Download or read book The Defence and Fall of Greece 1940 41 written by John Carr and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-07-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This military history of the WWII Battle of Greece presents a vivid and detailed account with special focus on the Greek forces defending their homeland. On October 28th, 1940, the Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas refused to accept an ultimatum from Italy’s Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Immediately upon his refusal, Italian forces began the invasion of Greece via Albania. This aggression was prompted by Mussolini's desire for a quick victory to rival Hitler's rapid conquest of France and the Low Countries. But Mussolini had underestimated the skill and determination of the defenders. Within weeks, the Italian invaders were driven back over the border and Greek forces actually advanced deep into Albania. Eventually, Hitler was forced to intervene, sending German forces into Greece via Bulgaria on April 6th. The Greeks, assisted by British forces, were overwhelmed by the Germans and their blitzkrieg tactics. After Athens fell on April 27th, the British evacuated to Crete. But the following month, German airborn troops invaded and eventually took the strategically vital island. John Carr's masterful account of these desperate campaigns draws heavily on Greek sources to emphasize the oft-neglected experience of Greeks soldiers and their contribution to the fight against fascism.

Download or read book The Defence and Fall of Greece written by John Carr and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Defence and Fall of Greece 1940 1941 written by John Carr and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-07-02 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 28th October 1940, the Greek premier, Ioannis Metaxis, refused to accept a deliberately provocative ultimatum from Mussolini and Italian forces began the invasion of Greece via Albania. This aggression was prompted by Mussolini's desire for a quick victory to rival Hitler's rapid conquest of France and the Low Countries. On paper, Greek forces were poorly equipped and ill-prepared for the conflict but Mussolini had underestimated the skill and determination of the defenders. Within weeks the Italian invasion force was driven back over the border and Greek forces actually advanced deep into Albania.??A renewed Italian offensive in March 1941 was also given short shrift, prompting Hitler to intervene to save his ally. German forces invaded Greece via Bulgaria on 6 April. The Greeks, now assisted by British forces, resisted by land, sea and air but were overwhelmed by the superior German forces and their blitzkrieg tactics. Despite a dogged rearguard action by Anzac forces at the famous pass of Thermopyale, Athens fell on the 27th April and the British evacuated 50,000 troops to Crete. This island, whose airfields and naval bases Churchill considered vital to the defence of Egypt and the Suez Canal, was invaded by German airborne troops the following month and eventually captured after a bitter thirteen-day battle. The remaining British troops were evacuated and the fall of Greece completed. ??John Carr's masterful account of these desperate campaigns, while not disparaging the British and Commonwealth assistance, draws heavily on Greek sources to emphasize the oft-neglected experience of the Greeks themselves and their contribution to the fight against fascism.

Download or read book The Battle of Greece 1940 1941 written by Alexandros Papagos and published by Athens : Scazikis "Alpha" Editions. This book was released on 1949 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Diary of a Disaster written by Robin Higham and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-07-11 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On October 28, 1940, the Italian army under Benito Mussolini invaded Greece. The British had insisted on guaranteeing Greek and Turkish neutrality, despite the fact that Greece was never more than a limited campaign in an unlimited war as far as they were concerned. The British, however, were never quite sure that Greece was not their last foothold in Europe, and they harbored dreams of holding on to this last bastion of civilization and of protecting it with a diplomatic and military alliance -- a Balkan bloc. These dreams bore little relation to military and economic realities, and so the stage was set for tragedy. In Diary of a Disaster, Robin Higham details the unfolding events from the invasion, though the Italian defeat and the subsequent German invasion, until the British evacuation at the end of April 1941. The Greek army, while tough, was small and based largely upon reserves. They were also largely equipped with obsolete French, Polish, and Czech arms for which there was now no other source than captured Italian materiel. Transportation was also lacking as Greece lacked all-weather roads over much of the country, had no all-weather airport, and only one rail line connecting Athens with Salonika and Florina in the north. Added to the woes of the Greek military, the British commander-in-chief for the Middle East, Sir Archibald Wavell, faced huge logistical challenges as well. Based in Cairo, he was responsible for a huge theatre of operation, from hostile Vichy French forces in Syria to the Boers in South Africa nearly six thousand miles away. His air force was comprised of only a handful of modern aircraft with biplanes and outdated, early monoplanes making up the bulk of his force. Radar was also unavailable to him. His navy was woefully short on destroyers and often incommunicado while at sea. While Wavell had roughly 500,000 men under his command, he was severely limited in how he could use them. The South Africans could only be deployed in East Africa and the Austrians and New Zealanders could not be employed without the consent of their home governments. In short, Churchill had instructed Wavell to offer support that he did not really have and could not afford to give to the Greeks. Higham walks readers through these events as they unfold like a modern Greek tragedy. Using the format of a diary, he recounts day-by-day the British efforts though the failure of Operation Lustre, which no one outside of London thought had any chance of stemming the Nazi tide in Greece.

