German Invasion of Greece (US Soldier Reacts)- OXI Day 83rd Anniversary!!
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- čas přidán 27. 10. 2023
- In honor of OXI Day 83rd Anniversary, American Soldier reacts to The German Invasion of Greece - 1941 (History Hustle).
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#greekmilitary
#OxiDay
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Actually Greece was invaded by 4 counties Albania , Germany , Italy and Bulgeria
Thanks for clarifying!!
Your welcome!@@JustAnotherArmyVet
in the Greco-Italian war italy used albanian troops in war so tecnically it counts as1 more @@spartanssmp9418
@@spartanssmp9418 you are right but Albanian soldiers worked with Italians together
@@MrNixtt the Albanian army was broken up to platoon level and then each Italian battalion got one or two Albanian platoons ..
They used those men as cannon foder and the Albanians almost mutined after the Italians started to use human waves tactics
HAVING said that some Albanian nationalist did aline with the Italians after the Italian government promised that the Italian control Albania would include hippirus and Kosovo
Peace and good health to the whole world, thank you for the video much love from Hellas.
"ΤΟΥ ΑΝΔΡΕΙΩΜΕΝΟΥ Ο ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΔΕ ΛΟΓΙΕΤΑΙ" - "THE DEATH OF THE BRAVE IS NOT CONCIDERED AS DEATH AT ALL"
Well said!
Έτσι...Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος. Γεια σου πατριώτη μου
Good evening from celebratory Greece 🇬🇷 🎉Thank you so much for honoring our national celebration today, the DAY OF OXI "NO" . I've never met my grandfathers neither my grandmother's brother , they were killed bravely fighting in WW2 . My father was a child and my mother was a toddler then. I've heard first hand what they suffered, My grandmother even hide some Jewish people in her cellar, and as she had a baby recently she also was breastfeeding a 2 year old from the neighborhood because people were starving. And for all of these I hold a great pride 🎉LOVE FROM GREECE 🇬🇷 and THANK YOU ❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉
Awe you are welcome! Respect to Greece and your family! It sounds like they were heroes!! 🇬🇷💙🙏❤️
"Historical justice obliges me to state that of the enemies who took up positions against us, the Greek soldier particularly fought with the highest courage. He capitulated only when further resistance had become impossible and useless."
"Greek nation... fought so bravely that even the respect of its enemies cannot be withheld from it."
Adolf Hitler's Address to the Reichstag (4 May 1941)
Thanks for sharing!!
Like a veteran infantry man deeply honored from your accurate presentation of Greek military history.
Thank you, I appreciate it so much🙏
You are welcome. And thanks for your support!! 🙏🤗
Thank you for your unusual but very memorable and sympathetic way of telling story, I like it very much!
Awe thanks!! You are so sweet 🤗
Thank you again for honoring the Greek national day. One thing that pisses me off and very few people talking about is that by the Germans attacking Greece they had to delay the invasion of Russia. Remember the Germans came within 80 kilometers ( 50 miles ) from Moscow and the only thing that stopped them was the Russian winter. Snow and temperatures of -40 degree Celsius. The chief of staff of German forces in WW2 Wilhelm Keitel was asked in the Nuerburg trials if he ever thought about punishment because he gave orders that were Crimes against humanity and those orders were responsible for the murder of million inocent civilians. He replied " No because if there was not for the Greeks we would have won war".
That's a documented quote.
As of the battle of Crete the German paratroopers we're unstoppable in the Netherlands and in Belgium see the battle of the fortification in Eben Emael. In Crete the people defended their island with out a second thought about their life's. Some of them open up museums and took out old riffles that were museum exhibits and used those riffles to fight the Germans, The Germans murdered 10000 of the brave people of Crete.
Thank you again for remembering the OCHI the NO day
You are quite welcome! And yes, because of the Greeks, Operation Barbarosa was delayed, which was VERY significant! I remember them talking about that in my Oxi Day video that I reacted to last year 🙂
@@JustAnotherArmyVet Again as a Greek that his family was affected directly by the war I can't thank you enough. My grand dad was a sergeant with the Greek Army and fought the Germans.
