SkipCaptcha
797
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 34:
Line 34: + +
→German invasion
At the start of Operation ''Marita'' (the German invasion of Greece) which began on April 6 1941, the bulk of the Greek Army was fighting in Albania, with the Italians preparing a second spring offensive. The German Army invaded through Bulgaria overrunning the undermanned Metaxas Line. Despite being reinforced with Elite Greek Evzones Regiments, the Greek Army in Albania, which was already suffering from poor morale, proved unable to defend Klisura and Koritza.
At the start of Operation ''Marita'' (the German invasion of Greece) which began on April 6 1941, the bulk of the Greek Army was fighting in Albania, with the Italians preparing a second spring offensive. The German Army invaded through Bulgaria overrunning the undermanned Metaxas Line. Despite being reinforced with Elite Greek Evzones Regiments, the Greek Army in Albania, which was already suffering from poor morale, proved unable to defend Klisura and Koritza.
On 17 April, British General Henry Maitland Wilson wrote that Greek defeatism, ''"was now getting widespread"''. That evening the Greek Prime Minister, Alexander Korizis, retired into his study and shot himself after telling the Greek King that ''"he felt he had failed him in the task entrusted to him"''.
The German divisions broke the northern Greece defences in three days and reached the city of Athens a few weeks later, on 27 April. Australian and New Zealand forces (redesignated the ANZAC Corps) fought well, but withdrawal was soon inevitable with the loss of Koritza. The Allied defences of the historic Thermopylae Pass was merely a respite in the retreat down to Athens.
The German divisions broke the northern Greece defences in three days and reached the city of Athens a few weeks later, on 27 April. Australian and New Zealand forces (redesignated the ANZAC Corps) fought well, but withdrawal was soon inevitable with the loss of Koritza. The Allied defences of the historic Thermopylae Pass was merely a respite in the retreat down to Athens.