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Georgios Tsontos (Greek: Γεώργιος Τσόντος) (1871 – 1942) also known with the nom de guerre Kapetan Vardas (Καπετάν Βάρδας), was a Greek guerrilla fighter, general, and later politician from Crete. He participated in many Greek conflicts of the early 19th century.
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Lieutenant General
Georgios Tsontos
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Tsontos in Macedonomachos uniform
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| Nickname(s) | Kapetan Vardas |
| Born | 1871 Sfakia, Crete, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 1942 Athens, Greece |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Greece Epirus.PNG" decoding="async" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Flag_of_Northern_Epirus.PNG/36px-Flag_of_Northern_Epirus.PNG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Flag_of_Northern_Epirus.PNG/48px-Flag_of_Northern_Epirus.PNG 2x" data-file-width="1260" data-file-height="756" height="14" width="24" /> Auton. Rep. of Northern Epirus |
| Service/ |
 Hellenic Army HMC |
| Years of service | 1893-1917, 1920-1923, 1927, 1935 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant General |
| Battles/wars | Greco-Turkish War of 1897 Macedonian Struggle First Balkan War Second Balkan War North Epirote Struggle for Autonomy |
| Awards | Commemorative Medal for the Macedonian Struggle Medal for the Struggle of North Epirus |
| Signature |  |
Early Life
Georgios Tsontos was born in the village of Askifou in Sfakia, Crete, in 1871. His father Charalambos had distinguished himself as a rebel leader during the Cretan Revolt (1866–69) against the Ottoman Empire, was assassinated in Athens in 1874.[1] Georgios entered the Hellenic Army Academy in 1888, graduating in 1893 as an Artillery Second Lieutenant.[1]
Career
Greco-Turkish War (1897)
In the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, he participated in the Greek expeditionary force to Crete under Colonel Timoleon Vassos.[1] There he would assist in the Cretan Revolt (1897-1898) which would lead to the establishment of the Cretan State.
Macedonian Struggle and the Balkan Wars
Armed band of Kapetan Vardas in 1906.
In 1904 he went to Ottoman-ruled Macedonia as part of the Macedonian Struggle, and spent two and a half years leading guerrilla detachments in the Monastir area to fight the Ottomans and Bulgarian Komitadjis. It was in Macedonia where operated under the nom de guerre of Kapetan Vardas.[1] He also fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 as a Captain. In the Second Balkan War against Bulgaria in particular, he once more led irregular forces to clear out eastern Macedonia from Bulgarian irregulars (Komitadjis).[1]
North Epirote Struggle for Autonomy and National Schism
In 1914 he temporarily resigned his commission to join the armed forces of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus. During the North Epirote autonomy, he was named military and civil governor of Korytsa.[1]During World War I, he organized guerrilla groups in Northern Epirus in order to operate against Albanian bands that were raiding the Greek populated areas[2] In the National Schism, he supported the royalists, and as a result found himself dismissed from the army in 1917–20.[1]
Later Career
Following the electoral victory of the royalists in November 1920 he was reinstated, and served as commandant of the Army Academy and garrison commander of Athens. He retired from the army in February 1923 with the rank of major general.[1] He was restored to inactive service in 1927 and finally in 1935, reaching the rank of lieutenant general.
He also served as MP for Florina Prefecture in 1932-33 and for Kastoria Prefecture in 1933-35. He died in Athens in 1942.
Grave of Georgios Tsontos
References
Μεγάλη Στρατιωτική και Ναυτική Εγκυκλοπαιδεία. Τόμος Στ′: Σαράντα Εκκλησίαι – Ώχρα [Great Military and Naval Encyclopedia. Volume VI]. Athens. 1930. p. 415.
Leon George B.. Greece and the Great Powers, 1914-1917. Institute for Balkan Studies, 1974, p. 443.
vte
Macedonian Struggle
Macedonian Committee
Ion Dragoumis Stefanos Dragoumis Dimitrios Kalapothakis Germanos Karavangelis Pavlos Melas
Seal of the Greek-Macedonian Committee.jpg
Armed bands leaders & participants
(with nom de guerre)
Sarantis-Tellos Agapinos (Tellos Agras) Theodoros Adam Charalambos Boufidis (Fourtounas) Antigonos Choleris Petros Christou Nikolaos Dailakis Georgios Doitsinis Panagiotis Danglis (Danglis) Stergios Daoutis (Perifanos) Ioannis Demestichas (Nikiforos) Christos Dogiamas (Itsos) Nikolaos Doumpiotis (Amyntas) Periklis Drakos Konstantinos Garefis Doukas Gaitatzis (Zervas) Stergios Goutas Kote Hristov (Kottas) Simos Ioannidis (Armenskiotis) Georgios Kakoulidis (Dragas) Nikostratos Kalomenopoulos (Nidas) Pantelis Kandilas Filippos Kapetanopoulos Georgios Karaiskakis Ioannis Karavitis Georgios Katechakis (Rouvas) Georgios Kondylis Alexandros Kontoulis (Skourtis) Stavros Kotsopoulos Evangelos Koukoudeas Pavlos Kyrou Georgios Lepidatos (Arkoudas) Traianos Liantzakis (Traikos) Nikolaos Manos Georgios Modis Ioannis Martzios Konstantinos Mazarakis-Ainian (Akritas) Pavlos Melas (Mikis Zezas) Alexandros Merentitis (Doukas) Evangelos Natsis (Srebreniotis) Filolaos Pichion (Filotas) Pavlos Nikolaidis (Rakovitis) Alexandros Othonaios (Palamidis) Konstantinos Papastavrou (Mavromatis) Markos Palamidis Nikolaos Pyrzas Pantelis Papaioannou (Nikotsaras) Iraklis Patikas Georgios Pentzikis Stavros Rigas (Kavodoros) Georgios Savvas Ioannis Simanikas Michael Sionidis Christos Stogiannidis (Lilis or Iason) Konstantinos Sorros (Kallas) Spyros Spyromilios (Bouas) Dimitrios Stagas (Mizas) Athanasios Stavroudis Georgios Seridis (Spanos) Georgios Thomopoulos (Gogos) Dimitrios Tsitsimis Georgios Tsontos (Vardas) Dimitrios Tsapanos Ioannis Villioglou (Ramnalis) Stergios Vlachveis Zisis Vrakas Zisis Verros Gonos Yotas Antonios Zois
Consular officials &
undercover agents
Ion Dragoumis Lambros Koromilas Athanasios Exadaktylos (Antoniou) Spyridon Levidis Alexandros Mazarakis-Ainian (Ioannidis) Anastasios Pichion Ptolemaios Sarigiannis (Kalamidis)
Related
Museum for the Macedonian Struggle (Thessaloniki) Museum of the Macedonian Struggle (Kastoria)
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