@@padman291 oh wow! He must have had some amazing stories!
Ioannis Metaxas was a Greek officer who graduated from a German military academy, something common at the time, because the Greek military academy was reserved for royalist aristocracy.
Metaxas excelled as a student in Germany and his teachers said that there is no unsolved problem for Ioannis Metaxas.
During the Balkan wars, Metaxas was the Operations officer for Prince Constantine's staff and supported Prime Minister Venizelos.
However in 1916,, Metaxas did not favor the idea of Venizelos to join the allies inn WW1 in order to gain a foothold in Asia Minor after the great war.
Metaxas wrote a letter to Venizelos telling him that the Greek Army should not go to Asia Minor, because the terrain was not suitable for defensive lines in the area expected the Greek army to go and that a military operation in Asia Minor would create the necessity for conquering the entire Anatolia, something the Greek army did not have the power to do.
Also, Metaxas pointed out to Venizelos, that the Greek populations in Anatolia would side with the Greek army if it went there, but since Greece could not remain mobilized for ever, the Greeks would face the wrath of the Turks in Anatolia, once the bulk of the Greek army withdrew from there, something that happened in 1922 with the worst military disaster in modern Greek history.
When Venizelos dismissed Metaxas views, Metaxas retired from the Army and aligned him self politically with King Constantine-I and the royalists, making his own political party in the 30s.
Like many Greek officers of the time, specially the ones who studied in Germany, Metaxas admired the German discipline, something non existent in the chaotic Greek society.
Because of this, Metaxas copied the appearance of the NAZI party, with uniformed youth, parades and the extended hand salute (that was actually Roman and some say Ancient Greek, copied by Mussolini and Hitler).
However the ideology of Metaxas had nothing to do with the racial ideas of the Nazis and Metaxas has always sided with the British.
Also Metaxas was not making political discriminations and viewed his regime as a regime for all Greeks, not just the members of his party.
They were strongly anti-communist like most other political parties of the era, mostly because of the role the Greek Communist Party KKE played during the Asia Minor campaign and the destabilizing role it played later, but Metaxas was only persecuting hard-line organized communists who were viewed as a danger to society.
Actually, Metaxas is also known for making Minister of Labor the president of the Greek Workers Union, a member of the Communist Party, in order to make social reforms in Greece.
Metaxas political party was the smallest political party represented in the Greek Parliament, but the political chaos and the inability of the larger political parties to agree in the formation of a government, finally led them to agree in supporting Metaxas to form a minority government with their support.
The situation was still very difficult, with strikes and bloody clashes with the police, actions supported mainly by the Communists, so Metaxas after consulting with the King, asked for the Parliament to dissolve and declare a dictatorship in order to reestablish order.
The Greek Parliament, with the exception of one vote (George Papandreou), voted to abolish itself and allow Metaxas to form a dictatorial government on August 4th, 1936.
Actually, Dictatorship was an invention of the Roman Republic, where the Dictator would be assigned to govern for a specified period, in order to govern the Roman Empire during times of crises that the Democratic system was unable to cope.
Metaxas stance against the Italian demands in 1940 and the creation of the Metaxas Line in the Bulgarian border that held the Germans, until it was bypassed from the Yugoslavian border three days later, made him a great historical figure in Modern Greek history.
The fortifications in the Metaxas lime were made to cope with Bulgaria, that was hostile to Greece at the time.
The Germans attacked Greece and southern Yugoslavia with a force of 680 000 troops, supported by an air force with 250 bombers, 150 Stuka dive bombers, 200 fighters and about 600 transport planes.
On the Greek side they were about 70 000 troops in the Metaxas line, comprising of recovered WIAs from Albania, where the bulk of the Greek army was still fighting the Italians numbering more that 500 000 troops.
The Greek 19th motorized infantry division was covering the Struma valley on the Greek-Yugoslav border, with the assumption that friendly Yugoslavia with the largest army in the region, of about 1 million men, would resist an attack, long enough for the Greek army to move reinforcements in the Greek-Yugoslav border.
Unfortunately the Yugoslav resistance crumbled, with many units still mobilizing, as it was attacked by the German forces in Bulgaria and other forces from the north and north east.
