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@@Closurenomore I really hope that just before the Italians advanced into Greek territory they sent a military attaché to meet King George II and demand terms of his surrender, who in response booted him into a giant pit... "THIS IS HELLENICA!!!"
The committed Greek troops actually outnumbered the committed Italian troops. Furthermore the infrastructure in Albania was so poor that Italy really could not easily send more. The Greek counterattack into Albania eventually ground to a halt in no small part for that same reason.
I’m Greek and my grandparents told me stories from when they were kids under the Italian invasion. The Italians were good to Greek citizens in general (Italians weren’t so fond of the war after all, just check out what happened to Mussolini after the war ended). My grandpa told me they gave the kids sweets. The true cruelty was when the Germans came...
Was that the sentiment of Greeks at the time? I read that an old Greek woman said that the Italian soldiers "werent warriors, and should be carrying mandolins instead of rifles". Of course it could be untrue.
My grandma was a kid too! She lived in Peloponnesus at the time and everything was relatively fine until an Italian soldier who was patroling warned them of the upcoming German occupation and told them to stock up whatever food they could. That action saved my grandma's family from starving early on and held out until the end of the war. Or at least that is what I was told and it could be sugarcoated because I was child. Later on I found out the true trauma in my grandma as I watched her wake up from nightmares when I visited her or calling me by her siblings' names and having panic attacks that the Nazis were bombing her home again. Once I found her hoarding food and told her that she didn't have to and that she had to eat her plate in order to get her meds, she looked at me and asked: "So, I can eat all this plate, Vivian? This is all for me? Did you ate? Is there more for the others?" My name isn't Vivian, Vivian was her younger sister If I don't mistake the birth order...they were nine kids so I confuse the order at times. Anyhow, I stood up after I calmed her down and reassured that it was her food and no one else's and she started to cry from joy that she could eat her plate. It broke me inside. I went to the bathroom and sobbed for 5 minutes before I forced myself to stop and go back to her. When I returned she was embarrassed at how weak she seemed but she wasn't. My grandma was never weak and her breaking down like that reinforced my belief that my grandma was a badass. All my grandparents were badasses and I don't think I will ever live up to them but I will try.
@Legio XXI Rapax I love Italy and am not being disrespectful to the Italian people. Another reason why the Italians lost the battle of Greece was because the majority of the soldiers never wanted to fight their Greek cousins.
One of my parents are from a town in Greece, where, during the Italian occupation, a lot of people actually married and had kids with italian soldiers. Mediteranian brothers! 🇬🇷♥️🇮🇹
It was real cool, but those are Greek hoplites and they could be from other Greek city states but Sparta was the only city state with a fully commissioned military other states only had army’s when at war (some did have small units always ready to defend the homeland)
That was fantastic, really made me drop a tear. All their ancestors watching in spirit, and with their blood the Greek warrior advanced for the defense of his homeland.
e e I’m sorry what. Are you trying to say let’s see how the war plays out in modern day? Thats as stupid as a french saying let’s see how the Napoleonic wars turn out in modern day. It’s just stupid, admit that you guys failed.
The most impressive agressive are the mongols and Chinese. The most impressive defence are Greek and French. The most resilient are Chinese and Mexicans. The weakest is the Americans and Italians.
@@trauko1388even hitler himself praised the balls on those Greek that against all odds still put up a fight much longer than bigger powers of the world.
@@marlon1089 Nah, the Italians did fine in WW2 when they had competent leaders. It was poor leadership that let them down. We had Italian POW's in my town in WW2 (Merseyside, UK). My grandma was 4 or 5 at the time and she remembers her older sister who had an Italian POW boyfriend, he would come over for dinner on Sundays. They didn't always need to be in the POW camp in UK because we're an island, so there was no danger of escape because nowhere to go.
@@andresvalverde5182 how could you ruin such a sweet young love story with such a hateful comment that’s so sad you mustn’t have any kind of romanticism in your life
@Ozymandias Heliogabal Nullifidian I'm proud of my nation and family, and if you have just a little of common sense you wouldn't judge a person by his profile pic, i bet you didn't even see the film lol, average kid.
@@davidfox2056 I am Italian and my country was humiliated by the fascists, and my grand grandfather died fighting an innocent and valiant people, our Greek friends, giving his heart for Italy. Fascism sucks and is illegal in Italy. Idiota.
@@goose4919 the animation ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BNpTofJJWbo.html one of the songs ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GXNLyBIr19E.html
My Papou (Grandfather in Greek) grew up in Greece when the Italians invaded, and he talks about how the Italians did not hate the Greeks, they were neighbors and always had mutual appreciation to each other. The mentality was just not there to fight. But once the Germans came in, it was a different story.
It's true. Even before the war and to these days we greeks think of Italians as distant brothers or cousins or something. I don't know if they view us the same way, but yeah.
During the war Greek artist Marinella sung a song called "Brunette Napolitano" which is basically about how Greeks and Italians are the same people and shouldn't be fighting other peoples war. It's a touching song especially considering that it was made during the war.
