Greek Army uniforms

The modern Greek Army has a history of almost 200 years, during which it has undergone dramatic changes and been involved in some of the major conflicts on the European continent.

The army that fought the Greek Revolution was composed primarily of irregulars, who followed their own military leaders or "captains", and had no uniform code of dress.

The Greeks however largely preferred their native garb, and only in 1825, when French Colonel Charles Fabvier assumed command of the regular forces, did a uniform, imported from Britain, begin to be used.

In 1828, Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias supplied the reorganised army with French-style uniforms, and issued a standardised version of the traditional dress for the irregular forces.

The basic Line Infantry uniform was light blue, with white breeches during summer, with bright red collar, piping and cuff facings.

The "Phalanx", a special corps formed of pensioned officers of the Revolution, and the Mountain Guard battalions, wore standardised versions of the traditional garb, the former quite elaborate and embellished with gold embroidery, the latter plainer.

The cavalry again retained a separate uniform style, with dark green Hussar-style tunics and breeches, cherry red branch colour and silver braid.

The officers' field uniform followed Austro-Hungarian models, with the tunic being dark blue woolen in winter and white cotton during the summer, featuring fly-hidden buttons and scalloped pocket flaps.

This uniform included a near-copy of the British four-pocket tunic of the time, in olive green wool cloth or serge, with the addition of pipings and removable shoulder boards in branch-of-service colour cloth (Red: Infantry and Staff; Bright red-purple: Cavalry; Dark red-burgundy: Artillery; Light Blue: Engineers; Dark Blue: Gendarmerie).

However, on campaign the majority of soldiers found this to be a cumbersome arrangement and used cloth puttees or stuffed the trouser bottoms into their boots to hold them tight.

The first type of headgear was a German-style peaked cap, but this was soon replaced by the older French-style kepi but now in khaki wool and leather chinstrap, adorned with branch-pipings and an embroidered Greek royal cockade.

Their smart tunic was made in a higher quality olive-green wool, incorporating the internal scalloped pockets and standing collar of the Austrian army, but with branch pipings and Russian-style rank boards.

These entailed minor changes to the other ranks' uniform, mainly simplification by removing most coloured decorations, introducing collar tabs in branch-colour and the standard issue of cloth puttees.

Other items of French origin saw widespread use during these wars, including the Lebel rifle leather equipment, the Adrian helmet, painted dark olive and the bonnet de police in khaki wool.

The 1908 pattern for other ranks in khaki wool remained virtually unchanged and was the uniform issued en masse to the troops that were deployed in the Greco-Italian War of 1940 and the brief Battle of Greece.

Changes were significant only in the equipment, which by this time was a motley collection of Austrian, German, French and British patterns, reflecting a similar vast variety in personal arms.

The majority were equipped with a new Model 1934 helmet, which was based on the contemporary Italian shell in field green colour, but without vents and with a locally produced leather liner.

Due to the heavy winter conditions in Albania, the outfit was for most of the campaign covered by the long model 1908 woolen overcoat, single breasted, with turned down collar and rear semi-belt.

The officers uniforms came in the thirties much closer to the British pattern of service dress with the adoption of an open collar intended to be worn with shirt and woolen tie, again with riding breeches, boots and a Sam Browne belt.

The headgear in the late 1930s turned for good to a British-type leather peaked cap in khaki, with the exception of the Gendarmerie and the Hellenic Army Academy, who kept their traditional kepi.

Dark-green service uniforms inspired by the then-current US style were also developed for officers in the 70s, while insignia and ranks continued to follow the British pattern as before.