Balkans Campaign

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Balkan Campaign
partof=Middle Eastern and Mediterranean theatres of World War II


caption=German paratroopers on Crete in 1941
date=28 October 1940 – 1 June 1941
place=Albania, Yugoslavia, Greek mainland and the Greek islands
casus=Italian invasion of Greece
territory=Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece under Axis control
result=Axis victory
combatant1=Axis Powers:
flagicon|Italy|1861-state Italy
flagicon|Albania|1939 Albania
flag|Nazi Germany|name=Germany
flagicon|Hungary|1940 Hungary
flagicon|Bulgaria|1876 Bulgaria
combatant2=Allied Powers:
flagicon|Greece|royal Greece
flag|United Kingdom
flag|Australia
flag|New Zealand
flag|Kingdom of Yugoslavia|name=Yugoslavia
commander1=flagicon|Italy|1861-state Ugo Cavallero
flagicon|Italy|1861-state Giovanni Messe
flagicon|Germany|Nazi Wilhelm List
flagicon|Germany|Nazi Maximilian von Weichs
flagicon|Germany|Nazi Kurt Student
commander2=flagicon|Greece|royal Alexander Papagos
flagicon|United Kingdom Henry Maitland Wilson
flagicon|Kingdom of Yugoslavia Milorad Petrović
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=
notes=

The Balkans Campaign was the Axis Powers' invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia during World War II. It began with Italy's invasion of Greece on 28 October, 1940 and ended with the capture of Crete by German and Italian forces on 1 June, 1941.

Prelude — Italian invasion of Albania

After World War I, with the complete collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Albanians looked to the Kingdom of Italy for protection against her enemies.

In 1919, Albania's territorial integrity was confirmed at the Paris Peace Conference after United States President Woodrow Wilson dismissed a plan by the European powers to divide Albania amongst its neighbours.

However, after 1925, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini sought to dominate Albania.

In 1928 Albania became a kingdom under Zog I. Zog was a clan chief and former Prime Minister. Zog failed to stave off Italian ascendancy in Albanian internal affairs.

On 7 April, 1939, Mussolini's troops occupied Albania, overthrew Zog, and annexed the country to the Italian Empire.

Greco-Italian War

The Greco-Italian War lasted from 28 October, 1940 to 30 April, 1941 and was part of World War II. Italian forces invaded Greece and made limited gains. But soon the Greeks counter-attacked and the Italians were repulsed and driven back into Albania. The Italians spent much of the winter stabilizing a line which left them in control of only about two-thirds of Albania. A much anticipated Italian offensive in March 1941 failed to make sufficient progress. Germany intervened in April and invaded Greece after a successful invasion of Yugoslavia.

Invasion of Yugoslavia

The Invasion of Yugoslavia (also known as "Operation 25") began on 6 April 1941 and ended with the unconditional surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army on 17 April. The invading Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria) occupied and deismembered the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. By cobbling together Bosnia and Herzegovina, some parts of Croatia, and Syrmia, the "Independent State of Croatia" ("Nezavisna Država Hrvatska", NDH) was created by Germany and Italy. In Serbia and the Banat, the puppet state "Nedić's Serbia" was created by Germany. In Montenegro, a puppet "Independent State of Montenegro" was created as an Italian protectorate. However, the "protectorate" was nominally a kingdom even though Prince Michael of Montenegro never accepted the crown....

Invasion of Greece

The German Invasion of Greece — code-named "Unternehmen Marita" ("Operation Marita") by Germany — was the direct result and continuation of the Greco-Italian War. On April 6, 1941, the German Army invaded northern Greece, while other elements launched an attack against Yugoslavia. Breaking through the Yugoslav lines in southern Yugoslavia allowed Germany to send reinforcements to the battlefields of northern Greece. The German army out-flanked the Greek Metaxas Line fortifications and, despite the assistance provided by a British expeditionary corps, set out to capture the southern Greek cities. The Battle of Greece ended with the German entry into Athens and the capture of the Peloponnese, although about 40,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated to Crete, prompting one of the largest airborne attacks in the history of warfare: Operation Merkur, or the Battle of Crete.

Bulgarian intervention

On April 6, 1941, despite having officially joined the Axis Powers, the Bulgarian government maintained a course of military passivity during the initial stages of the invasion of Yugoslavia and the Battle of Greece. As German, Italian, and Hungarian troops crushed Yugoslavia and Greece, the Bulgarians remained on the side-lines. The Yugoslav government surrendered on April 17. The Greek government was to hold out until April 30. On April 20, the period of Bulgarian passivity ended. The Bulgarian Army entered the Aegean region. The goal was to gain an Aegean Sea outlet in Thrace and Eastern Macedonia and much of eastern Serbia. The so called Vardar Banovina was divided between Bulgaria and Italians which occupied West Macedonia.

Operation Merkur

On May 20 1941, German paratroopers were dropped over the airfields of northern Crete to occupy the island. They were met by heavy resistance from Allied forces and the local Cretan population but eventually the defenders were overwhelmed by the tactically superior German forces. However, the loss of so many paratroopers forced the Supreme Command of the German Armed Forces ("Oberkommando der Wehrmacht" or OKW) to reconsider its airborne warfare doctrine.

Aftermath

By June 1 1941, all of Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece were under Axis control. Greece was placed under triple occupation, and Yugoslavia was dissolved and occupied. Germany had gained a significant strategic advantage: direct access to the Mediterranean. The Allied High Command feared that Crete and Greece would be used as "springboard" for an invasion of British Egypt or Cyprus. However, any plans for a large-scale invasion of Egypt and Palestine were abandoned when Operation Barbarossa commenced on June 22.

The Resistance

Throughout the remainder of the war, active Albanian, Greek and Yugoslav resistance movements forced Germany and her allies to garrison hundreds of thousands of soldiers permanently in the three countries, denying them to the other fronts. Especially after 1943, the threat of an Allied invasion and the activities of the partisans necessitated large-scale counter-insurgency operations, involving several divisions, including elite Panzer and Gebirgsjäger units.

The Dodecanese campaign

A brief flare-up occurred after the Italian surrender in 1943, when a race developed between the British and the Germans to secure the Italian-occupied and strategically important Dodecanese Islands. The Germans quickly succeeded in disarming the Italian garrison of Rhodes, but the British were successful in occupying the islands of Samos, Leros and Kos. However, the Germans were quickly able to launch aerial and naval attacks, and, using special forces, to occupy the islands.

External links

* Summaries [http://www.ucc.ie/staff/jprodr/macedonia/helmodww2v.html]
* [http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/war-in-europe/southern-europe/southern-europe-index-1941.htm Timeline of the Balkans Campaign]
* [http://warmuseum.ca/cwm/newspapers/operations/greece_e.html World War Two Online Newspaper Archives — The Invasion of the Balkans: Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete, 1940-1941]
* [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/balkan/intro.htm U.S. Army — The German campaigns in the Balkans]
* [http://www.ucc.ie/staff/jprodr/macedonia/macmodww2.html World War II in the Balkans]