The Greek 19th division was annihilated by the German Panzers and although all German attacks against the Metaxas line failed miserably, the Germans did bypass the Metaxas line from Yugoslavia and entered Thessalonica three days later.
When the forces fighting in the Metaxas line were asked by the Germans to surrender, they refused, with the documented answer of the CO of Fort Roupel who said:: "Forts do not surrender, they are taken".
However, the next day, the Germans brought Greek officers with written orders from the Greek army command in Thessalonica, ordering them to surrender as they were cut off and the Germans were moving south, so any further resistance was futile.
The Germans presented arms as the Greek forces exited the Metaxas line forts and did not raise the German flag, before the last Greek soldier had left.
A dialog is recorded between the CO of Fort Roupel and the German general who accepted the surrender of the fort:
The German said that if they had not surrendered he was going to take the fort in four hours.
The Greek CO replied that he could not do it three days and he thought he cold do it in four hours, adding that from his 1200 men he only had about 40 total casualties after three days of fighting.
Then he took the German for a tour inside Fort Roupel and when they came out, the astonished German general said that this was the true Maginot line, not the one in France.
In the west, the Greek army started to retreat from Albania, still fighting the Italians, as the German 1st Liebstandarte Waffen SS "Adolf Hitler" moved to cut them off.
The Greek 20th Infantry division was annihilated in an effort to delay them, so it became necessary for the Greek army to surrender to the SS General Sep Dietrich, but not the Italians.
It is mentioned that when an Italian General insisted that the Greek army surrendered to the Italians as well, got the answer that the defeated do not demand the surrender of their victors and that if the Italians wanted the surrender of the Greek army, they would have to get it over his SS troops.
However, the next day, after orders from Hitler at Mussolini's request, the Greek army was made to surrender to the Italians as well.
Well, since he did study in Germany, it makes sense that he admired the German discipline. But I did not know that about him. Interesting!
@@JustAnotherArmyVet Yes, it is a tradition in Greece to consider the Army the most disciplined and organized group of the Greek society.
In recent studies about who the Greeks trust more, the answers are:
1 the Armed Forces, 2 the Church, 3 justice and the politicians always come last lol.
The OXI day is celebrated in Thessalonica in North Greece and the March 25 Independence Day is celebrated in Athens.
This is the Greek TV Video with this year's parade:
czcams.com/video/BZamPoz1rWk/video.html
Unfortunately the narration is in Greek only but one can see what is going on.
The parade is in two parts the first involves civilian groups and the second part is the Military parade.
This road is the same road that the German troops entered Thessalonica in 1941, although they were going in the opposite direction.
In my opinion they over do it with cultural groups from all over Greece, making the parade too long.
What was interesting this year was the opening of the parade by the veterans of the Commando force that was airlifted and fought in Cyprus in 1974 during Operation Nike (we talked about the plane that was shot down etc).
The group's president, called Commandos 74, also hat his grandson parading next to him.
They were followed by the Hellenic Red Cross and other groups with old military or traditional uniforms.
These are some videos showing actual footage:
czcams.com/video/c841W29ARoQ/video.html
czcams.com/video/Z6kb9Jyfofg/video.html
czcams.com/video/5ECzI4eO0oA/video.html
In Athens the only ones that welcomed the Germans were members of the German community living there.
@@FLORATOSOTHON the German community in Athens welcome the German Army in WW2? I had never heard that before…And in the US, politicians and lawyers ALWAYS comes in last 😂
@@JustAnotherArmyVet They were German, so yes they did welcome them.
Greek security services had them under surveillance for the possibility of espionage, but they were not detained like the Japanese in the US.
In one of the links it shows a girl giving flowers to the German soldiers entering Athens on April 27, 1941.
During the occupation, Bulgarian engineers blew up some of the surface fortifications of the Metaxas line, that was intended to defend against them.
The concrete walls were from 5 to 8 ft. thick and were made by a special concrete mix giving them extra strength compared to regular reinforced concrete.
Some parts of the Forts were still under construction at the time of the German attack.
