Balkans
1940–1941: The war in the Balkans
October 1940 – June 1941 · 4 battles
On 28 October 1940 Mussolini’s Italy attacked Greece from Albanian territory, counting on a quick victory. The Greeks not only stopped the invaders in the mountains of Epirus but drove them deep into Albania, where the front froze for the winter. In the spring of 1941, after the coup in Belgrade, Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece at the same time, crushing the armies of both states and the British expeditionary force within a few weeks. The campaign ended in May and June 1941 with the airborne assault on Crete and the division of the Balkans into zones of occupation, and historians still argue over how far the delay it caused affected the attack on the USSR.
- 28 October 1940 – 23 April 1941Key battleGreco-Italian WarOn 28 October 1940 Italy attacked Greece from Albania. The Greeks drove them back and took southern Albania. German intervention decided the war in April 1941.
- 6–17 April 1941Key battleInvasion of YugoslaviaBetween 6 and 17 April 1941 Germany, Italy and Hungary crushed the Yugoslav army in eleven days. Belgrade was bombed and the kingdom carved up by the victors.
- 6–30 April 1941Key battleGerman invasion of GreeceIn April 1941 the Germans broke through Greece's defences from Bulgaria, cut off its army in Albania and took Athens. The British evacuated some 50,000 men.
- 20 May – 1 June 1941Key battleBattle of CreteFrom 20 May 1941 German paratroopers and mountain troops took Crete in twelve days. Maleme won them the battle, but their losses put Hitler off airborne drops.