Battle of GreeceHitler later blamed the failure of his invasion of the Soviet Union, hich had to be delayed, on Mussolini's failed conquest of Greece.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_GreeceThe testament of Adolf Hitler"There's no doubt about it—we have no luck with the Latin races!...a friend— took advantage of my preoccupation to set in motion his disastrous campaign against Greece."
archive.org/stream/TheTestamentOfAdolfHitler/TOAH_djvu.txtItaly's Invasion of GreeceMussolini was unhappy in the summer of 1940. Sure, his German counterpart and trusted ally had just conquered France — but he was desperate to get in on the action and not miss the bus. What's more, he wanted to prove to Hitler and the world that Italy was the real deal. To that end, Mussolini unilaterally decided to invade Greece.
"Hitler always faces me with a fait accompli," he confided to his brother-in-law, "This time I am going to pay him back in his own coin. He will find out from the newspapers that I have occupied Greece."
The campaign commenced on October 28, 1940, but things did not go well. The Greeks immediately counterattacked, forcing the 530,000 Italian troops back. In March 1941, a subsequent Italian counterattack likewise failed. Embarrassed for his Italian ally, and eager to see the situation settle in the Balkans, Hitler came to the rescue, culminating in the complete defeat of Greece on April 23, 1941.
But the damage was done. Germany was forced to commit troops during a time when it could ill afford to do so. It forced Germany to delay its attack on Russia by five weeks — a precious amount of time that could have precluded the Wehrmacht from having to fight during the Russian winter. Indeed, Hitler was inclined to agree during the last days of the Reich, blaming Mussolini for the delayed attack on Russia, and Germany's subsequent defeat.
Adolf Hitler himself ordered that no Greek soldier shall be taken prisoner and that those who were, were to be released immediately out of respect of their bravery.[2]
The diary of Joseph Goebbels 9 April 1941: “I forbid the Press to underestimate the Greeks, to defame them…. The Führer admires the bravery of Greeks.”[4]
Hitler’s Chief of Staff, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel stated during the Nuremberg Trials, “the unbelievably strong resistance of 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 in the eastern front and in the war in general.”[1]
The words of Hitler himself, spoken in 1944 to the famous German photographer and cinematographist Lenie Riffenstahl, as she relates in her memoirs: “The entrance of Italy to the War was proven catastrophic for us. Had the Italians not attacked Greece and had they not needed our help, the War would have taken a different course. We would have had time to capture Leningrad and Moscow, before the Russian cold weather set in.”
DURATION OF RESISTANCE (in days):
Greece 219
Norway 61
France 43 (The superpower at the time)
Poland 30
Belgium 18
Holland 4
Yugoslavia 3
Denmark 0 (The Danes surrendered to Hitler's motorcyclist who was conveying Hitler's request to the Danish king for the crossing of the Nazi armies. The Danish king indicating submission surrendered his crown to the motorcyclist)
Czechoslovakia 0
Luxenburg 0
TOTAL GREEK CASUALTIES IN WWII BY COUNTRY:
Albanians killed 1,165 Greeks
Italians killed 8,000 Greeks
Bulgarians killed 25,000 Greeks
Germans killed 50,000 Greeks
TOTAL LOSES IN POPULATION PERCENTAGES:
Greece 10%
Soviet Union 2.8%
Holland 2.2%
France 2% (The superpower at the time)
Poland 1.8%
Yugoslavia 1.7%
Belgium 1.5%
