The attack of Nazi Germany against Greece took place on 5:15 on the morning of 6 April 1941 at the fortifications of Thrace and Eastern Macedonia, 45 minutes before the scheduled time, according to the German interlude served earlier to Prime Minister Alexandros Korizis by the German ambassador in Athens, Prince Erbach.
In delivering the ultimatum, Erbach stressed to Koryzis that the war was not directed against Greece, but against England, which had rushed to Greece's aid with 62,000 men and a large air force. Koryzis said the second NO, this time to the Italian Nazi provocation. The German attack on Greece was a continuation of the Greek-Italian war, which began on 28 October 1940 with the Italian attack on the Greek-Albanian border.
The German attack was codenamed Marita and the order to plan it had been given by Hitler on 13 December 1940. The German dictator's aim was to help his ally Mussolini who was cornered by the Greeks in Albania and to secure his rear in view of his impending attack on Russia (Operation Barbarossa). The Marita plan not only involved Greece, but also Yugoslavia, the only countries in the Balkans, along with Turkey, that were not allied with the Axis.
The two-front fight against Yugoslavia and Greece was undertaken by the German 12th Army under Field Marshal Wilhelm List, who had 680,000 men, 1,200 tanks and 700 planes at his disposal. Greece deployed 70,000 men to the fortifications on the Greek-Bulgarian border, led by Major General Konstantinos Bakopoulos, as the bulk of the Greek army was fighting the Italians in Albania. The British forces controlled the Tempi Vermio axis, but the centre of the front was weak and Thessaloniki was an unfortified city.
The German offensive manifested itself on the front of the Greek-Bulgarian border along the so-called Metaxas Line in Eastern Macedonia and in the isolated forts of Echinos and Nymphaea in Thrace. At the same time, German aircraft bombed Piraeus and the coast as far as the Salamis Naval Station, causing human casualties and enormous damage.
The so-called Metaxa Line is an ambitious fortification project, modelled on the Maginot Line, which had been built on the initiative of dictator Ioannis Metaxas as a shield to ward off the Bulgarian danger. The German raiders were greatly admired and surprised by the hidden exits, unparalleled in any other fortification, the relatively low cost and the short construction period. Considering that the Germans did not manage to locate the fortification flanks (slots) before the start of operations and that the Bulgarians knew nothing, the technical concealment and variation, the excellent quality of concrete, the lack of special fortification armouring and the perfect adaptation of the armouring of the expeditionary army are still impressive to this day.
The defenders of the forts (Nymphaea, Echinos, Lisse, Histibe, Perithori, Rupel, Pyramid, Paluriones, etc.) defended themselves vigorously for three days against the repeated attacks of the superior German forces. They were bent only when German armoured divisions, after the lightning collapse of the southern Yugoslav front, invaded Skopje and through the Axios valley crossed the Greek-Yugoslav border on 8 April, bypassing the Metaxa Line. At midnight on the same day, German troops entered Thessaloniki and occupied the city.
The defenders of the Metaxa Line, now surrounded, were ordered by General-in-Chief Papago to capitulate (9 April). Their heroism was recognized even by their opponents, with expressions of admiration and honorary processions for the captured Greek fighters. Greek losses along the entire front of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace amounted to about 1,000 dead and wounded. The corresponding German losses amounted to 555 dead, 2,134 wounded and 170 missing, half of their total losses during Operation Marita, which demonstrates the size of the Greek resistance.
In the following days, the German advance southward was rapid, with the collapse of the Albanian front as well. By April 30, the entire Greek mainland had been occupied and the country was under triple occupation: German, Italian and Bulgarian.
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