Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 62.103.227.12 (talk) at 09:48, 18 April 2006 (→Germany strikes in the Balkans). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Battle of Greece
Part of World War II
Date 7 April 1941 – 30 April 1941 Location Greece Result Axis victory
Belligerents
Germany, Italy, Bulgaria	Greece, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand
Commanders and leaders
Maximilian von Weichs	Alexander Papagos
Strength
Germany: 4 corps Italy: 3 armies Bulgaria: ?	Greece: 2 armies British Commonwealth: 2 divisions 1 armored brigade
Casualties and losses
Germany: 1,533 dead, 3,362 wounded, Italy: 13,755 dead, 25,067 missing, 50,874 wounded, 12,368 captured, Bulgaria: ?	Greece: 15,700 dead, British Commonwealth: 25,000 dead and captured

The Battle of Greece is the continuation of the Greco-Italian War beginning with the German invasion of Greece to 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. The German codename for their operation was Unternehmen Marita — "Operation Marita."

Mare Nostrum & the roots of the Battle of Greece

Fascist doctrine had long emphasized the need for Italian colonial expansion and the reinstatement of Roman imperium over the whole of the Mediterranean, which had been known to the Romans as Mare Nostrum - "our sea." Italian possessions in Dalmatia and their protectorate in Albania provided a good springboard for an attack on Greece, which Mussolini felt would be easy prey. The Greek armed forces were considered to be weak, compared to the Italian military, and it was thought that the British would concentrate on the protectiion of Libya and Egypt. Moreover, the Italians had enjoyed some initial success against the British in East Africa, where they had overrun British Somaliland and Abyssinia and were threatening Kenya and the Sudan. Despite some reservations about British naval power, the Italians decided to make their move, invading on October 28, 1940 — on the anniversary of Mussolini's ascent to power. (Presently commemorated as Ohi Day (No! Day) in Greece, in memory of Greek defiance to Italian aggression)

The Greek Army, however, proved an able opponent, stopping the Italian advance after its initial success, and defeating them in several notable battles, including The Battle of Saranda, where the Greek army captured the Albanian port named for the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, and the Battle of Pindus. The successes of the Greek Army, coupled with the Allied presence in Greece, and a pro-Allied coup in Yugoslavia necessitated German intervention in the region, to secure the German right flank during the subsequent invasion of the USSR.

Germany strikes in the Balkans

On April 6th, 1941, the German Army invaded northern Greece, while other elements launched an attack against Yugoslavia. The British and Greek forces operating in the region were unable to present a cohesive front because of poor communication between their respective commands.

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. This course of action was expected to take advantage of the natural terrain and the prepared fortifications, while protecting the strategically important port of Thessalonica. However, it disregarded the fact that the forces 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.

By contrast, the British preferred to create a main line of resistance along the Kleidi line, running on a roughly SE direction from the town of Edessa border 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.

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 occassional acts of heroism.

Initial German attacks against the Metaxas Line by mountain troops (5th and 6th Mountain Divisions) met with little. The Greek forces (Easterm Macedonia Group or TSAM, sometimes mistakenly named 2nd Greek Army), exploited the terrain to the their advantage and fought tenaciously, although their small numbers and limited amount of ammunition meant that by April 7th several strongpoints had been overrun. While the defenders in most remaining strongpoints and forts were determined to fight on, the line was quickly outflanked by German Panzer forces (2nd Panzerdivision) invading through southern Yugoslavia and down the Vardar Valley, meeting only sporadic resistance from hastily assembled Greek forces. On April 9th elements of the 2nd Panzer had reached Thessaloniki, and the remaining Greek forces of the TSAM were reluctantly forced to surrender.

The British and Commonwealth forces in Greece (a corps-size contigent known as W Force), under the command of General Maitland Wilson, had only began to settle in their defensive line when news of the German invasion came. The rapid advance of the Panzers into Thessaloniki and the Prilep in Southern Yugoslavia greatly disturbed Wilson, who was 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, later to the narrow pass at Thermopylae, where the Germans broke through again on April 23rd, all the way down until German forces were at the Greek Capital, on April 27th.

The retreat of the W Force, exposed the right flank of the Greek forces operating against the Italians in Albania, known as the Western Macedonia Group (TSDM) and Epirus Group (TSH) (sometimes mistakenly referred to as 1st Greek Army). The Greeks were very reluctant to concede ground to the Italians, and therefore refused to redeploy forces to counter the new threat. Instead, on April 15th the Greek Theatre Commander General Georgios Tsolakoglu offered his surrender to the advancing Germans (although at Mussolini's insistance, the Italians were included in the final surrender agreement, precisely what Tsolakoglu 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.

After some brief holding actions on the Peloponnese, the Greeks, British and 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.

The overall German casualties in the Battle of Greece are estimated at roughly 5,000 men including 1,100 dead. The Allied expeditionary force lost approximately a fourth of its 52,000 strength including 11,000 captured, and Greece was effectively forced out of the war.

In the highly contested Battle of Crete, the Germans employed parachute forces and forced the British and New Zealanders off the southern half of the island, making Germany the dominant force in the Mediterranean.

• v
• t
• e

• World War II Balkans Campaign
• 1940
• History of Greece
• World War II stubs