Battle of Greece

The Battle of Greece (also known as Operation Marita, German: Unternehmen Marita) is the common name for the invasion and conquest of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941. Greece was supported by the British Commonwealth forces, while the Germans' Axis allies Italy and Bulgaria played secondary roles. The Battle of Greece is usually distinguished from the Greco-Italian War fought in northwestern Greece and southern Albania from October 1940, as well as from the Battle of Crete fought in late May. These operations, along with the Invasion of Yugoslavia, comprise the Balkans Campaign of World War II.

The Balkans Campaign began with the Italian invasion of Greece on 28 October 1940. Within weeks, the Italians were driven out of Greece and Greek forces pushed on to occupy much of southern Albania. In March 1941, a major Italian counterattack failed, and Germany was forced to come to the aid of its ally. Operation Marita began on 6 April, with German troops invading Greece through Bulgaria in an effort to secure its southern flank. The combined Greek and British Commonwealth forces fought back with great tenacity, but were vastly outnumbered and outgunned, and finally collapsed. Athens fell on 27 April.a The Greek campaign ended in a quick and complete German victory with the fall of Kalamata in the Peloponnese; by the end of that month some 50000 British and Commonwealth troops had been evacuated, and a further 7000 were taken into captivity. The conquest of Greece was completed through the capture of Crete a month later.

Some historians regard the German campaign in Greece as decisive in determining the course of World War II, maintaining that it fatally delayed the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. Others hold that the campaign had no influence on the launching of Operation Barbarossa.