Ioannis Kalogeras

Ioannis V. Kalogeras was born in Spartias, a small village of the mountainous area of Trichonis, of the Prefecture of Aetoloacarnania in Greece. He followed a military carrier, educated at the Hellenic Military Academy of Evelpides in Athens and then at the Ecole Superieur “De Geure” in Paris from where he was called to participate in 1912 in the Balkan Wars. He was positioned in the staff of the IV Division and under the orders of Division Chief Moschopoulos he participated in the battle of Sarantaporo, an important battle for the timely liberation of Thessaloniki by the Greek army. In December 1912 he suggested to General Sapountzakis and then to Prince and future king Constantine I of Greece the capture of the strategic hill of Tsouka, west of Bizani, a successful operation that led to the liberation on February 21 1913 of the city of Ioannina. He participated in the 2nd Balkan War in the battle and liberation of Kilkis in June 1913. Dure World War I he server as the Chief of Staff in the II Division and later as a Vice-Chief of the General Chiefs of Staff in Smyrna on February 1920. In March 1920 we was the Chief of Staff of the army of Thrace under General Zymbratakis, participating in the liberation and organization of both Western and Eastern Thrace.

He resigned from the army in August 1923 and settled in Athens, where he witnessed a coop for reinstating monarchy in Greece. I. Kalogeras participated in the successful suppression of the coop, creating a force of 3000 volunteers in Athens, and succeeding to clear Macedonia and Epirus. Thus, he contributed to the fall of monarchy and the declaration of the 2nd Greek Republic.

He then entered the political field, and was elected for the first time in 1923 and from them continually till December 1930 a Member of the Parliament from the area of Athens. In 1930 he became Minister- General Commander of Thrace, contributing to the organisation of Western Thrace.

ource

* [http://alex.eled.duth.gr/leukoma/ Album of Thrace - Macedonia 1932]