254: Greece Pt. 6 - The Invasion Begins
From History of the Second World War by Wesley Livesay
April 15, 2026 · 24 min · Season 4 · Episode 66
About this episode
The episode discusses the beginning of the German invasion of Greece during World War II, focusing on Operation Marita and the challenges faced by Greek and Allied forces.
On April 6th, 1941, Germany launched Operation Marita, the invasion of Greece, with the 12th Army under General List striking primarily through the newly conquered territory of Yugoslavia to outflank the well-prepared Greek Metaxas Line. The opening days of the attack were harder than the Germans expected — the Greeks defended stubbornly along the Metaxas Line, particularly at the Rupel Pass, but flanking movements soon made those positions untenable, and the vital port of Salonika fell after just three days of fighting. Meanwhile, the British were dealt a serious blow when a Luftwaffe raid on the port of Piraeus set off an ammunition ship, closing the harbor for two critical days, while intelligence intercepts revealed German forces pushing through the Monastir Gap to envelop the British Aliakmon Line. What followed was a grinding fighting retreat southward by Allied forces through the Servia and Olympus passes toward the historic pass at Thermopylae, with ANZAC troops buying time against an advancing German army that was better supplied, better supported from the air, and ultimately impossible to stop — raising the alarming question of whether any evacuation from Greece could…
People in this episode
Host: Wesley Livesay
Topics covered
- World War II
- Greece
- military history
- German invasion
- Allied forces
- Operation Marita
Keywords
- Greece
- Operation Marita
- World War II
- German invasion
- Allied retreat
- Metaxas Line
- Salonika
- ANZAC
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Germany, ANZAC
Places: Greece, Yugoslavia, Salonika, Piraeus, Monastir Gap, Aliakmon Line, Servia, Olympus, Thermopylae
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