Marita — the invasion of Greece
To rescue his Italian ally bogged down in Albania and secure his southern flank before Barbarossa, Hitler had decided to invade Greece (Operation Marita). On 6 April 1941, Feldmarschall 's , massed in Bulgaria, attacked Greece and Yugoslavia simultaneously. The Greeks had concentrated the bulk of their forces against the Italians in Albania and along the Metaxas Line, frontier fortifications facing Bulgaria.
The Greek deployment had a gaping flaw: it assumed Yugoslav neutrality or resistance to cover its north-western flank, through which ran the Vardar valley and the road to Salonika. But the Yugoslav army, attacked on the same day, was itself in the throes of crisis. List had to choose the axis of his main effort.
Should he attack frontally the solid Metaxas Line, at the cost of heavy losses; bypass it through north-western Yugoslavia, racing for Salonika to cut off the Greek army of Eastern Macedonia; or aim directly south to take the Greek forces and the British expeditionary corps from the rear? Speed of decision would determine the scale of victory.
Where should List place Marita's main effort?
List combined A and especially B: while units wore themselves out against the Metaxas Line — whose defenders resisted fiercely — the bulk of the exploited the Yugoslav collapse, swept down the Vardar valley and took Salonika as early as 9 April, encircling the Greek army of Eastern Macedonia, which capitulated. The way south was open. The British expeditionary corps and the Greek forces, outflanked and crushed under German air superiority, had to fall back toward Athens and the Peloponnese. The resistance of the Metaxas Line bunkers forced the respect of the Germans themselves, but could not prevent the conquest of mainland Greece in three weeks.
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