Konstantinos Ventiris
Konstantinos Ventirisc. late 1940s
Native name	Κωνσταντίνος Βεντήρης
Born	c. 1892[1] Kalamata,Kingdom of Greece
Died	c. 1960 (aged 67–68) Athens,Kingdom of Greece
Allegiance	Kingdom of Greece Second Hellenic Republic
Branch	Hellenic Army
Years of service	1910–1935 1943–1951
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands	7th Infantry Division (Chief of Staff) III Army Corps First Army Epirus-West Macedonia Headquarters Chief of theHellenic Army General Staff
Wars	Balkan Wars First Balkan War Second Balkan War World War I Macedonian front Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) World War II Greek Resistance Greek Civil War Dekemvriana
Awards	Commander's Cross of theCross of Valour
Other work	GeneralAdjutant to KingPaul

Konstantinos Ventiris (Greek:Κωνσταντίνος Βεντήρης, 1892–1960) was aHellenic Army officer who rose to the rank of lieutenant general. He served twice as Chief of theHellenic Army General Staff and was one of the senior government commanders during theGreek Civil War. He is also one of the few recipients the country's highest wartime decoration, the Commander's Cross of theCross of Valour.

He was born inKalamata in 1892, the second of seven children. His brothers became journalists, and the eldest, Georgios, was an associate of the Liberal leaderEleftherios Venizelos.^[2] After completing his school studies, he joined theHellenic Army as a volunteer on 1 April 1910, and fought in theBalkan Wars of 1912–1913. He entered the NCO Academy and graduated in March 1914 as an Infantry Second Lieutenant.^[3] DuringWorld War I, he served in theMacedonian front, being promoted to lieutenant in 1917 and acting as a company commander during the 1918 Allied offensive. In 1919 he was promoted to major, and fought as battalion commander and CO of the 23rd Regiment in theAsia Minor Campaign of 1919–1922.^[3]

In late 1922 he was appointed as chief of staff of the7th Infantry Division, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1923. He then served as CO of the 1st and 41st Infantry Regiments. In 1930 he was promoted to full colonel, serving asmilitary attaché toYugoslavia andCzechoslovakia, Director of the General Staff's Second Bureau (Intelligence) and as Deputy Commandant of the War College.^[3] As a confirmedVenizelist and Republican, he was dismissed from the army in the aftermath of the failed RepublicanMarch 1935 coup attempt.^[4]

During theAxis Occupation of Greece, he founded the RAN resistance group,^[2] but in 1943 he fled to theMiddle East and rejoined the Armed Forces of theGreek government in exile.^[3] He also participated in the spring 1944Lebanon conference of all Greek resistance and political factions. With the rise of the Communist-controlledNational Liberation Front to a dominant position in theGreek Resistance, Ventiris, like many other Venizelist officers, increasingly moved to right-wing and pro-monarchical views. In the Middle East and later in Greece, he became the leader of the anti-communist "Officers' League", one of the three major political groupings within the Army.^[4] Despite his ardent anti-communism, as an ex-Liberal he was a rare figure among the monarchist army leadership, and was often the target of right-wing newspapers for his former Republican views.^[5]

In June 1944 he was appointed as Chief of the Army General Staff for the Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East, being promoted to Major General (backdated to 1943) at the same time. He organized the repatriation of the Army, returning to Athens on 12 November.^[3] Thereafter he served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and with the outbreak of theGreek Civil War he was appointed CO ofIII Army Corps. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1946, he became again Chief of the Army General Staff in 1947, then served as CO of theFirst Army, as Inspector-General of the Army and as CO of theEpirus-West Macedonia Headquarters until his retirement on 24 March 1951.^[3] His role in the final victory of the National Army in the Greek Civil War was considerable; according to US generalJames Van Fleet, who commanded theJoint U.S. Military Advisory Group to Greece, he was "often rated the best military commander in Greece".^[5]

In the same year, he was awarded with the Commander's Cross of theCross of Valour, one of only three career Army officers to receive it alongsideAnastasios Papoulas andAlexandros Papagos.^[6] In August 1951, he was also named General Adjutant to KingPaul.^[3]

Ventiris was unmarried, and died in 1960 in Athens.^[3]

• Συνοπτική Ιστορία του Γενικού Επιτελείου Στρατού 1901–2001 [A Concise History of the Hellenic Army General Staff 1901–2001] (in Greek). Athens: Hellenic Army History Directorate. 2001.ISBN 960-7897-44-7.
• Close, David H.; Veremis, Thanos (1993). "The Military Struggle, 1945–9". In Close, David H. (ed.).The Greek Civil War, 1943-1950: Studies of Polarization. London: Routledge. pp. 97–128.ISBN 9780415021128.

• 1890s births
• 1960 deaths
• People from Kalamata
• Hellenic Army generals of World War II
• Chiefs of the Hellenic Army General Staff
• Greek military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)
• Greek anti-communists
• Greek Resistance members
• Greek military personnel of the Greek Civil War
• Commander's Crosses of the Cross of Valour (Greece)
• 20th-century Greek military personnel
• Hellenic Army lieutenant generals

• CS1 Greek-language sources (el)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Greek-language text