. Following the failure of the revolt, he was sent for studies abroad, in Germany, Britain and France.
He was appointed professor of military technology at the Army Academy, as well as tutor and
Greco-Turkish War of 1897, with the rank of colonel, he assumed the duties of chief of staff to the Crown Prince, who exercised the overall command of the main Greek field force, the Army of Thessaly.[1]
Badly trained and led, the Greek Army was defeated and forced to retreat. Sapountzakis was subsequently dismissed from his duties.
Chief of the General Staff and Balkan Wars
Photograph of Lt Gen Sapountzakis
In 1899, he was named head of the Personnel Department in the Ministry for Military Affairs, and in 1901 he was made chief of staff of the Army General Command, which became the Hellenic Army General Staff in 1904, with Sapountzakis its first head.[1] From this position, he supervised the reorganization of the Army under the Georgios Theotokis cabinets.
Marble bust of Lt Gen Sapountzakis at the Emin Aga inn, Ioannina.
Promoted to major General in 1909, in 1910–12 he was Chief of the Army Staff Service of the Ministry for Military Affairs.
Army of Epirus, a post he held until 11 February 1913.[1] The Army of Epirus was by far the smaller of the two field armies fielded by Greece and effectively comprised a small infantry division, with 8,197 men and 24 guns. Faced with superior Ottoman forces (some 15,000 men with 32 guns of the 23rd Regular and 23rd Reserve Divisions) as well as the strongly fortified position of Bizani, which guarded the southern approaches to Ioannina
, its mission was entirely secondary to the main Army of Thessaly, led again by Crown Prince Constantine.
Nevertheless, the Greeks advanced and took
2nd Infantry Division, the Greeks resumed their offensive towards Ioannina on 12 December. Despite early success and the capture of Aetorrachi ridge, the Greek assault faltered against the guns of Bizani and successive Ottoman counter-offensives. The offensive was over by December 10, and operations degenerated into positional warfare. As more forces were being pulled from Macedonia towards Epirus, Crown Prince Constantine came to assume command in Epirus in January 1913, while Sapountzakis was relegated to command a detachment comprising the 6th and 8th Infantry Divisions. From this post he participated in the final capture
of Bizani and Ioannina on 22 February 1913.
Following the fall of Ioannina, Sapountzakis retired from the Army.[1] He was appointed director of the Army Pension Fund in 1926–29, and died in 1931. He was married but had no children.[1]
^Μεγάλη Στρατιωτική και Ναυτική Εγκυκλοπαιδεία. Τόμος Ε′: Νάβα – Σαρακηνοί [Great Military and Naval Encyclopedia. Volume V] (in Greek). Athens. 1930. p. 654.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Sources
Συνοπτική Ιστορία του Γενικού Επιτελείου Στρατού 1901–2001 [A Concise History of the Hellenic Army General Staff 1901–2001] (in Greek). Athens: Hellenic Army History Directorate. 2001.
§ Substitute Chiefs of the General Staff for the Rear Areas/Interior (as opposed to the Field Staff) † Deputy Chiefs substituting during vacancies ‡ Under the title "Chief of the Army"
