In the previous episodes of this series, the
Greeks managed to repel an Italian invasion
and counterattack deep inside Italian-controlled
Albania.
Benito Mussolini, the Italian leader and dictator,
had been humiliated, and now it was up to
Hitler to save the prestige of the Axis and
to eliminate the last remaining Allied nation
in Continental Europe.
Welcome to the third video in our series on
the Battle of Greece.
If you are interested in the history of this
era, don’t forget to check out our second
channel – The Cold War – the link is in
the top right corner.
Shoutout to Blinkist for sponsoring this video!
We live in a fast-paced world, and often it
is difficult to find the time to learn new
stuff.
Our work and social life take most of our
times, so it is natural to think that you
don’t have enough time to read a book, yet
developing yourself is crucial for every facet
of our lives.
So how to fix that?
We recommend the app called Blinkist!
This is a unique app that takes the most important
insights, new developments and know-how from
thousands of nonfiction books, condensing
them into a 15-minute long read or listen.
As we have to work almost 24/7 to produce
our videos, Blinkist is essential for our
personal growth.
If you are interested in the World War II-era
we highly recommend Code Girls by Liza Mundy,
which talks about the American women who worked
as code breakers during World War and Written
in History by Simon Montefiore!
The first 100 people to go to blinkist.com/kingsandgenerals
are going to get unlimited access for 1 week
to try it out.
You’ll also get 25% off if you want the
full membership!
As World War Two progressed, it was clear
that Nazi Germany had become the dominant
power in Europe.
The only remaining nation yet to fall to Adolf
Hitler’s regime, Great Britain, was being
heavily bombarded by the Luftwaffe, their
colonial possessions in North Africa attacked
by both the Germans and the Italians.
Hitler thought that victory was assured, and
for some time now he had been considering
launching an invasion of the Soviet Union.
For that he would need the full support of
his allies, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan.
The Balkan war had to end, so the Germans
started working on their plan for an invasion
of Greece, codenamed Operation Marita.
In Greece however, popular mood was changing;
with their leader Metaxas gone, their morale
dropped.
The collapse of the economy, lack of food
and good news from the front, and the increase
in dead and wounded didn’t help.
Germany was the big darkening cloud on the
northern horizon.
The Greek Commander-in-Chief, Alexandros Papagos,
addressed this situation and planned a joint
offensive with the Yugoslavs and the British
to crush the Italians before Germany could
attack.
The Germans feared that the British aircraft
based in Greece would bomb the Romanian oil
fields, their only source of oil on the eastern
front.
They needed to secure their southern flank
if they wanted to be prepared to face the
Soviet Union.
In March 1941 Hitler pressured Bulgaria and
Yugoslavia to sign the Tripartite Pact and
join the Axis.
Furthermore, the 12th Army was stationed on
the Bulgarian frontier for the invasion, with
the 5th and 16th Panzer Divisions on the border
with Turkey to deter them from intervening.
But on March 27th, Hitler’s plans were thwarted
by a coup d’etat in Yugoslavia.
The new Yugoslavian regime, assisted by the
British, committed to the defense of Greece,
and assured they would protect the Struma
Valley.
To defend Eastern Macedonia, the Greeks had
constructed a chain of fortifications along
the Bulgarian border in defense of the key
center of Salonika.
The 96-mile Metaxas Line, named after their
deceased leader, consisted of 21 fortification
complexes, the largest one being Fort Roupel.
This line, however, was poorly manned, as
twelve divisions were needed and only four
were assigned.
General Konstantinos Bakopoulos commanded
the Eastern Macedonia Army Section there,
with the 7th and 14th Divisions to the east
of the Strymon river; and to the west, the
18th and the newly assembled 19th Mechanized
Division under General Nikolaos Lioumbas,
a veteran of the previous campaign.
The rest of Papagos’ forces were still on
the Albanian front, preparing for a final
offensive to push Italy out of the Balkans.
On March 2nd, the British sent the “W”
Expeditionary Force under General Sir Henry
Wilson.
This force was composed by the 1st Armored
Brigade, led by Brigadier Harold Charrington;
the 2nd New Zealand Division under General
Bernard Freyberg; and the 6th Australian Division
commanded by General Sir Iven Mackay.
By March 21st, Charrington and Freyberg had
got their men up to the Aliakmon River.
This second line extended east of the town
of Florina, passing through Edessa all the
way to the north of Mount Olympus and the
coast of Katerini.
Although Papagos didn’t want to forsake
Salonika, the Greeks supported them with the
Central Macedonia Army Section, composed of
the 12th and 20th Divisions.
Not willing to lose an Axis member, Hitler
adjusted the plans of Operation Marita to
also include the invasion of Yugoslavia.
