Balkans campaign (World War II)

Balkans campaign
Part of Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of the Second World War

German paratroopers on Crete in 1941
Date28 October 19401 June 1941
(7 months and 4 days)
Location
Result

Axis victory

Territorial
changes
Yugoslavia and Greece come under Axis control
Belligerents

Axis:
 Italy

 Germany (from April 1941)
 Hungary (from April 1941)
Allies:
 Greece
 Yugoslavia (from April 1941)
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 New Zealand
Commanders and leaders
Fascist Italy Pietro Badoglio
Fascist Italy Ugo Cavallero
Fascist Italy Vittorio Ambrosio
Nazi Germany Walther von Brauchitsch
Nazi Germany Wilhelm List
Nazi Germany Kurt Student
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Elemér Gorondy-Novák
Kingdom of Greece Ioannis Metaxas
Kingdom of Greece Alexandros Papagos
Kingdom of Yugoslavia Dušan Simović
Kingdom of Yugoslavia Milorad Petrović
United Kingdom Henry Wilson
Dominion of New Zealand Bernard Freyberg
Australia Thomas Blamey
Strength
Fascist Italy 565,000
Nazi Germany 680,000
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) 80,000
Total: 1,325,000
Kingdom of Greece 430,000
Kingdom of Yugoslavia 850,000
United Kingdom 62,612
Total: 1,342,612

The Balkans campaign of World War II began with the Italian invasion of Greece on 28 October 1940. In the early months of 1941, Italy's offensive had stalled and a Greek counter-offensive pushed into Albania. Germany sought to aid Italy by deploying troops to Romania and Bulgaria and attacking Greece from the east. Meanwhile, the British landed troops and aircraft to shore up Greek defences. A coup d'état in Yugoslavia on 27 March caused Adolf Hitler to order the conquest of that country.

The invasion of Yugoslavia by Germany and Italy began on 6 April 1941, simultaneously with the renewed invasion of Greece; on 11 April, Hungary joined the invasion of Yugoslavia. By 17 April the Yugoslavs had signed an armistice, and by 30 April all of mainland Greece was under German or Italian control. On 20 May Germany invaded Crete by air, and by 1 June all remaining Greek and British forces on the island had surrendered. Although it had not participated in the attacks in April, Bulgaria occupied parts of both Yugoslavia and Greece shortly thereafter for the remainder of the war in the Balkans.