Download or read book Greece 1940 41 Eyewitnessed written by Kōstas N. Chatzēpateras and published by Efstathiadis Group/Bay Foreing Langua. This book was released on 1995 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of a forgotten epic. It is the story of Greece's defiance of the Axis powers in 1940-41 by opposing Mussolini's mighty forces with a comparatively small army, yet with fierce determination worthy of the classical Greek tradition. The book is an anthology of oral and written testimonies of survivors supported by diaries, poems, photos, sketches and authentic material.

Download or read book Greece 1940 1941 written by Charles Greig Cruickshank and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This volume looks at the role Greece played in the war during the years 1940-1941. Based primarily on original material, the text examines the efforts of Britain and Germany to win the support of the Balkan countries. Also studied are Hitler's campaign to preserve peace in the Balkans and Mussolini's blunder in attacking Greece in 1940"--Publisher.

Download or read book The Battle of Greece 1940 1941 written by Alexander Papagos and published by . This book was released on 1945 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Armies of the Greek Italian War 1940 41 written by Phoebus Athanassiou and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In October 1940 an Italian army some 200,000 strong invaded Greece across its largely undefended border with Albania. Although supported by Great Britain, at first by sea and in the air and later by landing British and ANZAC troops from North Africa, Greece bore the main brunt of the six-month war. Outclassed in materiel and outnumbered, LtGen Papagos's Greek army was so successful against the Italians in north-west Greece that, by 22 November 1940, it was advancing into Italian-held Albania. This would eventually force Hitler to send in German reinforcements to support his beleaguered Italian allies, delaying his invasion of the Soviet Union. Complete with contemporary photographs and full-colour uniform plates, this fascinating study explores the history, organization, and appearance of the armies of this oft forgotten conflict.

Download or read book The Hollow Legions written by Mario Cervi and published by Chatto & Windus. This book was released on 1972 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Balkans 1940 41 2 written by Pier Paolo Battistelli and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-07-22 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Wehrmacht's last Blitzkrieg campaign was indeed a lightning war, since German forces were required to seize both Yugoslavia and Greece before redeploying immediately to the East ready to attack the Soviet Union in a matter of weeks. Although the plans for the conquest of Yugoslavia were developed in haste, the campaign was extremely successful: in a short space of time, both Yugoslavia and Greece had fallen, accompanied by the capture of large numbers of British, Australian and New Zealand troops. The 1941 Balkan campaign was an apparently brilliant military accomplishment that demonstrated once again the superiority of the Wehrmacht, and its cutting-edge campaigning skills. This superbly detailed work details the opposing forces that took part in this campaign, documents their weapons and analyzes the effectiveness of their tactics. It explores the initial Axis campaign against Yugoslavia, the breakthrough of the Metaxas Line and advance into Macedonia and the withdrawal of Allied troops south. Detailed battlescenes depict key moments in the land, sea and air battles that took place in the Balkans, vividly bringing to life events of almost 80 years ago.

Download or read book The Battle of Greece 1940 1941 written by Alexandros Papagos and published by . This book was released on 1949 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Balkans 1940 41 1 written by Pier Paolo Battistelli and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-21 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first of two volumes on the Axis campaigns in the Balkans, exploring Mussolini's fateful decision to move against Greece in October 1940. The Greek President Metaxas rejected the Italian ultimatum with a famous 'Oxi' ('No'), and what followed was Italy's first debacle in World War II. In the wake of Italy's rapid annexation of Albania in April 1940, Mussolini's decision to attack Greece in October that year is widely acknowledged as a fatal mistake, leading to a domestic crisis and to the collapse of Italy's reputation as a military power (re-emphasized by the Italian defeat in North Africa in December 1940). The Italian assault on Greece came to a stalemate in less than a fortnight, and was followed a week later by a Greek counter-offensive that broke through the Italian defences before advancing into Albania, forcing the Italian forces to withdraw north before grinding to a half in January 1941 due to logistical issues. Eventually, the Italians took advantage of this brief hiatus to reorganize and prepare a counteroffensive, the failure of which marked the end of the first stage of the Axis Balkan campaign. The first of two volumes examining the Axis campaigns in the Balkans, this book offers a detailed overview of the Italian and Greek armies, their fighting power, and the terrain in which they fought. Complimented by rarely seen images and full colour illustrations, it shows how expectations of an easy Italian victory quickly turned into one of Mussolini's greatest blunders.

