Cretan Gendarmerie
It later played a major role in the coup that toppled the government of King Constantine in 1916, and also in the World War II Battle of Crete and the Greek Resistance that followed.
In 1878, in an agreement known as the Pact of Halepa, the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, agreed that in future Crete would be policed by native-born Cretans, Christian and Muslim.
The Sultan appointed Colonel Tahsin as chief of police in Crete at the head of a body of two hundred men recruited in Macedonia.
Under pressure from foreign powers, Abdul Hamid agreed to the creation of a body of one hundred Montenegrin constables under the command of the British Major Bor.
Enlistment in the Gendarmerie, which also had military duties (the foundation of Militia having been postponed permanently due to lack of funds), was considered an honorable service to the nation.
The Gendarmerie was busy upholding the public order, struggling against brigands and also performing services as saving people from drowning in the harbour of Chania.
During the Theriso Revolt, the Cretan Gendarmerie remained loyal to Prince George and fought against the rebels, aided by a Russian expeditionary corps.
The first Cretans to be commissioned as lieutenants on 14 January 1907, in order of seniority, were: Evangelos Sarris, Dimitrios Kokkalas, Andreas Androulakis, Alexandros Hatzioannou, Nikiforos Nikiforakis, Zaharias Brillakis, Ilias Mourginakis, Minos Mylogiannakis, Emannouil Vogiatzakis, Georgios Vouros, and Ioannis Souris.
These were assembled in Panes, cemeteries and squares creating unacceptable hygiene conditions and the immediate danger of a spread of epidemics in the city.
The British correspondent of The Times, Crawford Price, reported: "Eloquent proof of the size and gravity of the Turkish defeat lies in the thousands of the refugees, who come to Salonika like swarms of locusts.
The gendarmes immediately gained the confidence and admiration of population, as it appears from the following comments in newspapers and magazines on their actions in Thessalonica: From the French paper L' Illustration, in an article by the military correspondent Jean Len: "There is something that occasionally draws the attention of the crowd.
The passage of a Cretan Gendarmerie patrol, dressed in their national uniform: boots, vraka, shirt and toca hat on their heads.
From Time of Athens (C. Chairopoulos): "Excellent in their carriage, discipline, organization, every man chosen with the serious sight of American or British policemen, they patrol the city inspiring respect in all citizens regardless of nationality.
On the night of 31 October, only five days after the liberation, a group of Bulgarian irregulars blew up a big Turkish ammunition dump in the suburb of Zeitelik.
In the following days they started occupying mosques and turning them into Bulgarian churches, insulting the religious feelings of the Muslim citizens, who protested to the Greek authorities.
After this deadline expires I must, to my regret, give orders that your troops will be considered hostile.As expected, the Bulgarians ignored the ultimatum and plans for their disarmament were initiated.
Soldiers and Cretan gendarmes encircled the Public Employees building and firing from the houses opposite forced the Bulgarians to surrender.
On the afternoon of 17 June a unit of gendarmes commanded by Ypenomotarchis Emmanuel Tsakonas encircled the building and called on the Bulgarians to surrender.
Lieutenant Hatzioannou with his unit attacked, neutralised and arrested the guard of the Bulgarian post office and bank in the Grant hotel.
In total, 1,300 Bulgarian soldiers were arrested, including seventeen officers and General Hesapsiev, who was transported aboard the steamer Marietta Rialdi to Piraeus, where he was held until the end of war.
In December 1915 Italian and French forces occupied the Greek island of Corfu, where they gathered the remnants of the Serbian Army and Government.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos believed that Greece had an obligation to help Serbia and enter the war with the Allies against the Central Powers.
This group, the Committee of National Defence, was led by D. Ligas, Periklis Argyropoulos, Alexandros Zannas, K. Aggelakis, N. Manos, Pazis, Grekos, Pamikos Zymvrakakis, Th.
The leadership was offered to the now ex-Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, who strongly believed that Greece should enter the war in favour of the Allies.
The French naval attaché Lieutenant-Commander de Rokfeill reported in September 1916: "There is not any question of concern for the sovereign rights of Greece because no-one remains in this country that has not been violated".
In this situation and with the danger that the Allies would proclaim Thessalonica capital of the Kingdom of Serbia, the Committee of National Defence on 17 August 1916 decided to mount their coup d'état.
Cavalry Lieutenant-Colonel Zymvrakakis, who was a member of the National Defence Committee, undertook the leadership of the coup and led the troops to the general headquarters of the Allied forces.
Athinogenis, the prefect of Thessaloniki, and the assistant district attorney convinced the officers of the loyal troops not to try to suppress the rebels immediately.
It was a tragic irony that the French bayonets that had created the conditions for a civil war with the occupation of Greek territories at this moment prevented one.
In the following days the coup was established in other Greek Macedonian cities, Crete and other islands, always with the help of Cretan Gendarmerie officers like Captain Vouros in Veria.
