German attack on Greece and Yugoslavia

On 6 April 1941 the German armies stationed in Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria begin the attack on Greece and Yugoslavia („Balkan Campaign“). The motive for the war against Belgrade was the recent toppling of its „axis-friendly“ government and the country’s subsequently concluded alliance with the Soviet Union.

© Rompf German soldiers hoisting a swastika flag on top of the Acropolis in 1941

After a „Blitzkrieg“ lasting only twelve days the country has to capitulate to its more powerful adversary. Before that a German air raid on Belgrade claimed many civilian casualties. Berlin justifies its attack on Greece with the landing of a British expeditionary force on the Greek mainland in early March which resulted in opening a new front in south-eastern Europe. By late April the Wehrmacht and its allied Italian divisions also have Greece and its most important Mediterranean islands – except for Crete – under control. A nearly four-year long reign of terror under German and Italian occupation now begins for the people of the Balkans.