Thats the feeling I always had too.Also in times where we were under Roman or Venician occupation, we never really had a problem with it, we were treated good and they actually build nice buildings too.
You know that in salento ( south of puglia, apulia in English???) there are literally a few places where we speak Greek. To precise, a dialect Greek (apologize for my English)
I honestly think both of them would be fairly happy, given that modern Greece is kind of a continuation of both Ancient Greece and (Eastern) Roman Empire.
I’m from Nafpaktos, Greece and my grandfather was in the war. He actually learned Italian and killed an Italian soldier and wore his uniform so he could find out axis plans and was responsible for many Nazi and Italian deaths, he was eventually shot in the leg and taken to a camp but his family busted him out. Crazy stories…
@John R Ok,I think I formulated this wrong. I didn't mean that the soldiers are free of fault and punishment,what I meant is that in the big picture,the officers and other higher-up are actually responsible for the ultimate success of their operations and their men's actions on the field,the soldiers are merely doing the heavy lifting. Also,an officer is supposed to ensure his men are well disciplined,trained and motivated. If,like you said,some soldiers would start raping or something,I'd say that the bigger blame is to the officer for not only allowing it to happen,but also not trying to prevent it by disciplining them. Same for when they are into combat,there are numerous examples where a weaker army managed to defeat a much stronger army due to their competent leadership. In conclusion,while the regular soldiers are not free of blame,I think their officers are to be blamed a bit more than them.
There definitely are bad soldiers. But "there are no bad soldiers, only bad officers" is absolutely the right attitude for an officer to have, especially considering that it is the concern of the NCO's, not the commissioned officers, to turn bad soldiers into good soldiers. The officer's only concern is to lead those soldiers as well as he can. A task which will be greatly undermined if he is constantly blaming his soldiers for his own failures. I categorize this statement under: False statements that are nevertheless useful to believe. Other examples include: "A five second fuse only lasts three seconds" (will prevent you from hanging onto a grenade too long) From the student's perspective-"There is no such thing as a bad teacher, only a bad student" (will prevent a student from blaming a teacher's methods for their own bad study habits) From the teacher's perspective-"There is no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher" (will prevent a teacher from blaming a student's study habits for their own bad teaching methods) "No good thing ever comes easily" (may motivate you to work harder for those things that really don't come easily) "Your only limit is your imagination" (will prevent you from giving up too early) "There is no problem so bad that you can't make it worse" (may prevent rash actions that could exacerbate an already bad situation)
Mussolini: "Guys we're bringing back the Roman Empire" Military and politicians: **start infighting and clambering for power and position** Mussolini: *surprised Pikachu face*
If greece had a marine corps or elite unit like the american navy seals or israel's shayatet 13, the greeks should call their's spartans because they were the most feared and brave warriors in ancient greek history, its a pretty cool opportunity!
@@adankmeme651 We do have elite forces, however, they're called "OIK", translated as " "Underwater Destruction Team". Spartans where indeed fearless but so were Macedonians, Athenians and Thebes among other Greeks.
@@adankmeme651 Greece has both Marine force, SEAL teams and other elite units (rangers/raiders, paratroopers etc too). Our SEAL teams should be very similar to US ones due to literally one being an official copy of the other via instructors seed long ago. Our marines though are quite the opposite and have lots of differences than US ones, they also are all part of SF here. As for some of the elite (besides OYK our SEAL teams) you have ETA for which you wont be hear as much and almost any Greek never heard of them even, due to the formation keeping a low profile and anonimity. Hell most professionals in the Hellenic army are not aware of it existing either (again due to low profile and minimal exposure).
@@KingMacuilmiquiztli imagine what Greece's debt would be if Germany had paid the war reparations. ;) But we are talking about a lot of money that was never given to Greece.
tbh I don't get why people make memes on Italy when FRANCE was conquered, surrendered and became Germany's bitch in a week or two.... Also, (i'm italian) stop making pizza, mafia and spaghetti jokes, it's so fucking annoying, Italy is way more than this
@@josephburdett this is so wrong but i am to lazy to write everything just search "why was france/Italy so bad in ww2" or something like that and you will understand why your comment is a fucking joke
As a member of a Greek family, I would say that homemade Greek bread is the best. If you have never tried any, I encourage you and everyone else to try it. I am having my dad teach me how to make one. And mix that bread and olives with feta cheese, and you have yourself one, interesting Mediterranean meal, along with cooked lamb meat.
@@vanlao6367 I was thinking that at the time. However it lacked something important, Rome and the pope. If Rome had made a miraculous comeback, I guarantee the Byzantines would not have quietly been annexed.
Conclusion, Greece after war received by our friends and allies a civil war like a gift, after all those that Greece was make for freedom! Thanks a lot "friends".
