Konstantinos Bakopoulos (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Μπακόπουλος, 1889–1950) was a Greek Army officer who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General. He fought in the Balkan Wars (1912-3), played a crucial conciliatory role in Greek military politics during the 1930s and distinguished himself in the fight against the Nazis during World War II. In 1943 he was imprisoned in German concentration camps until the end of the war in 1945 (with four other generals, including General Alexander Papagos, a future Prime Minister).
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Bakopoulos was born in 1889 in the Greek village of Agioritika, near Tripoli, Arcadia. His parents Theodoros and Vassiliki had fourteen children, of whom Konstantinos was the eleventh. His father Theodoros was mayor of Korythion. His grandfather Nikolaos had also been mayor of the same village. On June 26, 1912, Bakopoulos graduated from the Hellenic Army Academy as a Second Lieutenant of the Artillery.
He fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. In 1935, he was Military Commander of Athens, and served as presiding judge in the court martial of the leaders of the abortive March coup attempt. Although these officers were found guilty, Bakopoulos was able to avert a split in the army officer corps by resisting heavy political pressure to condemn the accused to death. The Royalists in command disapproved of this act of clemency and summarily relieved him of his responsibilities in Athens by transferring him to a much lesser post at the island of Crete.[1]
By the beginning of World War II, he had attained the rank of Lt. General and was given command of the Army Section of Eastern Macedonia (TSAM), a crucial post that included the troops facing the country's traditional antagonist, Bulgaria, and manning the newly built Metaxas Line, a series of about 20 forts along the Greek-Bulgarian border. During the German invasion of Greece in April 1941, TSAM successfully held off the attacks of the superior German forces (XVIII Mountain Corps and XXX Corps) in the Battle of Metaxas Line), until forced to surrender after four days (10 April) due to the rapid German advance beyond TSAM's western flank to Thessaloniki, which cut Bakopoulos' men off from the rest of the Greek and British forces.
During the German occupation of Greece, Bakopoulos was arrested by the Gestapo in July 1943, along with four other top-ranking Greek generals including the Greek commander-in-chief Alexander Papagos (future Field Marshal and Prime Minister, 1952–1955). They were deported to various concentration camps in Germany (including Königstein Fortress and Dachau concentration camp), where they were interned for two years as hostages until their release at the end of the war in May 1945 by the Fifth US Army.
In 1948, he published a memoir titled The hostageship of the five Lieutenant Generals (Η Ομηρία των πέντε αντιστρατήγων). Bakopoulos died in Paris in 1950, survived by his wife, Titina Christovassili (daughter of the noted Greek poet, writer and M.P. Christos Christovasilis) and his two children, Alexandros (a university mathematician) and Dora (a concert pianist).
For his service to Greece, General Bakopoulos was awarded the country's highest award, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer. A street in Psychiko, Athens now bears his name.