The Cretan Gendarmerie in liberated Thessaloniki

On 4 October 1912, the countries of the Balkan League, Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire starting the First Balkan War. The advance of the Greek Army was rapid and on 26 October the Turks surrendered Thessaloniki (Salonika). Eleftherios Venizelos, forecasting the problems of law and order that would be presented after the liberation of the city and knowing that the Bulgarians and other European nations would like to promote a picture of anarchy and a Greek state incapable of imposing order, ordered Cretan Gendarmerie units to be transported to the city.

Thus, on 24 October 1912 the commander of the Cretan Gendarmerie with four officers, two senior non-commissioned officers and 150 constables left from Chania for Athens and thence to Thessaloniki aboard the steamer Arcadia. This force was strengthened and eventually almost the whole of the Gendarmerie was shipped to Thessaloniki. On 14 October 1912, the Governor-General of Crete Stefanos Dragoumis mobilised the reservist non-commissioned officers and constables enlisted in the 1880s and 1890s.

Thessalonica was then an international city. Apart from the Greeks, it was also inhabited by many Turks and Western Europeans, a very large Jewish community, and a substantial Bulgarian minority. Most of them did not welcome the Greek flag flying over the city. The Western Europeans considered that they would lose their commercial privileges; the Jews for commercial reasons would have preferred an Austrian administration or the internationalization of Thessalonica; whilst the Bulgarians, Turks and Austrians wanted the city for their own countries. The composition of population of Thessalonica, according to Turkish authorities a short time before its liberation, was:

* Jews - 61,000
* Turks - 43,000
* Greeks - 40,000
* Bulgarians - 6,000
* Other nationalities - 5,000

However, to these numbers of permanent citizens there should also be added others. Because of the war the population of the city almost had been doubled. Also present were the Greek army, the Bulgarian army, gangs of komitatzides (Bulgarian irregulars), the crews of British, Russian, Austrian and French warships that were in Thessalonica in order to protect their nationals, and the Turkish troops, who according to the treaty had freedom of movement. There were also the Turkish Gendarmerie and police, who according to the treaty were not disarmed, and a large number of Turkish deserters, many of them also armed, who were wandering the streets begging for food and money. Finally, there were Muslim refugees who had been gathering in the city as a result of Bulgarian atrocities against the unarmed population. 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. Terrified and panicked leave to save their lives from the Servo-Bulgarian advance...ask shelter and protection from the cold behind walls and wear various rags...One can see pregnant women lying in the mud, and the complete absence of all elementary sanitary precaution, and not having a single blanket...one can see women and children starving not having a single piece of bread."

The policing of the city was very difficult, with a varied population, with explosive racial and religious prejudices, with the economic problems that were created by the change of rule, with the consequences of the recent battles, but also with the lack of any infrastructure for solving these problems.

Initially, the Cretan Gendarmerie took care of the refugees by organizing them in settlements in the suburbs of the city, thus allowing the municipal workers to clean the city. They then tried to create a climate of calm and order in the city, so that all the citizens, regardless of their nationality, could feel safe. 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. They are handsome men with dark hair, tall with a steady step...pride lights their faces. What a dream they live, these man who were for so long the slaves of the Turks in their poor island, when they realize that they are entrusted to keep order in Thessalonica which they liberated from the Turks and which is still inhabited by so many of the previous conquerors, who now have to obey them! The presence of this Gendarmerie might calm the Bulgarian soldiers a little. Every evening they drink too much, creating problems wherever they pass."

From Morning of Thessalonica: "The Cretan Gendarmes impose equally the law on civilians, partisans and soldiers, regardless of race or religion, everybody obeys to everything they impose, because everyone respects and fears them."

From New Truth of Thessalonica: "The Cretan Policeman – man of duty, disciplined and decent, managed from the first days to impose order...So in a short period of time Thessalonica had the fortune to see a peace and order that during the last years of Turkish occupation could not even be dreamt of. What men, what great lads. How handsome, decent and strong these Cretan Gendarmes...There is not soil in the world able to give birth to men better and braver than Cretans."

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. Trained well, military by nature, brave of character, strengthened by exercise, they are a formidable force."

From Time of Moscow: "Unfortunately not all countries have the brave men of Crete in order to create such a Gendarmerie."

The Bulgarians did not cease their efforts to make Thessalonica seem like a city in anarchy or to make it appear that they were also in control. On the night of 31 October, only five days after the liberation, a group of Bulgarian irregulars blow up a big Turkish ammunition dump in the suburb of Zeitelik. As a result some Turkish prisoners and a few Greek cavalry troopers were killed. Soon afterwards, the Bulgarian irregulars started lighting fires and slaughtering the Turkish non-combatants. The Cretan gendarmes attacked them and forced them to stop their actions and retreat to the Bulgarian army barracks to seek protection.

This was the first in a series of incidents involving the Bulgarians. 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. The Cretan Gendarmerie, with the help of the Greek Army, intervened to protect the Muslims. Interestingly, most of these mosques had been converted from Greek Orthodox churches when the Turks first captured the city five centuries before.

In another case, Ipenomotarchis John Petrakis, who with ten other gendarmes was guarding the railway station, discovered a Bulgarian plot to blow up the station. He arrested the Bulgarians and confiscated 100 kilograms of gunpowder and some rifles. Elsewhere, the French post office was closed after a Bulgarian officer shot the clerks because they would not accept Bulgarian banknotes.

