1941: Greece

The Italian Débâcle.

Greece continued in 1941 its heroic and successful struggle against Italian aggression, but was finally overwhelmed by a superior German army in April 1941 and has since been under German and Italian occupation. The year 1941 opened with the Greek armies still triumphantly pushing the Italian invaders back deep into Albania, where for many weeks the battle raged around the mountain fastness of Tepeleni. In all probability the Greeks were right in expecting to be able to conquer Albania during 1941 and to restore the independence of that country which had been occupied by Italy on Good Friday in 1939. Although the Italians tried a powerful counter-offensive in March 1941, which was organized and supervised by Mussolini himself, in a vain effort to restore their military prestige, all their attacks were successfully repelled by the Greeks.

Preparation against German Aggression.

At that moment Greece found herself still in high spirits, in spite of the fact that the man who had successfully planned Greece's military defense, General John Metaxas, died unexpectedly on Jan. 29, after an illness of only a few days. He had received his military training in Germany, and was known as 'the little Moltke,' for his small size and unusually keen grasp of military matters. In 1915 he became chief of the Greek general staff. In the civil struggles in Greece after the First World War he showed monarchist tendencies and was named prime minister after the return of King George II. The premier showed great interest in the totalitarian doctrines of Spartan discipline and on Aug. 4, 1936, introduced a semi-Fascist, authoritarian régime in Greece. After Metaxas' death the King appointed Alexander Korizis, a former governor of the National Bank of Greece, as prime minister. The Greek government entered into negotiations with the British about possible support in the case that Greece should find herself attacked by Germany. Anthony Eden, the British foreign secretary, visited Athens at the beginning of March. In the same month British and Imperial troops, mostly Australian and New Zealanders withdrawn from the British front in Libya, landed in Greece to support the Greeks. Their numbers probably never exceeded 60,000, and they were weak in air support. In spite of this discrepancy of power the Greeks resolved not to give in but to accept the German challenge should it come. This spirit was best expressed in an address of the prime minister to the Greek youth movement on March 24. He said that the same beam of light that had guided the struggle for independence in 1821 was the beacon of Greece today, and that, though the struggle with Italy had begun on an unequal basis, the 'common man had been turned into a hero by the devout spirit burning within him. Greece is giving an example in leading the way toward freedom for the rest of Europe.'

German Invasion.

This Greek spirit held good even in the days of desperate struggle when the small Greek army found itself confronted not only with the power of Italy, so many times her superior in numbers and equipment, but also by the whole military might of the German war machine. The Germans, attacking Yugoslavia on Sunday, April 6, after having occupied Bulgaria, destroyed the communications between the Greek armies of Thrace and Epirus, and penetrated far into Greece. The heroic Greek and British defenders had to fall back until by April 23, the armies at Epirus and Macedonia under General Tsolakoglou had to surrender, while the British were still defending the famous historic Pass of Thermopylae protecting the approaches to Attica. On the same day King George II and his government evacuated Athens for Crete. Five days previously, Prime Minister Alexander Korizis had committed suicide after a nervous breakdown. The new prime minister, Emmanuel Tsouderos, in a proclamation on the day when he left for Crete, said to the Greek people: 'We are defending ourselves against an unfair aggression, but also against the unprecedented infamy on the part of an Empire of one hundred millions that struck us from the back in order to save its cowardly colleague and partner whom we had defeated. From the endurances of this hard struggle against our race, which is disapproved by all those who are morally superior and by the free peoples of the world who have expressed their disgust, we shall come out victorious, glorious and great. The moral power of our country has never reached such a height before.' The British army was then evacuated from Greece, not without serious losses. But even the position in Crete became soon subject to violent German attacks by air-borne troops. In view of their immense superiority in the air the Germans were able to defeat the British and Greek troops in Crete within eleven days, in May 1941, and to force the evacuation of the last Greek island. The Greek king and cabinet escaped to Egypt.

Meanwhile the German authorities set up in Athens a Greek administration under General Tsolakoglou who had signed the surrender of his Greek armies on April 23, without the previous knowledge or agreement of the Greek government. General Tsolakoglou was supported by a very small number of Greeks with Fascist or Nazi sympathies. Almost unanimously the Greek people continued to offer stubborn resistance to the invaders. They found themselves threatened by a growing scarcity of food; practically all the food supplies of the country had been carried off to Germany, and in many towns there was actual starvation in the latter part of 1941. Under these circumstances the Germans transferred the main burden of controlling the Greeks from their own shoulders to those of their Italian allies. While a number of German officers and administrators remained in the country to provide the necessary backbone for the maintenance of the 'New Order,' Italian troops took over the task of suppressing the rising discontent among the Greeks.

The important Greek provinces of Thrace and Macedonia were occupied by Bulgarian troops and incorporated into Bulgaria. Here open revolt broke out against the persecutions and atrocities committed by the Bulgarian authorities against the Greeks. According to all the reports which have come out of Greece in spite of the complete censorship and blackout of the German occupation, it is clear that the spirit of the Greek nation has remained unbroken and that they are looking forward to the day of their liberation. The many Greeks living abroad, especially in Egypt, are carrying on the struggle, and the legitimate Greek government under King George II continues to function as one of the Allied governments in the struggle conducted by all the free peoples in the world. The Greek government-in-exile is headed by Emmanuel Tsouderos, who resides in London, while vice-premier Admiral Alexander Sakellariou represents the government in the Middle East. A large part of the important Greek merchant fleet is still at the disposal of the Allies. Thus Greece has shared in 1941 the fate of the other valiant Balkan nation, Yugoslavia. The Greek government-in-exile entered into negotiations with the Yugoslav, Czechoslovak and Polish governments looking towards closer cooperation between these four countries after the war, envisaging common defense, harmonious foreign affairs and closest economic cooperation. Greece and Yugoslavia may be regarded as the cornerstones of the future Balkan entente of free peoples after this war. See also CRETE; WORLD WAR II; YUGOSLAVIA.