Greek army WW2 rank info

[David]

Hi
Trying to work out the information
The top and botton line are ok, but the middle i can not understand. 
http://ww2greece.wargaming.info/uniform1.htm
I am painting my 28mm Greek for WW2 and need to understand this page
Any help is welcome
Thanks
David

[Arlequín]

Clicking the illustration gives a bigger version with English captions added (albeit in odd places). 

What isn't so obvious is that the cloth backing to the NCO's chevrons is in the arm of service colour, same as the collar patches.

[joroas]

Officers had the open collars, O/Rs had closed collars.

[David]

Had not picked that up  Thanks
Sergeant have two strips ? I got that wrong 
Have to change two of the figures to one strip
Thanks for the help
David

[Arlequín]

It's an unusual rank structure, based apparently on the old Byzantine one. So you get Corporals and Sergeants as actual ranks, with Υποδεκανέας (lance-corporal) awarded as an honorary rank to some privates, carrying no insignia or pay advantage. The 'Sergeant-Major' rank is the equivalent of a platoon or company sergeant, rather than a battalion level rank.

The officer's ranks have a warrant-officer sub-level that was different to that of other armies, in that they were enlisted men who were officer candidates, rather than senior NCOs. They were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants after a time in that role.

If you need some organisation details, try here; http://niehorster.orbat.com/027_greece/40_organ/div_inf_40.html

[David]

I was going on this

the model Greek infantry squad ([h]omas pezikou) in 1940 consisted of
13 men organized as follows:

a. One Sergeant (Lochias) as squad leader ([h]omadarchês), armed with
a 6.5 mm. Mannlicher-Schönauer rifle, 50 rounds for his rifle and 1
clip with 25 rounds for the squad Hotchkiss light machine-gun.
b. A LMG half-squad ([h]êmiomas [h]oplopolybolêtôn) composed of 5 men:
b1. One Corporal (Dekaneus), as assistant squad leader (boêthos
[h]omadarchou) and leader of the LMG half-squad. He is armed with a
6.5 mm. Mannlicher rifle, 50 rounds for his rifle and 2 clips with 50
rounds for the squad LMG.
b2. The LMG gunner (skopeutês), armed with an 8 mm. revolver
(peristrophon), 24 rounds for it, a 6,5 mm. Hotchkiss mod. 1926 light
machine-gun ([h]oplopolybolon) and 3 clips with 75 rounds for it.
b3. The LMG loader (gemistês), armed with an 8 mm. revolver, 24 rounds
for it, and 13 clips with 325 LMG rounds.
b4-b5. Two ammunition carriers (promêtheutês [sing.]), each armed with
a a 6.5 mm. Mannlicher carbine, 50 rounds for his carbine and 10 clips
with 250 LMG rounds.
c. A riflemen half-squad ([h]êmiomas akrobolistôn) composed of 7 men:
c1. One Lance-corporal ([h]ypodekaneus) as first rifleman (prôtos
akrobolistês) and leader of the riflemen half-squad. He is armed with
a 6.5 mm. Mannlicher rifle, 150 rounds for his rifle, 3 offensive
grenades (epithetikai cheirobombides [pl.]) and 1 clip with 25 rounds
for the squad LMG.
c2-c6. Five riflemen (akrobolistai [pl.]) armed as c1.
c7. One rifle-grenadier ([h]oplobombistês), armed with an 8 mm. mod.
1886-93 Lebel rifle with a Vivien-Bessières muzzle adapter
(bombidobolon), 100 rounds for the rifle and 8 rifle-grenades
([h]oplobombidai [pl.]).

In total the model infantry squad carried 1125 LMG rounds, 1100 rounds
for the Mannlicher rifles or carbines, 100 rounds for the Lebel rifle,
48 rounds for the revolvers, 18 offensive grenades and 8 V-B
rifle-grenades.

The infantry squad could consist of fewer men, in fact as few as 8 men
(apart from the squad leader). In that case the LMG half-squad would
remain at full-strength with 5 men and the riflemen half-squad would
consist of as few as 3 men. I suppose that if fewer men remained per
squad, then the platoon leader would consolidate them in fewer squads
(1 or 2 instead of 3) per platoon. Sometimes the rifle-grenadier was
detached from the squad and placed under the direct orders of the
corporal rifle-grenadier who served directly under the platoon leader.
In this way the infantry platoon could acquire a "mini battery" of 4
rifle-grenadiers (1 corporal and 3 men detached from their squads)
that could concentrate their fire against a single enemy target.

and

Platoon HQ Section:
1 Officer
4 or 7 Enlisted Men

3 Rifle Sections, each:
10 or 11 Enlisted Men
1 Light Machine Gun
1 Lebel Grenade Launcher (Light Mortar)

An MG Platoon would be:
MG Platoon HQ Section:
1 Officer
7 Enlisted Men

2 MG Sections, each:
19 Enlisted Men
2 Machine Guns
4 Animals

The main problem is the Lebel Grenade Launcher (Light Mortar)
I have only seen pictures of the  Brixia Mortar used by the greeks

[argsilverson]

It's an unusual rank structure, based apparently on the old Byzantine one. So you get Corporals and Sergeants as actual ranks, with Υποδεκανέας (lance-corporal) awarded as an honorary rank to some privates, carrying no insignia or pay advantage. The 'Sergeant-Major' rank is the equivalent of a platoon or company sergeant, rather than a battalion level rank.

The officer's ranks have a warrant-officer sub-level that was different to that of other armies, in that they were enlisted men who were officer candidates, rather than senior NCOs. They were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants after a time in that role.

If you need some organisation details, try here; http://niehorster.orbat.com/027_greece/40_organ/div_inf_40.html

1.- Not byzantine but mostly French, since french officers trained the army.
2.- the adjutants (warrant officers) were senior NCO. During the WWII the cadets of the officers school were named 2nd lieutenants of the senior year and warrant officers of the 2nd year, and both joined the army. while the 1st year remain cadets out of the army structure as being newly recruited ones. Until the 1960's warrant officer was the highest rank and NCO could reach in peacetime. Now they can be promoted to highest ranks depending on the arm and service.
3.- enlisted officers had 2 ranks: the first is cadet-officers they bear a cord of the service colour plus officers uniform  and later as 2nd lieutenants same uniform and insignia as the normal officers.
During the WWII all enlisted canditate officers or trained ones were nominated en mass as 2nd lieutenants
The same happened with most of the persons enlisted who had a university degree.

[Arlequín]

Argsilverson, Excellent info, thanks for that. 

I was referring to rank structure in the context of titles though, apologies for not being clearer on that.


David, the VB launcher was a cup-type discharger fitted to a rifle, unlike the Brixia, which was a short ranged light mortar.



(This pic is unusual as the rifle is a new MAS 36, normally they were fitted to older Lebel Rifles - might be a case of necessity here)