In troubled times, it is sometimes paramilitary units that ensure the preservation of a political order or help shape political change. Rarely, however, has such a short-lived and small organization as the Cretan gendarmerie had such a great influence on the fate of a country – even after its official dissolution.
Capitano Craveri has had enough of this. He grabs the recalcitrant gendarme by the collar and then it happens. One of the mutineer’s comrades shoots the surprised Craveri. But then the Italian sailors outside the building – they were under Craveri’s command – opened fire and gunned down several of the mutinous Albanian gendarmes. This happened on March 2, 1897 in Chania, Crete.
The mutineers are members of the “old” gendarmerie of Crete. In the Ottoman tradition, the Turkish rulers set up a gendarmerie made up of Albanians to maintain order on the Mediterranean island. Foreign to the country, poorly paid (often not paid at all for months) and viewed with suspicion by the population, this force is hardly in a position to guarantee peace and order. This is why a “new” gendarmerie has been set up, this time mainly Montenegrins. The commander is Major J.H. Bor from the British Royal Marines. The major European powers are taking an active interest in events on the island. Although the island is part of the Ottoman Empire, it is culturally and ethnically Greek. Since 1879, Crete has had a semi-autonomous status – which was mainly enforced by Great Britain – and a Christian governor, but is still part of the Ottoman Empire. The annexation of Crete to the Greek kingdom is not only the heartfelt wish of most Cretans, but is also eagerly propagated by Greek politics and society. The governments of the major powers are somewhat more reticent: of course the Turkish domination of Crete, the cradle of European culture, should finally be brought to an end, no question about it. But the European balance of power should not be upset either. The Cretan irregulars, however, did not care about this and in September 1895 they started an uprising that spread to almost the entire island. https://militaeraktuell.at/bundeswehr-kauft-bei-rheinmetall-nebelgranaten/ In January 1897, the Greek government sent troops to the island, which were able to defeat the Turkish troops in the Battle of Livadia on February 7. On all other fronts, the Greek-Turkish war, which was officially declared on April 18, was extremely unfortunate for the Greeks; despite the help of Italian volunteer units, the Turks were victorious on the mainland. Crete, however, was cut off from any Greek or Turkish reinforcements by the naval forces of Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary. The five powers also sent troops to the island. A committee of the commanding admirals exercised governmental authority, at least until the new sovereign arrived. This was Prince George of Greece, second son of the Greek king and High Commissioner of Autonomous Crete from December 9, 1898. But before that, on August 25, 1898, a Turkish mob massacred hundreds of Greek civilians, some British soldiers and a British consular official in Heraklion. Now the Empire had had enough and the remaining Turkish forces were ultimately forced to withdraw. And with the eventual withdrawal of the international armed forces, there is now no armed state authority on Crete: the Turkish troops are finally gone, the “new gendarmerie” has largely joined the Cretan irregulars in 1897, and what remains of the “old gendarmerie” after the Italian firebombing is dismissed.
The High Commissioner is faced with major tasks: For example, there is the Muslim minority on Crete, which feels part of the Ottoman Empire, or different political camps among the orthodox Cretans, as well as banditry in the hinterland.
Blood feuds are widespread. A reliable and powerful law and order force was needed, half police, half military. During their brief occupation, the Great Powers created paramilitary units, whose commanders Prince George ordered to report in January 1899. It turns out that only the Italian officer is up to the task. His advice was accepted and in the summer of 1899 the Cretan gendarmerie was set up, based on the model of the Italian carabinieri. 140 carabinieri were taken on as a cadre. Capitano Federico Craveri, the very man who had brought the mutiny of the “old gendarmerie” to such an abrupt end in 1897, became commander. Craveri is a man of action. He can pick and choose the best recruits: For the young Cretans, serving in the gendarmerie is an honor. When Craveri handed over command of the Cretan gendarmerie to his successor Balduino Caprini in 1903, the formation of the force was almost complete. The Cretan gendarmerie consisted of a (very strong) battalion with a target strength of 1,600 men. One company is assigned to each of the five prefectures. The company commanders are Italian carabinieri officers. A dark blue uniform is worn in winter and a white one in summer. The constables wore the traditional Cretan pants(vraka), the officers breeches. All ranks have black boots. The constables are armed with rifles, bayonets and revolvers, and often carry the traditional Cretan knives. Each company consists of three or four sub-units(ipomirarchies), which are led by a subaltern officer. Each of these sub-units consisted of six enomoties, each led by a non-commissioned officer. The first Cretans were soon to be found here, often with a good education.
About the Cretan gendarmerie
In the early days, the gendarmerie operated very successfully, which was also due to the fact that Craveri harmonized very well with Prince George. And the prince had the privilege of having any troublemakers deported from the island. The gendarmerie was put to the test during the Theriso revolt, which began in March 1905. Eleftherios Venizelos, formerly Prince George’s first minister, fell out with his former employer. Venizelos calls for Crete to be annexed to the Greek motherland, but the major powers, above all Russia and Austria-Hungary, reject this. In February 1905, Venizelos formed a counter-government in Theriso. On March 23, the first fighting broke out between the rebels and the gendarmerie. The major powers show little inclination to engage militarily against the rebellion, with the exception of Russia, which sends gunboats and soldiers. Some gendarmes defected to the rebels, but the majority remained loyal. The rebellion ended in November 1905. A few months later, Prince George left Crete, and on December 16, 1906, the last Italian commander of the gendarmerie handed over command to the Greek Andreas Momferratos.
