Dimitrios Katheniotis (; 1882 – 23 February 1947) 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 rose to the rank of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

and served as chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff in 1933–35.

Biography

Born in Chalkis in 1882, Dimitrios Katheniotis entered the

Hellenic Army Academy The Hellenic Army Academy (, ΣΣΕ), 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 Greece. It was founded in 1828 in Nafplio by Ioa ...

in 1901 and graduated on 8 July 1904, as an artillery second lieutenant. Promoted to lieutenant in 1910, he took part in 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 ...

of 1912–13 as a staff officer in the 7th Infantry Division. In 1913, he was promoted to captain, and in 1915 to major. In September 1916, he joined the Venizelist Movement of National Defence in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, which in opposition to the royal government in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

entered

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

on the side of the Entente. In 1916–17, he served as chief of staff to the newly raised Archipelago Division, being promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1917. In 1918, he was appointed as the liaison between the Greek Army's staff service and the Allied commander-in-chief in the

Macedonian front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germa ...

, French general Adolphe Guillaumat. During the September 1918

Vardar Offensive The Vardar offensive () was a World War I military operation, fought between 15 and 29 September 1918. The operation took place during the final stage of the Balkans Campaign (World War I), Balkans Campaign. On 15 September, a combined Allied A ...

, he was attached to the Greek Archipelago Division as liaison officer. Following the

Armistice of Mudros The Armistice of Mudros () ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between Ottoman Turkey and the Allies of World War I. It was signed on 30 October 1918 by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey and British Admiral Somerset ...

, Katheniotis, from 1919 a full colonel, was sent by the Greek Prime Minister

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 ...

to the Ottoman capital,

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, where he became involved in the contacts of the Greek government with the

Pontic Greeks The Pontic Greeks (; or ; , , ), also Pontian Greeks or simply Pontians, are an ethnically Greek group indigenous to the region of Pontus, in northeastern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). They share a common Pontic Greek culture that is di ...

who inhabited parts of north-eastern

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 ...

, and their aspirations for independence from the rump Ottoman state. His report on the Pontic issue, however, pointed out that any thought of a union with Greece, or the establishment of an independent "

Republic of Pontus The Republic of Pontus (, ''Dimokratía tou Póntou'') was a proposed Pontic Greek state on the southern coast of the Black Sea. Its territory would have encompassed much of historical Pontus in north-eastern Asia Minor, and today forms part of T ...

", were unfeasible, and recommended the co-operation of the Pontians with newly independent Armenia in a confederative state. Like many Venizelist officers, he was dismissed from the Army in November 1920 following the Venizelist electoral defeat. Following the disastrous defeat of the Greek army in Anatolia by the Turkish nationalist forces in August 1922 and the subsequent outbreak of a military revolt, he was recalled to active service by the new revolutionary government, and appointed as CO of the Adrianople Division and then of the 11th Infantry Division. In 1924, he was promoted to major general, and served in succession as Deputy Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, commandant of the Supreme War Academy, and military attaché in Paris. On 15 July 1933, he was promoted to lieutenant general and named chief of the Army General Staff, a position he held until his retirement in 1935, following the failed Venizelist coup attempt in March. He was considered as one of the best-educated and knowledgeable officers of his time. Katheniotis was married and had a daughter. He died on 23 February 1947.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Katheniotis, Dimitrios 1880s births 1947 deaths Hellenic Army lieutenant generals Chiefs of the Hellenic Army General Staff Greek military personnel of World War I People from Chalcis Greek military personnel of the Balkan Wars Greek military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) 20th-century Greek military personnel