According to the report of the French military correspondent Jean Len, the whole population of Thessalonica disliked the Bulgarians. The only exception was the Jewish community, which initially, following the orders of the Austrian counsellor, gave to the Bulgarian army buildings that they refused to give to the Greek Army. Later, however, the Jewish community changed their point of view

The captivity of Bulgarian units in Thessalonica

On 17 June 1913 the Bulgarians, without any declaration of war, attacked the Greek Army. The Second Division and the Cretan Gendarmerie were given the task of neutralising the Bulgarian units in Thessalonica. The Cretan Gendarmerie was ordered to capture the various small Bulgarian units scattered around the city, while the Second Division was to capture the larger units of Bulgarian Army.

Later the same day General Kalaris sent the following message to the commander of Bulgarian forces in Thessalonica :

Sir, Since Bulgarian troops began hostilities in the countryside against our Army, I have the honour to request you to leave the city of Thessalonica one hour after the delivery of this letter. The arms of your men must be delivered to our officers, while your officers may keep their swords. A train will transport your men to the front and measures will be taken to allow them to safely pass the front line. 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. The operations began in the afternoon of the same day and lasted until the morning of the next day.

Bulgarian units were located in the Rotonta, in the building of the Faculty of Public Employees, in the church of Santa Sofia, in the buildings along the Hamidje road, in the Turkish school on Kassandrou Street, and inside the Ioannidion School. The Bulgarian headquarters were located in a large house that belonged to the banker Samouel Mouson.

Soldiers and Cretan gendarmes encircled the Public Employees building and firing from the houses opposite forced the Bulgarians to surrender. The Bulgarian units that were located in the buildings on Hamidje road surrendered after a hard battle. Gendarmes and soldiers positioned in the houses opposite continued firing at them until the Bulgarians surrendered. The bullet holes in the facades of the buildings could still be seen until their destruction during the earthquake of 20 June 1978.

In the Turkish school Ticaret Mectebi on Kassandrou Road and in the Bulgarian consulate there were about one hundred Bulgarian irregulars (komitatzides), who were be used to attack the Greek headquarters. The komitatzides were always causing problems, walking provocatively in the streets, and they often attacked Turkish refugees housed nearby. On the afternoon of 17 June a unit of gendarmes commanded by Ipenomotarchis Emmanuel Tsakonas encircled the building and called on the Bulgarians to surrender. When they refused, heavy firing began that lasted into the next morning. Then Tsakonas resorted to a trick. He entered the courtyard of the school carrying a "bomb" and threatened to blow up the building unless they surrendered in one hour. The Bulgarians surrendered without realising that the supposed bomb was actually a bottle of mineral water.

Lieutenant Hatzeoannou with his unit attacked, neutralised and arrested the guard of the Bulgarian post office and bank in the Grant hotel.

The fighting was hard in Santa Sofia, where Ipenomotarchis Avatzos's unit had the task of capturing the Bulgarians who were holed up in the church. At one point in the battle the Bulgarians raised a white flag. As soon as the Cretans advanced in order to arrest them the Bulgarians started firing again, wounding two gendarmes. Then the Cretans assaulted with fixed bayonets and captured all the surviving Bulgarians.

At the Roman monument of Rotonta, the Greek soldiers, taking positions in the terraces of the surrounding houses and aided by many citizens, fired at the tents of the Bulgarians located in the courtyard and against the windows of Rotonta until they surrendered.

In total, 1,300 Bulgarian soldiers were arrested, including seventeen officers and General Hesapsjev, who was transported aboard the steamer Marietta Rialdi to Piraeus, where he was held until the end of war.

In July 1913 the Cretan Gendarmerie was incorporated into the Greek Gendarmerie. However the majority of its personnel remained in Macedonia, and the distinctive uniform was retained. In 1914 a "Battalion of Gendarmerie of the Expeditionary Army" was created, consisting of four companies, mainly reservist gendarmes of the Cretan Gendarmerie.

References

1. GREECE TO BALKAN WARS 1912-1913 (X.I. GION. G. CIRAIOY), ATHENS 1970. (in Greek language)

2. A BRIDGED HISTORY OF BALKAN WARS, D.I.S. OF/G.E.S (in Greek language)

3. GREECE AND THE WAR TO THE BALKANS, D.I.S./G.E.S. (in Greek language)

4. The HISTORY of NATIONAL DIVISION, KYROMANOS. (in Greek language)

5. CONSTABULARY IN GREECE AND CRETE, ATHENS 1912. (in Greek language)

6. HISTORY OF GREEK NATION, EKDOTIKI ATHINON. VOLUMES 11 AND 15. ((In English and Greek language)

7. THE STORY OF THE SALONICA ARMY, PRICE C. WARD, LONDON 1918. (In English language

8. The LIBERATION of THESSALONICI, ANGELICI TSIOMOY METALLINOY. (in Greek language)

9. HISTORY OF CRETAN CONSTABULARY! POLYVIOY V. I ATHENS 1963. (in Greek language)

10. HISTORY OF NATIONAL AMYNIS COUP. POLYVIOY V. I (in Greek language)

11. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY, IN MACEDONIA of BALKAN FIGHTS, KRAWFORD PRICE, 1915.

12. CRETAN AFFAIRS, V. BERARD, PUBLICATIONS PULLEY. (in Greek and French language)