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Hellenic Army
Ελληνικός Στρατός
Hellenic Army Seal
Founded	1821 (de facto) 1828 (official)
Country	Greece
Type	Land Forces
Role	National Defence
Size	In peacetime: 200,000 personnel[1][2] Wartime strength: 1,750,000+[3][2]
Part of	Hellenic Armed Forces
Formations	Formations of the Hellenic Army
Patron	Saint George
Mottos	Ἐλεύθερον τὸ Εὔψυχον "Freedom Stems from Valour"
Colors	Blue-gray,Khaki &Olive
Equipment	1,365MBTs 6,143IFVs &APCs 4,840Artillery pieces
Website	Hellenic Army
Commanders
Chief of the Army General Staff	Lt. Gen. Georgios Kostidis[4]
Notable commanders	Lt. Gen.Theodoros Kolokotronis Lt. Gen.Panagiotis Danglis Lt. Gen.Leonidas Paraskevopoulos Fld. MarshalConstantine I Lt. Gen.Ioannis Metaxas Lt. Gen.Georgios Kondylis Lt. Gen.Nikolaos Plastiras Fld. MarshalAlexander Papagos Lt. Gen.Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos (seelist of generals)
Insignia
Identification marking	ΕΣ
Vehicle marking
War flag

TheHellenic Army (Greek:Ελληνικός Στρατός,romanized: Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated asΕΣ), formed in 1828, is theland force ofGreece. The term Hellenic is the endogenous synonym forGreek. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches of theHellenic Armed Forces, also constituted by theHellenic Air Force (HAF) and theHellenic Navy (HN). The army is commanded by the chief of theHellenic Army General Staff (HAGS), which in turn is under the command ofHellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDGS).

The motto of the Hellenic Army isἘλεύθερον τὸ Εὔψυχον (Eleftheron to Efpsychon)'Freedom stems from valour', fromThucydides'sHistory of the Peloponnesian War (2.43.4), a remembrance of the ancient warriors that defended Greek lands in old times. The Hellenic Army Emblem is thetwo-headed eagle with aGreek Cross escutcheon in the centre.

The Hellenic Army is also the main contributor to, and lead nation of, theBalkan Battle Group, a combined-arms rapid-response force under theEU Battlegroup structure.^[5]

The main missions of the Hellenic Army are the defence of the state's independence and integrity, the safeguarding of national territory, and the decisive contribution to the achievement of the country's policy objectives.^[6]

During peacetime, the Army has the following main objectives:

• The maintenance of high operational readiness for the prevention and effective confrontation of dangers and threats, as well as ensuring rapid response capability.
• The contribution to international security and peace.
• The contribution to social aid activities and the support of state services for the confrontation of emergencies.

• 
  Alexander Ypsilantis (inSacred Band uniform) crosses the Pruth, starting theGreek War of Independence. Painting byPeter von Hess
• 
  Demetrios Ypsilantis was commander of the tactical Greek forces during theBattle of Petra (1829), final battle of the War of Independence
• 
  Theodoros Kolokotronis, the most important commander of the Greek irregular forces during the Revolution
• 
  Panagiotis Rodios, as Army's colonel, one of the early supporters for the creation of regular army during the Revolution

The Hellenic Army traces its origin to theregular units established by theGreek provisional government during theGreek War of Independence (1821–1829). The first of these, an infantry regiment and a smallartillery battery, were established in April 1822, and were commanded by EuropeanPhilhellenes (such asJoseph Balestra and others). Lack of funds however forced its disbandment soon after, and it was not until July 1824 that regular units were reformed, under the Greek ColonelPanagiotis Rodios. In May 1825, the first law on conscription was passed, and the command of the entire regular forces entrusted to the French ColonelCharles Fabvier. Under Fabvier, the regular corps expanded, and for the first time came to include cavalry, military music detachments, and, withLord Byron's aid, military hospitals.

