Georgios Tsolakoglou (Greek: Γεώργιος Τσολάκογλου, Agrafa, April 1886 - Athens, May 1948) was a Greek military officer who became the country's first quisling Prime Minister during the Axis Occupation in 1941-1942. The Breathtakingly colossal Mountains of the Agrafa District. ... Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα - Athína) is the largest city and capital of Greece, located in the Attica periphery of central Greece. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Quisling, after Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling, is a term used to describe traitors and collaborationists. ... The Prime Minister of Greece (Πρωθυπουργός in Greek) is the head of government of the Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Greek cabinet. ... German soldiers raising the Swastika over the Acropolis. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...

Military career

As an officer in the Greek Army, he participated in the Balkan Wars, the First World War, the 1919 Allied expedition to the Ukraine and the Asia Minor Campaign. With the rank of Lt. General, he led III Army Corps in the Greco-Italian War. After the German invasion and capture of Thessaloniki on April 9, 1941, the withdrawal of the Greek Army from Northern Epirus was belatedly ordered on April 12. The German motorized units, however, succeeded in reaching the vital Metsovon Pass on April 18, overcame local Greek resistance and captured Ioannina on the following day, thereby effectively cutting off the Greek Army. The Hellenic Army, (Greek: Ελληνικός Στράτος) is the land force of Greece (The Hellenic Republic). ... Combatants Ottoman Empire Balkan League Bulgaria Greece Serbia Montenegro Commanders Ottoman Empire: Nizam PaÅŸa, Zeki PaÅŸa, Esat PaÅŸa, Abdullah PaÅŸa, Ali Rıza PaÅŸa Bulgaria: Vladimir Vazov, Vasil Kutinchev, Nikola Ivanov, Radko Dimitriev Greece:Crown Prince Constantine, Panagiotis Danglis, Pavlos Kountouriotis Serbia:Radomir Putnik, Petar... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Combatants Greece Turkish Revolutionaries Commanders Gen Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, Gen Anastasios Papoulas, Gen Georgios Hatzianestis Ali Fethi Okyar, Ä°smet Ä°nönü, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Fevzi Çakmak Strength 200,000 men 120,000 men (plus village protectors) Casualties 23,500 dead; 20,820 captured 20,540 dead; 10,000 wounded The... Combatants Italy Greece Commanders Sebastiano Visconti Prasca Ubaldo Soddu Ugo Cavallero Giovanni Messe Alexander Papagos Strength 529,000 men Under 300,000 men Casualties 13,755 dead, 50,874 wounded, 25,067 missing, 12,368 incapacitated by frostbites, ca. ... Combatants Germany, Italy, Bulgaria Greece, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand Commanders Wilhelm List, Maximilian von Weichs Alexander Papagos, Henry Maitland Wilson, Thomas Blamey Strength Germany: 680,000 men,[1] 1200 tanks, 700 aircraft, Italy: 529,000 men Greece: 350,000 men, British Commonwealth: 58,000 men Casualties Italy: 13,755... Thessaloniki, (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη), is Greeces second-largest city and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia and the periphery of Central Macedonia. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... The flag of the Provisional Government of Northern Epirus in 1914. ... Metsovo (Greek: Μέτσοβο, Aromanian: Aminciu) or Metsovon is a town in Epirus on the mountains of Pindus in Northern Greece, between Ioannina to the north and Meteora to the south. ... Ioannina (Greek: Ιωάννινα, often Γιάννενα /yanena/ or Γιάννινα /yanina/; anglicized to Yanina, see also: other names of Ioannina) is a city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a metropolitan population of approximately 100,000. ...

Tsolakoglou discusses the third and final protocol of surrender of the Greek Army of Epirus with German General Alfred Jodl and Italian General Ferrero. Thessaloniki, 23 April 1941.

When the hopelessness of resistance became apparent, Tsolakoglou, along with several other senior generals began considering surrendering to the Germans. Thus, on April 20, with the cooperation of the commanders of I Corps, Lt. Gen. Panagiotis Demestichas and II Corps, Lt. Gen. Georgios Bakos, and the metropolitan of Ioannina, Spyridon, he relieved and replaced Gen. Ioanis Pitsikas, the commander of the Army of Epirus. He immediately sent messengers to the Germans proposing surrender, and on the same day signed a surrender protocol with the commander of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler brigade, Sepp Dietrich. Image File history File links Tsolakoglou-jodl-ferrero-1941-04-23. ... Image File history File links Tsolakoglou-jodl-ferrero-1941-04-23. ... Alfred Jodl (May 10, 1890 – October 16, 1946) was a German military commander, attaining the position of Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or OKW) during World War II, acting as deputy to Wilhelm Keitel. ... April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (114th in leap years). ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... In hierarchical Christian churches, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop (then more precisely called Metropolitan archbishop) of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of an old Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital. ... The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (Lifeguard Standarte of the SS Adolf Hitler) was a Waffen SS guard and combat formation which saw action on both the Eastern and Western fronts during the Second World War. ... SS-Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich Josef Sepp Dietrich also known as Ujac (May 28, 1892–April 21/22, 1966) was a German Waffen-SS general, an SS-Oberstgruppenführer, and one of the closest men to Hitler. ...

