In mid -1940, the Second World War began to gain momentum. Nazi GermanyHaving carried out a successful military operation from May to June, she defeated the French, Belgian, Dutch armed forces and the British expeditionary corps in France, which ensured its dominance in Europe.
On June 10, 1940, after the declaration of the war of Great Britain and France, the Italian army, by order of Benito Mussolini, invaded France. For two weeks of battles, Italian successes were minimal: Italian troops lost 631 people in them, while the French – only 40.
On June 25, 1940, after the fall of France, France and Italy signed a truce and agreed on the creation of the Italian occupation zone in the southeast of France. The initial occupation zone had an area of 832 km² and only 28,500 inhabitants. The Italian army, located in its own colony of Libya, began a cautious attack on the insignificant troops of Great Britain in Egypt. Mussolini decided to improve these meager successes in East Africa, directing the colonial troops of Italy to capture British possessions: Somali, Sudan and Kenya.
The Italians after minor battles managed to capture the British Somalia and squeeze the British in Kenya and Sudan. Mussolini, envious of Hitler, who captured half a dozen countries and gained fame and authority throughout the world for a short period of time, decided to seize one of the small European countries. Such a duche seemed to Yugoslavia and Greece. It remained only to decide which one to capture first of all in order to expand the future Italian Mediterranean empire, since the Italians acquired Albania almost without resistance in April 1939.
The choice of the pipe fell on Greece. The fact is that Mussolini received from the Minister of Foreign Affairs Chiano (his former son -in -law), assurances in the lightness of this enterprise. Chiano examined Albania, controlled by his ministry, as his estate and was the main initiator of the attack on Greece, and he reported that he allegedly managed to attract a number of prominent political and military leaders of Greece for large amounts of money, and that some of them are part of the government. According to him, in Greece, only a small group of people representing the wealthy top is inclined to the side of England; The bulk of the population is politically neutral and is rather negative about Metaxas regime. Chiano argued that during the offensive of the Italian army, the Albanians would raise an uprising against the Greeks, among the Muslim population of Epirus.
Войне предшествовали потопление 15 августа 1940 года «неизвестной» подводной лодкой крейсера «Элли», во время православного празднования Дня Богородицы, на рейде острова Тинос, и другие провокации фашистской Италии, после чего Греция провела частичную мобилизацию.
In this critical period for Greece, it controlled it Joannis Metaksas (Greek. ιωάννης μεταμς)-Greek general, prime minister, actually the dictator of Greece since 1936. He received a military education, he began his military career with the participation in the fighting against the Turks in 1897 in the Thessalian campaign. Then training in Germany, at the Prussian Military Academy. Having returned, he participated in the process of modernizing the Greek army in the period before the Balkan wars (1912-1913), in which he took an active part. In 1913, Metaxas was appointed King Konstantin I by the chief of the General Staff. The convinced monarchist was in tense relations with the Republican E. Veniselos, who focused on the Entente. After the arrival of E. Veniselos (with the support of the Entente) to power in 1917, Metaxas went on exile with the king.
I. Metaxas
After the plebiscite in 1935, the monarchy in Greece was restored, and in the elections a large number of votes were received by the left, including the Communists. Fearing the rise of the left movement, King George II appointed Metaxas as a temporary prime minister, “up to the resolution of the political crisis.” In 1936, he dismissed the parliament and began to pursue a policy of liberalization (input of an 8-hour working day, raising purchase prices for agricultural products, active forestry, etc.), at the same time he cared for the defense capability of the army. Despite this, the sympathy for the left among the population continued to grow, although without an active opposition to I. Metaxas.
In foreign policy, on the one hand, the dictator sympathized with Germany, but his regime had nothing to do with the fascist ideology, as he was based on the purely Greek concept of the great idea, rethought, as the construction of a third of the Greek civilization, without territorial claims to neighbors. Metaxas understood that Germany and Italy in an emerging situation are opponents of Greece. For this reason, he, trying to maintain the neutrality of Greece, pursued a Probitian policy. Under his leadership, on the borders of Greece with Bulgaria, defensive structures “Metaxas Line” were built.
Greece, adhering to the neutrality, was forced to enter the defensive war after the ultimative requirements of Mussolini on October 28, 1940. For each demand of the ultimatum, the fascist of Italy I. Metaxas answered “όχι” (no).
In his memoirs, released in 1945, Grazzi recalled how the ultimatum metaxas reported: “Mr. Prime Minister, I have an order to give you this message,” and handed him a document. I watched excitement in his eyes and hands. In a firm voice, looking into my eyes, Metaxas told me: “This is a war.” I replied that this could have been avoided. He replied: “No.” I added: “If General Papagos …”, but Metaxas interrupted me and said: “No.” I left, filled with the deepest respect for this elder, who preferred victims to enslave.
The Greeks, rising to the fight against the invaders, not only defeated the Italian troops and their Albanian satellites, but also partially conquered Albania from the Italians, and therefore Mussolini was forced to request help from Hitler. This was the first victory of the allies in the fight against the Nazis.
Bombing of the port Piraeus Italian aviation.
From the very beginning of Italy’s attack on Greece, the authorities of Britain, who fought alone against the axis countries, offered Metaxas to send their troops to the rescue, but the Greek prime minister stubbornly refused to not provoke Hitler to attack Greece. This policy kept Germany from a military decision to annex to its country's camp on the Balkan Peninsula.
