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Georgios Tsolakoglou (Greek: Γεώργιος Τσολάκογλου, Agrafa, April 1886 - Athens, May 1948) was a Greek military officer who became the country's first quisling Prime Minister during the Axis Occupation in 1941-1942.

As an officer in the Greek Army, he participated in the Balkan Wars, the First World War, the 1919 Allied expedition to the Ukraine and the Asia Minor Campaign. With the rank of Lt. General, he led III Army Corps in the Greco-Italian War. After the German invasion and capture of Thessaloniki on April 9, 1941, the withdrawal of the Greek Army from Northern Epirus was belatedly ordered on April 12. The German motorized units, however, succeeded in reaching the vital Metsovon Pass on April 18, overcame local Greek resistance and captured Ioannina on the following day, thereby effectively cutting off the Greek Army.

Tsolakoglou discusses the third and final protocol of surrender of the Greek Army of Epirus with German General Alfred Jodl and Italian General Ferrero. Thessaloniki, 23 April 1941.

When the hopelessness of resistance became apparent, Tsolakoglou, along with several other senior generals began considering surrendering to the Germans. Thus, on April 20, with the cooperation of the commanders of I Corps, Lt. Gen. Panagiotis Demestichas and II Corps, Lt. Gen. Georgios Bakos, and the metropolitan of Ioannina, Spyridon, he relieved and replaced Gen. Ioanis Pitsikas, the commander of the Army of Epirus. He immediately sent messengers to the Germans proposing surrender, and on the same day signed a surrender protocol with the commander of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler brigade, Sepp Dietrich.

Despite urgent orders by Greek Commander-in-chief Alexandros Papagos, that he be relieved and resistance continued to the last, the next day, at Larissa, the surrender was formalized, with Tsolakolglou signing the unconditional surrender of the Greek Army to the Germans. The protocol made - deliberately - no reference to the other invading Axis partner, Italy, whom the Greeks considered as having defeated and wished to, in the words of John Keegan, "...deny the Italians the satisfaction of a victory they had not earned...".^[1] However, at Mussolini's insistence, the surrender ceremony was repeated a third time to inlude Italian representatives on April 23.

Tsolakoglou himself wrote in his memoirs: "I found myself before a historic dilemma: To allow the fight to continue and have a holocaust or, obeying the pleas of the Army's commanders, to assume the initiative of surrendering... Having made my decision to dare, I did not consider responsibilities... Until today I have not regretted my actions. On the contrary, I feel proud."^[2]

On April 30, 1941, Tsolakoglou was appointed Prime Minister by the Axis Occupation authorities. His war-time Greek government is generally agreed to have been a "collaborationist" government. Tsolakoglou is often referred to as a "quisling". He retained his position as Prime Minister of the Greek "collaborationist" government until December 2, 1942. Several other "Albanian" Generals were members of the Tsolakoglou government. Included in this group were Generals Panaghiotis Demestichas and Georgios Bakos. Also included is Tsolakoglou's successor, Konstantinos Logothetopoulos. Logothetopoulos was Prime Minister of the Greek "collaborationist" government from December 2, 1942, to April 7, 1943.

Tsolakoglou was arrested after Greece was liberated. He was tried by a Special Collaborators Court in 1945 and sentenced to death. His death penalty was was ultimately commuted to life imprisonment. Tsolakoglou died of leukaemia in prison in 1948.

• Greco-Italian War
• Battle of Greece
• Axis Occupation of Greece during WWII
• Greek Resistance
• Ioannis Rallis Security Battalions
• History of Germany during World War II
• Military history of Italy during World War II
• Military history of Bulgaria during World War II
• Military history of Greece during World War II
• Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II

This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article in the Greek Wikipedia, as of October 14, 2006.