April 15th - 31st, 1941
Greek Front
In Greece, things had accelerated following Allied intelligence documents showing German military build-up in Austria and Bulgaria. The Greeks, who were still split on the Allied presence in the country, soon came to terms with the fact that Germany would not let them alone, especially with the presence of the 5th Light Division in Albania.
The construction of airfields was deemed a top priority by the Allied High Command, which got to work, especially in the north of the country and around Athens. The Royal Corps of Engineers as usual made miracles, and by mid-April the Allies had accumulated a substantial air presence.
As for troops, they had not been caught lacking, either. The Greeks continued to mobilise, bringing new divisions on the line. And thanks to the fall of Africa, convoys could now safely transit the Mediterranean and bring supplies and equipment from the United States and Britain straight to the port of Piraeus.
The Allied line had been bolstered by the new arrivals: the 2nd New Zealand Infantry had taken its positions on the Aliakmon line, the 7th Armoured was at 90% strength in Albania, the 6th British Infantry had taken up positions near Florina, the 10th Indian held the flank of the 7th Armoured, and the French of the 1st DB now guarded the Vardar Valley. In addition, the Belgian 2nd Infantry were slated to move alongside the French 86th DIA towards Yugoslavia, with the 1st French Infantry backing them up around Veroia. As for reserves, the 6th Australian was still in the process of reconstitution near Athens, and the 51st
Highland Infantry doing the same south of the Ambracian Gulf. Finally, the Greeks lined up twenty divisions, but two thirds of these were on the Albanian front. The Eastern Macedonia Army Section, led by general Bakopoulos, only comprised five divisions. Not to mention that these divisions were not placed with the Allied line, but along the Metaxas line, which the Allies judged indefensible and only useful as a delay since German troops would eventually rush down the Vardar Valley and attack Thessaloniki from the rear.
But the political imperative stood: just like Yugoslavia could not abandon Belgrade, Greece could not abandon Thessaloniki. The Allies, having troops to hold the small gap, told their Greek allies that they would do their utmost to hold, but that evacuating the Metaxas line was only a matter of time.
As German troops entered Yugoslavia on April 14th, they also struck the Metaxas line. However, the projected air supremacy promised by the Luftwaffe failed to materialize. From their airbases, Greek and British Hurricanes, Belgian P-39s, French P-40s and even Polish Spitfires were ready for the shock. The Luftwaffe, for its part was not.
With the main effort made to be towards Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe was quite understaffed, and faced with a wall of fire, failed to gain the so-desired air supremacy, leaving the assault on the Metaxas line to be a particularly bloody one. Here, the VIII. Fliegerkorps struggled heavily, and as a result, the Greeks held onto the Metaxas line with determination.
The Germans, for their part, lined up 6 infantry divisions and 1 armoured division to breach the line, with one motorized division and one infantry division attacking from Macedonia and one armoured and three infantry divisions coming from Serbia. But the swift victory that was hoped by OKH failed to materialize, even with these reinforcements.
With the Luftwaffe kept in check, bombing runs against the Metaxas line became difficult, if not suicidal at times. General Stergiopoulos’ 18th Infantry Division especially illustrated itself by blocking the German armoured vanguards which looked to breach the Greek lines near the Strymon river. In addition, the dogged Franco-Yugoslav resistance in Macedonia made so that waiting for reinforcements from there was not realistic in the short-term. To make matters worse, the German-Italian offensive in Albania came up against a wall as the machines of the 5th Light Division struggled against the 7th Armoured, and the Italian divisions once again ran into stiff resistance against General Pitsikas’ Epirus Army Section.
Furious at the lack of progress, Hitler would order a massive raid to “punish” Athens for their determined resistance. However, such a raid came up against staunch opposition, especially from the RAF aircraft based around the Greek capital. While the German bombers did manage to hit the city, including a bomb that grazed the Parthenon, the cost was appalling to bear for the bomber crews. And even if the city was hit, the port of Piraeus, essential for the logistics of the Greek campaign and focal point of the Allied air defense in the area, was unharmed and still able to function at full capacity. Still, this raid pushed Allied command to seek alternative ports to bring supplies, most notably Volos and Patras.
For the Germans, it would take until April 25th to see the first breaches of the Metaxas line, despite Greek determination. And this breach being along the Strymon river, General Papagos, commander-in-chief of the Greek forces, ordered a withdrawal to the left bank, in order to stop the encirclement of three full divisions.
This redeployment coincided with the German offensive down the Vardar Valley. Finally thinking that Allied resistance had completely ceded, List ordered his troops (SS-
Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and 11th Panzer in the lead), to charge down the valley and encircle the Greek forces stationed there. Unfortunately for him, the marshy terrain would be the least of his worries as the 2nd New Zealand Division sprung into action, its anti-tank rifles devastating the German lines. Worse, the French of the 1st DB, with their brand new M3 Stuart, ambushed the German Panzers along the hedgerows and in the hills, taking a further bloody toll on the Panzers and motorized vehicles of the LAH.
Despite this carnage, the breach of the Metaxas line had sent the Greek units in turmoil, and not every unit had managed to rally the Strymon. The 7th Infantry Division had to surrender, and the 14th would cease to exist as a fighting unit as the tanks of the 2nd Panzer Divisions broke through near Iraklia.
