Battle of Greece
Part of World War II
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Date 28 October 1940 – 30 April 1941 Location Greece Result Axis victory, occupation of Greece
Belligerents
Germany, Italy, Bulgaria	Greece, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand
Commanders and leaders
Maximilian von Weichs	Alexander Papagos, Henry Maitland Wilson, Thomas Blamey
Strength
Germany: 680,000 men,[1] 1200 tanks, 700 aircraft, Italy: 529,000 men	Greece: 350,000 men, British Commonwealth: 58,000 men
Casualties and losses
Italy: 13,755 dead, 25,067 missing, 63,142 wounded, [2]Germany: 2,559 dead, 5,820 wounded, 3,169 missing, Total: 112,000	Greece: 13,325 dead, 62,663 wounded, 1,290 missing, British Commonwealth: 903 dead, 1250 wounded, 13,958 captured, Total: 93,000

The Battle of Greece was an important World War II battle which occured on the Greek mainland and southern Albania. The battle was fought between the Allies (Greece and the British Commonwealth), and the Axis (Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy). The battle of Greece began on October 28, 1940 when Fascist Italy invaded Greece and ended with the fall of Kalamata in the Peloponnese. With the Battle of Crete and several naval actions, it is considered part of the wider Aegean component of the Balkans Campaign of World War II.

Fascist Italy invaded Greece on October 28, 1940, from Italian occupied Albania. The Greek army counterattacked and forced the Italians to retreat. By mid-December, the Greeks occupied one-quarter of Albania, tying down 530,000 Italians. In March 1941, a major Italian counterattack failed, humiliating Italian military pretensions.

On April 6, 1941, Nazi Germany reluctantly invaded Greece through Bulgaria to secure it's southern flank. Greek troops put up a brave fight, but the Greek army was vastly outnumbered and outgunned and collapsed. Athens fell on April 27, and the British Commonwealth managed to evacuate nearly 50,000 troops. The stubborn Greek resistance, however, is credited by some historians such as John Keegan for delaying the German invasion of the Soviet Union by a critical six weeks.

Background

Nazi Germany had unleashed its “Blitzkrieg” and overran much of Western Europe. Benito Mussolini had grown jealous of Hitler’s conquests and wanted to show his Axis partner that he too could lead Italy to similar military conquests. Italy had already occupied Albania (Greece’s northwestern neighbor) in 1939 and several British Commonwealth strongholds in Africa but could not boast the same victories of Nazi Germany. Mussolini, who regarded South-eastern Europe as lying within the Italian sphere of influence, decided to invade Greece, as it seemed to be an easy opponent.^[3] Mussolini told Count Ciano: "Hitler always faces me with a fait accompli. This time I am going to pay him back in his own coin. He will find out from the papers that I have occupied Greece."^[4]

Italian invasion and Greek counterattack

In the early morning hours of October 28, 1940, Italian Ambassador Emmanuel Grazzi awoke Greek Premier Ioannis Metaxas and presented him an ultimatum. Mussolini demanded free passage for his troops to occupy unspecified "strategic sites" inside Greek territory. Greece had been friendly towards National Socialist Germany, especially profiting from mutual trade relations, but now Germany's ally Italy was to invade Greece (without Hitler's awareness), partly to prove that Italians could match the military successes of the German Army in Poland and France. Metaxas rejected the ultimatum (commemorated as Okhi Day in Greece). Even before the ultimatum had expired, Italian troops invaded Greece from Albania.^[5]

Mussolini preferred that the Greeks would not accept the ultimatum but that they would offer some kind of resistance. Historian and former war-correspondent Christopher Buckley wrote: "Documents later discovered showed that every detail of the attack had been prepared... His prestige needed some indisputable victories to balance the sweep of Napoleonic triumphs of Nazi Germany."^[6] The principal Italian thrust was delivered in the Pindus towards the city of Ioannina and made some progress at first. The Greek troops, unable to match the Italian armor or Italian attacks from the air, took to higher ground and lobbed their mortar shells and artillery pieces down upon the massed enemy.

The invaders crossed the Kalamas river and approached Ioannina but were soon driven back and pursued beyond Greek territory and into Albania. Further north the Greeks checked Italian attempts to advance, and then passed on the offensive. Within three weeks Greek territory was clear of the invader and a full scale counterattack was in place.