The Forts of the Metaxas line were being built after 1935 and the workers were chosen from Southern Greece and were moved to the work areas by night, so that they did not know were there were working, in order to prevent information from leaking.
The excavation material was also taken out by night and it was piled in to mounds that had local trees immediately planted over them, so that air reconnaissance could not see them on the next day.
The Forts were designed to withstand multiple direct hits from 1100 lbs. bombs.
The tunnels had right angle turns with machine guns covering the straight parts of the tunnels, so if one got inside the forts, as it happened in one occasion, they would not come out.
Also the forts could fire on each other in order to eliminate any enemies that managed to get on top of them.
Many Germans were killed in at least one occasion that got on top of the Forts trying to throw gas grenades inside, through the ventilation ducts.
Today some of the 21 forts operate as museums with tours to the deep tunnels and installations.
This is a Greek video, by a local cultural group, showing the inside of the 21 Forts today.
The video has no narration and it shows cards with each fort's location and how many officers and men were inside.
czcams.com/video/gKO9rx1Gz4g/video.html
As far as politicians goes it's universal I think and a saying in Greece says:
"May you keep away from Lawyers and Doctors" lol.
@@FLORATOSOTHON 😂
Thank you for your amazing videos always❤ Greetings from Greece🎉
You are so sweet!! Thank you kindly
For your support! 💙🤗 Greetings from South Carolina!!
A friend from Crete told me his mother remembers shooting at the german paratroopers as they came down from the sky as many cretans as now have many guns
I bet she had a lot of good stories!! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for your reaction! 🙏🏻
I wanted to correct you (at 6:22) about Thermopylai…that is a place south and near at Maliakos bay fairly near to Lamia.
Has nothing to do with Kastoria.
Thank you kindly!! What was Kastoria?
@@JustAnotherArmyVet Kastoria is a city at Northern Greece next to a lake in which a battle between greek and german forces occurred on 15 April 1941.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lake_Kastoria
Thanks 👍🙂
Ι have been in German military semetare in malame Crete....I was 1980 and i was 14 yo ...There are beried 4000 German paratroopers...At the time many German veterans was visiting the cemetery....It was a german old veteran..He standing in a grave and was very emotional...I was near him ...He starts tolling to me and say to me that was a German second lutenend paratrooper...and the name in the grave was an officer too who was his best friend....He says me that he died the second day of the invasion....
In my eyes as a 14 yo greek boy at the time was that was a good person and i really was sud about his lost ...
After years thinking that if i was Infront of him 39 years ago in crete at the same point my faith probably will be a bullet in my head ...even my age
War make humans the worst beast's in earth ...
That is a very true fact. Thanks for sharing your story and your insight . I appreciate it
@@JustAnotherArmyVet
czcams.com/video/GBMAf_OwkSU/video.htmlsi=ZoyJPkSGgZAw075z
Hallo again from Greece. Metaxas was actually a prime minister ( national governor is the right term). King George the II asked Metaxas to form a government and delay some of the Constitution articles. Untill his suspicious death, not even one British soldier ,step into Greek soil. His succesor was the banker Alexandros Korizis who killed him self after his refusal to the German ultimatum brought to him by the German Ambassador Prince Viktor Erbach by telling him " We keep on fighting"
Its worth to mention some brave actions during the battle of the Metaxas line.
Major Douratsos commander of fort Roupel refused to surrender his position , when Germans asked him to do,by telling them "The forts do not surrender,Occupied..." By the time Greece capitulated ,Germans presented arms to him and his men and let him go along with the fort's garrison.Surgeant Dimitrios Itsios who was in charge at the Bunker No8. After let his men flee and left behind ,he delayed the German advance by shooting at them with his machine gun by firing 38000 rounds with many casualties. After his surrender the German commander praised him for his bravery and shot him in the head .
At Battle of Kastoria ( Im from Kastoria my self) or battle of Argos Orestiko ,Major Paparodou left behind to delay Germans by using his machine gun. He died outside the village of Dispilio after he shot to the head by enemy fire. His grave and his Statue are the village.