Download or read book Oxi The Battle Cry that Led the Greeks to Save the World written by Nikitis Zoumberis and published by Dorrance Publishing. This book was released on 2021-02-10 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Oxi:' The Battle Cry that Led the Greeks to Save the World By: Nikitis Zoumberis In October 1940, Italy invaded Greece. The Italians had far more men and weapons than Greece. However, the Greeks soundly defeated the Italians. Eventually, Hitler marched in March of 1941 with thousands of troops and weapons to capture Greece. Greece’s stand against the Axis powers changed the course of World War II. Their victory over Italy and the diversion of the German army provided time for Russian forces to prepare and overwhelm the Nazi army. Oxi is a story of perseverance and the belief in freedom that is so strong, one will die to maintain it for their people. We owe the Greeks an immense gratitude for their courage and determination during World War II, or else, the world would be entirely different today.

Download or read book Mussolini s Army against Greece written by Richard Carrier and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-08 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses why the Italian army failed to defeat its Greek opponent between October 1940 and April 1941. It thoroughly examines the multiple forms of ineffectiveness that plagued the political leadership as well as the military organisation. Mussolini’s aggression of Greece ranks among the most neglected campaigns of the Second World War. Initiated on 28 October 1940, the offensive came to a halt less than ten days later; by mid-November, the Greek counter-offensive put the Italian armies on the defensive, and back in Albania. From then on, the fatal interaction between failing command structures, inadequate weapons and equipment, unprepared and unmotivated combatants, and terrible logistics lowered to a dangerous level the fighting power of Italian combatants. This essay proposes that compared to the North African and Russian campaigns where the Regio Esercito achieved a decent level of military effectiveness, the operation against Greece was a military fiasco. Only the courage of its soldiers and the German intervention saved the dictator’s army from complete disaster. This book would appeal to anyone interested in the history of the world war, and to those involved in the study of military effectiveness and intrigued by why armies fail.

Download or read book Mussolini s Defeat at Hill 731 March 1941 written by John Carr and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-12-28 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII history examines the most consequential and hard-fought battle between Greek and Italian forces in Albania. On March 9th, 1941, the Italians launched their Spring Offensive, designed to stem four months of humiliating reverses. Watched by Mussolini himself, the operation’s objective was a pair of parallel valleys dominated by the Greek-held Hill 731. The Italian Eighth Corps, part of Geloso’s 11th Army, had the task of seizing the heights, spearheaded by 38 (Puglie) Division. Holding the position was the Greek 1 Division of II Corps, with 4 and 6 Division on the flanks. For seventeen days, after a massive artillery barrage, the Italians threw themselves against the Evzones on the hill—only to be repeatedly smashed with appalling losses. It was a merciless fight at close quarters, where bayonets held the place of honor but the battered Greeks held. Mussolini had wanted a spring victory to impress the Führer. Instead, the bloody debacle of Hill 731 could well have contributed to Hitler’s decision to postpone his invasion of Russia. John Carr sheds light on this consequential episode in the Mediterranean theater of operations.

Download or read book The Struggle for Greece 1941 1949 written by Christopher Montague Woodhouse and published by C. HURST & CO. PUBLISHERS. This book was released on 2002 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Why were the Communists unable to overthrow a succession of feeble Athens governments? Woodhouse portrays a Greek Communist party weakened by internal feuding, divided by dissensions over policy, and overcome by the strength of U.S. forces. Basing his account on privileged access to documents, interviews with prominent survivors, and his own unique experience, he analyzes the characters, ideologies, and events behind one of the longest and most bitter civil wars of modern times. This is the definitive history."--BOOK JACKET.