The counterattack was met with great success, a change in Italian commanders and the arrival of considerable reinforcements having little effect. Korce, the largest town in Albania fell to Greek forces on November 13, to be followed by Pogradec, Argyrokastron (December 4), Himare (December 24) and Kelcyre (January 10).^[7]

Italian spring offensive

After weeks of inconclusive winter warfare the Italians, supervised by Mussolini himself, launched a full scale counterattack all along the front on March 9, 1941. Within two hours, 100,000 rounds of artillery were fired and Greek positions were bombed from the air. Despite the superiority of the Italian armed forces, the counterattack failed. After one week and 12,000 casualties, Mussolini called off the counterattack.^[8]He left Albania 12 days later with his prestige tarnished.^[9] It was now up to Nazi Germany to intervene. In the six month fight against Italy, the Greek army had conducted itself well, but had rendered itself too exhausted to stand up to a German invasion. More importantly, the main mass of the Greek army was fighting in Albania, and could not be used to fight against the German invasion.^[10]

Allied troop dispositions prior to German invasion

Despite increasing evidence of German troops crossing the Danube into Bulgaria in the early spring of 1941, the Greek and British Commonwealth – U.K., Australian and New Zealand – forces operating in the region were unable to establish a cohesive front because of disagreements between their respective commands.^[11]

The Greeks had been insistent on fighting their battle along the Metaxas Line, a massive line of fortifications that had been built along the Bulgarian border in the late 1930s. This course of action was expected to take advantage of the naturally difficult terrain and the prepared fortifications, while protecting the strategically important port of Thessalonica. It disregarded the fact however, that the forces and equipment available were only adequate for a token resistance, and that the Metaxas Line was vulnerable to flanking through the Vardar Valley if the neutrality of Yugoslavia was violated. Obsessed with the rivalry against Bulgaria, and being on traditionally good terms with the Yugoslavs, the Greeks had left the Yugoslav border largely undefended.^[12]

By contrast, the British Commonwealth forces, a corps-size contigent known as W Force from its commanding general Henry Maitland Wilson, formed a main line of resistance along the Kleidi line, running on a roughly southeast direction from the town of Edessa to the delta of the Vardar River. The advantage of this course of action was that it required fewer forces, and that more time would be available for preparing the position. However, it also involved abandoning nearly the whole of Northern Greece, which was unacceptable to the Greeks for political and psychological reasons. Moreover, the left flank of this line too was susceptible to flanking from Germans operating through the Monastir gap in Yugoslavia.^[13]

The product of this disagreement was that eventually two distinct lines of resistance were set up, one along the Metaxas Line and one along the Kleidi line, both of which were undermanned. Predictably, both were easily overrun by the Germans, despite occasional acts of heroism. From the onset however, the Allies were at a huge disadvantage because the main mass of the Greek army was committed in Albania and could not be used to face the German threat.

German invasion

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Metaxas Line

On April 6, 1941, the German Army invaded northern Greece, while other elements launched an attack against Yugoslavia. The Metaxas Line was defended by three divisions, under the command of General Bakopoulos, which made up the Greek Eastern Macedonia Army Section. (Tμήμα Στρατıάς Ανατολικής Μακεδονίας or TΣAM) The line ran along the River Nestos in the east then along the Bulgarian border as far as Yugoslavia. The fortifications were designed to garrison an army of over 200,000 but were only manned by roughly 70,000 soldiers to face the German threat due to lack of manpower. As a result of the small numbers, the line's defenses were spread thin. ^[14]

Initial German attacks against the Metaxas Line by mountain troops (5th and 6th Mountain Divisions) encountered extremely tough resistance and resulted with limited success. A German report at the end of the first day said that the German 5th Mountain Division "was repulsed in the Rupel Pass despite strongest air support and sustained considerable casualties."^[15] Historian Christopher Buckley wrote "Heavy assaults against the Metaxas Line were hurled back with the courage of despair...The defenders were attacked by wave after wave of infantry, bombed by Stukas, shelled without respite by light and heavy artillery...Assault teams with flamethrowers, hand grenades and explosive charges were engaged and worsted in close quarters fighting."^[16] After one day of fighting out of the 24 forts which made up the Metaxas Line only two had fallen and only after they had been destroyed.^[17]