The triple occupation(unofficcially four including Albanians) of Greece was one of the toughest and hurshest with Bulgarians to become the worst of the three occupants and in many occations local authorities where asking from Germans to Intervene ( one of my moms brothers died of famine )
Greece had no chance to win the war against Germans It was at war for over six months and Metaxas line was undergunned and undermanned because the majority of men and equipment left to the Epirus front.Even the V Inf Div of Crete left to the front.
Metaxas line would be undefeated against Bulgarians as German high rank officers said after the surrender
I want to thank you again for your videos .Be well and God bless you
You are so sweet. Thank you for your insight in for sharing! God bless!
@@JustAnotherArmyVetthe German who shot the Sergeant was the notorious and nazi fanatic, later General, and one of Hitlers favorite Ferdinand Schörner. He was Colonel in 1941
I did not know that!
@@JustAnotherArmyVet Itsios caused the 6th mountain Div many casualties and delayed its advance.
Shoerner at the last months of war he didnt hesitate to execute even his own troops by accusing them as traitors and cowards. His moto was commanding thru terror
“Commanding through terror.” Horrible. That is not what a good leader does
I love Greece and Greek flag so much Dear Haley My Dear Female American Soldier Friend but I love USA and American flag more.🥰😍🤗❤🤍💙💙🤍💙💯💪🙏👍
🇺🇸🇬🇷❤️🤗🙏👍
Each one loves the flag of his country. I am from Greece and I love the most our flag which is about Freedom or Death. And of course is the most beautiful flag ever. Thank you!!!!
@@user-dz3tr8qf2o beautiful and meaningful flag
@@user-dz3tr8qf2osame here
Thank you!
You're welcome! 🇬🇷💙🤗
This comment is in memory of both of my grandfather's and my grandmother. One of my grandfather fought at africa against the axis left by ship from Crete. My other grandfather with my uncle fought at Albanian front. My grandmother was send to killed with other people from her village was lucky because the German thought that she was dead cus it were covered with brains and blood from the dead ones and play dead until the night and then walked up and left. They told me so many war stories but noone of my grandfather's ever told me how many people they kill during war.
My respect to them! And thank you for sharing ❤️
Thank you!!! ❤❤❤🇬🇷
You are welcome 👍🙂
IONNIS METAXAS ACTUALLY SAID "S'EST LA GUERRE" (IN FRENCH, THE DIPLOMACY LANGUAGE) MEANING SO WE ARE AT WAR.
Thanks for clarifying !
Few notes here for some context
*Metaxas as an officer cadet was trained in Germany, so he kinda understud how "Prussianns" was thinking and what their limitations was, it seems that he didn't believed that the axis could beat the British
* he wanted Greece to stay out of the war but he believed that a war with Italy and Bulgaria was almost unavoidable - thus building the defense line in the greco Bulgarian borders
* the reasoning for the invasion of Greece was that the axis couldn't afford RAF using the Greek airfields for striking the Romanian oilfields
Ironically Metaxas had refused any help from the British until the Italian ultimatum
It was literally a self Fulfilling prophecy since by their own actions brought RAF closer to them 😏
* the Greek navy managed to evacuate a chunk of the army to north Africa forming 3 brigades and one commando unit
The first commander of the " raiders" as commandos are known in Greece when he made his first jump had very bad eyesight - was almost half blind but as he later said a commander must be there for his men, just like a father for his boys..
Oh wow! I couldn’t Imagine jumping g and fighting with poor eyesight!! Dedicated commander! Thanks for sharing!! I wonder if I can find any videos about the Greek Raiders in English on YT 🤔
@@JustAnotherArmyVet czcams.com/video/ONJtkTJ1Qlo/video.htmlsi=IB13M7tOW1shcbB7 it's the only thing I could find in English
Although it has its issues with spelling and the footage 😉
@@JustAnotherArmyVet you could check out " Greek sacred squadron" or
Christodoulos Tsigantes the name of their commander 😉
You are awesome! Thanks 🙂
@@JustAnotherArmyVet you welcome
We are my dear lunatics, we are the only ww2 involved country who celebrating the beginning of was and not the end of it
🙂💙🇬🇷
imagine defending your homeland of millenia, and saying things like: "ok lads, the plan is to defend Macedonia, we'll meet them at Thermopylae, then we push and hold Mt.Olympus". haha
Leonidas and Alexander would surely be with you in spirit.
