Unternehmen Marita, a German paratrooper looks at a pile of captured weapons captured in the city of Corinth (Greece). In the foreground and to the right of the Wehrmacht paratrooper are captured Greek officers.
Unternehmen Marita (April 6 – April 30, 1941) – Nazi Germany invaded Greece in April 1941. The Greek operation followed a previous unsuccessful Italian invasion known as the Italo-Greek War. It is generally separated from the Battle of Crete, which took place after the suppression of troops on the Greek mainland. Both operations were part of Germany’s Balkan Campaign during World War II.
The Operation Unternehmen Marita
At the start of Germany’s Operation Unternehmen Marita (German invasion of Greece), Greece was already at war with Italy following the Italian invasion on October 28, 1940. Greece successfully repulsed the first advances of the Italian army. By April 6, most of the Greek army was on the territory of Albania, from where the Italians tried to penetrate into Greece. German troops invaded through Bulgaria, thus creating a second front. Greece by this time had already managed to receive small reinforcements from the British Empire, but after the start of the German invasion, the British no longer provided assistance. The Italian and German troops greatly outnumbered the defending Greek army, and their technical superiority was overwhelming, especially in aviation. The Greek defensive line of Metaxas withstood the first onslaught of the Germans, but was bypassed by the Germans through the territory of Yugoslavia. The German forces then outflanked the Greek forces on the Albanian border, forcing them to surrender. The British troops made a tactical retreat. The German army reached Athens on 27 April and reached the southern coast of Greece on 30 April, capturing some 7,000 British soldiers and ending this phase of the Balkan campaign with complete victory. A month later, the conquest of Greece was completed with the capture of Crete.
As a result of Operation Unternehmen Marita, Greece was occupied by the armed forces of Germany, Italy and Bulgaria.
Location: Corinth, Greece
Shooting time: April 1941