2. In the early morning hours
of October 28, 1940, Italian
Ambassador Emmanuel
Grazzi awoke Greek
Premier Ioannis Metaxas
and presented him an
ultimatum. Metaxas
rejected the ultimatum
and Italian forces invaded
Greek territory from
Italian-occupied Albania
less than three hours later.
(The anniversary of
Metaxas's refusal is now a
public holiday in Greece.)
3. Mussolini launched
the invasion partly to
prove that Italians
could match the
military successes of
the German Army
and partly because
Mussolini regarded
south-eastern
Europe as lying
within Italy's sphere
of influence.
4. The Greek army proved to be a
more able opponent than
Mussolini or his generals
thought, and successfully
exploited the mountainous terrain
of Epirus. The Greek forces
counterattacked and forced the
Italians to retreat. By midDecember, the Greeks had
occupied nearly one-quarter of
Albania, before Italian
reinforcements and the harsh
winter stemmed the Greek
advance. In March 1941, a major
Italian counterattack partially
failed and the Italian troops only
reoccupied small areas around
Himare and Grabova.
5. The initial Greek defeat of the Italian invasion is considered
the first Allied land victory of the Second World War, even
if in the event the campaign, thanks mainly to the German
intervention, resulted in a victory for the Axis.
6. Fifteen of the twenty one
Greek divisions were
deployed against the
Italians, so only six divisions
were facing the attack from
German troops in the
Metaxas Line (near the
border between Greece and
Yugoslavia/Bulgaria) during
the first days of April. In
those days, Greece received
help from British
Commonwealth
troops, moved from Libya
by orders of Churchill.
7. On April 6, 1941, Nazi Germany came to
the aid of Italy and invaded Greece
through Bulgaria and Yugoslav
Macedonia. Greek and British
Commonwealth troops fought back but
were overwhelmed.
On April 20, after Greek resistance in
the north had ceased, the Bulgarian
Army entered Greek Thrace, with the
goal of regaining its Aegean Sea outlet
in Western Thrace and Eastern
Macedonia. The Bulgarians occupied
territory between the Strymon river
and a line of demarcation running
through Alexandroupoli and Svilengrad
west of the Evros river.
The Greek capital Athens fell on April
27.
8. Βy June 1, after the capture of Crete, all of
Greece was under Axis occupation.
