WWII in Greece

Original artwork from the war.
Displayed at Moni Megalou, Meteora 

Greece was greatly affected by WWII. The Italians wanted to prove that their army was strong and capable, so they decided to attack Greece because they thought that it would be easy. When they tried to invade, Greece successfully fought them off and pushed them back. The Italian failure forced Hitler to attack Greece and he succeeded. After the German invasion they stayed there for the whole war and made life miserable for the Greeks.

The war with the Italians in Greece started after the Italians torpedoed the Greek cruiser called Elli in the 15th of August 1940 in the harbor of the Greek island Tinos which killed tons of people. Then on October 28th 1940 the Italian minister in Athens gave a letter saying that Greece has to let the Italian army occupy its country or they would invade. The Greeks refused so the Italians invaded from Albania thinking it would be an easy victory, but it wasn’t easy or a victory. The Greeks fought back and in six weeks they pushed the Italians back into Albania. This is very humiliating for the Axis so to get the job done Hitler had to stop getting ready for invading Russia to go invade Greece. First the Greeks asked if they could make a truce between Greece and Italy, but on the 6th of April 1941, the German Army invaded Greece. The new Greek Prime minister, Alexander Korysis, committed suicide when the Germans invaded.

Italian war propaganda.
Displayed at Moni Megalou Meteorou, Meteora

The Greeks and the British army didn’t have a chance in defeating the Germans who overwhelmed. The Greek army and the British Expeditionary force, which had New Zealanders and Australians, retreated to Crete. They helped the local people in defending the island from the Nazis. The Greeks and British had a last stand in Crete but were overwhelmed there. Once Crete fell the Germans were done with their invasion. The remains of the Greeks and British were then evacuated to Egypt while Greece was occupied by Germans, Italians, and Bulgarians.

Moni Preveli, Crete. Soldiers awaited submarines after the
Germans captured Crete. 

When the Germans had entered Athens on the 27th of April 1941 they ordered one of the Guardians, called an Evzone, of the Greek flag, which flew on top of the Acropolis, to take it down. He obeyed and took it down but then wrapped it around himself and jumped off the fortress and fell to his death. This was the first sign of rebellion in the city. Then about a month later two eighteen year old boys, Manolis Glezos and Apostolis Santas, tore down the Nazi flag where the Greek flag should be, on top of the Acropolis. This was a very brave thing to do, it also said that Greece won’t be so easy to occupy.

The Germans stayed in Greece from 1941 to 1944. They had taken over all of the Greeks resources, so tons of people starved and died. Throughout the war the Greeks started a resistance that attacked and sabotaged German camps. Because of this the Germans got really angry and brutally retaliated causing hundreds of thousands of deaths from starvation. Since the rebellion was made up of communists and non-communists there was a civil war right after WWII was over.

During my travels in Greece, I went to Kalambaka which was heavily bombed in WWII and has since been rebuilt. Outside of Kalambaka there is a town called Meteora where there are monasteries hidden on top of huge rocks. During the war, this was also bombed and today one of the monasteries has a museum with original artwork and soldier uniforms. Also in the Southern part of Crete there is a monastery, Moni Preveli, where Allied soldiers hid and took submarines to Egypt. While we were driving there we saw a memorial with a statue of a priest and soldier holding guns.

Memorial. Moni Preveli, Crete. 

WWII greatly affected Greece. The Greeks heroically defended their homeland from the Italian army, only to be overwhelmed by the super powerful German military machine. Once the Germans left in 1945 they had already staged a brutal occupation that left behind 800,000 corpses.


Bibliography:

· Matt Barrett, Greece in the 2nd World War, http://www.ahistoryofgreece.com/worldwarII.htm

· C. Peter Chen, World War II Database, http://ww2db.com/country/Greece

· Ron Soodalter, Greek Tragedy: Civil War During World War II, 1/25/2017, http://www.historynet.com/greek-tragedy-civil-war-during-world-war-ii.htm