The Battle of Greece is the common name for the invasion of Allied Greece by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in April 1941. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasion. The Greek army found itself outnumbered in its effort to defend against both Italian and German troops. As a result, the Metaxas defensive line did not receive adequate troop reinforcements and was quickly overrun by the Germans. The conquest of Greece was completed with the capture of Crete a month later.
About Battle of Greece in brief
The Battle of Greece is the common name for the invasion of Allied Greece by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in April 1941 during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasion. The Greek army found itself outnumbered in its effort to defend against both Italian and German troops. As a result, the Metaxas defensive line did not receive adequate troop reinforcements and was quickly overrun by the Germans, who then outflanked the Greek forces at the Albanian border, forcing their surrender. The conquest of Greece was completed with the capture of Crete a month later. Following its fall, Greece was occupied by the military forces of Germany, Italy and Bulgaria. Hitler later blamed the failure of his invasion of the Soviet Union, which had to be delayed, on Mussolini’s failed conquest of the Greece. The theory has been either refuted or downplayed by the majority of historians, who have accused Hitler of trying to deflect blame from himself to his ally, Italy. Modern analysts believe that the Italian campaign failed because the Italian generals allocated insufficient resources to the campaign without the autumn weather to reckon with the advantage of surprise without the support of the Bulgarian forces. The Battle of Athens was the first major battle of the war, with the Germans taking control of the Greek capital on 27 April 1941. The battle ended with the German Army capturing 7,000 British, Australian and New Zealand personnel and ending the battle with a decisive victory.
The German Army reached the capital, Athens, on 27April and Greece’s southern shore on 30 April, capturing the British and Australian troops. After the battle, the Greek army launched a counter-offensive, during which it marched into Albanian territory, capturing significant cities such as Korça and Sarandë. After one week and 12,000 casualties, Mussolini called off the counteroffensive on 9 March 1941, despite the Italians’ superior superior forces. Within three weeks of the offensive, General Papagos opened a new offensive aiming to take Cretan and the port of Vlorë with British air support. After weeks of inconclusive winter warfare, the Italians launched acounteroffensive on the centre of the front on 13 February 1941, which failed. The main Italian thrust was directed toward Epirus, where they failed to break the defensive line and were forced to halt. Hostilities with the GreekArmy began at the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas, where the Italian army failed to breaking the defensive lines. Within two weeks the Greek Army launched an offensive aimed at taking the port Vlora and the city of Korça, but the offensive was stalling due to stiff resistance, stalling the offensive. After a week and a half, the Italian offensive was called off and the Italian forces left Albania twelve days later. In March 1941 the Italian troops marched into Albania and captured significant cities including Korça. The Italians then marched into the town of Korças, capturing significant cities such as Korça and Sarandë, but they were unable to take the city.
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This page is based on the article Battle of Greece published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
