Christos Manolas
Christos Manolas is a retired Greek army general who served as Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff from February 2014 to February 2015.
Born in Athens on February 19, 1959, he joined the Hellenic Army Academy in 1976 and graduated in 1980 as an infantry officer. He spent much of his career in Greece’s special forces, holding roles such as a company commander in the Special Forces Training Centre, commander of the 2nd Paratrooper Squadron, and instructor at NATO’s Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol School in Germany. He also taught at Greece’s Unconventional Warfare Training Centre and led elite units like the Special Paratrooper Unit and the 5th Special National Guard Battalion. He even trained with Greece’s Navy Underwater Demolition Unit.
In the mid-1990s, he commanded the Greek force in SFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was part of the BELUGA multinational group. He later held various staff and command roles, studied at Greece’s Supreme War School, commanded the 1st Paratrooper Squadron, and worked at NATO’s Joint Command Southcentre in Larissa. He briefly commanded the Greek battalion in ISAF and served as head of operations for the 1st Raider/Paratrooper Brigade.
From 2005 to 2008 he was Assistant Chief of Staff for J9 at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, and then headed the National and International Planning Directorate in Greece’s National Defence General Staff (2008–09). He commanded the 79th National Guard Higher Command (2009–10), the Army’s NCO Academy (2010–11), and the 95th National Guard Higher Command (2011–12). He was Greece’s national military representative in the EU and NATO (2012–13) and commanded the First Army (2013–14).
On February 19, 2014, he was appointed Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, with the ceremony on February 24. He retired on February 25, 2015, was promoted to full General in retirement, and named Honorary Chief of the Army General Staff. He was succeeded by Lt. General Vasileios Tellidis.
Manolas is married with two daughters. He speaks English, German, Bulgarian, and Serbo-Croatian, and has working knowledge of Italian and Spanish.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:33 (CET).