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J Forsey
The Greek Army, or Hellenic Land Army astounded the world when it successfully resisted an
Italian Invasion in October 1940, not only arresting the Italian Assault, but driving a more
modern and better equipped (though poorly led) opponent back into Italian Occupied Albania
and maintaining a Stalemate until Greece ultimately fell to a German led offensive (Operation
Marita) in 1941 which broke through the defences of the exhausted Greek Army and bundled
the inadequate and overstretched allied expeditionary force out of the Greek mainland.
The Greek Army was given warning of the Italian Assault and was assisted by Bulgarian
neutrality and extremely poor Italian military leadership, but credit must also go to the Greeks
themselves and their ability to make the most of the excellent terrain available to them to
minimise the deficiencies of their outmoded equipment.
The Greek army came to consist of over Twenty Infantry Divisions, most raised from Brigade
cadres, supported by cavalry units and independent brigades and frontier units. Divisions were
lightly equipped and often under strength, with no organic AT or AA capability. Most were
grouped into Corps formations which had additional artillery and AA resources, but even with
captured equipment, Greek formations continued to suffer from inadequate material and
supplies.
Efforts were made to form a mechanised formation, the 19th Division, which had truck borne
Infantry supported by captured L3 Tankettes (all of these were concentrated for this formation)
and possibly British supplied Carriers and MkVIB Light tanks (sources differ as to whether these
were available). This formation also had limited numbers of captured Italian 47mm AT guns,
20mm AA guns, 20mm Solothurn AT rifles and Italian Field guns, either captured by the Greeks
themselves, or provided by the British from stocks captured in the Desert in 1940. The list set
out below can be easily modified to depict this formation, but as the bulk of the Greek Army was
infantry, I have chosen to depict an Infantry formation as being more representative.
Details of orders of battle, organisation and equipment and deployment are to be found in the
websites and other material listed below.
Weapons
Bombs
Bombs
Range
4/10cm
4/10cm
ROF
-
Infantry Company
What is in a Greek Infantry Company?
A force based around an Infantry Company must contain:
A Company HQ, and
At least 2 Infantry Platoons.
Weapons Platoons available to an Infantry Company are:
A Machine Gun Platoon,
Support Platoons for an Infantry Company can be:
A Regimental Gun Platoon,
A Mortar Platoon,
A Reconnaissance Platoon, or
Anti-tank
4
4
Firepower
1+
1+
pts mobility
30 Half-track
Front/side/top
1
/0
/1
Pts
-
40/100cm
Range
ROF
-
AT
1
FP
3+
20/65 gun
30
24/60cm
5+
Notes
Mortar, Smoke, manpacked
Turntable, AA
65/17 gun
25
16/40cm
6/2
3+
75/19 gun
55
24/60cm
8/2
3+
105/19 gun
85
24/60cm
9/3
2+
16/40cm
Range
16/40cm
8/20cm
ROF
1
2
AT
2
1
FP
6
5+
Rifle/MG team
16/40cm
HMG team
24/60cm
10
16/40cm
20
10
Twin MG
Infantry
Name
Rifle team
VB team
Command Rifle
team
Observer team
Staff team
Pts
10
Bibliography
Mollo, Andrew The Armed Forces of WW II Orbis 1981
Packer, Edwin Italian Fiasco: The Attack on Greece Purnell History WW2
Web sites:
http://www.geocities.com/ww2greece/02.html (most comprehensive with a good selection of
TOEs and black and white contemporary photographs and colour re-enactment photographs
showing uniform details. Note that for some parts, the l is missing from html and needs to
be added to access the information)
http://www.orbat.com/site/history/historical/greece/greece1940.html (note that the Neihorster
link does not work)
http://www.orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/027_greece/__greece.htm (Niehorster site)
http://members.aol.com/balkandave/greece40.htm (good history)
useful bibliography:
http://books.stonebooks.com/cgi-bin/foxweb.exe/base/subjects?1000025
And
http://books.stonebooks.com/cgi-bin/foxweb.exe/base/subjects?1000177
discussion group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greece1940/
There is more information available on the Commonwealth forces that participated in the brief
and unsuccessful campaign to stem the German Assault and occupation. A useful source is the
official histories of the NZ Division units that participated. Battalion histories and support
histories are already available and the Volume To Greece should be available free on line in
January 2005 at http://www.nzetc.org/corpora/WH2.html
Modeling the Greek Army for Flames of War
Greek infantry can be most conveniently depicted by using the Battlefront Italian Fucileri figures.
The outbreak of war saw Greek uniforms in transition from using the British style rimmed
helmet to one closely modeled on the Italian. The uniform was also modeled on the Italian
continental pattern. British supplied and older Brown Khaki uniforms continued to be worn
by some units, while others had the new type of a more greenish hue. See the Mollo book listed
above and the ww2greece web site for examples. The old Adrian style helmet did not appear
to be used except possibly by reserve formations.
Infantry small arms: The basic rifle was the Mannlicher-Schonauer 6.5mm M1903/14 and the
LMG the Hotchkiss 8mm, (or captured Breda LMG) with the Medium MG the St.Etienne
M1907 (a failed modification of the French Hotchkiss). All can be readily depicted using the
Italian infantry range, though note that the Hotchkiss LMG used a Soviet style top drum
magazine, so including some Russian figures is an option. VB launchers can be easily modified.
Note that SMGs were not issued.
For heavier weapons, the Italian 81mm Mortar, 65mm Infantry Gun (no shield), 20mm AA and
75mm Field gun can all be readily used.