In April 1941, German forces launched a surprise invasion of Greece, sending tanks and aircraft deep into Greek territory while paratroopers seized key bridges and airfields. Within weeks, the Greek army collapsed, and the country fell under Axis occupation. What followed was a repressive occupation regime built on intimidation. Even as German authorities carried out mass reprisals against civilians suspected of supporting the resistance, guerrilla movements continued to expand across the Greek mountains. Villages provided them with food, shelter, and information, making entire communities targets for German retaliatory attacks.
As the occupation continued, German authorities increasingly relied on local collaborators to gather intelligence, hunt down fighters, and take part in anti-insurgent operations. Greek volunteers were recruited into collaborationist formations that fought alongside the Nazis, participating in arrests, executions, and the destruction of villages throughout the country.
One of the most notorious criminals of the German occupation of Greece was Lieutenant Colonel Georgios Poulos. Born in 1889 in Romania to a Greek family from the village of Platanos in western Greece, Poulos later settled in the city of Thessaloniki and pursued a military career in the Greek army. During the Greek-Turkish War from 1919 to 1922, Greece attempted to expand its territory in Asia Minor following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The campaign ended in military defeat, forcing hundreds of thousands of Greeks to flee what is now western Turkey. Reports indicate that Poulos served during the conflict, though little is known about his role in it.
By 1935, Poulos had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. That year, he took part in the failed pro-Venizelos coup attempt of March 1, an uprising launched by supporters of former Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos to prevent what they believed was a growing restoration of the monarchy and a weakening of the republican system in Greece. The coup collapsed, and after its failure, Poulos was dismissed from the army and forced into retirement.
World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. The early stages of the war saw rapid German advances across Europe, with the fall of Poland, the invasion of France, and the evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk in 1940. After the successful campaign in France, Hitler turned his attention toward the Soviet Union. However, before he could launch Operation Barbarossa, the codename for the invasion of the Soviet Union, he needed to secure the southern flank to protect vital supply routes and prevent any interference.
On April 6, 1941, Germany invaded Greece with rapid, coordinated attacks. The German 12th Army, consisting of about 680,000 troops and led by armored divisions, quickly overwhelmed Greek and British Commonwealth forces. Key positions such as Thessaloniki fell swiftly, and German paratroopers played a crucial role in securing strategic locations. By April 27, 1941, Athens had fallen, and mainland Greece was under Axis control.
After the German occupation of Thessaloniki, Poulos attempted to establish himself as a political leader under the protection of the occupation authorities. He took command of the Greek National Union, an extreme nationalist organization that he reorganized into the Greek National Socialist Party. Through publications, newspaper announcements, and public propaganda, Poulos openly promoted collaboration with Nazi Germany while condemning communists and the Allied forces. Despite his enthusiasm, the Germans viewed his political ambitions with suspicion. The German military command in Thessaloniki repeatedly demanded the dissolution of his organization, and by the fall of 1941, it had effectively ceased operations.
Nevertheless, Poulos remained a valuable collaborator. During the summer of 1941, he provided the occupation authorities with lists containing the names of suspected left-wing activists and Freemasons in Thessaloniki. On July 5, 1941, German authorities arrested 278 people believed to be connected to resistance activities.
After the dissolution of his political organization, Poulos continued to work for the Germans in a different capacity, becoming an informant for the German counterintelligence unit Sonderkommando 2000. Throughout 1942, he gathered intelligence on resistance networks and became one of the most prominent Greek collaborators with the occupation authorities in northern Greece. He also published pro-German articles in the collaborationist newspaper Nea Evropi under the pseudonym "A Loyal Greek."
His activities soon made him a target for the Greek resistance. On August 31, 1941, members of the Greek Communist Party attempted to set fire to his headquarters, but they were discovered before they could carry out the attack. Three months later, on the night of December 23, resistance members attempted to assassinate Poulos by bombing his home in Thessaloniki. He survived both attacks, and German authorities later moved him to new quarters under their protection.
