The+Battle+of+Greece

The Italians were desperately trying to make a name for themselves. With 8 million bayonets under arms, the Italian nation thought they were invincible. This drove the Italians to conquer parts of Europe along with its much superior ally Germany. This eventually led to the Italian invasion of Greece, which turned out to be a great military blunder on the part of the Italians. After two major attacks and counterattacks, the Italians were desperate. They were losing men by the thousands. In total, the Greek campaign cost the Italians about 39,000 men out of their original force of 565,000 soldiers. Mind you, by the end of the second Italian offensive, the Germans were fed up with the Italian failures. They decided to move to the aid of its Italian ally. This was lucky on the part of the Italians as they were getting mauled by the combined forces of the British and the Greeks (the British had come to support Greece as they said it was the "birthplace of democracy" and had to be protected). The German attack was not expected. It surprised and shocked the Allies in that the Germans could attack so swiftly and in such numbers. This had overwhelmed both the Greek and British positions and began to look like another French campaign. The Germans, holding air supremacy and a superior quality in troops advanced on the British and Greek (which substitutes French) positions. The Allies are routed and are forced to the coast. This story that I have just told is actually not inaccurate to the historical events that happend during the Battle of Greece. The Germans had attacked from the north with a superiority in tanks and aircraft over the British and Greeks. This overwhelming force shattered British and Greek defences and forced them to retreat farther down the peninsula, eventually reaching the capital and area known as Thermopylae. Thermopylae has a certain historical importance. This was the site of a battle where a mere 300 Spartan warriors (and 7,000 some odd troops that were swept aside) held off a large Persian force commanded by King Xerxes I. This event is repeated in history, This time though by the New Zelanders and the Australians. A mere two brigades held off the many divisions of the German army for one whole day, long enough so that The main Allied force could retreat and move off the peninsula of Greece.