Yes 😄👍🙂
Bullshit . The order was defend to last man and not an step back !
Germans starts hostilities in northern Hellas on April 1941 they invade as you already told from Bulgary (one of many war fronts) they try to pass also through Roupel fortresses, namesake battle, with big losses for German army.
you notice in the video that the English officer tried to mobilize the defense in the thermopylae, it was meaningless because the thermopylae were also geomorphologically different from what it was in ancient times were namesake battle took place.
Thanks for your clarification!!
Thank you! From Greece! Greeks know keeping their post. They resisted until the end of the WW2. And they will do it again, if invaders will come. Greece is the west frontier in its position area. They did with succes against eastern empires. We are few, but we count multiple when unified. Thank again for your video!👏
Thank you for watching! Respect!
war was declared on October 1940. Ended on October 1944. We Greeks commemorate-celebrate the start of the war not the end of it, October 28th 1940! In fact, we were so into it, only after a back to back 5 year long civil war. finaly, we decided to relieve the guy who was patiently holding our beer. Greeks, just some good old boys, never meanin' no harm, beats all u ever saw been in trouble with the law since...oh go figure...
The Greeks definitely had lots of wars and battles!
Fun fact, Metaxas said ‘no’ while he was a dictator, because the Greek people were quite literally outside his door, ready to tear him lim from lim if he were to say anything else. After that, it was better for everyone, if there was a spirit of unity so conveniently everyone ignored the fact that he was a dictator.
Good point!
I remember when we were studying ww2 history in high school they didn't even mention OXI day or Greece's valiant fight. I was very annoyed.
You went to school in Greece?
Not Greece. But my family is from there so I knew about Οχι day. And that Greece's resistance resulted in Hitler having to redirect the German army to fight Greece, thus delaying the war with Russia.
@@somai_1 ah yes, Operation Barbarossa.
My hometown kastoria
🤗
Someone may suppose that the German occupation was the worst but that's not true...
From the 3 occupational axis powers, Bulgaria was the worst and italy the least.
This is because Bulgaria wanted to annex the land they occupied while the other two were not really interested in annexation. If you want watch the Bulgarian occupation from the same guy/channel.
I will have to check it out, thank you!!
@@JustAnotherArmyVet there is also a good greek detailed documentary about this but it doesn't have English subtitles
after occupation many officers and soldiers fled to Egypt to fight again,there was formed a group of elite soldiers which decades later overthrew the corrupted goverment at 1967 and took their place as military junta back by CIA but also overthrew again by CIA because they didnt colab as much they wanted...Georgios Papadopoulos was his name and was officer in Greek Army and CIA operative
I did not know any of that. I appreciate you taking the time to explain. Thank you!
Greece is the most bravest country on the planet
🇬🇷💪
Unfortunately there are some exceptions lately...
Our useless corrupted government of prime minister Mitsotakis.
The media and the justice department MPs totally are under his control.
He loves bending over to any aggression coming from our East neighbour🤔😁😥
I agree 💯 @@ioannisantoniadis6719
Most of them left the war though.
👍
One of the reasons Greece celebrates the beginning of WW2 and not the end is because when the WW2 ended we entered in a civil war.
Thanks for your insight! Nobody else ever brought that to my attention . 👍
The main reason is that Greeks value more the brave fight for freedom against the invading enemy.
The "call to arms" we can say.
@@hariszark7396 Exactly! When someone tries to enter your house without your permission, you are obligated to fight and protect both your property and those living in it. The same thing happened in ancient times when the Spartans met the Persian army at Thermopylae. The state's order was to wait until the Carnea festival was over, so that the gods wouldn't be insulted. Leonidas though knew very well that defending that state was the right thing to do. Both then and in ww2 free men chose to die instead of living as slaves of a tyrant.
@@stixoimatizontas 👍👍
Churchill took the Troops to support Greece from North Africa stopping the Allied forces offensive against Italy, this would have dire consequences as Italian Libya was not conquered and Rommel was allowed to deploy in North Africa and the North African campaign lasted until 1943 instead of ending in 1940.
