, although the date was "11 Se ...

among the surviving Army units, he was dismissed from service. He died on 20 September 1923.

Sources

* 1864 births 1923 deaths 20th-century Greek people Hellenic Army major generals Greek military personnel of the Balkan Wars Greek military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) People from Sourpi People from the Ottoman Empire {{Greece-mil-bio-stub