On May 14, 1919, thousands of Greeks of Smyrna wore their best clothes and rushed to the city’s seafront to get a glimpse of the Hellenic navy. On that day what was for centuries, the Greek metropolis in Asia Minor was liberated.
Men and women holding their umbrellas climbed on chairs and tables to get a better view of the approaching fleet.
The Greek occupation of Smyrna, which was sanctioned by the Allied powers, started the following day, where thousands gathered on the seafront, waving Greek flags on the docks where the Greek troops were expected to arrive.
The Metropolitan of Smyrna, Chrysostomos blessed the first troops as they arrived at 08:00 on May 15.
The 1/38 Evzone Regiment marched passing a large part of the Greek crowds celebrating the landing and also the Ottoman government Konak and the barracks of Ottoman troops.
A Turk fired a shot and chaos resulted with the Greek troops firing multiple shots into the Konak and the barracks. The Ottoman troops surrendered and the Greek regiment begun marching them up the coast to a ship to serve as a temporary prison.
Donald Whittall, a British citizen and one of the few neutral observers during the landing, remarked about the treatment of Turkish prisoners: “They were made to go through no humiliation and received a good deal”. But Whittall estimated that thirty unarmed prisoners were slaughtered.
Atrocities against local Turks did indeed occur, but the orders given to the landing troops were to refrain from such acts.
Commander of the 1st Infantry Division of the Hellenic Army, Colonel Nikolaos Zafeiriou issued the following order to his soldiers, who learned about their destination only after the departure from the port of Kavala in northern Greece, was the following:
“Wherever we may go, we must know that we are going to liberate our brethren under alien rule. The enthusiasm filling our hearts is fully justified but any improper manifestation of this enthusiasm will be entirely out of place. We must not forget that when we reach our destination we shall meet Turks, Jews and Europeans of other denominations. Everybody should be treated in the same way. In a little while they will become our brothers as if they were true Greeks.”