Alexander Papagos Field Marshal Alexander Papagos GBE ( , 9 December 1883 , Athens – 4 October 1955 , Athens ) , was a Greek General who led the Greek Army in World War II and the later stages of the Greek Civil War and became the country ' s Prime Minister . His premiership was defined by the Cold War ; American military bases were allowed on Greek territory , a powerful and vehemently anti - communist security apparatus was created , and the communist leader Nikos Ploumpidis was executed by firing squad . Military career . His father was Major General Leonidas Papagos , who occupied senior posts during his military career , including Director of Personnel at the War Ministry and aide - de - camp to the King . His ancestry was partly Vlach and partly from Syros . He studied in the Brussels Military Academy and the Cavalry School at Ypres , joining the Hellenic Army in 1906 as a Cavalry 2nd Lieutenant . He married Maria Kallinski , the daughter of Lt . General Andreas Kallinskis - Roïdis . In the First Balkan War he served as a junior officer in the General Staff of King Constantine . As a captain , he held successive staff positions as well as taking part in the Siege of Yanina ( Ioannina ) and fighting in Macedonia from November 1912 until March 1913 . He was a confirmed royalist , so when the King was deposed in 1917 , he was dismissed from the Army along with many other officers . He was recalled after the return of King Constantine in 1920 . He served as operations officer to the Cavalry Brigade in the disastrous Asia Minor Campaign and was decommissioned in after the ruling government was forced out by a revolutionary council headed by Nikolaos Plastiras . He was again recalled in 1927 with the rank of Major General and promoted to Lieutenant General in 1931 and Corps Commander in 1934 . In October 1935 , as a Lieutenant General and Chief of the Army , along with the chiefs of the Navy and the Air Force , he helped topple the government of Panagis Tsaldaris and declared the restoration of the monarchy , allowing for the return of King George II . He was appointed Minister of War in the Georgios Kondylis , Konstantinos Demertzis and Ioannis Metaxas governments . From his position , he employed the Army to support Metaxas ' declaration of dictatorship in 4 August 1936 . During the next years , as Chief of the General Staff , he actively tried to reorganize and reequip the Army for the oncoming war . At the outbreak of the Greco - Italian War on October 28 , 1940 , he was Commander - in - Chief and directed Greek operations against Italy along the Greek - Albanian border . The Greek army , under his command , managed to halt the Italian advance by 8 November and forced them to withdraw deep into Albania between 18 November and 23 December . The successes of the Greek Army brought him fame and applause . Time Magazine placed him on its cover , as Papagos ' Commander of the Greeks ' on 10 December 1949 . A second Italian offensive between 9 and 16 March 1941 was repulsed . Despite this success , Papagos chose to maintain the bulk of the Greek Army in Albania , and was unwilling to order a gradual withdrawal to reinforce the north - eastern border ( and a defense along the so - called Haliacmon line , considered to be more defensible ) as German intervention came closer . After the German invasion on 6 April 1941 , outnumbered Greek forces in Macedonia fiercely resisted the German offensive at the so - called Metaxas Line , but were outflanked and Papagos endorsed their surrender . Soon after the Army of Epirus capitulated and by 23 April the Greek government was forced to flee to Crete . Papagos remained behind and in July 1943 , together with other generals , he was arrested and sent to concentration camps in Germany . In late April 1945 he was transferred to Tyrol together with about 140 other prominent inmates of the Dachau concentration camp , where the SS left the prisoners behind . He was liberated by the Fifth U . S . Army on 5 May 1945 . In 1945 he returned to Greece , rejoined the Army and reached the rank of full General in 1947 . In August 1945 , he was appointed an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire by the British . On 29 January 1949 , he was once again appointed Commander - in - Chief , to defeat the Communists in the Greek Civil War . This he achieved , with extensive American aid , including napalm equipped aircraft , and the extensive deployment of Special Forces ( LOK ) , during the Grammos - Vitsi campaign between February to October of that year . As a reward for his services , he was awarded the title of Marshal on 28 October 1949 . His is the only Greek career officer to ever hold this rank . He continued to serve in his capacity as Commander - in - Chief until 1951 , while Greece was in a state of political instability , with splinter parties and weak politicians unable to provide a firm government . Political career . In May 1951 he resigned from the Army in order to become involved in politics . He founded the Greek Rally ( Ελληνικός Συναγερμός ) , modelled after De Gaulle ' s Rassemblement du Peuple Français and won the September elections with 36 . 53 percent of the vote , largely due to his popularity , his image as a strong and determined leader , and the communist defeat in the civil war , which was attributed in great part to his leadership . Despite this victory , Papagos was unable to form a government on this majority , and had to wait until the November 1952 elections , where his party tallied an impressive 49 percent of the popular vote , gaining 239 out of 300 seats in Parliament . The Field Marshal , with his popular backing and support from the Americans was an authoritative figure , leading to friction with the Royal Palace . Papagos ' government successfully strived to modernize Greece ( where the young and energetic Minister of Public Works , Constantine Karamanlis , first distinguished himself ) and restore the economy of a country ruined by 10 years of war , but was criticized by the opposition for doing little to restore social harmony in a country still scarred from the civil war . One of the major issues faced by Papagos was the Cyprus problem , where the Greek majority had begun clamouring for " Enosis " ( Union ) with Greece . In response to demonstrations in the streets of Athens , Papagos reluctantly , as this would put Greece in confrontation with Great Britain , ordered Greece ' s UN representative in August 1954 to raise the issue of Cyprus before the UN General Assembly . When the EOKA rally to end the British rule in Cyprus began in 1955 , Papagos was in declining health and unwilling to act . The clashes in Cyprus , however , led to a deterioration of Greco - Turkish relations , culminating in the Istanbul Pogrom in September . By that time , Papagos was ill , and on 4 October 1955 , he died . The Athens suburb of Papagou , where the Ministry of Defence is located , is named after him .