The governorship ofIoannis Kapodistrias (1828–1831) saw a drastic reorganization of the national military: a Secretariat on Army and Naval Affairs and theHellenic Army Academy were created, the Army Engineering Corps was founded (28 July 1829), and a concerted effort was made to reform the various irregular forces into regularlight infantry battalions. Throughout these early years, French influence pervaded the Greek regular army, in tactics as well as appearance, as most of the instructors were French—at first Philhellenes, and later serving officers ofGeneral Maison'sExpeditionary Corps.^[7]

After Kapodistrias' assassination in 1831 and in the subsequent internal turmoil over the next two years, however, the regular army all but ceased to exist. The first king of the newly independent Greek kingdom, the Bavarian princeOtto, initially relied on a4,000-strong German contingent. The royal government re-established the regular army and dissolved the irregular forces that had largely fought the War of Independence.^[8] Following the ousting of Otto in 1862, the Army continued relying on the Army Organization Statute of 1833. The Greek royal army in 1860 was approximately 200,000 men. The first major reforms were undertaken in 1877, in response to the Balkan Crisis that eventually led to theRusso-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Among other measures, for the first time the Hellenic Army was briefly subdivided intodivisions andbrigades.Universal conscription was introduced in 1879, and under the premiership ofCharilaos Trikoupis, in 1882–1885 major steps were undertaken to improve the training and education of the officer corps: aFrench military mission was called to Greece, new schools were founded and Greek officers were sent abroad for studies, and efforts were made to make officers on active service refrain from participating in politics and focus on their professional duties. The Army also underwent its firstmobilizations, in July 1880 – April 1882 due to the Greek annexation ofThessaly, and again in September 1885 – May 1886, whenBulgaria annexedEastern Rumelia. The great financial burden of these long periods of mobilization, however, exhausted the public treasury, and stalled the reform process.^[9][10] The result was that the Hellenic Army was wholly unprepared for war on the outbreak of theGreco-Turkish War of 1897: plans, fortifications and weapons were non-existent, the mass of the officer corps was unsuited to its tasks, and training was inadequate. As a result, the numerically superior, better organized, equipped and led Ottoman forces pushed the Greek forces south out of Thessaly.^[11][12]

The dismal performance of the Hellenic Army in the war of 1897 led to a major reform programme under the administration ofGeorgios Theotokis (1899–1901, 1903–1904 and 1906–1909). A new Army Organization Statute was issued in 1904 (revised in 1910), purchases of new artillery material (including the75 mm Schneider-Danglis 06/09 gun) and of theMannlicher–Schönauer rifle were made, and a new,khaki field uniform was introduced in 1908.^[13][14] Reform was accelerated after theGoudi coup of 1909.

The new government underEleftherios Venizelos brought aFrench military mission to train the Hellenic Army. Under its supervision, the Greeks had adopted the triangular infantry division as their main formation, but more importantly, the overhaul of the mobilization system allowed the country to field and equip a far greater number of troops than it had in 1897: while foreign observers estimated a mobilized force of approximately 50,000 men, the Army eventually fielded 125,000, with another 140,000 in the National Guard and reserves.^[15][16]

After the victoriousBalkan Wars, the country doubled its territory. During the WWI, a disagreement between KingConstantine and Prime MinisterEleftherios Venizelos caused aNational Schism, but eventually a united Greece joined in 1917 the Allies.

As a winner of the war, Greece annexedWestern andEastern Thrace and landed units in 1919 atAsia Minor, starting so theGreco-Turkish War (1919-22), which was unsuccessful for Greece, in 1922.

The country joined WWII with the Allies side in October 1940, when dictatorIoannis Metaxas rejected an Italian ultimatum by Mussolini. In theGreco-Italian War, the Hellenic Army pushed back the Italian and occupied large parts of southern Albania, but after a German invasion (Battle of Greece) fell under the Axis domination.

Leo Niehorster's website shows the higher organisation of the Greek Army on 15 August 1940, with the General Staff of the Army directly supervising five corps, three divisions, and the Thessaloniki Fortress.^[17]

The exiled Greek government, with units of the Army, were transferred to the Middle East, where they continued the war with the Allies as theGreek Armed Forces in the Middle East. TheSacred Band and the3rd Greek Mountain Brigade were formed in exile, and took part in various operations; including theTunisian campaign and theBattle of Rimini (1944).

After the war, Greece incorporated theDodecanese. Soon, the political polarization between communist (or leftist) and anticommunist forces, led to a three-and-a-half-year-longcivil war, which ended with communist defeat.

TheGreek Expeditionary Force took part in theKorean War with a total of 10,255 Greek personnel, of whom 186 or 187 were killed and 617 were wounded.

The army was briefly renamed "Royal Hellenic Army" from August 20th,^[18] to October 25th, 1964,^[19] on the initiative of thenMinister of National DefencePetros Garoufalias.