Many forces of the German 12th Army were redirected
against the Yugoslavian-Bulgarian border,
while the rest of the army would storm the
Metaxas Line.
The plan was to overrun Southern Yugoslavia,
to outflank the Metaxas Line and encircle
the Greeks.
There was a weak spot on the left of the Metaxas
Line: Mount Belles, where the borders of Greece,
Yugoslavia and Bulgaria met.
If breached, the Germans could be in Salonika
in hours, cutting off the forces in the east.
Furthermore, if the Monastir Pass fell to
the Germans, the Greek army in Albania would
be trapped and would have to surrender.
For this reason, the possession of Monastir
and the Axios valley was essential.
The 12th Army of Field Marshal Wilhelm List
was divided into three army corps, comprising
five armored Panzer divisions, including three
SS-regiments of the “Adolf Hitler'' Panzer
Division under Josef Dietrich; two motorized
divisions, three light mountain divisions,
and some infantry divisions, with over 1000
Luftwaffe aircraft and 1900 heavy tanks against
Wilson’s 176 tanks and 45 aircraft.
By April 5th, these forces had been successfully
assembled.
At 5:15 a.m. on April 6th, the Germans declared
war on Greece.
At the same time, the invasion of Yugoslavia
started with the bombing of Belgrade.
List’s motorized artillery began its bombardment
of Fort Roupel and the adjacent forts.
The 18th Mountain Corps under General Franz
Bohme was tasked with assaulting the bulk
of the Metaxas Line at Roupel, while the 30th
Corps of General Otto Hartmann had to advance
towards the Turkish border and outflank the
easternmost forts.
Meanwhile, General Georg Stumme’s 40th Panzer
Corps was commanded to storm Southern Yugoslavia
and take the key positions of Monastir and
Strumica.
Bohme’s 125th Regiment was the first to
assault the Metaxas Line, while the artillery
was still pounding the Greek forts.
Bits of the concrete superstructures began
to give way under the relentless hammering.
But Roupel’s defenses proved to be surprisingly
resilient after the bombardment, and Bakopoulos’
forces managed to repel the initial German
assault.
In the east, Hartmann managed to outflank
the Metaxas Line, and would capture the towns
of Xanthi and Komotini a few days later.
Roupel, however, was the adamantine obstacle
to a general German advance, and Bakopoulos
ordered that it be held ‘until the last
man’.
In the west, Stumme sent the 73rd Division
to capture Prilep, thus isolating Yugoslavia
from its allies, and the 2nd Panzer Division
to capture Strumica and outflank the Metaxas
Line.
The Panzers encountered little resistance
and managed to occupy Strumica on the same
day.
In response Lioumbas shielded the town of
Kilkis to avoid encirclement.
On April 7th, the assaults on Fort Roupel
resumed.
The Germans were repelled again, but they
managed to infiltrate positions around the
fort and pinned down where the Greek guns
were.
To the west, the 2nd Panzer Division enjoyed
much more success, as they repelled a Yugoslav
counterattack and forced their way across
the mountains, overrunning the thinly manned
defensive line of Lioumbas’ forces south
of Lake Doiran.
Lioumbas was forced to retreat and Kilkis
was occupied by the Panzers, who continued
south towards Salonika.
In result, the Metaxas Line had been completely
cut off from the rest of the Greek defenses.
Bakopoulos continued to resist, but his forces
were exhausted.
One day later, Salonika fell and Bakopoulos
was forced to ask for a truce, which List
accepted.
The Wehrmacht would allow all captured Greek
officers to keep their sidearms and pledged
that none of them would be sent to a concentration
camp.
The battle for Fort Rupel had cost the Germans
more than 300 killed, against fifty-six Greeks.
But the majority of the Greek defenses were
gone, and now the only one that could stop
the German advance was Wilson.
On the Albanian front, the Greeks launched
the joint offensive with the Yugoslavians
against the Italian forces, aiming to advance
into Durazzo and Valona.
Initially it went well, but after the fall
of Skopje on April 7th, the Yugoslavians were
knocked out of the fight.
General Georgios Tsolakoglou, the commander
of the Epirus Army, kept advancing and fighting
for a few days, but by April 10th the news
of the fall of Salonika forced them to stop
the offensive and consider retreat.
On April 15th, the Greeks started their withdrawal
from the Albanian front, and by April 20th
they reached Greek soil again.
The progress of a five-month campaign had
been undone in just two weeks.
In Greece, the political and military establishments
were struck by a defeatist paralysis.
Even Papagos knew that the country was going
to be occupied, and that he would be captured
with the rest of his army.
In Aliakmon, Wilson prepared his forces to
hold the line, hoping that the forces in Albania
would come to his aid.
By April 8th, Prilep had fallen to the 73rd
Division, and Stumme’s forces prepared to
advance towards Monastir.
