Battle of the Corinth Canal

Battle of the Corinth Canal
Part of the Balkans Campaign during World War II

Nazi Germany's attack on Greece
Date26 April 1941
Location
Corinth Canal, Greece
Result German victory
Belligerents
Axis
 Germany		 Allies
 Greece
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 New Zealand
Commanders and leaders
Nazi Germany Alfred Sturm
Nazi Germany Hans Kroh		 United Kingdom Edward Lillingston[1]
Strength

Germany:
800 to 2,000 infantry.

  • Aircraft:[2]
    Bf 110 – 80–100,
    Ju 88 – unknown,
    Ju 52 – 15,
    Ju 87 – 20–30,
    gliders – unknown.

Greece:
1,450 infantry.
British Commonwealth:
 900+ infantry;

  • Tanks: four.
Casualties and losses

Germany:
63 killed;
158 wounded;
16 missing.

Aircraft – one glider.

Allies: unknown number killed or wounded;
Greece:
1,450 prisoners
British Commonwealth: 921 prisoners.

Four tanks.
Many Allied personnel, approximately 10,000, were subsequently taken prisoner, while awaiting evacuation.[citation needed]

During the German invasion of Greece on 6 April 1941, the Allied forces were pushed back from Macedonia and Thessaly into mainland Greece while the British fleet stood by at various ports in the south of Greece to evacuate any remaining Allied troops from the advancing German ground and air units. A critical target during the German invasion, was the Corinth Canal which divided the Peloponnesus from the Greek mainland as Hitler saw it as the gateway to control the Aegean Sea and trap the evacuating Allied forces in Greece if it were captured and kept operational.[2]

  1. ^ Lt Col. E. G. G. (Edward) Lillingston (UK) was nominally the senior officer, although official histories suggest that the battle was a series of small actions, led by junior officers, such as R. K. Gordon (New Zealand) and J. S. Jones (Australia).
  2. ^ a b "Corinth Canal Korinthos". tracesofwar.com. 1999. Retrieved 27 June 2020.