Michail Anagnostakos

Michail Anagnostakos (Greek: Μιχαήλ Αναγνωστάκος, Charia, Laconia, 1878 – Lachanas, 1913), better known under the nome de guerre Kapetan Matapas (Καπετάν Ματαπάς) was a Hellenic Army officer and military leader of the Macedonian Struggle.

Anagnostakos disguised as a monk
Anagnostakos (centre) with his comrades.

Biography

Anagnostakos was born in 1878 in Charia near Pyrgos Dirou in Mani Peninsula. He studied at the School of Philosophy at the University of Athens. At the same time he followed a military career[1] having in 1905 the rank of ensign[2] of artillery.[1]

During the spring of 1905 he went to Macedonia as leader to a small armed group of 15 men that would be responsible for the area of Langadas.[3] Anagnostakos and his men disembarked from a sailboat at Potidaia in Chalkidiki on 22 April 1905.[1][4]

Anagnostakos' force settled in the area of Melissochori with the objective of controlling the route between Thessaloniki and Gevgelija[5] and also to face the agents of the Bulgarian revolutionary committee in the area. However this band failed to make any important operations because Anagnostakos injured his leg and settled temporarily in the monastery of Archangelos in Goumenissa pretending to be a monk.[4]

From December 1905 until February 1906 Anagnostakos acted as an agent in the areas of Goumenissa and Almopia.[1] From March to October 1906 he was in Giannitsa Lake as deputy chief of an armed band,[1] having his base at a hut in Trichovitsa.[6] During the summer of 1906 he took part in the attack that led to the death of the Bulgarian komitadji Stergios Vlachos.[7] At the end of the year, he took charge of an armed band in Mount Olympus.[8] and managed, until his retirement from Macedonia in October 1907, to conduct significant strikes against Bulgarian and Romanian agents in the areas of Olympus and Pieria, while defeating many local bandits.[9]

Although after the end of the Macedonian Struggle Anagnostakos retired due to his bad health because of the hardships and privations he suffered, he returned voluntarily to the army during the Balkan Wars as a lieutenant.[10] He became chief of scouts in Pieria, along with Alexandros Zannas, and he caused the commander of the 7th Infantry Division, Kleomenis Kleomenous, to expedite the liberation of Katerini, which happened on October 16, 1912. He was killed in June 1913 during the battle of Lachanas.[1]

References
  1. Συλλογικό έργο, Μουσείο Μακεδονικού Αγώνα 13 - Η ελληνική αντεπίθεση στη Μακεδονία (1905-1906) - 100 έγγραφα από το αρχείο του Υπουργείου Εξωτερικών της Ελλάδος, Μουσείο Μακεδονικού Αγώνα, Θεσσαλονίκη 1997, p. 179 - 180.
  2. Παύλος Λ. Τσάμης, Μακεδονικός Αγών, ΕΜΣ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1975, p.295.
  3. Pavlos L. Tsamis, 1975, p. 272.
  4. Παύλος Λ. Τσάμης, 1975, p. 295 - 296.
  5. Μουσείο Μακεδονικού Αγώνα, 1997, p. 179 - 180.
  6. Παύλος Λ. Τσάμης, 1975, p.350.
  7. Παύλος Λ. Τσάμης, 1975, p. 335, 345-347, 350.
  8. Παύλος Λ. Τσάμης, 1975, p. 341.
  9. Παύλος Λ. Τσάμης, 1975, p. 398 - 399.
  10. Mani.org: Michail Anagnostakos - Capetan Matapas Archived 2007-11-19 at the Wayback Machine (Greek)

Bibliography
  • Παύλος Λ. Τσάμης, Μακεδονικός Αγών, ΕΜΣ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1975.
  • Συλλογικό έργο, Μουσείο Μακεδονικού Αγώνα 13 - Η ελληνική αντεπίθεση στη Μακεδονία (1905-1906) - 100 έγγραφα από το αρχείο του Υπουργείου Εξωτερικών της Ελλάδος, Μουσείο Μακεδονικού Αγώνα, Θεσσαλονίκη 1997.
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