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Greece |
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March-April 1941 In early March 1941, Australian military units began arriving by troopship in mainland Greece from North Africa. Eventually, some 17,100 men and women of the 6th Division and 1 Australian Corps troops, along with British, New Zealand and Greek forces, stood against the German invasion of Greece which began at 5.30 am on 6 April 1941. For the Allies, the campaign was to prove a disaster. Within three weeks the Germans were in Athens and what remained of the British led force had been hurriedly withdrawn back to Egypt or to the island of Crete. The final decision to commit troops, including the Australians, to Greece was made by the British War Cabinet on 24 February 1941 in the presence of the Australian Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies. Both Menzies, and General Thomas Blamey, commander 1 Australian Corps, had severe reservations about the expedition but, on 27 February, Australia's participation was endorsed by the Australian Cabinet. Menzies felt the Allies could not leave the Greeks 'in the lurch' and the perilous decision to commit forces to Greece's defence was 'a great risk in a good cause'. The first Australians to face the German Army on the mainland of Europe since October 1918 were the men of the 2/3rd Field Regiment. As the infantry trucks of the SS Adolf Hitler division pushed south from the Yugoslav border down the Florina Valley, the 2/3rd opened fire and destroyed five of them. During 11 and 12 April, 'Mackay Force' - 2/3rd Field Regiment, 2/4th and 2/8th Battalions and other Allied units - commanded by Major General Ivan Mackay AIF held back the Germans long enough to allow British and Greek forces further back to retreat to a new defence line at the Aliakmon River. Greek resistance in the country's northeastern provinces of Thrace and Eastern Macedonia had already been broken by German units invading from Bulgaria and Greece's second city, Thessaloniki, was soon to fall. 'Mackay Force' was quickly forced back to Sotir where its tanks of the 1st Armoured Brigade (British) engaged and delayed the German Panzers in the only full scale tank battle of the campaign. As 'Mackay Force' fell back, the 6th Division's 16th Brigade (2/1st, 2/2nd and 2/3rd Battalions) also withdrew from positions high up in the mountains of the Veria Pass overlooking Thessaloniki and the Axios Valley. From there they had had a fine view of the fires created by the German advance down the valley towards the city. By 15 April all Allied units had reached their new defensive positions along the so-called Olympus-Aliakmon Line. Events in Greece, however, were moving fast. Nowhere were the Allied armies a match for the large numbers of fast moving German Panzers whose progress was more hampered by congestion on the few and inadequate Greek roads than enemy activity. Moreover, the Germans ruled the skies and with some exceptions were able to bomb and strafe the retreating Allied armies at will. In north and western Greece (Epirus), the Greek armies threatened to collapse and open the British forces to a flanking attack. The decision was made, therefore, to retreat over the central plain back to a so-called Thermopylae Line in the southeast. Between 15 and 20 April, as the long lines of Allied military transports fled south from Elasson to Larissa, from Larissa to Lamia and then southwards through the Brallos Pass, they were harassed repeatedly by German air attacks. To the east, in the gorge created by the Pinios River (Tempe Gorge) in a desperate day and night battle on 18-19 April a mixed Australian and New Zealand force (21st New Zealand Brigade, 2/3rd Battalions held back the Germans long enough for the convoys to get clear. A similar action to the northwest in which the 2/3rd Filed Regiment played a prominent part held back the Panzers at the road over the Menexes Pass south of Larissa. By 20 April, virtually all Allied forces were through the Brallos Pass and beyond the Thermopylae Line. Nothing, however, short of a miracle could now stop the Germans. Greek willingness to resist on the mainland was waning daily and on 19 April the decision was made to remove the Allied force. As a staunch rearguard action between 21 and 24 April was mounted by Australians and New Zealanders at Brallos Pass and across the Thermopylae plain, ships of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy began the evacuation. Between 24 and 30 an assortment of naval and merchant ships removed thousands of men from ports such as Porto Rafti and Nafplion and beaches further south in the province of Pelponnesus to Crete and Egypt. As the Germans controlled the air many ships were attacked and one, the Costa Rica, was sunk. The light cruiser, HMAS Perth, and other smaller Australian warships played a prominent role in the evacuation. On 27 April the Germans entered Athens and, by the end of the month, the whole of the mainland was in their hands. The fighting in Greece cost Australian 320 dead and 2030 prisoners of war. However, the battle for Greece was not the end of the campaign for the 6th Division. As it ended, so the battle for Crete, for those who had been evacuated there, was about to begin. |
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