However effective the resistance of the Metaxas Line was, the Germans found alternate routes of attack. Yugoslav resistance in the north quickly collapsed and German forces poured into Greek territory via Yugoslavia by April 7. The line was quickly outflanked by German Panzer forces (2nd Panzer Division) which invaded through southern Yugoslavia and advanced down the Vardar Valley where they met only sporadic resistance from hastily assembled Greek forces. On April 9 elements of the 2nd Panzer had reached Thessaloniki, and the remaining Greek forces of the TSAM were reluctantly forced to surrender. Even after General Bakopoulos surrendered the Metaxas Line however, the soldiers manning the frontier forts, and some of the field troops continued to fight on and as a result of this continued resistance, about half of the soldiers of the Metaxas line were able to evacuate by sea.^[18]

Allied Retreat

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The British Commonwealth forces in Greece, W Force, had only began to settle in their defensive line when news of the German invasion came. W Force comprised the New Zealand Division, the Australian 6th Division, and the British 1st Armoured Brigade Group^[19]. The outcome of initial clashes with the Germans at Vevi were not encouraging and the rapid advance of the Panzers into Thessaloniki and Prilep in Southern Yugoslavia greatly disturbed Wilson. Wilson was now faced with the prospect of being pinned by the invading Germans operating from Thessaloniki while being flanked by the German XL Panzer Corps descending through the Monastir Gap. This necessitated a retreat, initially to the Aliakmon river, and then to the narrow pass at Thermopylae, where the Germans broke through again on April 23.^[20]

Vevi and Kozani

By the morning of April 10 the XL Panzer Corps seized the city of Florina. The SS Adolf Hitler Division advanced further south and seized Vevi on April 11, but was stopped a short distance south of that town, where the strong Australian-led 'Mackay Force', consisting of 1st Armoured and 19th Australian Brigades, held the dominating heights. During the next day, a regiment of the SS Adolf Hitler Division launched a frontal attack against the Australians. After heavy fighting the Germans broke through.^[21]

By the morning of April 14 the spearheads of the 9th Panzer Division reached Kozani after violent clashes with British tanks and anti-tank guns. That same evening the division established a bridgehead across the Aliakmon River. For the next three days the advance of the 9th Panzer Division was stalled in front of the strongly fortified mountain positions near Mt. Olympus held by the British Commonwealth forces.^[22]Eventually the Germans broke through this line of resistance as well and advanced on to Thermopylae.

Withdrawal and surrender of First Greek Army

The Greek First Army operating in Albania against the Italians was reluctant to retreat. General Wilson described this reluctance as “the fetishistic doctrine that not a yard of ground should be yielded to the Italians.”^[23] Because of this reluctance to yield ground to the Italians, the Greek retreat did not materialize until April 13. A regiment from the SS Adolf Hitler Division was given the mission of cutting off the Greek First Army's line of retreat from Albania by driving westward to the Metsovon Pass. Soon the Greek troops found themselves surrounded.^[24]

Greek commander in chief, Alexander Papagos, rushed Greek units to the Metsovon Pass, where the Germans were expected to attack. On April 18, a pitch battle between several Greek units and the SS Adolf Hitler Division developed at the Metsovon Pass. The Greek units fought bravely, but lacked equipment necessary to fight against a motorized unit, and were soon encircled and overwhelmed. The Germans advanced further and captured Ioannina on April 19, the final supply route of the First Greek Army.^[25]

On April 20th, the commander of the Greek forces in Albania, General Georgios Tsolakoglou offered his surrender to the advancing Germans (although at Mussolini's insistence, the Italians were included in the final surrender agreement, precisely what Tsolakoglou had wanted to avoid). In recognition of the valour displayed by Greek forces, the enlisted men were allowed to return to their homes (rather than being confined to POW camps) and officers were permitted to retain their sidearms.^[26]

Athens Falls

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On April 27, 1941, German motorcycle troops entered the Greek capital Athens, followed by armoured cars, tanks, and infantry. The people of Athens had been expecting the Germans to enter the city for several days and kept themselves confined to their homes with their windows shut. The German motorcycle troops drove straight to the Acropolis and raised the Nazi flag. In the days that followed, the people of Athens, and newspapers around the World, told different stories of the raising of the German flag. According to the most popular account, a Greek soldier took down the Greek flag,wrapped himself in it, and jumped off the Acropolis. Whether the story was true or not, many Greeks believed the story and looked at the soldier as a martyr.^[27]

Evacuation

After some brief holding actions on the Peloponnese, the Greek and British Commonwealth forces had to be evacuated to Crete and Egypt. The evacuation of nearly 40,000 soldiers was completed on April 28th, but was heavily contested by the German Luftwaffe, which managed to sink at least 26 troop-laden ships.