After failing to establish himself as an influential political figure, Poulos turned his attention to building an armed collaborationist force. In early 1943, he entered negotiations with the German military administration in Thessaloniki. An agreement was reached in May, allowing him to organize a volunteer battalion that would operate alongside the Wehrmacht, the German army, in anti-insurgent operations. The formation became known as the "Poulos Battalion," a collaborationist unit that quickly gained a reputation for brutality throughout northern Greece.
The battalion never numbered more than about 300 men. British and Greek intelligence reports described many of its members as criminals, adventurers, fanatical anti-communists, and individuals of dubious reputation. Others joined after suffering at the hands of the communist-led resistance, while some enlisted due to poverty or promises of regular wages, food, medical care, and protection for their families. Poulos's wife also took part in recruiting volunteers by distributing written invitations to potential members.
The Germans supplied the battalion with weapons, uniforms, and provisions. Its members wore German military uniforms bearing the insignia of the so-called Hellenic National Army and fought under German command. In September 1943, the SD, the intelligence agency of the SS, formally integrated the unit into its organization in Greece and provided it with offices and training facilities. During the same month, the battalion was attached to the 2nd Regiment of the Brandenburg Division and established its headquarters in and around the town of Ptolemaida. From there, Poulos built a network of outposts across western Macedonia to support German operations against insurgents.
Although presented as a military formation fighting communist insurgents, the Poulos Battalion soon became notorious for its mistreatment of civilians. Instead of distinguishing between armed resistance fighters and the local population, its members frequently carried out mass reprisals against entire communities suspected of aiding the Allies or the communist-led Greek People's Liberation Army, ELAS. Villages were raided, homes were searched, and civilians were arrested with little or no evidence of resistance collaboration.
Looting quickly became a hallmark of the battalion. During operations, Poulos's men systematically confiscated livestock, grain, clothing, jewelry, money, and other valuables from villagers. Homes were often set on fire after being robbed, leaving entire families without shelter or food. Reports from occupied northern Greece described widespread theft and intimidation accompanying nearly every operation in which the battalion took part.
Violence against civilians escalated further. Witnesses accused battalion members of executing villagers without trial, carrying out revenge killings after resistance attacks, and shooting civilians encountered during sweeps through the countryside. Women were subjected to sexual violence, particularly during operations in the city of Veroia, while arbitrary arrests, beatings, and torture became common methods of intimidating the local population. The Poulos Battalion gained an infamous reputation throughout northern Greece, one that by many contemporary accounts surpassed even that of the German occupation forces themselves.
The battalion also suffered losses. In April 1944, ELAS attacked one of Poulos's formations, killing 83 of his collaborators. Rather than weakening the battalion's resolve, these losses intensified the cycle of revenge against civilians suspected of supporting the resistance.
Among the worst atrocities linked to Poulos's unit was the massacre of Hortiatis on September 2, 1944. Acting alongside German forces led by the notorious war criminal Fritz Schubert, members of the Poulos Battalion surrounded the village near Thessaloniki after resistance fighters attacked German personnel. During the operation, around 150 civilians were killed, including women and children. Many victims were locked inside buildings that were set on fire, burning them alive.
Less than two weeks later, on September 14, 1944, the Poulos Battalion took part in another massacre, this time in the town of Giannitsa. Around 120 civilians were killed, numerous homes were burned, women were raped, and many men were forced to dig their own graves before being executed. By this stage of the occupation, Poulos's name had become synonymous in northern Greece with collaboration, terror, and indiscriminate violence against civilians.
As German forces began withdrawing from Greece in the fall of 1944, Poulos and his battalion retreated with the Wehrmacht rather than surrendering. They crossed into Yugoslavia and then Austria, continuing to fight alongside German forces against communist partisans until the final months of the war, remaining loyal to the collapsing Third Reich even as Germany faced inevitable defeat.
World War II in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. Poulos and his men were eventually captured by the U.S. 7th Army, which later handed them over to Greece. Georgios Poulos was convicted of treason and collaboration with the German occupation authorities before being executed in Athens on June 11, 1949. He was around 60 years old.