How did Italy FAIL to Invade Greece? The Armchair Historian (US Soldier Reacts)

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

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[@johnshaw6326]

Good analysis yet again. Thank you Kylie.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@johnshaw6326 thank you! I appreciate it. And please remember that you are always welcome to suggest videos and content 🙂

[@FLORATOSOTHON]

The Italians attacked with two Army Corps of three divisions each of about 11000 men, opposing the Greek 8th division to the west and 9th division to the east of Pindus mountain range, with four more divisions in reserve. The peace time strength of the Greek divisions was about 6000 men, but the 8th division was brought up to its full strength of about 11000 men, through a secret mobilization prior to the Italian attack. In the center, in the Pindus sector, the Italians attacked with the Julia Alpine division of 10800 men, against 2000 Greeks of the Davakis Regiment. The main Italian thrust was on the West against the 8th division and the center in the Pindus sector, while they kept a defensive posture to the East. The Julia division made the furthest advance and nearly broke the front, but the Greek General staff realizing the danger, sent all available reinforcements to col. Davakis and the Italian division was contained. To the west the Greek 8th division, under general Katsimitros held the Italian offensive at the Kalamas river line. The Greek General Staff had prepared plans for a combined attack from Italy in Albania and Bulgaria to the Metaxas line forts, that was called plan IB-A (Italy-Bulgaria). This plan involved the defensive line at Kalamas river by the 8th division. Later, given the Italian supremacy in forces and modern equipment the defensive plan was revised as plan IB-B further south and General Katsimitros was ordered to retreat to this defensive line. General Katsimitros replied that he was going to give too much ground to the Italians and assured that the Italians would not pass through his division. The General staff replied that he was free to select plan IB-A or IB-B at his discretion. Following this, General Katsimitros remained in the Kalamas river line and issued a no retreat order to his division, ordering everyone to fight and die were they stood. The Italian offensive was halted by the 8th division, but it was in the Pindus sector were the Greek counter attack begun against the Julia Alpine division. Col. Davakis and his reinforced regiment were the ones to give the first Allied victory on the ground, in Europe during WW2, however Col. Davakis was seriously injured in the chest, while in a reconnaissance patrol of the front line two days before and he did not lead the successful counter attack of his regiment, that broke the back of the Italian Alpine division. After Greece was occupied, Col. Davakis was discovered by the Italians in an Athens hospital and was shipped to Italy as a POW. However the ship transporting him was sunk in the Adriatic by an allied submarine and Col. Davakis drowned. His body was found in Corfu and he is currently buried in the First Athens Cemetery.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@FLORATOSOTHON he survived the battle just to die by friendly fire. That is tragic…. I do appreciate your insight…and wow, that was a lot of men involved in the fighting on both sides.

[@FLORATOSOTHON]

@@JustAnotherArmyVet The Albanian front was 180 Km long, from the Ionian sea to the Yugoslav border in the Prespa lakes. The numbers mentioned were for the first few days, after the mobilization was completed by November, Greece had 14 infantry divisions at the Albanian front and each side had about 250 000 to 300 000 troops in Albania. Greece had one more motorized division in the Yugoslav border and 5 more infantry divisions at the Bulgarian border plus the Metaxas line fort troops of about 10 000 men. When Germany attacked Greece, in April, there were 60 000 Greek troops opposing 680 000 German troops of the Army Group South. A part of these troops was diverted to attack Yugoslavia that was supposed to have the strongest Army in the Balkans, 800 000 man strong. However Yugoslavia did not have the time to fully mobilize, while being attacked from all sides by German, Austrian Hungarian and Italian forces causing it to collapse so fast, that a German officer noted that it was like going on parade. Besides the German superiority, they failed to break through the forts of the Metaxas line for three days, when they bypassed the Greek forces from the Yugoslav border in the Struma river valley, taking Thessaloniki and cutting off the Metaxas line forts. The Greek troops surrendered the third day, only when they were ordered to do so by the 1st Army Macedonian Sector Command that was based in Thessaloniki, informing them that the Germans had gone through and cut them off, so it was pointless to resist and should save them selves for the future. What is notable is that because of the rugged Greek terrain, the Germans run out of spare tires and had to halt their advance south until they could replenish their stocks. Things like that were of importance regarding the delay of operation Barbarossa until the end of the battle of Crete on June 1st. According to the German plans all three Army Groups (North, Center and South) were supposed to attack the Soviet Union simultaneously, so operation Barbarossa could not start, before Army Group South could disengage from the Balkans and get refurbished and resupplied.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@FLORATOSOTHON I think the Greece’s delay of Operation Barbosa was more significant than people give them credit for…

