page_title: National Defence Army Corps
section_title: Establishment of the Army of National Defence
hierarchical_section_title: National Defence Army Corps / Establishment of the Army of National Defence
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: N° 250 15 Franchet d'Espérey passe en revue la 5 armée greque en Macédoine en 1918.
context_page_description: The Army of National Defence was the military force of the Provisional Government of National Defence, a pro-Allied government led by Eleftherios Venizelos in Thessaloniki in 1916–17, against the royal government of King Constantine I in Athens, during the so-called National Schism. By the spring of 1917, it comprised three infantry divisions that formed the National Defence Army Corps and fought in the Macedonian front. Following the ousting of King Constantine and the reunification of Greece under the leadership of Venizelos in June 1917, the Corps continued as part of the reconstituted Hellenic Army until 1920, when it became the Army of Thrace.
context_section_description: As soon as the revolt was successfully established, individual officers from across northern Greece began to flock to Thessaloniki. On 2 September, the "National Defence" received its first substantial reinforcement, as Colonel Nikolaos Christodoulou arrived in the city with the remnants of units of the IV Army Corps that had refused to surrender to the Bulgarians and instead withdrawn via Kavala and Thasos. These were about 2,000 men of the 6th Infantry Division, as well as a battalion of the 2/21 Cretan Regiment and the bulk of the weapons and equipment of the 7th Field Artillery Regiment—the men of the latter had overwhelmingly opted to return to southern Greece, but their equipment had been intercepted by a French warship. The first unit of the new army was the "I National Defence Battalion" (Α' Τάγμα Εθνικής Αμύνης), which was created from the few men of the 11th Division that joined the coup, and the 1st Company of the 29th Infantry Regiment in Veroia, which under its commander, Captain Neokosmos Grigoriadis, had joined the uprising. Grigoriadis was appointed commander of the battalion, which already on 15 September was posted in the front along the Strymon river.
  The new Provisional Government made the creation of a credible fighting force a priority. Its resources were meagre—some 65 artillery pieces of various origin, and less than 10,000 shells, as well as clothing sufficient for a regiment—and it was heavily dependent both for equipment as well as funds on the Allies. However, it controlled Macedonia, Crete and the Aegean islands, and hoped that it would attract volunteers from southern Greece—following pressure by the Allies, the Athens government gave its consent to allow this, provided that they resigned any office first—allowing it to create an army of 80,000–90,000 men. 
  These first step entailed the establishment of three infantry divisions: the Serres Division (under Col. Christodoulou) from the forces already available (IV Corps remnants and volunteers), the Crete Division (under Major General Zymvrakakis) on Crete, the Archipelago Division (under Major General Dimitrios Ioannou) in the islands of the Aegean. Quickly it became apparent that volunteers would not suffice, and forced conscription and mobilization of the reserves took place in the areas under National Defence control, despite local resistance in places like Chalcidice, where reactions had to be suppressed by force. 
  As a higher command, on 13 October the "Macedonia Army Corps" (Σώμα Στρατοῦ Μακεδονίας) under Major General Leonidas Paraskevopoulos was established, giving way on 16 December to the I Corps (Serres and Archipelago Divisions) under Paraskevopoulos and II Corps (Crete, Cyclades, and Thessaloniki Divisions) under Zymvrakakis. The Thessaloniki and Cyclades Divisions existed only at the depot level, and eventually were never established due to the lack in equipment and personnel (particularly trained officers and NCOs).
caption: Louis Franchet d'Espérey (right) inspects Greek troops of the Archipelago Division headed by commander Dimitrios Ioannou (left)
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