Greek Thessaly Army, First Balkan War, October 3rd 1912

Greek Thessaly Army, First Balkan War, October 3rd 1912
v.1.0 June 9, 2002

Alexis Mehtidis

Source : ' The 1912 - 1913 War ', Greek Army Historical Service.

Corrections and additions welcome at: alexmehtidis@hotmail.com

According to the 1912 Mobilization Plan the Greek Army consisted of two General Headquarters : the Thessaly Army General Headquarters and the Epirus Army Headquarters.

Thessaly Army consisted of :

A' Army Corps ( I and II Infantry Divisions )
B' Army Corps ( III and IV Infantry Divisions )
C' Army Corps ( with the mobilized V and VI Infantry Divisions )
VII Infantry Division ( independent )
Cavalry Brigade
1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th Evzones Battalions ( organised in two detachments )
1st and 3rd National Guard Battalions
1st Siege Artillery Squadron
Seven Sapper Companies ( organic to Divisions )
Two Bridgelayers Companies
Two Telegraphists Companies
Two Stretcher-bearers Squadrons
Eight Operating Theatres
One Supply Column
L.O.C. Service
One Flotilla with four airplanes

Each Division consisted of : Staff, three Infantry Regiments and one Field Artillery Regiment. The Divisions' artillery came from the following Field Artillery Regiments : 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I, II, III and IVth Divisions were pre-war Divisions ( organised under the Army Organisation in January 7th, 1912 ).

The Infantry Regiment consisted of : three three-company battalions and two machine-gun platoons.

The Field Artillery Regiment consisted of three two- or three-battery squadrons.

Each Evzones Battalion consisted of : four companies and two machine-gun platoons.

Each Mountain Artilley Squadron consisted of : two or three batteries.

The Cavalry Brigade consisted of : two regiments of four companies and two platoons each.

During its existence Thessaly Army created various tactical formations includings various of the units and formations mentioned here. For example, it was divided into three Groups for tactical reasons from 23/10 - 7/11/1912:

Central Group ( I, II, IV and VI Divisions )
Left Group ( V Division, Gennadi Evzones Detachment, II/24 Battalion )
Right Group ( II and VII Divisions, Konstantinopoulos Evzones Detachment, 1st Cavalry Regiment )

Composition of Thessaly Army formations

I Division

2nd Infantry Regiment
4th Infantry Regiment
5th Infantry Regiment

I Squadron / 1st Field Artillery Regiment
II Squadron / 1st Field Artillery Regiment

Sappers Company
Optical Telegraph Company

Cavalry Half-Squadron

II Division

1st Infantry Regiment
3rd Infantry Regiment
7th Infantry Regiment

I Squadron / 2nd Field Artillery Regiment
II Squadron / 2nd Field Artillery Regiment

Sappers Company
Optical Telegraph Company

Cavalry Half-Squadron

III Division

6th Infantry Regiment
10th Infantry Regiment
12th Infantry Regiment

I Squadron / 3rd Field Artilley Regiment
II Squadron / 3rd Field Artilley Regiment
III Mountain Artillery Squadron

Sappers Company
Telegraphists Platoon

Cavalry Half-Squadron

IV Division

8th Infantry Regiment
9th Infantry Regiment
11th Infantry Regiment

I Squadron / 4th Field Artillery Regiment
II Squadron / 4th Field Artillery Regiment
I Mountain Artillery Squadron

Sappers Company
Telegraphists Platoon

Cavalry Half-Squadron

V Division ( Mobilized 17/9 - 4/10/1912 )

16th Infantry Regiment
22nd Infantry Regiment
23rd Infantry Regiment

III Squadron / 1st Field Artillery Regiment
Mountain Artillery Squadron

Sappers Company
Telegraphists Platoon

Cavalry Half-Squadron

VI Division ( Mobilized 17/9 - 4/10/1912 )

1st Evzones Regiment
17th Infantry Regiment
18th Infantry Regiment

III Squadron / 2nd Field Artillery Regiment

Sappers Company
Telegraphists Platoon

Cavalry Half-Squadron

VII Division ( Mobilized 17/9 - 4/10/1912 )

19th Infantry Regiment
20th Infantry Regiment
21st Infantry Regiment
Machine-gun Squadron

III Squadron / 3rd Field Artillery Regiment

Sappers Company

Cavalry Brigade
( From November 3rd its two regiments became independent and the Brigade ceased to exist )

1st Cavalry Regiment
3rd Cavalry Regiment

Gennadi Evzones Detachment

1st Evzones Battalion ( Transferred to the 23rd Infantry Regiment from October 29th )
4th Evzones Battalion ( Transferred to the 22nd Infantry Regiment from October 29th )

Konstantopoulos Evzones Detachment

2nd Evzones Battalion
6th Evzones Battalion

Siatista Detachment ( On November 11th renamed Western Macedonia Detachment )

Two Infantry Battalions
A Two-company of the 24th Infantry Regiment of the Thessaly Army L.O.C. Service
6/2 Battery
Greek Redshirt Corps ( part of the Garibaldi Corps )
Garibaldi Corps Units
Scouts Corps

Notes :

1. The dates for the composition of the various units and formations is October 3rd, 1912 - two days before the army crossed the borders with Ottoman Turkey -.

2. The Garibaldi Corps was a volunteer force first created by the Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860 to fight with the '...ones fighting for their freedom. ' His son, Ricioti Garibaldi took part in the Balkan Wars, on the side of Greece, in command of about 2300 Philelenes and Greek volunteers. This Corps was also called The Redshirts. The Greeks in the Garibaldi Corps were about 1100.

3. The Scouts Corps was composed of volunteers not liable to conscription. They gave the soldier's oath and were organised in Corps. 77 Cretan Scouts Corps ( 3556 men ), 9 Epirotans Scouts Corps ( 446 men ) and 9 Macedonians Scouts Corps were organised. Volunteer Scouts from other parts of Greece were 1812 men.