This is a weakness of Churchill he has the right mental spirit for a war leader but he does try to doo too much with too little too often sometimes.
That’s definitely a topic I need to research more. I know almost nothing about the North African campaign.
@@JustAnotherArmyVet It's basically both sides outrunning their supply lines every 6 months for 3 years and getting pushed waay back.
Georgios Tsolakoglou had no permission to surrender, he did on his own. He is hihgly disliked and considered kinda traitor even today. He said he did it to save his soldiers but his soldiers didnt want to surrender either.
Thanks for sharing your insight!
@@JustAnotherArmyVet Tsolakoglou was the only of the 3 occupation era prime misters that was convinced for treason that was because of the surrender order
Although we have to say that the deal that Sepp Dietrich proposed him was hard to ignore
All soldiers will be allowed to return home all officers can keep their swords and sidearms
Considering his situation ( the 3d core was cut off from friendly lines) and the rumors at the time of the treatment of POWs by the axis powers he made the right call - leave today, fight tomorrow
Actually he consolted the commander in chief of the 1st core and his own core stuff and they told him the thing
He also knew that he will face Court martial for his actions but in his mind the alternative for his core and the Greek army in general could be much more catastrophic..
For the story he was made the first occupation prime minister and it seems like the government in exile " understood" that there must be some representation of the Greek people towards the axis powers since the alternate was directed control by Germany and Italy with whatever that means - in other words a Necessary evil of sorts..
During his time as prime minister the famine broke out and hyperinflation brought by the axis monitary policies caused anything from 500.000 to 850.000 Lives, if you wonder why those numbers it's because in some point they stopped counting..
He eventually Resign from office and was succided by Logothetopoulos a gynecologist that his only merits was that he spoke German on a native level and the only one willing to take office after seeing how the Germans treated Tsolakoglou 😏
@@Pavlos_Charalambous oh wow! That is nteresting history!!
@@JustAnotherArmyVet even more interesting was George Rallis the elder ( and darker as well) the last occupation prime Minister and the creator of the " security battalions" paramilitary units under the command of " ss police"
In his trial had his own son as a lawyer who was at the time a Lieutenant of the Greek army
In some point during his trial started yelling at the Judge things like " if it wasn't for me the communist would had slit your throats" he died prison
in 1946 and his son later became also a prime minister
@@Pavlos_Charalambous that sounds like that could be a movie script. Lol
The Cretans sey,if Metaxas hand not taken away their weapons , fearing a revolution (because the Cretans were and deep democrats) they would not have fought the Germans with Sickles and axes and Crete would not have fallen....
He took their weapons? When? Was this Crete and Greece?
@@JustAnotherArmyVeti served as a soldier in Crete This was conveyed to me by older Cretans. How he had disarmed them before the war , fearing a revolution!!!
@@JustAnotherArmyVet The Cretans hand, have and will always have Guns in they Homs . They love them pathological . Lots of guns!!!
@@spirosmixailidis450 he must have had some amazing stories!
@@JustAnotherArmyVet here in Greece ,i don't know why , we dent to remember only the big event's. We forgot the "small"there as many small but big ones in heroism and sacrifice that the Greeks sibly.... don't know for example ,the hill 731in the greco-Italian war.On this hill , most fellartillery ammunition , that any other in the second world war.The hill today is called 726 because is lowered by 5 meters.a new epic of Thermopylae was written there. Trust me , most people here don't know it ... good morning from Greece!
Data concerning ancient battles is vague, but according to Herodotus, in the Battle of Thermopylae Greek city states had 7000 warriors of whom 4000 perished, Persians had 120 000-300 000 warriors of whom 20 000 perished. In my opinion Sparta was one of the most brutal and insane societies ever and in the end it failed.
Sometimes I wonder if Mussolini was a double agent, everything he did was a disaster.
Interesting thought about Mussolini though . That could be a conspiracy theory 😄
Yes, very brutal society!!