In total, the Hellenic Army has taken part in the following engagements:

• Greek War of Independence (1821–1829)
• Greco-Turkish War of 1897
• First Balkan War (1912–1913)
• Second Balkan War (1913)
• First World War
  • Annexation ofNorthern Epirus (1914–1917)
  • Macedonian Front of World War I (1916–1918)
• Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War (1919)
• Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922
• Second World War
  • Greco-Italian War (1940–1941)
  • German invasion andBattle of Crete (1941)
  • North African Campaign (1941–1943)
  • Italian Campaign (1944)
• Greek Civil War (1946–1949)
• Korean War (1950–1953)
• Turkish Invasion of Cyprus (1974)
• United Nations Iraq–Kuwait Observation Mission (1991–2003)
• Unified Task Force (1993–1994)
• Implementation Force andStabilisation Force (1995–2004)
• 1997 Albanian civil unrest (1997)
• Kosovo (1999–present)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2012)
• War on Terrorism (2001–present)

8th

9th

10th

12th Div.

16th Div.

20th Div.

1st Div.

2nd Div.

29th

50th

79th NG

80th NG

5th

88th NG

95th NG

96th NG

98th NG

class=notpageimage|

Hellenic Army major combat unit locations
Key: red – infantry, green – mech, gold – armour, purple – aviation
large pin – division, small pin – brigade

• Hellenic National Defence General Staff
  • Hellenic Army General Staff
    Γενικό Επιτελείο Στρατού (ΓΕΣ)
    • Chief-of-Staff of the Army
      Αρχηγός ΓΕΣ
    • Inspector General of the Army
      Γενικός Επιθεωρητής Στρατού / Διοικητής ΔΙΔΟΕΕ
    • 1st Deputy Chief-of-Staff of the Army
      A' Υπαρχηγός ΓΕΣ
    • 2nd Deputy-of-Staff of the Army
      Β' Υπαρχηγός ΓΕΣ

• Most combat arms are called "Arm" (Όπλον). This term denotes army elements that, more or less, have direct participation in combat.
• Most support branches are called "Corps" (Σώμα), with some exceptions.

After a major reorganization which occurred in the last decade, which included the transformation of most Infantry formations into Mechanized Brigades and a parallel reduction of personnel, the Hellenic Army's higher command is theHellenic Army General Staff.

There are four major military commands which supervise all army units,

• 1st Army, based atLarissa, that includes theIV Army Corps, responsible for the defence of the northern and eastern borders.
• Supreme Military Command of the Interior and Islands, based atAthens with the mission to provide cover for the islands in theAegean Sea.
• Supreme Military Support Command undertaking various logistics and organizational tasks.
• NATO Deployable Corps, based atThessaloniki,Macedonia

Althoughdivisions still exist, having the role of forward commands, the Army is mainly organized inbrigades, that follow the typicalNATO standards consisting of fivebattalions, three manoeuvre, one artillery, one support and some other company sized formations. According to the latest developments, up to 2015, all active divisions will dissolve, but all brigades will acquire one more manoeuvre battalion, largely eliminating the distinction between mechanized and armoured formations, thus creating a new type brigade, which will be namedStrike Brigade.^[20]

There are three classes of personnel in the Hellenic Army, namely professional, volunteer andconscript. There are currently 90,000 personnel on active duty, of which 30,000 are conscripted. TheHellenic Republic has mandatory military service (conscription) as of March 2021 of 12 months for all males between the ages of 18 and 45. Citizens discharged from active service are normally placed in the Reserve and are subject to periodic recall of 1–10 days at irregular intervals.Greek males between the age of 18 and 60 who live in strategically sensitive areas may also be required to serve part-time in theNational Guard. During a mobilization the amount of conscripts may exceed 180,000.^[21]

Conscript enlisted men and non-commissioned officers wear special rank insignia to differentiate them from volunteers.

Professional officers graduate from theEvelpidon Military Academy in Athens (Στρατιωτική Σχολή Ευελπίδων,ΣΣΕ), the Corps Officers Military Academy in Thessaloniki (Στρατιωτική Σχολή Αξιωματικών Σωμάτων,ΣΣΑΣ) and theNon-Commissioned Officers Academy (Σχολή Μονίμων Υπαξιωματικών) in Trikala. Unlike what the title of the latter suggests, ΣΜΥ graduates do comprise a large part of the officer corps and are able to advance to the rank oflieutenant colonel, starting at the rank of corporal, while their ΣΣΕ and ΣΣΑΣ counterparts graduate assecond lieutenants and could, theoretically, attainflag officer ranks.

Thus, in thechain of command, graduates of the two military academies inAthens andThessaloniki are considered higher in seniority compared to professional officers of the same rank who graduated fromTrikala. The latter officers are followed in seniority by volunteer and finally conscript staff.

