The WW2 German invasion of Greece was carried out under the secret code name 'Operation Marita'. It was successfully executed between April 6 and April 30, 1941, by the German 12th Army, which was led by Field Marshal Wilhelm List. The military campaign in the Balkans was fast as the German Army's armored divisions and the Luftwaffe's dive bombers moved quickly and deeply into Greek territory using Blitzkrieg tactics.
Rationale
The main reason for attacking Greece was Germany's military need of securing the southern flank of a future offensive against the Soviet Union, which would take place later that year. Hitler and the German High Command deemed it dangerous initiating such a large scale attack on Russia without conquering the Balkans first, since the British Army had already deployed military units there to support the Greek government.
At the behest of Benito Mussolini, Hitler's ally, the Italian Army had already tried to invade Greek on October 28, 1940, but its offensive ran out of steam as the Greek Army put up stiff resistance and the Italians got bogged down in Albania. Therefore, Germany came out to rescue the Italian units engaged in a long stalemate battle, and also to secure and thwart any potential British offensive northwards through the Balkans.
Summary
To invade Greece, the Wehrmacht's forces swept across Yugoslav on April 6, with the 12th Army's 2nd Panzer Division in the spearhead of the attack. The 1st SS Leibstandarte SS 'Adolf Hitler' Division was also at the vanguard of the offensive, reinforcing the German Army's units. By April 10, they had torn out huge gaps in the enemy front lines as the poured into northern Greece, with the Australian 6th Division being quickly put out of action.
As the Wehrmacht ground forces advanced southwards towards Athens and the Peloponnese peninsula, one by one the Greek and British Army's units were defeated by the mighty German divisions which advanced unrelenting. With the fire support of the Luftwaffe's flying artillery, the Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers, they moved like lightning, encircling and knocking out their enemies. On April 18, the New Zealanders were routed in mass.
On April 24, the British began evacuating their forces out of Greece. On April 26, the German paratroopers stormed and took the Isthmus of Corinth, cutting off the retreat of several British units. Although the Allies had evacuated around 40,000 troops by the end of April, the Germans surrounded and drove 20,000 enemy soldiers, making them prisoners of war. Finally, by April 30, the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS 'Adolf Hitler', under Sebb Dietrich, had captured the town of Patras in the Peloponnese.
Below, Waffen-SS troops in a captured Greek town
