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Revision as of 19:32, 27 October 2005 by 213.5.29.127 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Greco-Italian War, was a conflict between Italy and Greece from October 28 1940 to April 30, 1941, during the Second World War.
Cause
Italy had long term plans for the establishment of a new Roman Empire, which included Greece. Italy’s immediate reason for seeking war with Greece was a desire to emulate its German ally’s triumphs. Mussolini also wanted to reassert Italy’s interest in the Balkans (he was piqued that Romania, an Italian client, had accepted German protection for its Ploesti oil fields earlier in October) and secure bases from which the British eastern Mediterranean outposts could be attacked. As the Yugoslav Kingdom was perceived as too strong, the obvious victim was Greece, which the Italians thought to be weak and internally divided. Furthermore, Italy had been occupying the predominantly-Greek Dodecanese islands in the southeastern Aegean since 1911.
After the Greco-Turkish treaty of 1930 and the Balkan Pact of 1934, the threat from Greece's traditional enemy, Turkey, was no more. Albania was to weak to be a threat and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia did not seriously press its claims on southern Macedonia. Therefore, during the 1930s, the main threat was perceived to be Bulgaria and her aspirations to reclaim Western Thrace. Thus, when, in 1936, Metaxas came to power in Greece, plans had been laid down for the reorganization of the country's armed forces and for a fortified defensive line along the Greco-Bulgarian frontier. The line was constructed under Metaxas' regime and named after the dictator: the Grammi Metaxa. During the following years, the Army benefited from great investments aiming at its modernization: it was technologically upgraded, enlarged, largely re-equipped and as a whole dramatically improved from its previous deplorable state. The Greek government purchased new arms for the three Armies, and the Navy was added new ships. However, due to the increasing threat of a European war, the most significant purchases from abroad, made during the years 1938-1939, were never or only partially delivered. Also, a massive contingency plan was developed and great amounts of food and utilities were stocked by the Army in many parts of Greece for the eventuality of war.
In early 1939, Italian troops occupied Albania, long under Italian influence, thereby gaining an immediate border with Greece. This new development cancelled all previous plans, and hasty preparations started for the event of an Italian attack. As war exploded in Central Europe, Metaxas tried to keep Greece out of the conflict, but as the conflict progressed, Metaxas felt increasingly closer to Great Britain, encouraged by the ardent anglophile King George II, who provided the main support for the regime. This was ironic for Metaxas, who had always been a germanophile and who had built strong ties with Hitler's Germany.
A mounting propaganda campaign against Greece was launced in mid-1940 in Italy, and the repeated acts of provocation, such as overflights of Greek territory, reached their peak with the torpedoing and sinking of the Greek light cruiser Elli in Tinos on August 15, 1940, by an Italian submarine. Despite undeniable evidence of Italian responsibility, the Greek government announced that the attack had been carried out by a submarine of "unknown nationality". Although the facade of neutrality was thus preserved, the people were well aware of the real perpetrator.
On the eve of October 28th, 1940, Italy's ambassador in Athens handed an ultimatum from Mussolini to Metaxas. By then Italy had concentrated a large part of the Italian Army in neighboring Albania, and the Duce demanded free passage for his troops to occupy unspecified "strategic points" 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 and against his designs), partly to prove that Italians could match the military successes of the German Army in Poland and France. Metaxas rejected the ultimatum, echoing the will of the Greek people to resist, a will which was expresed in one word: "Ohi!" (Greek for "No!"). Within hours Italy was attacking Greece from Albania.
Shortly thereafter, Metaxas adressed the Greek people with these words: "The time has come for Greece to fight for her independence. Greeks, now we must prove ourselves worthy of our forefathers and the freedom they bestowed upon us. Greeks, now fight for your Fatherland, for your wives, for your children and the sacred traditions. Now, over all things, fight!". In response to this address, the people of Greece reportedly spontaneously went out to the streets singing Greek patriotic songs and shouting anti-Italian slogans, and hundreds of thousands of volunteers, men and women, in all parts of Greece headed to the Army's offices to enlist for the war. The whole nation was united in the face of aggression. Even the imprisoned leader of Greece's banned Communist Party, Nikolaos Zachariadis, issued an open letter advocating resistance, despite the still existing Nazi-Soviet Pact, thereby conravening the current Comintern line.
Summary of Campaign
On October 28th 1940, the Italians attacked from Albania with inadequate preparation and force, and were initially able to make a progress of some kilometers inside Greek soil. After stopping the invasion, the Greeks launched a counter attack on the 14th November which pushed the Italians back into Albania. This made good progress at first, but eventually ground to a halt with the fronts stalemated, due to Italian reinforcements, and exhaustion, lack of transport vehicles and inadequate supply on the Greek side. After the failure of a second Italian offensive in March 1941, intended by Mussolini to bring a success for Italian arms before the looming German intervention, the front went relatively quiet, but still forcing the Greeks to commit the bulk of their forces and equipment there, leaving only slight forces to cover the Bulgarian frontier. When the Germans moved into Bulgaria in preparation for the invasion, Greece formally asked for British intervention.
