{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Kapetan (Chieftain) | name = Michael Sionidis | native_name = Μιχαήλ Σιωνίδης | birth_date = {{circa}} 1870 | death_date = {{circa}} 1935 | birth_place = [[Grčište]], [[Salonika Vilayet]], [[Ottoman Empire]] (now [[Republic of North Macedonia]]). | death_place = [[Evzonoi]], [[Kingdom of Greece]] | image = Michael Sionidis.jpg | caption = Michael Sionidis and his cousin, Dionysius Sionidis during the [[Macedonian Struggle]].{{efn|"The pair are dressed in pants of woolen material, waistcoats and wear the caps of ''makedonomachoi''. In addition they wear homespun stockings. The figure at left wears ''[[tsarouhi]]a'' without [[pompon]]s, and the right wears service boots. The figure at left wears a square silver amulet with a skull and crossbones suspended over his chest. They each carry a [[Fusil Gras mle 1874]]. They wear their cartridges in their belts. The left wears a double-edge ''kama'' knife in his belt while the right has a knife and a [[Gasser M1870#Montenegrin .22Gasser Pattern.22 revolvers|Gasser M1870 Montenegrin Pattern revolver]]."<ref name="mouseiophotoarch">{{cite web|url=http://www.imma.edu.gr/imma/dbs/Artifacts/index.html?start=110&show=1|website=imma.edu.gr|publisher=Ὶδρυμα Μουσείο Μακεδονικού Αγώνα [Museum of the Macedonia Struggle Foundation]|title=Photographic Archive|language=Greek}}</ref>}} | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state}} [[Kingdom of Greece]] | branch = * {{flagicon image|Seal of the Greek-Macedonian Committee.jpg}} [[Hellenic Macedonian Committee|HMC]] * {{army|Greece}} | service_years = | rank = | unit = [[NRDC-GR|III Army Corps]] | commands = | battles = [[Macedonian Struggle]]<br>[[Balkan Wars]] *[[First Balkan War]] *[[Second Balkan War]] **[[Battle of Kilkis-Lachanas]] [[World War I]] *[[Macedonian front]] **[[Battle of Skra-di-Legen]] | awards = [[File:GRE Commander's Medal of Valour ribbon.svg|30px]] Gold [[Cross of Valour (Greece)|Cross of Valour]]<br>[[File:GRE War Cross 1940 ribbon.svg|30px]] [[War Cross (Greece)|War Cross]] (1917 variant)<br>[[Commemorative Medal of the Macedonian Struggle]] }}
'''Michael Sionidis''' ({{langx|el|Μιχαήλ Σιωνίδης}} or {{lang|el|Μιχάλης Σιωνίδης}}, ''{{Transliteration|el|Mihális Sionídis}}''; {{circa}} 1870–1935) was a [[Greeks|Greek]] leader of ''[[Macedonian Struggle#Macedonian Committee|makedonomachoi]]'' in the [[Macedonian Struggle]].
==Early life== Michael Sionidis was born in the village of [[Grčište]],{{Citation needed|date=August 2017}} [[Ottoman Empire]] (near [[Bogdanci Municipality|Bogdanci]] in the present-day [[North Macedonia]]) in about 1870.
