In the early morning hours of October 28, 1940, the Italian ambassador to Athens, Emmanuel Gracie, went to the home of the Greek Prime Minister John Metaxasin order to deliver him the telegraphic interpretation with which the Italian government It required Greece to occupy strategic points in its territories. Metaxas’s refusal to satisfy the Italian request marked the explosion of Greek -Italian of 1940-1941. A few hours later, the Italian forces expressed their attack on the Greek -Albanian border. Alert for several days, Greek defenders of border prisoners were not taken aback by its attack October 28although they were forced to succeed in better positions in the coming days, due to the heavy Italian fires.
Since November 1, however, business evolution has begun to rise. Greek forces expressed their counterattackwhich the Italian divisions failed to deal with success, resulting in a retreat behind the Greek -Albanian border. Soon, businesses were transferred to Albanian territories. The Greek Armed Forces They managed to release many of the cities and villages of Northern Epirus Throughout the winter of 1940-1941. Despite the severe cold, the Greek soldiers serving on the front had a high mind, with the support of Greek society.
The inability of the Italians to cause a decisive blow to Greece was pointed out by the German leadership in her meeting with Mussolini in January 1941.
On the other hand, in the Italian camp the prevailing climate was heavy. Despite the optimistic plans of the Italian staff, the war with Greece had not evolved into a “walk” to Athens. Italian divisions had suffered Significant losses in human lives and war equipmenthaving receded tens of kilometers within the Albanian soil. The morale of the Italian soldiers was dragged. At the same time, the mistakes of military leadership in the field of logo began to become apparent. The Italian inability of the Italians to cause a decisive blow to Greece was pointed out by the German leadership at her meeting with Mussolini in January 1941 in Salzburg.
In early 1941, the Italians began planning their new major attack on the Greek forces in Albania, whose ultimate goal was to collapse the defense of the Greeks. The Italian leadership wished to prove to its strongest ally, Germany And to Hitler personally, that he could subdue an inferior and army equipment. Ten divisions were transported to Albania – which were added to the existing fifteen – war equipment, vehicles and tanks. By order of Mussolini, all of Italy’s political and military leadership as well as the leaders of the fascist party went to Albania in order to take immediate armed action. At the end of February, the Italians were ready to launch their attack by name Offensiva di Primavera (Spring attack).
In the first three hours, the Italian guns fired about 100,000 missiles against Greek positions.
At 6.30am on the morning of March 9, 1941, the Italians launched their major attack, with the artillery across the front of the front, which was stretched out by the units of the Greek Army Corps. It is estimated that in the first three hours of the attack, the Italian guns fired about 100,000 missiles against Greek positions on the front. In spite of the severity of the bombardment, Greek units were not taken aback by showing strong resistance. One of the toughest battles during the Spring attack of the Italians was held at 731 and 717, advanced positions of Greeks on Albanian territory.
The Italian attack failed to break up the Greek defense. After March 25th, the Italians’ attempt to cause a major blow to the Greek lines began to be intentional. The losses of the March battle for the Greek side were 1,243 dead and 4,016 wounded, while for the Italian they were 11,800 dead and unknown number of wounded.
Column: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poumenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