During war, the Hellenic army battalions are commanded by either a ranking officermajor general or if in a combat mission by another state which in agreement with the Greek state will be commanded by a ranking General of their own.

The rank insignia ofcommissioned officers.

NATO code	OF-10		OF-9		OF-8		OF-7		OF-6		OF-5		OF-4		OF-3		OF-2		OF-1
Hellenic Army[22] v t e
			Στρατηγός Stratigos		Αντιστράτηγος Antistratigos		Υποστράτηγος Ypostratigos		Ταξίαρχος Taxiarchos		Συνταγματάρχης Syntagmatarchis		Αντισυνταγματάρχης Antisyntagmatarchis		Ταγματάρχης Tagmatarchis		Λοχαγός Lochagos		Υπολοχαγός Ypolochagos			Ανθυπολοχαγός Anthypolochagos

The rank insignia ofnon-commissioned officers andenlisted personnel.

NATO code	OR-9						OR-8		OR-7		OR-6						OR-5						OR-4				OR-3		OR-2						OR-1
Hellenic Army[23] v t e																																			Arm/corps insignia only
	Ανθυπασπιστής[a] Anthypaspistis						Αρχιλοχίας Archilochias		Επιλοχίας Epilochias		Λοχίας Lochias												Δεκανέας Dekaneas				Υποδεκανέας Ypodekaneas								Στρατιώτης Stratiotis

The heavy equipment and weaponry of the Hellenic Army is mostly of foreign manufacture, fromGerman,French,Italian,American,British andRussian suppliers. A notable exception is the indigenousLeonidas armoured personnel carrier which was built by the Hellenic Vehicles Manufacturer IndustryELVO, such as theELVO Kentaurus fighting vehicle.

Equipment runs the gamut from state-of-the art to obsolete Cold War inventories; the latter are gradually being retired.^[24]

The structure of Hellenic Army ranks has its roots in British military traditions and followsNATO standard rank scale. The rank ofStratarchis (Στρατάρχης, equivalent toField Marshal orGeneral of the Army) though, has been historically used, but is no longer extant. It was first awarded to KingConstantine I for his leadership in theBalkan Wars. The rank was subsequently assumed by his successors upon accession, until the abolition of the monarchy. The only regular officer to have been awarded the rank wasGeneral Alexander Papagos on 28 October 1949, after he had won theGreek Civil War.

• 
  Evzones of the regularized "Typikon" formations established byKapodistrias, 1830
• 
  Uniforms of the Greek Army. Booklet published byAspiotis with reproductions of paintings by Pavlos Mathiopoulos.
• 
  Uniforms of officers (left) and enlisted men (right) in the Greek Army in the first period ofKing Otto's reign. Enlisted men were calledoplíte, the ancienthoplite with modern pronunciation.
• 
  Cavalry trooper and officer of 1832, outfitted like Bavarianuhlans withczapki hats, in contrast to theshakos of other branches
• 
  Artillerymen during the early years of KingOtto: (left to right) soldier,bombardier, and artillery officer
• 
  PreservedBL 6-inch 30 cwt howitzer of the Greek artillery,War Museum of Thessaloniki
• 
  Army officers that took part in theMacedonian Struggle (c. 1909)
• 
  General and later PMNikolaos Plastiras
• 
  WWI poster
• 
  Preserved flag of the Greek III Division of theMacedonian front in theNational Historical Museum, Athens
• 
  Greek troops with Allies during theoccupation of Constantinople
• 
  Military formation in the World War I Victory Parade inArc de Triomphe, Paris
• 
  Greek soldiers atAfyonkarahisar, 1922,Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). The soldiers wearAdrian helmets and third from left is armed with aChauchat machine gun.
• 
  Special forces personnel during an exercise, firing anLRAC F1
• 
  ELVO manufactured Humvee
• 
  Leopard 2A6
• 
  M48 Patton
• 
  M48A5 MOLF
• 
  Greek Army AviationCH-47SD Chinook transport helicopter

• Achilles Shield
• Hellenic Ministry of National Defence
• Centauros anti drone system

• Michalopoulos, Dimitris. "The Evolution of the Greek Army (1828–68)".War and Society in East Central Europe, Vol. XIV, Brooklyn College Press, 1984, pp. 317–330,ISBN 0-88033-043-0.
• Η ιστορία της οργάνωσης του Ελληνικού Στρατού, 1821–1954 [The history of the organization of the Hellenic Army, 1821–1954] (in Greek). Hellenic Army Historical Directorate. 2005.ISBN 960-7897-45-5.

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