With no other choice, and having seen their front disintegrate, Papagos ordered Bakopoulos to abandon Thessaloniki with the forces he still had (13th, 18th and 19th Divisions) and to join the Aliakmon line, where their compatriots of the 12th and 20th Infantry Divisions awaited them around Alexandreia. The last Greek units would join this new defensive line on April 29th. In the meantime, the French of the 1st DB and the New Zealanders of the 2nd Infantry Division, after exacting their bloody toll, also withdrew from the Vardar Valley to their new positions near Veroia. Despite giving the Germans a beating, these units still had suffered casualties, and while it was impossible to ask for the 1st DB to leave the line in case of an exploitation by the German Panzers, the 2nd New Zealand Infantry was withdrawn to Volos and replaced on the line with an amalgamation of the Yugoslav infantry divisions most capable of fighting and the 6th Australian Division.
In Albania, the Axis offensive had also stalled. The 5th Light Division was tired by almost an entire month of constant fighting, and the 7th Armoured was not going to break. Despite the Italians trying to push in the mountains, they had not breached the Fier-Kucove-Pogradec line.
List had had enough. His forces were also tired after such an effort, and his Panzers needed reorganisation. Hitler was not pleased, but had to relent. The Allied defensive line along the Aliakmon now appeared fully, and was extremely intimidating. So intimidating, in fact, that Hitler ordered the transfer of the reserve SS-
Das Reich division to the front. This division, still not fully operational after the French campaign, would have to assist the 2nd and 11th Panzer Divisions in breaching the Allied line. On the Albanian front, the Italians would have to make a diversion, to try and get the Allies to commit some reserves, notably by an amphibious assault on the rear, at Corfu or Preveza. And German intelligence was clear: there wasn’t a single division after the Aliakmon, except for a few Greek conscripts! A breakthrough here would win the battle and we would be in Athens by the middle of May, right in time for Barbarossa!
An elated Hitler ordered a week’s break in offensive operations. On May 6th, the German troops would attack, and on May 15th, they would be in Athens!
Operation Marita, Order of Battle:
Axis (in order, from Fier to Alexandreia)
Albania Command (Ugo Cavallero)
VIII Corps (Carlo Rossi)
5th Light Division (Kirchheim)
37th Infantry Division
Modena (Gloria)
131st Armored Division
Centauro (Pizzolato)
48th Infantry Division
Taro (Pedrazzoli)
2nd Alpine Division
Tridentina (Santovito)
24th Infantry Division
Pinerolo (Zannini)
XXV Corps (Gabriele Nasci)
29th Infantry Division
Piemonte (Naldi)
49th Infantry Division
Parma (Adami)
38th Infantry Division
Puglie (D’Aponte)
19th Infantry Division
Venezia (Bonini)
5th Alpine Division
Pusteria (Esposito)
53rd Infantry Division
Arezzo (Ferone)
12th Armee (Wilhelm List)
XIV. PanzerKorps (Gustav von Wietersheim)
11th Panzer Division (Cruwell)
294th Infantry Division (Gabcke)
4th Mountain Division (Eglseer)
60th Motorised Division (Eberhardt)
XL. Armeekorps (Georg Stumme)
73rd Infantry Division (Bieler)
SS-
Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Division (Dietrich)
SS-
Das Reich Motorised Division (Hausser)
XVIII. Armeekorps (Franz Bohme)
2nd Panzer Division (Veiel)
5th Mountain Division (Ringel)
6th Mountain Division (Schorner)
72nd Infantry Division (Muller-Gebhard)
125th Infantry Division (Schneckenburger)
XXX. Armeekorps (Otto Hartmann)
50th Infantry Division (Hollidt)
164th Infantry Division (Folttmann)
In reserve:
3rd Alpine Division
Julia (Girotti)
101st Motorized Division
Trieste (Piazzoni)
GroBdeutschland Motorized Regiment (Von Stockhausen)
16th Panzer Division (Hube)
Allies
Allied Army in Greece (Alexandros Papagos)
Albania Army Group (Panagiotis Demestichias)
British Corps (Harold Wilson)
7th Armoured Division (Creagh)
10th Indian Infantry Division (Fraser)
I Corps (Georgios Kosmas)
8th Infantry Division (Katsimitros)
2nd Infantry Division (Mantakas)
3rd Infantry Division (Tsakalotos)
17th Infantry Division (Davakis)
Epirus Army Group (Ioannis Pitsikas)
II Corps (Dimitri Papadopoulos)
1st Infantry Division (Vrachnos)
Cavalry Division (Sanotas)
1st Mountain Brigade (Moutousis)
13th Infantry Division (Manetas)
11th Infantry Division (Demaratos)
III Corps (Georgios Tsolakolgou)
9th Infantry Division (Psarros)
10th Infantry Division (Dimaratos)
15th Infantry Division (Kaslas)
Allied Expeditionary Corps in Greece (Richard O’Connor)
XIII Corps (Brian Horrocks)
6th Infantry Division (Evetts)
6th Australian Infantry Division (Herring)
50th Yugoslav Infantry Division (Naumovic)
20th Yugoslav Infantry Division (Brasic)
Franco-Belgian Corps (Henri Dentz)
86th Division d’Infanterie d’Afrique (Cazaban)
1st Division d’Infanterie (Magrin-Verneret)
1st Division Blindée (De Larminat)
2nd Belgian Infantry Division (Janssens)
34th Yugoslav Infantry Division (Cukavac)
Eastern Macedonia Army Group (Konstantinos Bakopoulos)
12th Infantry Division (Karambatos)
18th Infantry Division (Stergiopoulos)
19th Mechanized Division (Lioumbas)
20th Infantry Division (Karassos)
In reserve:
4th Greek Infantry Division (Georgoulas)
5th Greek Infantry Division (Giatzis)
6th Greek Infantry Division (Bakos)
51st
Highland Infantry Division (Ritchie)
2nd New Zealand Infantry Division (Freyberg)
5th, 8th and 22nd Yugoslav Infantry Divisions (all are at most at 40% strength)
Yugoslav 2nd Cavalry Division (55% strength)