[@FLORATOSOTHON]

@@JustAnotherArmyVet Well, all of these guys tend to agree with you: "For the sake of historical truth I must verify that only the Greeks, of all the adversaries who confronted us, fought with bold courage and highest disregard of death." - Adolf Hitler “The Greeks delayed by two or more vital months the German attack against Russia; if we did not have this long delay, the outcome of the war would have been different.” - Hitler’s Chief of Staff, Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel "If there had not been the virtue and courage of the Greeks, we do not know which the outcome of World War II would have been." - Winston Churchill "The magnificent struggle of Greece, was the first big turn of WWII"- George VI, King of Great Britain 1936-1952 "I am sorry because I am getting old and I shall not live long to thank the Greek People, whose resistance decided WWII." - Joseph Stalin "I am unable to give the proper breadth of gratitude I feel for the heroic resistance of the People and the leaders of Greece." - Charles de Gaul "On the 28th of October 1940 Greece was given a deadline of three hours to decide on war or peace but even if a three day or three week or three year were given, the response would have been the same. The Greeks taught dignity throughout the centuries. When the entire world had lost all hope, the Greek people dared to question the invincibility of the German monster raising against it the proud spirit of freedom." - Franklin D. Roosevelt “Regardless of what future historians will say, if it was not for the Greeks, the outcome of World War II would have been undecided.“ - Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@ other then the quote by Hitler, I had not heard any of those other quotes before. I appreciate you sharing.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

My grandma told me that when the Italians came to Piraeus, they were holding flowers. They didn't want to fight, and they were forced to be there, at least the specific soldiers. On Salamina island, Grandpa was fighting and pushing the Italians to the sea while they were swimming to reach Megara. But there they were ambushed by local fighters, and they never walked again on dry land. Sad years for everyone back then, with the ordinary people having the greatest impact on every side.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

We need to preserve stories like that. Thanks for sharing ❤️🙏

[@pan_bev_nice5960]

Pls make a video about Fort Roupel…

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@pan_bev_nice5960 I found this video and a few short movie clips. Can you find anything better videos on it? kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4G5moSierB4pMUsi=JocJJka-_kXZZFWu

[@geogr13]

Metaxas and Marshal Papagos had prepared the Greek army very well. They had been expecting an Italian attack since 1938. They had also built a large fortification (Fort Metaxas) in the area of ​​eastern Macedonia. However, when Metaxas died, a pro-German government took over which handed over the weapons to the Germans almost without a fight. This contributed to the great rise of the communists and the disastrous results of the civil war of 1944-1949.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@geogr13 thank you for your insight. I did not realize that. 👍

[@karendavidson4897]

Thank you I enjoyed that, love listening to your comments.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@karendavidson4897 awe thanks for your kind words and support. I’m glad you found value 🤗

[@letitiabeausoleil4025]

Call to arms, banners fly in the wind

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@letitiabeausoleil4025 👍💙

[@derrickduncanson9253]

Just subscribed, to help a fellow vet get to 10,000. FYI, my fav fat Electrician, Sgt reckless, and devil duck. LOL

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

Thanks Battle! What branch were you in? I just reacted to my first Fat Electrician video last week! He is awesome! I definitely react to more in the future.

