The Greco-Italian War took place between the kingdoms of Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This local war began the Balkans Campaign of World War II between the Axis powers and the Allies. The Italians had to contend with the mountainous terrain on the Albanian–Greek border and unexpectedly tenacious resistance by the Greek Army. Greece surrendered to German troops on 20 April 1941, under the condition that they would not have to surrender to the Italians.
About Greco-Italian War in brief
The Greco-Italian War took place between the kingdoms of Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This local war began the Balkans Campaign of World War II between the Axis powers and the Allies. It turned into the Battle of Greece when British and German ground forces intervened early in 1941. The Italians had to contend with the mountainous terrain on the Albanian–Greek border and unexpectedly tenacious resistance by the Greek Army. The defeat of the Italian invasion and the Greek counter-offensive of 1940 have been called the \”first Axis setback of the entire war\” by Mark Mazower. Greece surrendered to German troops on 20 April 1941, under the condition that they would not have to surrender to the Italians. The Italian army suffered 102,064 combat casualties and over 90,000 combat casualties in the campaign. Following the campaign and simultaneous defeats against the British in Africa, the Italian fascist regime, economically and militarily unable to sustain the global conflict, followed Germany’s leadership and abandoned its own projects of development. The Greek army was subsequently occupied by German and Italian troops and was subsequently occupied by the German, Bulgarian and Italian armies. In the late 1920s, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini said that Fascist Italy needed an outlet for its surplus population and that it would be best in the best interests of other countries to be involved in the war. In late 1930s, the Greeks had begun to build the Metaxas Line opposite Bulgaria and from 1939 accelerated their defensive preparations against an Italian attack from Albania.
In 1940, there was a hostile press campaign in Italy and other provocations, culminating in the sinking of the Greek light cruiser Elli by the Italians on 15 August. On 28 October, Mussolini issued an ultimatum to Greece demanding the cession of Greek territory, which the Prime Minister of Greece, Ioannismetaxas, rejected. The Greeks counter-attacked with the bulk of their army and pushed the Italians back into Albania – an advance which culminated in the Capture of Klisura Pass in January 1941. In March, the Italians conducted the unsuccessful Spring Offensive. The Greeks had far less ability than the Italians to replenish their losses in both men and materiel, and they were dangerously low on ammunition and other supplies. By April 1941 the Greek army only possessed 1 more month’s worth of heavy artillery ammunition and was unable to properly equip and mobilize the Bulk of its 200,000–300,000 strong reserves. German build-up in the Balkans accelerated after Bulgaria joined the Axis on 1 March 1941. On 6 April, the Germans invaded northern Greece. The Germans had deployed the vast majority of their men into a mutually costly stalemate with the Italians, leaving the fortified MetAXas Line with only a third of its authorized strength. By mid-November, theGreek army made a belated withdrawal to avoid being cut off by the Germans but was followed up slowly by the Italian army. The Germans advanced rapidly west and south.
You want to know more about Greco-Italian War?
This page is based on the article Greco-Italian War published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
