Salonika lost: surrendering the Metaxas Line
Lieutenant-General , born in 1889, commands the , charged with holding the Metaxas Line — a string of concrete forts guarding the Bulgarian frontier, the eastern shield of Greece.
On 6 April 1941, before dawn, the Wehrmacht attacks it. Works such as the Roupel fort resist fiercely: for three days, the Greeks repel assault after assault, and the German commander List would bow before their bravery. But the line is taken from the rear: breaking through neighbouring Yugoslavia, the bypasses the forts from the west.
On 9 April, Salonika falls. Bakopoulos's divisions, still intact behind their concrete, are now cut off from the rear, with no hope of resupply or retreat, while the German armour surges southward.
Bakopoulos then faces a heartrending dilemma. To make his men fight to the last would honour the oath but condemn them to a useless massacre; to negotiate a surrender would save thousands of lives and perhaps spare the great city a bombardment; to order a desperate breakthrough southward would be suicide. And some forts, for their part, still refuse to surrender.
Should Bakopoulos surrender his Metaxas Line troops to the Germans after the fall of Salonika, order a fight to the death, or attempt a breakthrough to the south?
Bakopoulos chose A: at 1 p.m. on 9 April (the formal surrender coming on the morning of the 10th), having obtained the approval of the commander-in-chief Papagos, he negotiated an honourable capitulation of the , in order to save his soldiers and spare Salonika a bombardment. The German general List, full of admiration for Greek courage, refused to take the soldiers prisoner: he allowed them to return home with their flags, on condition that they surrender their weapons and equipment. Some defenders carried honour further still: at the Roupel fort, Major Douratsos refused to surrender on the 9th and laid down his arms only on the morning of the 10th. With the Metaxas Line fallen, the road south opened to the Panzers — towards the final collapse of mainland Greece.
Learn more about this event
Related polls
10
'Fortresses do not surrender'
Brześć — Plisowski faces Guderian
Bulson — Lafontaine and the 02:00 rumour
Calais — Nicholson facing the ultimatum
Eben-Emael — Jottrand under the explosions
Gort at Habarcq — trust in the French plan
Huntziger over the Sedan reports — 13 May
Kock — Kleeberg on the morning of 6 October
Maczek — the Black Brigade at Tatarska Przełęcz
Modlin — Thommée at the last fortress
'Fortresses do not surrender'
Brześć — Plisowski faces Guderian
Bulson — Lafontaine and the 02:00 rumour
Calais — Nicholson facing the ultimatum
Eben-Emael — Jottrand under the explosions
Gort at Habarcq — trust in the French plan
Huntziger over the Sedan reports — 13 May
Kock — Kleeberg on the morning of 6 October
Maczek — the Black Brigade at Tatarska Przełęcz