target of right-wing newspapers for his former Republican views. In June 1944 he was appointed as Chief of the Army General Staff for the Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East, being promoted to Major General (backdated to 1943) at the same time. He organized the repatriation of the Army, returning to Athens on 12 November. Thereafter he served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and with the outbreak of the Greek Civil War he was appointed CO of III Army Corps. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1946, he became again Chief of the Army General Staff in 1947, then served as CO of the First Army, as Inspector-General of the Army and as CO of the Epirus-West Macedonia Headquarters until his retirement on 24 March 1951. His role in the final victory of the National Army in the Greek Civil War was considerable; according to US general James Van Fleet, who commanded the Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group to Greece, he was "often rated the best military commander in Greece". In the same year, he was awarded with the Commander's Cross of the Cross of Valour, one of only three career Army officers to receive it alongside Anastasios Papoulas and Alexandros Papagos. In August 1951, he was also named General Adjutant to King Paul. Ventiris was unmarried, and died in 1960 in Athens. References Sources 1890s births 1960 deaths People from Kalamata Hellenic Army generals of World War II Chiefs of the Hellenic Army General Staff Greek military personnel of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Greek anti-communists Greek Resistance members Greek military personnel of the Greek Civil War Commander's Crosses of the Cross of Valour (Greece) 20th-century Greek people