==Military career== At the outbreak of the Macedonian Struggle in 1904, Sionidis fought against the pro-[[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] ''[[komitadji]]s'',{{efn|"Committee members", i.e. members of ''[[Cheta (armed group)|cheta]]'' bands sympathising with the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]]}} acting in an area covering Grčište, [[Gevgelija]] and [[Doirani]]. Sionidis first fought under Georgios Zira,{{efn|{{lang|el|Γεώργιος Ζήρα}}}} then under {{interlanguage link|Emmanuel Katsigaris|bg|Емануил Кацигарис}},{{efn|{{lang|el|Εμμανουήλ Κατσίγαρης}}}} before he finally founded his own militia.<ref name=Vacalopoulos1979>{{cite journal |first=Constantin Ap. |last=Vacalopoulos |title=Anékdoto mitróo ton makhitón tou Makedonikoú Agóna |script-title=el:Ανέκδοτο μητρώο των μαχητών του Μακεδονικού Αγώνα |journal=Μακεδονικά |language=el |volume=19 |pages=40–92 |date=1979 |url=https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/makedonika/article/download/6012/5750.pdf |doi=10.12681/makedonika.451|doi-access=free }}</ref>
In the autumn of 1904, Bulgarian ''komitadjis'' killed several of Grčište's Greek inhabitants, including the teacher Catherine Hadjigeorgiou, who was Michael's cousin, the teacher Constantine Sionidis, Andronikis' daughter, and five other Greeks. In retaliation, Sionidis led his militia in an attack on the village of [[Marvinci]], where the ''komitadjis'' were hiding.<ref name=Vacalopoulos1979/> After getting injured, he went to [[Gevgelija]] to recuperate (January 1905).<ref name="laoselantimak">{{cite news|newspaper=Imathías Laós|script-title=el:Η Ελληνικη Αντισταση στη Μακεδονια 1904-1908|trans-title=The Greek Resistance in Macedonia 1904–1908 |language=el |date=14 October 2007 |url=http://www.laosver.gr/news/articles/13435.html |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080121084407/http://www.laosver.gr/news/articles/13435.html |archive-date=2008-01-21 |access-date=2016-01-23}}</ref>
After the [[First Balkan War]], Grčište came under [[Serbia]]n control, and Sionidis moved to the village of Matsikovo (modern [[Evzonoi]]), which was at the time on the Greco-Serbian border. During the Balkan Wars, King [[Constantine I of Greece]] established his headquarters in his house. Sionidis participated in the [[Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas]], where he was injured. Sionidis also participated in the [[Battle of Skra-di-Legen]] during [[World War I]], and worked as a secret agent of the [[III Army Corps (Greece)|Third Army Corps]] behind enemy lines, in the area of [[Strumica]].<ref name="laoselantimak"/>
==Later years== Following the end of World War I, Sionidis, as president of Matsikovo community, retrieved the remains of nine ''[[evzones]]'' whom the Bulgarians had killed during the [[Second Balkan War]], and buried them in his village. In 1927, the ''{{Transliteration|el|Epitropi Metonomasias}}''{{efn|"Committee for Name Change", see [[Geographical name changes in Greece]]}} renamed Matsikovo to Evzonoi in their honour. Michael Sionidis died in 1935.<ref name="laoselantimak"/>
For his services, he was awarded the Golden [[Cross of Valour (Greece)|Cross of Valour]], Greece's highest bravery award, along with the [[War Cross (Greece)|War Cross]] and the Commemorative Medal of the Macedonian Struggle.<ref name="laoselantimak"/>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|language=el|trans-title=History new and modern Third Class Senior Highschool |date=2002 |title=Ιστορία νεότερη και σύγχρονη Γ' Λυκείου |publisher={{interlanguage link|OEDB|el|Οργανισμός Εκδόσεως Διδακτικών Βιβλίων}} |place=Athens}} *{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=[[Papyrus Larousse Britannica]]|volume=5}} *{{cite book|language=el |trans-title=History of New Hellenism |volume=5 |place=Athens |publisher=Ellinika Grammata |title=Ιστορία του Νέου Ελληνισμού}}
{{Hellenic Macedonian Committee}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sionidis, Michael}} [[Category:1870s births]] [[Category:1935 deaths]] [[Category:People from Valandovo Municipality]] [[Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece]] [[Category:Macedonian revolutionaries (Greek)]] [[Category:People of the Macedonian Struggle]] [[Category:Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:Greek people of the Balkan Wars]] [[Category:Greek people of World War I]] [[Category:Recipients of the War Cross (Greece)]] [[Category:Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Greece)]] [[Category:Greeks from the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:Greek Macedonians]]