Balkans campaign (World War II) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Balkans campaign |
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| Part of Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre of the Second World War | |||||||||
 German paratroopers on Crete in 1941 |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Germany (from April 1941) Hungary (from April 1941) |
Allies: Greece Yugoslavia (from April 1941) United Kingdom Australia New Zealand |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Pietro Badoglio Ubaldo Soddu Ugo Cavallero Vittorio Ambrosio Shefqet Vërlaci Wilhelm List Maximilian von Weichs Kurt Student Elemér Gorondy-Novák |
Ioannis Metaxas Alexandros Papagos Dušan Simović Milorad Petrović Henry Wilson Bernard Freyberg |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| 565,000 680,000 80,000 Total: 1,325,000 |
430,000 850,000 62,612 Total: 1,342,612 |
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The Balkans campaign was a series of important battles during World War II. It started when Italy invaded Greece on October 28, 1940. At first, the Italian attack didn't go well. Greek forces even pushed them back into Albania.
In early 1941, Germany decided to help Italy. Germany sent troops to Romania and Bulgaria. Their plan was to attack Greece from the east. Meanwhile, Britain and its allies sent soldiers and planes to help Greece defend itself.
A sudden change in government in Yugoslavia on March 27, 1941, made Adolf Hitler angry. He ordered his army to invade Yugoslavia too. The invasion of Yugoslavia by Germany and Italy began on April 6, 1941. At the same time, Germany launched a new attack on Greece. Hungary joined the invasion on April 11.
Yugoslavia surrendered quickly, by April 17. By April 30, most of mainland Greece was under German or Italian control. The fighting continued on the island of Crete. On May 20, Germany invaded Crete using paratroopers. By June 1, all remaining Greek and British forces on Crete had surrendered. Even though Bulgaria didn't fight in April, it later occupied parts of Yugoslavia and Greece for the rest of the war.
Contents
Why the Balkans Campaign Started
After World War I, the old Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary fell apart. Albania was a new country and looked to Italy for protection. In 1919, the world leaders at the Paris Peace Conference agreed that Albania should remain a single country. This was thanks to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.
However, after 1925, Italy's leader, Benito Mussolini, wanted to control Albania. In 1928, Albania became a kingdom under King Zog I. But King Zog couldn't stop Italy from gaining more power in Albania. On April 7, 1939, Mussolini's troops took over Albania. They removed King Zog and made Albania part of the Italian Empire. This showed Italy's growing desire for more land and power in the region.
Key Battles of the Campaign
The Greco-Italian War
The war between Italy and Greece started on October 28, 1940, and lasted until April 30, 1941. Italian forces invaded Greece, but they didn't get very far. Soon, the Greek army fought back hard. They pushed the Italians all the way back to the Albanian border.
The Italians spent the winter trying to hold their ground. They only controlled about two-thirds of Albania. In March 1941, Italy launched a big attack, hoping to win. But this attack also failed to gain much land. That's when Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, decided to step in. Germany invaded Greece in April, after successfully invading Yugoslavia.
The Invasion of Yugoslavia
The invasion of Yugoslavia, also called "Operation 25," began on April 6, 1941. It ended quickly on April 17, when the Yugoslav army surrendered. The Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Hungary) invaded and divided up Yugoslavia.
They created a new country called the "Independent State of Croatia." This new state included parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Syrmia. In other parts of Yugoslavia, like Serbia, Germany set up a government that followed their orders. Montenegro was taken over by Italy. Bulgaria was allowed to take over eastern parts of Yugoslavia, including most of what is now North Macedonia.
The Battle of Greece
Hitler started planning to invade Greece in November 1940. This was after British forces took control of the Greek islands of Crete and Lemnos. Hitler ordered the German invasion of Greece, code-named Operation Marita, to begin in March 1941. The main goal was to stop Britain from having air bases close to important oil fields in Romania.
On April 6, 1941, the German army invaded northern Greece. Other German forces also attacked Yugoslavia at the same time. By breaking through Yugoslav lines, Germany could send more troops to northern Greece. The German army went around the strong Greek defenses known as the Metaxas Line. Even with help from British soldiers, the Germans quickly moved to capture southern Greek cities. The Battle of Greece ended when German troops entered Athens and captured the Peloponnese region. About 40,000 Allied soldiers managed to escape to Crete. This led to one of the biggest airborne attacks in history, called Operation Merkur, or the Battle of Crete.
The Battle of Crete
On May 20, 1941, German paratroopers (soldiers who jump from planes) landed on the airfields of northern Crete. Their mission was to take control of the island. They faced strong resistance from Allied forces and the local people of Crete. However, the German forces eventually overwhelmed the defenders.
The British government ordered an evacuation on May 27, meaning their remaining forces should leave the island. The last Allied soldiers surrendered on June 1. The Germans won the battle, but they lost many paratroopers. These heavy losses convinced the German military leaders to stop planning large airborne operations for the rest of the war.
What Happened Next
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By June 1, 1941, all of Albania, Yugoslavia, and Greece were under the control of the Axis powers. Greece was divided and occupied by Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria. Yugoslavia was broken up and occupied by different Axis countries. Germany gained an important advantage: direct access to the Mediterranean Sea.
Bulgarian Occupation
Even though Bulgaria officially joined the Axis powers, its government did not take part in the invasion of Yugoslavia or the Battle of Greece on April 6, 1941. However, on April 20, the Bulgarian Army occupied parts of Western Thrace and the Greek province of Eastern Macedonia. These areas had already been conquered by Germany. Bulgaria wanted to get back its access to the Aegean Sea, which it had lost after World War I. Bulgarian troops also occupied much of eastern Serbia.
Resistance Movements
For the rest of the war, people in Yugoslavia, Greece, and Albania formed resistance movements. These groups fought against the German and Italian occupation. Because of these active resistance fighters, Germany and its allies had to keep hundreds of thousands of soldiers in these three countries. This meant those soldiers couldn't be sent to other battlefronts. Especially in Yugoslavia after 1943, the threat of an Allied invasion and the actions of the resistance groups forced the Axis to launch large military operations to fight them.
See also
Images for kids
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Balkan boundary changes from 1938 to 1941.
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Axis advances in the Balkans during early 1941.
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Division of Yugoslavia after its invasion by the Axis powers.
