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Major General Dimitrios Psarros | |
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 Dimitrios Psarros in uniform. | |
| Native name | Δημήτριος Ψαρρός |
| Born | c. 1893 |
| Died | 17 April 1944 |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch | |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Battles / wars | Balkan Wars Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)  |
| Alma mater | Hellenic Military Academy |
| Spouse | Niki Psarrou |
Dimitrios Psarros (Greek:Δημήτριος Ψαρρός; 1893 – April 17, 1944) was aGreek army officer, founder and leader of the resistance groupNational and Social Liberation (EKKA), the third-most significant organization of theGreek Resistance movement after theNational Liberation Front (EAM) and theNational Republican Greek League (EDES). In 1944, he was executed by Greek communist forces.
Psarros was born in 1893 in the village of Chryso, in the province of Parnassida,Phocis. He attended theGreek Army Academy, and in 1916 he graduated asSecond Lieutenant of Artillery.
Psarros first saw action in theBalkan Wars as a volunteer, while still being a cadet in the Army Academy. In 1916 he joined theVenizelistNational Defence government. He fought in theMacedonian front ofWorld War I, theAllied intervention in the Russian Civil War (inCrimea) as aCaptain, where he was injured, and in theGreco-Turkish War (1919-1922) where, thanks to his bravery, his men were able to pass into Greece fromAsia Minor without many casualties. Before the war with the Turks, he was sent toFrance for superior war studies and after his return of Asia Minor he served in the staff of theArmy of Evros, which played a critical role to Greek strategy and politics during these years. Subsequently, he taught in the newly created Greek War Academy. Later, he was among the organizers of the new Ministry of Aviation and served as Chief of Staff of an Army division.
In March 1935 he took part in thefailed Venizelist coup d'état. Along with scores of other Venizelist and Republican officers, he was court-martialled and dismissed from the Army, opening the way for the royalist Army leadership to restore theGreek monarchy in October. When Greece enteredWorld War II, he sought re-appointment into the armed forces but was refused by theIoannis Metaxas dictatorship.
Following the collapse of the front through theGerman invasion of Greece in April 1941 and the onset of atriple occupation by Germany, Italy and Bulgaria, Psarros first attempted to organise a resistance group inAmfissa with the help of Lt. Andreas Mitalas, but without success. Next he went toMacedonia. There, in July 1941, he co-founded the organizationFreedom (Greek:Ελευθερία,Eleftheria) with communists members, which deployed guerilla forces in the area ofNigrita, Lachana, and Kalokastro ofCentral Macedonia, to fight theBulgarians, who had followed the Germans into Greece, occupied much of northern Greece and had set their sights on permanent annexation. Unfortunately, Psarros was betrayed to the Axis Forces and was chased by them.
He fled to Athens, where in April 1942 he foundedEKKA along with other significant figures such as the politicianGeorgios Kartalis, ColonelEvripidis Bakirtzis and other army officers like Dimitrios Karachristos and Dimitrios Georgantas. The organisation's aims were to fight theAxis occupation forces as long as the occupation lasted and, after liberation, work for social change, in asocial democratic direction. EKKA was also an anti-communist,liberal and Venizelist organisation. EKKA soon fielded its own guerrilla forces, named after the famed5/42 Evzone Regiment and took action mainly inCentral Greece, in the area ofMount Gkiona, but its forces were of small size (around 1,000 fighters at its peak) in comparison to the size ofELAS (with 50,000 fighters at its peak) and EOEA (military arm of EDES, about 14,000 fighters).
OnEaster Monday, April 17, 1944, the 5/42 Regiment was attacked by the forces of ELAS (controlled by theCommunist Party of Greece), who sought to have a monopoly in the political future of Greece after liberation, to disarm EKKA and further strengthen its dominant military and political position after the anticipated liberation of Greece. His regiment was dissolved by ELAS and Psarros was executed while in captivity. According to testimonies his executor was the career colonel Efthimios Zoulas (Ευθύμιος Ζούλας). His body lay unburied for several days before it was interred at the local cemetery.[citation needed]
The assassination of Colonel Psarros was a dark point of Greek Resistance era. People of all resistant groups were shocked in the announcement of his death.[1] In 1945 he was promoted posthumously by the Hellenic Army tο the rank ofMajor General.
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