Greek Americans in the Balkan Wars!

I was reading one of those Osprey "Men at Arms" books called "Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912-1913".  

You may have seen them at Barnes and Noble where they usually have a section all to themselves! 

(pic courtesy of incubatorgames.com)

They are very fun and interesting.  The "Men at Arms" series shows soldiers from different wars ranging from the Babylonians to the Roman Empire to Americans in Iraq.  It details their uniforms, weapons they used, number of soldiers they had and other logistical facts.  Here's a sample from the book showing what the uniforms of the Greek soldiers looked like then:

Notice the soldier from the Evzones Batallion to the Left.  There's no fuzzy ball or "founta" on the end of the shoe as is usually seen in the ceremonial uniform.

Here's another pic showing some irregular soldiers.

And a pic of a Greek soldier whose face looks like it could be seen in Greece today...

Beneath is my great-grandfather Kyriakos Frantzeskakis or "DimarhoKiriakos". Nicknamed so because he was the Mayor of Lakous in Chania.  He fought in the Balkan Wars and knew Elefterios Venizelos personally.  He even baptized his son Manoli, who was my grandfather's brother.  This image is from a book I found which documents all of the Cretans who fought in the Balkan Wars.

And a closer shot:

Here is an excerpt from the book discussing the Cretan fighters of which my great-grandfather was part of:

Cretan volunteers, 1912–13 

After a series of rebellions against the Ottoman rulers from 1860 onwards, the island of Crete had been given the status of an autonomous state by international treaty since 1898. Prince George of Greece was installed as the head of the new state, until his replacement in 1906 by a local politician, Alexandros Zaimis. Crete formally announced its union with Greece in 1908, but this was not recognized by the international community until after the Balkan Wars in December 1913. 

The island had its own military force in the form of a Gendarmerie, with a strength of 1,466 all ranks at the outbreak of the Balkan Wars. This militarized police force had been well trained by Italian instructors and had a reputation for reliability. The Gendarmerie were sent by the Cretan government to assist their fellow Greeks at the outbreak of the First Balkan War, and were given the task of policing the newly captured city of Salonika by the Greek Army. The gendarmes wore a distinctive black uniform comprising a tight-fitting jacket with white Italian-style collar, pantaloon trousers worn with a blue sash, and a round black toca hat. The cap badge was red with a silver anchor device for Crete, below the superimposed monogram of Greek Crown Prince George II.

Cretans also volunteered in large numbers to serve in the Greek regular army, usually in their own distinct units. The Army of Epirus included an ‘Independent Cretans Regiment’, and other units mentioned in orders of battle include the ‘Students Sacred Band’ and the ‘Cretans Military Company’. Volunteers from Crete were also formed into so-called ‘scout corps’, ad hoc platoons of less than 50 men; Cretans formed 77 of these, with a total establishment of 3,556 men. These scouts wore regular Greek Army uniforms without any unit distinctions apart from a cross on their breast pocket. However, some Cretan volunteers with Greek officers were photographed wearing their traditional dress with distinctive sarikia headscarves.

In other words these Cretans (3,556 thousand of them in the Greek army alone) picked up and left their homes and families (my great grandfather left his wife, sons and daughters) to potentially be killed in order to expand the nation (which it did by a full 68% more territory).  All this at a time when Crete was not part of Greece itself.  All this is very interesting to me because it has many modern parallels.  People fleeing to distant war zones to fight because they identify nationalistically, religiously or politically with a certain cause.

Equally interesting was this passage about the Greek army at the time:

The Greek Army, 1912–13 

Greece had a small peacetime regular army of 3,802 officers and 18,875 men, which could
be increased upon mobilization to 110,000 all ranks. There was also a National Guard with
80,000 men, and the National Guard Reserve with an additional 60,000 men. More men could have been called up, but the Greeks were limited by the stores of clothing, equipment and weapons available for volunteers. 

Greek recruits were expected to serve for a total of 31 years –two in the Active Army, 21 years in the First Reserve and eight in the Second Reserve. A French military mission that arrived in Greece in 1911 under Gen. Eydoux encouraged the Greeks to move to a ‘triangular’ infantry division with three infantry regiments of three battalions, plus two
artillery battalions and a half-company of cavalry for reconnaissance. This new system left a surplus of infantry regiments, which were formed into additional infantry divisions upon mobilization. 

The army was divided into two main field armies: the Army of Thessaly under the command of Crown Prince Constantine, and the Army of Epirus under LtGen Konstantinos Sapountzakis. The 100,000-strong Army of Thessaly comprised seven infantry divisions, four independent battalions of Evzones (elite light infantry recruited in mountain areas),
a cavalry brigade and various support units, with 70 machine guns and 120 artillery pieces. The Army of Epirus was a much smaller 10,000-man division-sized formation, with eight infantry battalions, one Evzone battalion, a cavalry company and 24 field guns. It was reinforced during the war by various volunteer units including the Cretan volunteer
regiment and the Italian Legion or ‘Garibaldini’ (see below).  

The Greeks also received volunteers for the regular army from the Greek populations in Macedonia and Epirus. Macedonians in the regular Greek Army served mainly in the so-called ‘Holy Regiment’. According to orders of battle, the Army of Epirus included nine small Macedonian scout ‘corps’ with a total of 1,812 men, and nine even smaller Epirot
scout platoons totalling 446 men. The Greeks also received volunteers from abroad, including a company of Greek emigrants from New York.

New Yorkers returning to Greece to join the Greek army? That's wild...

Here are two maps showing Greece's moves during the war and her territorial gains after the war:

The Green areas and the brown area, were lands that were captured and make up the Greece's borders today. That's 68% more territory than before the war.