Hellenic National Defence General Staff

Hellenic National Defence General Staff; Γενικό Επιτελείο Εθνικής Άμυνας
	Emblem of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff. The Corinthian helmet represents the Hellenic Army, the anchor the Hellenic Navy, and the wings the Hellenic Air Force
Active	1950–present
Country	Greece
Branch	Armed forces
Type	Military staff
Part of	Hellenic Armed Forces
Headquarters	Papagos Camp, Athens
Motto(s)	Αἰὲν Ἀριστεύειν ("Ever to Excel")
Commanders
Current Chief	Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis

The Hellenic National Defence General Staff (Greek: Γενικό Επιτελείο Εθνικής Άμυνας, abbr. ΓΕΕΘΑ) is the senior staff of the Hellenic Armed Forces. It was established in 1950, when the separate armed services ministries were consolidated into the Ministry of National Defence. Its role in peacetime was as a coordinating and senior consultative body at the disposal of the Greek government, and in wartime as the overall headquarters of the Armed Forces. In recent years, through ongoing efforts at increased inter-services cooperation and integration, the HNDGS has assumed peacetime operational control over the separate branches. Between 19 December 1968 and 10 August 1977, the HNDGS was abolished, and the Armed Forces Headquarters (Greek: Αρχηγείο Ενόπλων Δυνάμεων, abbr. ΑΕΔ) established in its place.

The Chief of the HNDGS[]

The Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (Greek: Αρχηγός ΓΕΕΘΑ, Α/ΓΕΕΘΑ) conducts the HNDGS and is the main adviser to the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense (KYSEA) and to the Minister of Defence on military issues. Through the Chiefs of General Staffs, he carries out the operational commanding of the Joint Headquarters and the units that come under them, as well as the rest forces, when it comes to the issues of operation plans implementation and the Crises management System implementation, conduction of operations outside the national territory and participation of the Armed Forces in the confrontation of special situations during peace time.

He constructs the National Military Strategy after taking into consideration the suggestions of the General Staffs of the Armed Forces Services and according to the directions of the Ministry of Defence he manages and proposes the priority of the armament programs and suggests the general policy directions and priorities on every operational objective.

Traditionally, since c. 1970, the Chief of the HNDGS holds the rank of full General, Admiral or Air Chief Marshal, and is the only serving four-star officer of the Hellenic Armed Forces (as opposed to retired, since three-star ranks are often promoted one rank on retirement). Since 15 September 2015, the Chief of the HNDGS is Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis.

List of chiefs of the HNDGS[]

Order	Image	Rank	Name	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Defense branch	Notes/References
1		Field Marshal	Alexandros Papagos	1950	1951	1 year	Greece Army	^{[lower-alpha 1]}
2	—	Lieutenant General	Theodotos Grigoropoulos	1951	1952	1 year	Greece Army
3	—	Lieutenant General	Stylianos Kitrilakis	1952	1954	2 years	Greece Army
4	—	Lieutenant General	Konstantinos Dovas	1954	1959	5 years	Greece Army
5	—	Lieutenant General	Athanasios Frontistis	1959	1962	3 years	Greece Army
6	—	Lieutenant General	Ioannis Pipilis	1962	1965	3 years	Greece Army
7	—	Lieutenant General	Konstantinos Tsolakas	1965	1967	2 years	Greece Army
8	—	Vice Admiral	Spyridon Avgeris	30 March 1967	14 December 1967	259 days	Hellenic Navy	^{[lower-alpha 2]}
9	—	General	Odysseas Angelis	1967	16 August 1973	6 years	Greece Army
10	—	General	Dimitrios Zagorianakos	16 August 1973	25 November 1973	101 days	Greece Army	^{[lower-alpha 3]}
11	—	General	Grigorios Bonanos	25 November 1973	1974	1 year	Greece Army	^{[lower-alpha 3]}
12	—	General	Dionysios Arbouzis	1974	1976	2 years	Greece Army	^{[lower-alpha 4]}
13	—	General	Ioannis Davos	1976	1980	4 years	Greece Army	^{[lower-alpha 5]}
14		General	Agamemnon Gratzios	1980	1982	2 years	Greece Army
15	—	Admiral	Theodoros Degiannis	1982	1984	2 years	Hellenic Navy
16	—	Air Chief Marshal	Nikolaos Kouris	1984	1989	5 years	Greece Air Force
17	—	General	Stamatis Vellidis	1989	1990	1 year	Greece Army
18	—	General	Ioannis Veryvakis	1990	16 October 1993	3 years	Greece Army
19	—	General	Dimitrios Skarvelis	16 October 1993	16 December 1993	61 days	Greece Army
20	—	Admiral	Christos Lymberis	16 December 1993	1996	3 years	Hellenic Navy	^{[lower-alpha 6]}
21	—	Air Chief Marshal	Athanasios Tzoganis	1996	1999	3 years	Greece Air Force
22	—	General	Manousos Paragioudakis	1999	2002	3 years	Greece Army
23	—	General	Georgios Antonakopoulos	2002	16 February 2005	3 years	Greece Army
24	—	Admiral	Panagiotis Chinofotis	16 February 2005	21 August 2007	2 years, 186 days	Hellenic Navy
25	—	General	Dimitrios Grapsas	21 August 2007	6 August 2009	1 year, 350 days	Greece Army
26		Air Chief Marshal	Ioannis Giangos	6 August 2009	1 November 2011	2 years, 87 days	Greece Air Force
27	File:KOSTARAKOS MICHAIL.png	General	Michail Kostarakos	1 November 2011	15 December 2015	4 years, 44 days	Greece Army
28		Admiral	Evangelos Apostolakis	15 December 2015	Incumbent	2 years, 97 days	Hellenic Navy

Notes[]

↑ Resigned to found Greek Rally party
↑ Held the post at the time of the coup d'état in April 1967 which established the military regime. Dismissed by the military regime following the failed counter-coup of King Constantine II in December 1967
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Chief of the Armed Forces during the military regime
↑ Chief of the Armed Forces following the fall of the military regime
↑ Chief of the Armed Forces, from August 1977 Chief of the re-formed HNDGS
↑ Dismissed following the Imia crisis

External links[]

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The original article can be found at Hellenic National Defence General Staff and the edit history here.

[1] Resigned to found Greek Rally party

[2] Held the post at the time of the coup d'état in April 1967 which established the military regime. Dismissed by the military regime following the failed counter-coup of King Constantine II in December 1967

[Regime_of_the_Colonels-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Chief of the Armed Forces during the military regime

[4] Chief of the Armed Forces following the fall of the military regime

[5] Chief of the Armed Forces, from August 1977 Chief of the re-formed HNDGS

[6] Dismissed following the Imia crisis

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