At 4:15 on the morning of 9 April 1940

[HFC_Dolphin]

Originally Posted by kimosabi

Here's how Europe looked near the end of 1940, Brits look a bit lonely there:......

Well, Greeks were there too, defeating Italians and forcing Germans to delay operation Barbarossa in order to conquer Greece.
Well fought war

[MD_Titus]

Good read that, thanks.

[Rickusty]

Originally Posted by HFC_Dolphin

Well, Greeks were there too, defeating Italians and forcing Germans to delay operation Barbarossa in order to conquer Greece.
Well fought war

It should more correct to say "stopping the Italian's attack", not actually defeating the Italian Army.

Tactical defensive victory, yes. Decisive victory, not.

More of a stalemate in that campaign: roughly the same losses in both Armies too.
Apart from the aggressive counter-attack (with superior numbers) of the Greek Army between November-January, from February on , the war on that front resembled a static trench-warfare.

At first the Greek Army was able to stop the Italian attack into northern Epirus.
Then, the Italian Army was able to stop the Greek from advancing further and succesfully neglected the possibility to let the Greeks conquer either Valona or Tepeleni, their main objectives in that campaign.

The Italian rather big counter-attack on the 9th March of 1941 was quite a disaster, and the the front-line remained actually the same before the German intervantion.

I've been studying this campaign for years: it's probably the most idiotic and criminal act of either Mussolini and his little nephew Ciano.
A criminal war, without reason, without preparation, that cost a lot of good Greek and Italian young lives for... nothing really.
It's my (and others too) convinction, that this campaign was the main reason the Italian people stopped being supportive of either the Government, Mussolini itself, and the war in general.

The Italian generals were in general incompetents; the humble italian soldiers were actually the ones that saved their butt (and prestige) in stopping the Greeks from kicking us out in the adriatic sea...

Well, it's another thread so...

Cheers

[HFC_Dolphin]

Rickusty, I was pointing more to that British were not alone yet
With regards to Italian's attack to Greece, in my point of view Italian army was defeated for the simple reason that they attacked Greece, failed and had to retreat under Greek army's counter-attack.
Simply said, Italian's objective failed, while Greek's objective was successful.

Anyway, this is history - now we're best friends and soon we'll be both allied against "enemies" in the Economic war taking place right now in Europe.
But that's another story.

By the way, getting back to original post, all I can say is thanks, it was a nice read and those photos were a nice addition!

[Rickusty]

Originally Posted by HFC_Dolphin

Anyway, this is history - now we're best friends and soon we'll be both allied against "enemies" in the Economic war taking place right now in Europe.
But that's another story.
[/B]

So true!

Cheers
Rick

[FlyingShark]

Interesting lesson, thank you.

~S~

[stanford]

Outstanding. Thank you for posting.

[Meusli]

Cheers Ltbear, like others have said it's a good read. Could you explain this bit more?

There is a huge controversy in Denmark about the 9th of April. From a week before the Invasion the Danish politicians knew that the attack would come the 8th or 9th of April. Still they send the coastal batteries personal on vacation and maintained peacetime status for most of the army.

Is there an implication they did this on purpose or was it just incompetence?

[Ltbear]

Originally Posted by Meusli

Cheers Ltbear, like others have said it's a good read. Could you explain this bit more?



Is there an implication they did this on purpose or was it just incompetence?

Well thats the problem, its the Danish version of "why was the carriers not at pearl harbour"

When looking at it it seems the Danish goverment "aloved" the Germans in, but they said no no no after the war. In mid 1930`s the Danish army was over 30.000 man strong, but in 1940 that number was down to around 8800. No proof of anything has been found, and even today this affect Danish politics. One side say no one helped the Germans with an easy take over and the other side say yes you did.

What is interesting is that no scientists are alowed to the Danish national archives unless the do there researtch with a positive attitude towards the sitting goverment in 1940...

Ya its wierd, but some documents are stil top secret even today...

strange world we live in lol...

LT

[kimosabi]

Originally Posted by Meusli

Is there an implication they did this on purpose or was it just incompetence?

They had to do it. Denmark, like Norway, never had enough personell in 1940 to deal with the Germans. Initially, Operation Barbarossa alone amassed over 4 million German soldiers. Just to put some perspective on it. Doesn't matter how competent you are if you try to resist something like the German army in 1940 when all you have is 1/100 of their force. It would have been suicide.

I think it was a good call. Heck, even the British and French didn't have personell enough to deal with the German Army in 1940, Germans almost pushed the British back in the sea in France. Dunkirk was the last bastion. Germans cut them some slack at Dunkirk, a three day halt order was given.

Dolphin, the British were pretty much the only participating European country which was never invaded during WW2. Greece fell to Germany in 24 days once the Germans came to aid Mussodawg.