Despite urgent orders by Greek Commander-in-chief Alexandros Papagos, that he be relieved and resistance continued to the last, the next day, at Larissa, the surrender was formalized, with Tsolakolglou signing the unconditional surrender of the Greek Army to the Germans. The protocol made - deliberately - no reference to the other invading Axis partner, Italy, whom the Greeks considered as having defeated and wished to, in the words of John Keegan, "...deny the Italians the satisfaction of a victory they had not earned...".^[1] However, at Mussolini's insistence, the surrender ceremony was repeated a third time to inlude Italian representatives on April 23. Alexander Papagos (in Greek:Αλέξανδρος Παπάγος, Alexandros Papagos). ... Larissa (Greek: Λάρισα, Lárisa) is the capital city of the Thessaly periphery of Greece, and capital of the Larissa Prefecture. ... Benito Mussolini created a fascist state through the use of propaganda, total control of the media and disassembly of the working democratic government. ... April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (114th in leap years). ...

Tsolakoglou himself wrote in his memoirs: "I found myself before a historic dilemma: To allow the fight to continue and have a holocaust or, obeying the pleas of the Army's commanders, to assume the initiative of surrendering... Having made my decision to dare, I did not consider responsibilities... Until today I have not regretted my actions. On the contrary, I feel proud."^[2]

Occupation Prime Minister

On April 30, 1941, Tsolakoglou was appointed Prime Minister by the Axis Occupation authorities. His war-time Greek government is generally agreed to have been a "collaborationist" government. Tsolakoglou is often referred to as a "quisling". He retained his position as Prime Minister of the Greek "collaborationist" government until December 2, 1942. Several other "Albanian" Generals were members of the Tsolakoglou government. Included in this group were Generals Panaghiotis Demestichas and Georgios Bakos. Also included is Tsolakoglou's successor, Konstantinos Logothetopoulos. Logothetopoulos was Prime Minister of the Greek "collaborationist" government from December 2, 1942, to April 7, 1943. April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... German soldiers raising the Swastika over the Acropolis. ... Quisling, after Norwegian fascist politician Vidkun Quisling, is a term used to describe traitors and collaborationists. ... December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Konstantinos Logothetopoulos was a distinguished Greek medical doctor who became Prime Minister of a quisling government during the Axis occupation of Greece. ...

Tsolakoglou was arrested after Greece was liberated. He was tried by a Special Collaborators Court in 1945 and sentenced to death. His death penalty was ultimately commuted to life imprisonment. Tsolakoglou died of leukaemia in prison in 1948. 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Leukemia (leukaemia in Commonwealth English) is a group of blood diseases characterized by malignancies (cancer) of the blood-forming tissues. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ...

Footnotes

See also

• Greco-Italian War
• Battle of Greece
• Axis Occupation of Greece during WWII
• Greek Resistance
• Ioannis Rallis Security Battalions
• History of Germany during World War II
• Military history of Italy during World War II
• Military history of Bulgaria during World War II
• Military history of Greece during World War II
• Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II

This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article in the Greek Wikipedia, as of October 14, 2006. Combatants Italy Greece Commanders Sebastiano Visconti Prasca Ubaldo Soddu Ugo Cavallero Giovanni Messe Alexander Papagos Strength 529,000 men Under 300,000 men Casualties 13,755 dead, 50,874 wounded, 25,067 missing, 12,368 incapacitated by frostbites, ca. ... Combatants Germany, Italy, Bulgaria Greece, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand Commanders Wilhelm List, Maximilian von Weichs Alexander Papagos, Henry Maitland Wilson, Thomas Blamey Strength Germany: 680,000 men,[1] 1200 tanks, 700 aircraft, Italy: 529,000 men Greece: 350,000 men, British Commonwealth: 58,000 men Casualties Italy: 13,755... German soldiers raising the Swastika over the Acropolis. ... An ELAS soldier The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece during World War II. // The rise of resistance movements in Greece was precipitated by the invasion and occupation of Greece... The Security Battalions (Greek: Τάγματα Ασφαλείας, Tágmata Asfalías) were Greek collaborationist military groups, formed during World War II in order to support the German occupation troops. ... When in 1933 Hitler gained power, the world was little, if at all, aware of the intensity and duration of the armed conflict that would follow in just a few short years. ... This page is intended to serve as a focal point for studying Italian military history during the WWII-era. ... Adolf Hitler with Tsar Boris III The military history of Bulgaria during World War II embraces a primary period of neutrality until 1 March 1941, a period of alliance with the Axis Powers until 9 September 1944 and a period of alignment with the Allies until the end of the... Greece dealt the first victory for the allies by resisting initial attempts of Italian invasion and pushing Mussolinis forces back into Albania. ... The United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939, after the German invasion of Poland. ... This article should appear in one or more categories. ... Note on Greek names: There is no firm convention for the rendering of Greek personal names into English. ... Konstantinos Logothetopoulos was a distinguished Greek medical doctor who became Prime Minister of a quisling government during the Axis occupation of Greece. ... October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...