In 1912, there are 45 officers, 50 sergeants and 1371 corporals and constables in the Cretan gendarmerie – all Cretans or mainland Greeks. In October 1912, the First Balkan War begins, which quickly leads to the conquest of most of the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire by the Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs and Montenegrins. On October 26, the Ottoman troops surrender Thessaloniki to the Greek army. The city resembles a wasps’ nest. The largest population group are the Jews with 61,000 inhabitants, who would prefer to see an Austrian administration. The 43,000 Turks want to remain part of the Ottoman Empire, the 40,000 Greeks want to join Greece. The group of 6,000 Bulgarians appears small, but there are also Bulgarian troop units in the city as well as smaller groups of Bulgarian irregulars. Then there are around 5,000 inhabitants of different nationalities, protected by gunboats and landing troops from their respective countries of origin. The area around Tessaloniki is almost exclusively inhabited by Greeks, but there are many Turkish refugees who fear attacks by the Bulgarians. There are also scattered Turkish soldiers and armed Turkish gendarmerie in the city. Venizelos, now Greek Prime Minister, has an idea to get this problem under control: He orders the Cretan gendarmerie to Thessaloniki. All the gendarmerie reserves on Crete were quietly mobilized and the majority of the troops were then transferred to the mainland. The fact that Crete was not yet formally part of Greece (the declaration of annexation to Greece was not recognized internationally until 1913) did not bother anyone. The Cretan gendarmes subsequently get a grip on Thessaloniki. In this way, they gain the – sometimes grudging – respect of all sections of the population. On March 18, 1913, however, the Greek King George was shot dead in Thessaloniki, where he was walking the streets without a bodyguard. The perpetrator was an anarchist of Greek origin named Alexandros Schinas. While George’s son Constantine is proclaimed the new king in Athens, Schinas commits suicide.
Three months later, on June 17, 1913, the Bulgarian troops attacked the Greek army in and around Thessaloniki without declaring war. The 2nd Division of the Greek army was ordered to neutralize all larger Bulgarian troop units in the region, while the Cretan gendarmerie was to eliminate all smaller Bulgarian units – gang warfare, as they had learned on their home island. The Bulgarian troops put up stubborn resistance, but are soon overwhelmed by Greek soldiers and Cretan gendarmes. The gendarmes even attack the Bulgarian infantry with bayonets. Bulgarian irregulars even fired on Greek installations from the Bulgarian consulate and from a school. Ypenomotarchis (rank in the Cretan gendarmerie) Emmanuel Tsakonas has the school surrounded by his men. The exchange of fire lasts until the next morning, when Tsanokas enters the school with an object that he describes as a bomb. He wants to detonate it if the Bulgarians don’t stop shooting and surrender. They do, but they probably wouldn’t if they knew that the bomb was actually a bottle of mineral water. https://militaeraktuell.at/britische-armee-kauft-bei-l3-harris-50-t4-eod-roboter/
The importance of the Cretan gendarmerie beyond 1913
And even after its official dissolution in December 1913, the Cretan gendarmerie still played a role: from 1914, the First World War Greece into the neutral faction around the new King Constantine, including the high command of the army, which did not want to become involved in the conflict, and the faction led by Prime Minister Venizelos, which demanded to join the Entente powers. Venizelos’ offer to the Entente on March 5, 1915 to send Greek troops to the Dardanelles was rejected by King Constantine. Constantine was, after all, the brother-in-law of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. In accordance with the Serbian-Greek alliance treaty of May 1913, Venizelos mobilized the Greek army in September 1915 and sanctioned the landing of the Allied “Armee de l’Orient”, a part of the French armed forces, in Thessaloniki on 5 October. Bulgaria then declared war on Greece, and King Constantine forced Venizelos to resign in December 1915.
On May 25, 1916, the Greek army surrendered Fort Rupel to German and Bulgarian troops without firing a single shot. This is not only a national humiliation, Bulgarian forces also begin to expel Greek inhabitants from the region in breach of German promises. This disturbs some Greek officers, but many feel bound by their oath of allegiance to the king. On 30 August, Greek officers organize a coup d’état in Thessaloniki. Initial fighting between the insurgents and the army units loyal to the king led to three deaths, then the commander of the Entente troops in Thessaloniki, General Maurice Sarrail, ordered the French units to disarm all royalist Greek army units. Venizelos’ supporters established a counter-government to the monarchist regime in Athens and led Greece into the war alongside the Entente. Even now, Venizelos can only really rely on one unit: The Cretan gendarmerie still stationed in Thessaloniki, officially now part of the Greek gendarmerie. The Cretans (who proudly wear their old uniforms) are deployed, for example, to guard Bulgarian prisoners of war.