Direct fire on the enemy
By January 1941, the British, having transferred troops from India, Australia and New Zealand, managed to defeat the Italians in Africa. The British thought about the implementation of the plan for the landing of their troops in Greece, but this was hindered by Metaxas, convinced of the correctness of his policy.
The presence of the British army in Greece allowed the British to create a base for aircraft there in order to bomb Ploseti oil crafts, from where Germany and Italy received most of the oil.
Map showing the events of the war of Greece with Italy 1940
The Greek Prime Minister remembered that the British, being allies of Greece, abandoned it in 1920 during the Greek-Turkish war, which was a continuation of the First World War.
Suddenly, Metaxas fell ill and died of the pharyngeal phlegmon on February 29, 1941. The suspicions are very large that he was poisoned or subjected to improper treatment by English doctors. His successor was Alexander Corisis, who, after long negotiations, the British managed to convince to ask for military assistance from the UK, and on March 4, 1941, the transfer of English troops from Egypt to Greece began. British soldiers began to unload ashore in Piraeus. The transfer of the English expeditionary corps to Greece ended on March 31. Over 60 thousand people arrived (1 tank brigade, 1 Australian and 1 New Zealand divisions) under the cover of 9 air squadrons.
New Zealand soldiers on the streets of Athens
German diplomacy did not doze off, and on March 25, 1941, the Government of Yugoslavia, led by Dragisha Tsvetkovich, the prime minister of the country, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandar Chinchar-Markovich, signed an agreement on the accession of Yugoslavia to the triple pact of the axis countries. This decision caused the mass indignation of the inhabitants of the country, among whom the pro -Russian sentiments were still strong: with protests “better war than a pact! Better a coffin than slavery! ” The Yugoslavs took to the streets of cities, arranging riots. On March 27, a group of prose in configured officers overthrew the government and the ruled prince-regent Paul Karageorgievich, led to the power of King Peter II, proclaiming him adults. The new government signed a friendship and non -aggression agreement with the USSR, which brought Germany and Italy into rabies, and gave Britain’s hope to continue anti -Nazi resistance in Europe.
The furious Hitler regarded a similar step as the betrayal by Yugoslavia and signed Directive No. 25, according to which the German army was to invade Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941 and capture it, at the same time, a similar operation was supposed to undergo Greece.
March 1940 New Zealand soldiers with Greek children
The German Wehrmacht, with the support of the Bulgarian Army, on April 6, simultaneously invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. Five days later, Italians begin a counterattack against the Greeks in Albania, but they will not be able to, carrying huge losses, break through to the border. The forces of the Wehrmacht through Yugoslavia, along the Vardar River Valley, go to Macedonia, and the English troops, almost without entering close contact with the enemy, begin to depart hastily. The departure is more like flight. The British throw guns and tanks – 150 pcs. And in five days, having overcome about 160 km, on April 20 they reach farmopils, but they are not going to defend here, and run to the very Athens and further to Southern Greece, for evacuation.
English soldiers awaiting evacuation from Greece
The main forces of the Greek army at that time remained in the north-west of the country, in the mountains of Pinda and Epirus. The remnants of the army “Central Macedonia“And the troops of the army”Western Macedonia“, Which suffered heavy losses from the bombing, were re -called the Epirus Commander. This army retreated, covering the running British, leading the fighting with Italian troops and subjected to fierce attacks from the air of the axis countries. With the German exit to Fessalia, opportunities for retreat to the Peloponnes Army “Epirus” There was practically no.
General Papagos
On April 18, the Military Council gathered in the Tatoy near Athens, at which General Papagos said that from a military point of view, the situation of Greece was hopeless. The meeting of the Council of Ministers on the same day revealed that some of its participants support the displaced Army generals of the Epirus, while others are standing for the continuation of the war, even if the government has to leave the country. In the ruling circles of Greece, confusion arose. It intensified even more when on the evening of April 18, Prime Minister Corisis committed suicide.
However, at this time, supporters of the continuation of the war prevailed. The new Prime Minister Tsuderos and General Papagos demanded from the command of the army “Epirus” Continue resistance. But recently appointed commanders of the formations refused to obey, removed the commander of the army of Pitzikas and put in his place General Tsolakoglu. He sent parliamentar to German troops and in the evening of April 20 signed with the commander of the SS division “Adolf Hitler” General Dietrich Agreement on a truce between Greece and Germany.
The next day, Field Marshal Liszt replaced this agreement with a new one-on the surrender of the Greek armed forces, but Hitler did not approve him. Given the persistent requests of Mussolini, he agreed that Italy was among the parties that signed an agreement on the surrender of the Greek army. This, the third in a row, was signed by General Tsolakoglu on April 23, 1941 in Thessaloniki. On the same day, King Georg II and the government left Athens and flew to Crete Island.
The war cost Italy 38 thousand killed, 50 thousand wounded and 12 thousand frostbite. The losses of Greece in the war with Italy and Germany (October 1940-Apr 1941) amounted to 20 thousand dead soldiers and officers. The losses of the British are several dozen killed, hundreds of wounded and 7000 prisoners. Hitler, after the occupation of Greece, in his speech in the Reichstag, noted the courage and stamina of its soldiers and ordered all captive Greeks to go home, which was done a month later.
The struggle on this with fascist and Nazi aggressors did not end, there was an epic of heroic resistance ahead.
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