Georgios Koumanakos

Georgios Koumanakos
Koumanakos c. 1981
Native name
Γεώργιος Κουμανάκος
Bornc. 1913
Gytheio, Mani, Kingdom of Greece
Diedc. 2003
AllegianceGreece Kingdom of Greece
Service / branch Hellenic Army
Rank Lieutenant General
CommandsGreek Expeditionary Force in Korea
Battles / warsWorld War II Greek Civil War
Korean War
Other workpeace activist
Chairman of Hellenic Telecommunications Organization
Chairman of PYRKAL weapons industry
member of World Peace Council

Georgios Koumanakos (Greek: Γεώργιος Κουμανάκος, 1913 – 2003) was a Greek Army officer and peace activist.

Born in Gytheio, Mani in 1913, he fought in World War II, in the Greek Civil War against the Communists and commanded the Greek Expeditionary Force in Korea with distinction. By 1967, he had reached the rank of Lieutenant General. As an opponent of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974, he was retired from the army and sent for three years into internal exile by the military regime.

After the junta's fall in 1974, he became chairman of the state-run Hellenic Telecommunications Organization and PYRKAL weapons industry.

In the 1980s, he was a well-known activist for nuclear disarmament and the withdrawal of US bases from Greece; along with 7 other high-ranking generals from NATO countries (including Marshal Francisco da Costa Gomes and Brigadier Michael Harbottle) he co-signed the Generals for Peace and Disarmament initiative in 1981, and became a member of the Soviet-sponsored World Peace Council.