Battle of Crete

Following the occupation of the mainland, Nazi Germany invaded the Greek island of Crete. In the bitterly contested Battle of Crete, the Germans employed parachute forces in a massive airborne invasion. The Germans met fierce resistance from the Allied troops on the island and from local civilians. The Germans were ultimately successful, in large part because Allied commanders failed to grasp the situation. The Germans suffered such heavy casualties on the island however, that Hitler forbade any further airborne operations.^[28]

Evaluation

The overall German casualties in the Battle of Greece, as they were officially announced by Germany after the end of the operation, are roughly 5,000 men including 1,100 dead. The actual losses, as they are estimated are 11,500, with 2,500 dead. The Allied expeditionary force lost approximately a quarter of its 58,000 strength including 11,000 captured, and Greece was effectively forced out of the war, although a vigorous resistance movement lasted throughout the Axis occupation. Italian casualties were far heavier and amounted to over 100,000 as a result of their six month fight with Greece. ^[29]

Effect on World War II

Greek resistance in World War II may have been a turning point in the war. Some historians such as John Keegan believe that the German invasion of Greece delayed the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union by six weeks. Hitler planned the invasion of the Soviet Union to take place on May 15, 1941 but it was not until June 22, 1941 when the invasion was launched. This delay proved costly as it forced the Axis Powers to fight through the Russian Winter. The German army was unable to capture Moscow and its advance towards the Caucasus was delayed as a result. Adolf Hitler in conversation with Leni Riefenstahl would bitterly say that "if the Italians hadn't attacked Greece and needed our help, the war would have taken a different course. We could have anticipated the Russian cold by weeks and conquered Leningrad and Moscow. There would have been no Stalingrad".^[30] Other historians such as Antony Beevor claim that it was not Greek resistance that delayed the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, but instead the slow construction of airfields in Eastern Europe.

The Axis Occupation of Greece, which came as a result of the Battle of Greece, proved to be a difficult and costly task. The occupation led to the creation of several resistance groups. These resistance groups launched guerrila attacks against the occupying forces and set up espionage networks. The vigorous resistance movement forced the Axis Powers to station hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Greece, when those soldiers could have been better used elsewhere. Famous acts of resistance include the taking down of the Nazi flag off the Acropolis by Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santanas and the destruction of the Georgopotamos bridge.

Homage to the Greek resistance

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The measure of resistance was paid considerable homage to by German officials. Hitler's Chief of Staff, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel stated during the Nuremburg Trials:"The unbelievably strong resistance of the Greeks delayed by two or more vital months the German attack against Russia; if we did not have this long delay, the outcome of the war would have been different in the eastern front and in the war in general." Adolf Hitler ordered that no Greek soldier shall be taken prisoner and that those who were, were to be released immediately out of respect of their bravery.^[31]

A speech Hitler made at the Reichstag in 1941 said of the campaign: "It must be said, for the sake of historical truth, that amongst all our opponents, only the Greeks fought with such endless courage and defiance of death."^[32] The diary of Joseph Goebbels 9 April 1941: "I forbid the Press to underestimate the Greeks, to defame them... The Führer admires the bravery of Greeks." ^[33]

The measure of Greek resistance was paid homage and aroused admiration around the world. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill would say: "Until now we would say that the Greeks fight like heroes. From now on we will say that heroes fight like Greeks."^[34] American President Franklin Roosevelt would say: "[A]ll free peoples are deeply impressed by the courage and steadfastness of the Greek nation. ...which is defending itself so valiantly."^[35] Joseph Stalin, in an open letter read over the air on Radio Moscow short wave on numerous occasions during the war, would say: "The Russian people will always be grateful to the Greeks for delaying the German army long enough for winter to set in, thereby giving us the precious time we needed to prepare. We will never forget."^[36]

See also

• German order of battle, April 6
• Battle of Crete
• Greco-Italian War
• World War II
• Axis Occupation of Greece during WWII

Footnotes

References