At the time of the German attack (6 April 1941) the bulk of the Greek forces were facing the Italians in Albania. Some of the remaining Greek forces were deployed in the Metaxas Line and most of the rest were with the British intervention forces deploying north of Larissa. The British wanted the Greeks to abandon the Metaxas Line and deploy north of Larissa; the Greeks vacillated, as this would menn abandoning half the country, along with Greece's second city, Thessaloniki, without a shot fired. The Germans invaded Yugoslavia at the same time as Greece and so were able to outflank the Metaxas line by moving through southern Yugoslavia after the rapid decomposition of the Yugoslav resistance. The Greek forces had to capitulate after fierce resistance, and the British forces were forced south. The Army of Epirus, facing the Italians, was cut off and capitulated. German paratroops landed around the Corinth Canal sealing the fate of the Peloponnese. Because their army was mechanised the British managed to withdraw most of their troops; the slower Greek forces were captured by the Germans.
French general Charles De Gaulle was among those who praised the fierceness of the Greek resistance. In an official notice released to coincide with the Greek national celebration of the Day of Independence (25th of March), De Gaulle expressed his admiration for the heroic Greek resistance:
- "In the name of the captured yet still alive French people, France wants to send her greetings to the Greek people who are fighting for their freedom. The 25th of March, 1941 finds Greece in the peak of their heroic struggle and in the top of their glory. Since the battle of Salamina Greece had not achieved the greatness and the glory which today holds".
Even Hitler would later praise the Greek people and their bravery, and would grant to the Greek soldiers the honour of not taking any of them as prisoners of war.
Result
The Greek state was totally defeated in this campaign and divided between the Germans, Italians and Bulgarians. However it has been argued that this campaign delayed Operation Barbarossa, which may have affected its outcome. Also important was the moral example, in a time when only the British Empire resisted the Axis Powers, of a small country fighting of the supposedly mighty Fascist Italy.
Greece's siding with the Allies also contributed to its annexation of the Dodecanese islands at World War II's conclusion.
The 1940 epos and the resistance of the Greeks is celebrated to this day in Greece every year. October 28th, the day of Metaxas' "No" to the Italian ultimatum, is a national celebration in Greece, named Oxi Day (Greek for "Day of No"). For as long as three days, in the houses, in the offices, in the factories, in schools and public buildings across Greece, Greek flags are flown in memory to that epos. During these days, radio stations broadcast Greek patriotic songs, especially those of Sophia Vembo, a singer whose songs gave strength to the Greeks on the Italian front.
Stages of Campaign
Initial Italian Offensive (28 Oct 1940- 13 Nov 1940)
The Italians attacked with inadequate strength (and some sources say inadequate motivation) to make a breakthrough, capturing only insubstantial amounts of ground. The offensive ground to a halt as Greek reinforcements were brought up.
Greek counter-offensive (14 Nov 1940 - 8 March 1941)
The Greeks brought up sufficient strength to launch a counter attack and drove the Italians back into Albania. The Greeks made good, but not decisive progress. The Italians were greatly hindered by the cold winter suffering many frostbite casualties.
Italian offensive March 1941 (9 March 1941-5 April 1941)
Italy launched a second offensive in March 1941 for political reasons. This failed to capture any land whatsoever and resulted in Mussolini’s calling for German intervention.
German Intervention (6 April 1941- 30 April 1941)
The Germans outflanked the Metaxas line by moving through Yugoslavia. The Greeks in the Metaxas Line surrendered on the 9th April. The Germans then outflanked the Greek and British defensive positions north of Larissa and advanced into central Greece.
Military insights gained from the war
- The poor performance of the Italian forces can be blamed on many things, some sources state nationality and motivational factors, others blame the weakness of the Italian forces, especially in infantry with only two regiments per division. However the Italians were stronger in artillery and mortars than the Greeks. General Sebastiano Visconti Prasca attributes the failure of the campaign to poor organization, personal agendas, corruption and lack of cooperation among the top ranks of Italy's Armed Forces.
- It can be claimed that the intervention of the British Imperial forces did more harm than good, giving Hitler an excuse to invade Greece and disorganising the Greek strategy. The force was not strong enough to stop the Germans. Perhaps the Allied forces could have been better used in North Africa, where their removal may have prevented the Allies from totally expelling the Axis from North Africa.
- It has been argued that the Balkan Campaign decisively delayed the German invasion of Russia. For example, during the Nuremberg trials after WWII, Hitler's Chief of Staff Field Marshall Keitel stated that "The unbelievable 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, and others would have been accused and would be occupying this seat as defendants today". On the other hand, it may have been the Russian weather, not the contingencies of subsidiary campaigns, which determined Barbarossa’s launch date.
Sources
- “The Greek Army in World War II”. A six volume series. This is the Greek official history (written in Greek).
- “The Hollow Legions”, by Mario Cervi, 1972, Chatto and Windus London.0 7011 1351 0
- “The Battle of Greece 1940-1941”, by General Alexander Papagos J.M. Scazikis “Alpha”, editions Athens
- “La Campaigna di Grecia” - Italian Official history (in Italian) 1980
- “Io Ho Aggredito La Grecia”, by General Sebastiano Visconti Prasca, 1946, Rizzoli.