Ottoman Balkans and Greece

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French photo album of Salonica, with pencilled captions, dated 1917. Strong mix of local and military life. A number of towns shown as well, with the liberating Greek and Allied military shown, Greeks observing from a tree, French general awarding medals, rare photo of a French Senegalese trailleur guarding a bridge, downed german plane, military revue by the king of Greece, Venizelos outside of a hospital, Serbian commander conferring with the King of Greece, Salonica after its surrender, Greek orthodoxy blessing the victory, Greek celebrations, refugees sheltering in a church, Greek village life, dancing, moving photo of a Greek mother with her dead child awaiting burial, military cemetery, the arrival of General d’Esperey and a number of photos of him awarding medals and conferring with senior allied commanders, more. OTBA 099OTBA 09975 photos in very good condition plus 60 postcards. Remarkably, this album has not been “raided” so is complete as such. B

Price: $2500.00

Note from Wikipedia: Between 15 and 29 September 1918, Franchet d'Espèrey, in command of a large army of Greeks (9 divisions), French (6 divisions), Serbs (6 divisions), British (4 divisions) and Italians (1 division), staged a successful offensive in Macedonia that ended by taking Bulgaria out of the war. General Franchet d'Espèrey followed up the victory by overrunning much of the Balkans and by the war's end, his troops had penetrated well into Hungary. That collapse of the Southern Front was one of several developments that effectively triggered the November 1918 Armistice.

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Photo album belonging to either Major General Archimedes Argyropoulos or his son Dmitrios. The album consists of 107 photos all taken between 1947-1951, as well as some ephemera and news articlesb. All neatly captioned. General Argyropoulos’ obituary in the New York Times, dated April 29, 1971 reads: Retired Lieut. Gen. Archimedes Argyropoulos, once accused of plotting a takeover of Greece, died of a heart attack here last week, it was learned today. He was 72 years old. General Argyropoulos's long military career included action against the Nazis and later against Communist rebels. He won the United States Legion of Merit for his part in crushing the Communist rebellion. Before his retirement, he also served as an Atlantic Alliance official with the permanent Greek delegation in Paris. Once described by the Athens regime as a close friend of Andreas Papandreou, he was arrested In June, 1968, for allegedly drawing up a plan calling for a takeover after the May 28, 1967, elections. The vote was suspended by the junta when it seized power April 21, 1967. B

Price: $900.00

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German postcard of the little-known visit of the King of Greece to Italy on December 1, 1906. B

Price: $40.00

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Postcards of Cos and Rhodes during the Italian occupation. B

Price: $50.00

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13 propaganda postcards from the Italian Black Shirts (P.N.F.) supporting the invasion of Greece. B

Price: $390.00

OTBA 094OTBA 094OTBA 094Well captioned photo album belonging to an Italian medical officer on the Albanian front. He was assigned to Hospital Camp 503. It begins with his departure from Italy on March 6, 1941 aboard the Piemonte and landing at Krionero, Albania. He then moves camp to Drscovizza. The last camp in Albania is at Vasiari, before moving camp to Agriniou, Greece on May 12, 1941, less than 3 weeks after the Greek surrender. By December he is in Athens, where an Italian and German flag fly above the acropolis. Photos of a soccer match between the Germans and Italians, military vehicles in the street, acts of terror by Greek partisans, army ranks assembled in the Athens stadium, visiting German wounded in a hospital, entertainment for the wounded, flying aboard a bomber from Athens to Rome, shots of German tanks in Greece and the damage caused to Greek ships from German bombardment. 360 photos in all. A spectacular album made all the more rare in that it is from a senior medical officer with a good camera. B