The 9th Panzer Division defeated the Greeks
defending the Monastir Valley and rallied
for an offensive towards Kozani.
The objective of the attack was to encircle
Tsolakoglou’s forces in Albania and the
British at the Aliakmon Line, and thus prevent
both of them from linking up.
At this point, Wilson’s forces at Aliakmon
were starting an organized withdrawal to a
new defensive position on Mount Olympus.
Mackay’s forces were charged with the defense
of the key Klidi Pass, linking the towns of
Vevi and Klidi, and had to gain as much time
as possible.
The 9th, reinforced with the SS Adolf Hitler
regiment, took Vevi on April 11th and launched
the attack on Klidi the following day, using
the same Blitzkrieg strategy that had devastated
France and Yugoslavia.
Dietrich’s SS-regiment managed to push back
the Australians and take several key hills,
opening the pass for the German advance.
The Greek and Australians continued to heroically
offer resistance, but were finally forced
to retreat.
The Panzers now menacingly advanced against
Mackay’s retreating forces, but the appearance
of Charrington's tanks at Ptolemaida saved
the division from annihilation.
Mackay suffered many casualties, but he had
gained two days’ time for the British retreat,
although the Greeks divisions there didn’t
withdraw fast enough and soon found themselves
trapped at the Kleisoura Pass.
They tried to create a defensive position
to stop the German advance, with the 20th
Division being heavily pummeled, but eventually
managed to retreat to Lake Kastoria.
Back in Macedonia, the 30th Corps was tasked
with occupying northeastern Greece, with the
50th Division securing Salonika and the 164th
moving to occupy the Aegean islands.
This allowed Bohme’s forces to continue
the advance and support Stumme on the offensive.
By the morning of April 14th, the spearheads
of the 9th Panzer Division reached their objective
of Kozani and established a bridgehead over
the Aliakmon river, but Wilson’s forces
had slipped away, and soon Stumme ordered
his forces to continue the pursuit.
On April 15th, the Panzers caught the Greek
12th Division on the Siatista Pass and inflicted
heavy losses, while Dietrich’s SS-forces
annihilated the 20th Division at Kastoria.
Dietrich then continued to advance south towards
Ioannina, aiming to completely trap the Greek
army in Albania.
By April 19th the SS-regiment had captured
Grevenna, and one day later attacked the Katara
Pass, defeating the Epirus Army and capturing
Ioannina.
Soon, Tsolakoglou realized the hopelessness
of the situation and offered to surrender
his army.
As with the Macedonian forces under Bakopoulos,
Tsolakoglou’s forces were treated with great
respect and were allowed to retain their sidearms,
and go home after the end of the campaign.
This however knocked out the remaining Greek
forces; Wilson was now alone in the task of
defending Greece.
He created his new defensive line at Mount
Olympus, while preparing his forces for another
withdrawal through Larissa, this time to the
pass of Thermopylae.
This line extended from the coast at Platamon
to the Servia pass, passing through Olympus.
Wilson deployed the 4th and 5th New Zealand
Brigade and the 16th Australian Brigade for
the defense of this position.
From Salonika, the bulk of the 18th Corps
captured Veria and Edessa on April 11th and
Katerini on April 14th, standing just in front
of the Olympus Line by the start of the offensive.
With the arrival of Stumme’s Panzers one
day later, the attack on Mount Olympus started.
The Germans were held off there for the next
three days by the heroic British forces, who
fought them tooth and nail.
But when the Italian army took back Korçë
on the Albanian front, Wilson finally feared
a total encirclement and ordered the retreat
on April 17th, only suffering light casualties.
After crossing the Pineios river, the Australian
16th and the New Zealand 21st Battalion under
Brigadier Arthur Allen made a last stand at
Tempe Gorge, a key point just in front of
Larissa.
They needed to hold the Germans off until
April 19th.
The German 6th Division marched across the
mountains and emerged at the exit of the Tempe
Gorge, only to find the bridges and ferry
demolished and the railway track blocked.
The tired mountain troops were met by heavy
machine gun fire from the south bank of the
river.
By nightfall the first Panzers crossed the
river, but they were bogged down in a swamp
while trying to bypass a road demolition.
On the morning of April 18th, armored infantry
crossed the river on floats, while the 6th’s
troops worked their way around the New Zealand
battalion.
The battalion was annihilated and Allen’s
forces had to retreat.
One day later, Bohme’s forces entered Larissa
and took possession of the airfield, where
the British had left their supply dump intact.
At the same time, the Greek government was
shocked when Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis
committed suicide.
On April 21th, the port of Volos fell to the
German advance.
All seemed lost for the defenders, and finally
Wilson started to prepare for an evacuation
to Crete, which started three days later.
