Napoleon Sotilis

Napoleon Sotilis
Napoleon Sotilis
Born	1 November 1860[1]; Nafplio
Died	1953
Allegiance	Kingdom of Greece
Service/branch	Army
Years of service	1882–1917, 1920–1922
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	7th Infantry Division, V Army Corps, II Army Corps
Battles/wars	Greco-Turkish War of 1897, Balkan Wars

Napoleon Sotilis (Greek: Ναπολέων Σωτίλης) was a Greek Army officer who reached the rank of lieutenant general.

Life

He was born in Nafplio on 1 November 1860. He entered the Hellenic Army Academy, graduating as an Ensign of the Engineer Corps on 24 March 1881.[2] He pursued further studies for four years in France, and fought in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 with distinction, which earned him promotion to Major. He then served as a member of the international committee that supervised the evacuation of Thessaly by the Ottoman army.[2]

In the next years, he served mainly in staff positions, and in the early phase of the First Balkan War held the post of Deputy Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, with responsibility for the rear areas.[2] On 28 October 1912, he assumed command of the newly raised 7th Infantry Division guarding the demarcation line with the Bulgarian Army near Thessaloniki and the Pangaion Hills. Although allies in the war, Greece and Bulgaria were rivals over possession of Macedonia, and Sotilis forces were involved in clashes with the Bulgarians along the demarcation line.[2] With the outbreak of the Second Balkan War between the former allies in June 1913, he led his division to victories against the Bulgarians at Sulovo, Nevrokop, Kremenska, Djumaya, and Prendel Han. On 19 July he became commander of the temporary Nevrokop Army Detachment, comprising the 7th and 8th divisions.[2]

After the Balkan Wars he continued in command of 7th Division at Kavala, and in 1915, with the mobilization of the Greek army, he assumed command of V Army Corps, and of II Army Corps in 1916.[2] As a royalist, he was dismissed from the Army in 1917–1920 during the National Schism. He was reinstated with the electoral defeat of Eleftherios Venizelos in November 1920 which brought the royalist opposition to power, and assumed the post of Superior Military Commander of Macedonia. He retired on 17 December 1922.[2]

He died in 1953.

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References

Note: Greece officially adopted the Gregorian calendar on 16 February 1923 (which became 1 March). All dates prior to that, unless specifically denoted, are Old Style.
Μεγάλη Στρατιωτικὴ καὶ Ναυτικὴ Ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία. Tόμος Ἔκτος: Σαράντα Ἐκκλησίαι–Ὤχρα [Great Military and Naval Encyclopaedia. Volume VI: Kirk Kilisse–Ochre] (in Greek). Athens: Ἔκδοσις Μεγάλης Στρατιωτικῆς καὶ Ναυτικῆς Ἐγκυκλοπαιδείας. 1930. p. 221. OCLC 31255024.

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[1] Note: Greece officially adopted the Gregorian calendar on 16 February 1923 (which became 1 March). All dates prior to that, unless specifically denoted, are Old Style.

[Enc-2] Μεγάλη Στρατιωτικὴ καὶ Ναυτικὴ Ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία. Tόμος Ἔκτος: Σαράντα Ἐκκλησίαι–Ὤχρα [Great Military and Naval Encyclopaedia. Volume VI: Kirk Kilisse–Ochre] (in Greek). Athens: Ἔκδοσις Μεγάλης Στρατιωτικῆς καὶ Ναυτικῆς Ἐγκυκλοπαιδείας. 1930. p. 221. OCLC 31255024.