Dimitrios Katheniotis

Dimitrios Katheniotis
Born	1882[1] Chalkis
Died	23 February 1947 Athens
Allegiance	Kingdom of Greece Second Hellenic Republic
Service/branch	Hellenic Army
Years of service	1901–1920, 1922–1935
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff
Wars	Balkan Wars, Macedonian Front, Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22

Dimitrios Katheniotis (Greek: Δημήτριος Καθενιώτης, 1882–1947) was a Greek Army officer who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General and served as Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff in 1933–1935.

Biography

Born in Chalkis in 1882, Dimitrios Katheniotis entered the Hellenic Army Academy in 1901 and graduated on 8 July 1904 as an Artillery 2nd Lieutenant. Promoted to Lieutenant in 1910, he took part in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 as a staff officer in the 7th Infantry Division. In 1913 he was promoted to Captain, and in 1915 to Major. In September 1916 he joined the Venizelist Movement of National Defence in Thessaloniki, which in opposition to the royal government in Athens entered World War I on the side of the Entente. In 1916–1917 he served as chief of staff to the newly raised Archipelago Division, being promoted to Lt. Colonel in 1917. In 1918, he was appointed as the liaison between the Greek Army's staff service and the Allied commander-in-chief in the Macedonian Front, French general Adolphe Guillaumat.^[2]

Following the Armistice of Mudros, Katheniotis, from 1919 a full Colonel, was sent by the Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos to the Ottoman capital, Constantinople, where he became involved in the contacts of the Greek government with the Pontic Greeks who inhabited parts of north-eastern Anatolia, and their aspirations for independence from the rump Ottoman state.^[2] His report on the Pontic issue, however, pointed put that any thought of a union with Greece, or the establishment of an independent "Republic of Pontus", were unfeasible, and recommended the co-operation of the Pontians with newly independent Armenia in a confederative state.

Like many Venizelist officers, he was dismissed from the Army in November 1920 following the Venizelist electoral defeat. Following the disastrous defeat of the Greek army in Anatolia by the Turkish nationalist forces in August 1922 and the subsequent outbreak of a military revolt, he was recalled to active service by the new revolutionary government, and appointed as CO of the Adrianople Division and then of the 11th Infantry Division. In 1924, he was promoted to Major General, and served in succession as Deputy Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, commandant of the Supreme War Academy, and military attaché in Paris. On 15 July 1933, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and named Chief of the Army General Staff, a position he held until his retirement in 1935, following the failed Venizelist coup attempt in March.^[2]

Katheniotis was married and had a daughter. He died on 23 February 1947.^[2]

References

1. Note: Greece officially adopted the Gregorian calendar on 16 February 1923 (which became 1 March). All dates prior to that, unless specifically denoted, are Old Style.
2. "Αντιστράτηγος ΚΑΘΕΝΙΩΤΗΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ του ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΟΥ, ΑΜ 5195.". Συνοπτική Ιστορία του Γενικού Επιτελείου Στρατού 1901–2001 [A Concise History of the Hellenic Army General Staff 1901–2001] (in Greek). Athens: Army History Directorate. 2001. p. 155.