On April 15th, the 40th Panzer Corps were
reinforced by the victorious 5th Panzer Division
from the invasion of Yugoslavia, arriving
in Grevenna on April 19th.
From there, the Panzers advanced southwards
via Kalabaka towards Lamia.
Meanwhile, the battered 9th Panzer Division
was assigned to the reserves.
In just two days, the 5th reached its objective
and linked up with Bohme’s 18th Corps.
But the Germans had lost much time, and Wilson’s
forces had reformed at a new defensive line
at the Thermopylae Pass, the gateway to the
Greek capital of Athens.
From the port of Piraeus, some British troops
were already being evacuated to Crete.
The plan was for the forces at the historic
Thermopylae to make a last stand and gain
as much time as possible for the evacuation
of Greece.
The defense line consisted of light field
fortifications, the construction of which
did not seem to have progressed beyond the
initial stage.
Freyberg's 2nd New Zealand Division was given
the task of defending the coastal pass, while
Mackay's 6th Australian Division was to hold
the village of Brallos.
By April 22nd a flying column of the 5th Panzer
Division, supported by well-camouflaged artillery
and single tanks, was attacking the Thermopylae
positions that were defended by British infantry.
The initial German probing attacks were without
success.
On the next day a wide enveloping movement
was undertaken by the 6th Division, crossing
the difficult terrain west of the British
positions.
This operation took place simultaneously with
another outflanking maneuver performed by
a tank-supported motorcycle battalion advancing
via the town of Molos.
On April 23rd, Wilson ordered a retreat from
Thermopylae, and it was decided that the British
positions were to be held by one brigade each.
These brigades, the 19th Australian and 6th
New Zealand were to hold the passes as long
as possible, allowing the other units to withdraw
to the Peloponnesus.
One day later, the Germans attacked, meeting
fierce resistance and sustaining considerable
casualties.
Against greater odds, the Allies held out
the entire day.
With the delaying action accomplished, they
retreated in the direction of the evacuation
beaches and set up another rearguard at Thebes.
The panzer units launching a pursuit along
the road made slow progress because of the
steep gradient and a large number of difficult
hairpin bends.
But from Lamia, Bohme had sent a motorcycle
battalion of the 2nd Panzer Division to cross
to the island of Euboea and seize the port
of Chalcis.
Now, he commanded this battalion to outflank
the British last stand and capture Athens.
The motorcycle troops encountered only slight
resistance, and on the morning of April 27th
the first Germans entered Athens.
The Athenians had been expecting the Germans
for several days, and confined themselves
to their homes with their windows shut.
The fall of Greece was now an established
fact, with the Germans raising the Nazi flag
on the Acropolis.
At the same time, two battalions of the 2nd
Parachute Regiment dropped at the Gulf of
Corinth in an airborne operation, attempting
to trap the British at Athens.
By this time however, most of the British
troops were already on the Peloponnesus for
their evacuation.
The airborne seizure of the Isthmus of Corinth
had been coordinated with a drive across western
Greece launched on April 25th.
Dietrich’s SS-regiment advanced from Ioannina
in a thrust along the western foothills of
the Pindus Mountains via Arta to Mesolongion,
and crossed over to the Peloponnesus at Patras
in an effort to gain access to the isthmus
from the west.
On April 27th, they met with the paratroopers
in Corinth and learned of the fall of Athens.
In their hasty evacuation, that took place
mostly at night, the British used numerous
small ports, like Nafplio, Kalamata and Monemvasia,
and had already managed to evacuate more than
20,000 troops.
Dietrich rushed back to Patras to envelop
the retreating British forces from the west,
while Bohme’s forces advanced from the east
towards Argos.
Both forces met at the port of Kalamata on
April 29th, capturing some 8,000 British and
Yugoslav prisoners, and liberating many Italians
from Greek camps.
The Germans meanwhile only lost around 5,000
men in the entire campaign.
By April 30th the last British troops had
either escaped or been taken prisoner, and
hostilities ceased, thus ending the invasion.
The British successfully completed the evacuation
of about 50,000 soldiers to Crete, but in
their hasty retreat they lost 11,840 men.
The loss of Greece was a tough one for the
Allies.
The Greeks had inspired the democratic world
with their resistance against the Italian
invaders, even earning the respect of the
unstoppable Germans.
And although Greece was divided between the
Axis powers, it is hardly the end of our story
and in the next episode we will talk about
the battle of Crete, so make sure you are
subscribed to our channel and have pressed
the bell button.
We would like to express our gratitude to
our Patreon supporters and channel members,
who make the creation of our videos possible.
Now, you can also support us by buying our
merchandise via the link in the description.
This is the Kings and Generals channel, and
we will catch you on the next one.