[@derrickduncanson9253]

@JustAnotherArmyVet told you, teufelhunden doc. LOL

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

Ah yes. Sorry. I didn’t remember your username. I gets lots of comments

[@derrickduncanson9253]

@JustAnotherArmyVet all good sister doc.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

🙂👍

[@phalanga1821]

Metaxas was a good leader. He prepared Greece as good he could for war. He prevented communism in Greece and he asked his fellow Greek not to hunt minorities(especially Jews) in an letter to the Greek Version of YMCA, EON(Ethniki Organosi Neoleas which means National Organization of Youth). He was a Dictatory yes. But he never oppressed anyone. Historians doing wrong to compare him with the Austrian Painter or Mussolini.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@phalanga1821 I would not compare him to the other dictators at that time. Agreed. 👍

[@phalanga1821]

@JustAnotherArmyVet I was not talking about you but historians, especially our historians, call him a Yatzi or Fascist. And their ignorance for historical facts is really annoying.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@phalanga1821 thanks. Yes, I understood what you were saying . 🙂💙

[@anlerden4851]

I love Greece and Italy so much Dear Kylie My Dear Beautiful Female American Soldier Friend You are so great and sweet friend for me.🥰😍🤗❤🤍💙💯

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

Hello my dear friend! I hope you had a great weekend! Thanks for watching and for your support. I really appreciate it ❤️🤗💙🙂

[@krishna_pandey24]

Someting that really helped hitler was thwt soviets laid european gauge railways in prepration future invasion of europe when germans get weak fighting the western allied this act of bumbling idioacy helped german logistics when it could have hamperd it much furthur😅

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@krishna_pandey24 I had never heard that before. Thanks for sharing !

[@primarchxi6639]

I do not agree at all with this extremely poor presentation of the Greco-Italian war in this video! There are so many things we can tell, and war events to talk about where you would be totally speechless of what happened there! Allow me to point out few things: No matter what problems the italians had the fact is that they had waaay more troops, well trained, like the elite Division Julia, very well equipped, with huuge gun superiority, and on the other side, we have the poorly equipped Greek soldier. Also, he mentions of an English help.. WHAT HELP?? Metaxas, as an experienced officer he was, kept a neutral stance and as long as he was alive NEVER excepted any kind of help, cause he knew this would provoke the Germans, which happend after his, mysterious, death, but thats another story... Thanks to his leadership Greeks managed to stay, not only alive against the Italian invasion, but also defended their homeland against the super war machine Germany was at the time, with outstanding bravery, to the point where Germans could NOT pass the defensive lines and managed to get in Greece ONLY after they had a deal with Bulgaria, something that allowed them to to go around the lines! And for last, there is the legendary Battle of Hill (Height) 731, now known as 726, cause it went down a few meters after the war... Never again in history so much fire power was gathered in such small area! I will give you some links to study if you like... Too bad there are no English subbed videos of the events so you could better understand what happened in this war! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Italian_War en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hill_731

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@primarchxi6639 thanks for sharing your insight. I do know all about the battle till 731. I wish I could find a good video on it in English. 👍

[@primarchxi6639]

@@JustAnotherArmyVet Thank you for your reply aswell, and as i said i really wish there was English subbed videos of Greek productions about this war, where you can see veterans talking about the events aswell.

[@Iamjustabirdinthesky]

The Italians failed because like today they think they are superior. And they where superior in numbers and weapons against Greece but there is a but the Greek fighting Spirit is something else since ancient times no need to start talking about Alexander the Great or Leonidas etc

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

The Greek fighting spirit is not something to underestimate….

[@matthewcharles5867]

The Italian army had a lot of pretty ordinary and outright bad weapons and vehicles.

[@JustAnotherArmyVet]

@@matthewcharles5867 what kind of bad weapons? Were they outdated as well?

[@matthewcharles5867]

@JustAnotherArmyVet a good example is there breda machine guns along with the heavy fiat mgs. Bad design features such as permanent attached 20 round magazine fed by stripper clips with a oiler for lubrication of the cartridges. Caused a hots of problems. The light tankettes were underpowered and armed with the same shit mgs. They used a lot of ww1 stuff as did most army's to be honest. We actually used a few of there m40 tanks after we captured them at bardia no radios in them didn't help much . They were pretty susceptible to our 2 pounder anti tank guns, the Aussies at that time had few tanks ( 6 matilda tanks in total)so we borrowed the average Italian ones. At bardia we lost around 460 men the Italians lost 40,000 along with a heap of gear and supplies including over 400 artillery pieces. The Japanese had similar set-up in one of there machine guns it has hopper fed from stripper clips and worked well also had the automatic lubrication system for the cartridges. The Italians tended to complicate things instead of making something that was simple and easy to use.

[@Iamjustabirdinthesky]

@@JustAnotherArmyVet 💪❤️