Konstantinos Mazarakis-Ainian was born in the island of
Kythnos in about 1869. He entered the
Hellenic Military Academy and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant of Artillery in 1890. He fought in the
Greco-Turkish War of 1897, and led a guerrilla band during the
Macedonian Struggle under the
nom de guerre of
Kapetan Akritas (Καπετάν Ακρίτας). In the
Balkan Wars, he led volunteer scout detachments; his units operated in advance and in the flanks of the main army, and played a crucial role in the capture of vital bridges and railways. By 1916, he was placed in
Thessaloniki as the commander of a mountain artillery regiment. He played a major role in the September 1916 coup d'état by the
Venizelist "
Movement of National Defence", and served as head of the Artillery Directorate in the subsequent National Defence government. In 1918, he was posted to
Bern as Greek
military attaché to
Switzerland. He returned to Greece in 1919 to assume command of the
Xanthi Division during the occupation of
Western Thrace. In 1920, he led his division to a landing on
Bandirma during the Greek offensive against the
Kemalists, and shortly after in the occupation of
Eastern Thrace, against the local Turkish forces of
Cafer Tayyar. Following the Greek defeat in Anatolia by the Kemalists in August 1922, he chaired the commission of inquiry into the reasons for the defeat. He was promoted to Lieutenant General, and retired from service on 11 October 1926. He died in 1949. ==Gallery==