Let be noticed that the first Commonwealth troops and ammunition aid, were sent at March 1941, that is 5 months after the Italian invasion and one month before the Germans smashed the front. Giving the credit though, the commonwealth soldiers fought bravely in the battle of Crete that followed.
During this time there was no other nation in the World other than Greece and UK, fighting the Axis. France had fallen, USSR was in alliance with Germany at the time, the US was thinking about it. That's essential to be reminded as, at that time, Germany seemed unstopable. The great powers that opposed Germany had continuous defeats, if not completely defeated, and there was no foreseeable favorable ending of the war for Western powers.
That made Greece's struggle great: she stood against the greatest bullies in the darkest hour. Paid with 10% of her civilians for this choice.
10%??? 😢🙏🇬🇷
@@JustAnotherArmyVet Yeap, Greece lost at about 1.000.000 out of less than 10.000.000, mostly out of femine. In terms of percentage I think Greece is outranked only by Ukraine. You see Germans directed all Greek agricultural production to Romel and then Stalingrad. Then it was mass executions. One more parameter that has been forgotten by Greeks is that Germans gave for a while a portion of Thrace and Eastern Macedonia to their Bulgarian allies, a constant pursuit of Bulgaria. They killed thousands in order to settle Bulgarian populations in these regions and have their strategic opening to the Aegean,
Good note about Metaxas labeled as "Prime minister" ... he was a dictator and ideologically a fascist sympathizer, but not even him would accept bullying...if you want to take Greece, come and give it a try to see what happens...Thermopylae was where Leonidas faced the Persians with the 300 soldiers...geographically its a narrow passage, relatively "easily" defensible by small forces, so it tends to level off number advantages...its like corking up a bottle and thats why you see it on multiple occasions throughout Greek history...even though Greece was overpowered by Germany, the axis never captured 100%...Greece has a significant amount of mountainous terrain which makes it virtually impossible to secure and where guerrilla warfare thrives...Geography is one of the main reasons why Greece has survived through the centuries...many have come yet we are still here...
Metaxas is not the typical dictator, he was an elite army officer and took the place of prime minister from king George and not by guns. He was despotic of course and removed a lot of democratic rights but actually was the only viable option if you think what happened between 1919-1935.
@@djcoolsymi4799 to some extend this is true, but non democratically elected nonetheless...of course Greece back then was much more of a protectorate and democracies were much more immature than today...I can agree that fascism back then did not have the notion we understand today...but it should be noted that he was a dictator so we do not lose perspective....
316 days ...
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IOANNIS METAXAS WAS NOT DICTATOR.....THIS IS HOW GREEK COMMUNISTS CALLED HIM.....MATAXAS WAS PATRIOTIC AND PRIME MINISTER OF GREECE
Thanks for clarifying! I only said he was a dictator because whenever Greeks watch my videos on him, they tend to correct me and remind me that he was a Prime Minister AND a dictator. 🙂
@@JustAnotherArmyVethe was a dictator is not a communist theory
@@foulisfoul1199 communist theory?
@@JustAnotherArmyVet is not a theory, that's I am trying to tell, metaas was a dictator and actually he didn't do anything else that to say no to Italy, this was the will of all the Greeks. Greek people from every party want to take revenge of Italy because Italian submarine sink the destroyer Eli in island of tinos
Ηe WAS a dictator, as he was not elected; he rather took power by force. Facts have nothing to do with communism or whatever. Though being a dictator doesn't necessarily mean he was the "bad guy", as he still was a patriot who would take no bullshit from others. Think of tyrants in ancient Athens; not all of them were harmful, some actually did benefit the state.
Important correction: I didn't mean that he was never involved in politics, though, at that time he was ruling as a dictator. There is a reason it is called "4th of August Regime".
So we were the only fascist country that wasn't in the axis?
I think you may be right. BUT, I don’t know for sure…
Actually he was apolitical , in his auto-biography he mentions that politics and military should not be mixed together . Many active officers tried to convince him for a coup before 1936 but he rejected them .
Also served as a young officer in the staff of King Constantine Α' , he wrote about a plan they had together to save Greece but they didnt write much about this
You are wrong . Metaxas was not facist although he took over the power by force