Petros Soumilas

Who is Petros Soumilas?

Petros Soumilas or Soumilis was a Greek Army officer who reached the rank of Lieutenant General.

He was born in Leucas on 1 January 1861. He joined the Hellenic Army on 2 August 1882, and later enrolled in the NCO School, from where he graduated in August 1888 as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. He served as a topography instructor and in the newly established Hellenic Military Geographical Service, and participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and the Balkan Wars. During the latter he commanded the 3rd Battalion of the 11th Infantry Regiment, and occasionally substituted for the regimental commander as well.

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 command of the Xanthi Division in Eastern Thrace. In May 1921 he was transferred to command the 10th Infantry Division in Anatolia, and he led it in the Greek summer offensive and the advance towards the Sakarya river.