Una faccia una razza. Greece and Italy is the perfect example of two neighbour countries that fought againts each other less than a century ago and now are very good friends. Feel proud for Greeks for fighting till death for Freedom, forgive Italians for their bad decision and pay some respect to the dead from both sides...they were young men who could live longer and make great things... this is the real cost of a war. RIP Heroes, I am sure that right now they are drinking some great Greek wine with a delicious Italian Napolitana
Don't you worry, and to most of us, the Italians are our brothers! In fact, this war, should never have happened, but unfortunately, for both of us, their country, was run by a madman, who tried to drag all of them, to hell, with him! Thank God though, that our brothers were smart, and by '43, they pushed, the bastard on the side, and joined the allies, otherwise, the otherwise, beautiful Italy, would have met, the terrible fate, of Germany and Japan.
It's so heartwarming to think that when Italy left its allies greek people helped the Italian soldiers hiding them from the Germans even if that costs them their life.
That happend in Albania aswell. Italian soldiers were treated so well they cooperated with Albanian partisans and forming a whole battalion, later brigade and whole divison of just italian soldiers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Gramsci_Battalion
It's because italian facism was different from german facism. it sought an italian centric empire not an Italian supremacist one. Somewhat like the roman empire. It did invade those countries but did seek to treat them as equals
The worst part is that much of the Italian military was made up of southern Italians (Neapolitans, Calabrians etc.) which are Greek descendants of Magna Graecia so basically it was Greeks fighting Greeks. As someone who's dad came from Greece that small detail bothers me alot, Greeks should never war with fellow Greeks 😞
tbh I don't get why people make memes on Italy when FRANCE was conquered, surrendered and became Germany's bitch in a week or two.... Also, (i'm italian) stop making pizza, mafia and spaghetti jokes, it's so fucking annoying, Italy is way more than this
I read, years ago, the account of an Italian infantrymen who was part of the invasion. His unit advanced to contact, encountering a Greek strongpoint. They called for tank support, and a tank showed up. The tank fired a round, and several of its rivets popped out. It fired a second round, and its armored plating began to fall off. At this point, the whole infantry company surrendered to the Greeks en masse. Mussolini simply had no idea how unprepared his Army really was.
tbh I don't get why people make memes on Italy when FRANCE was conquered, surrendered and became Germany's bitch in a week or two.... Also, (i'm italian) stop making pizza, mafia and spaghetti jokes, it's so fucking annoying, Italy is way more than this
tbh I don't get why people make memes on Italy when FRANCE was conquered, surrendered and became Germany's bitch in a week or two.... Also, (i'm italian) stop making pizza, mafia and spaghetti jokes, it's so fucking annoying, Italy is way more than this
Joseph Burdett i absolutely love italy from an english person but at least i can take jokes about my own country, such as when people say we’d kill for a cup of tea and yorkshire pudding
I’m Greek with ancestry from Epirus.My great grand father fought in the war.When he was alive he used to tell me stories from the war,the difficulties,bad weather and diseases.But WE ARE GREEKS AND WE NEVER GIVE UP.WE FIGHT FOR OUR FAMILIES,FRIENDS,NEIGHBOURS AND FOR GREECE.That’s the messages he passed to me.I AM PROUD TO BE GREEK,THANKS GOD FOR THIS PRESENT 🇬🇷
As a Greek and having read and watch a lot of documentaries the key point of this Greco-Italian war was the battle of the hill 731. Poor strategy of the Italians definitely , i would not stay on the industrial stuff because Greece had not war industry at all that time , the only thing they did was to hide some artillery and ammo from the 1st WW at caves on the mountains one week before the invasion began. Now , the hill 731 states the 731 meters height from the land , after the extensive bombardment of the Italian Air Force the hill was 726 meters height (!!!) and yet soldiers were still on top of the hill, hungry , dirty, and thirsty , the food supplies were taking 4 to 6 days to deliver , their access to water was melted snow from the bomb craters filled with mud and even blood if a fellow soldier was killed by the bomb but they were filtering the water with their bandages in order to drink it compared to the clean and well fed Italian soldiers. A lot of veterans from the 2nd WW still say that the General's ( Dimitrios Kaslas ) order was : No retreat , victory or death ,they bombarded us , stay low , stay hidden , stay safe. There is a lot of dust and smoke after the bombs exploded they cant see us trying to climb the hill, no shooting at all let them come close at 1 meter distance then you stab them with bayonets if you dare to shoot i will shoot you myself. Failling capturing the hill 731 was they key point for the Greeks to start the counter attack which pushed Italians back till the heart of Albania. Summing up , poor strategy from the Italy's point of view but a lot of courage and bravery from the Greek soldiers too.
"Failling capturing the hill 731 was they key point for the Greeks to start the counter attack which pushed Italians back till the heart of Albania." You are wrong here. The battle of hill 731 happened in March. Months after the counter attack happened. It was on the spring offensive of the Italians.
You are accurate about the description of the battle for hill 731, but this was during the spring spring offensive, when the Italians tried to brake through the Greek lines. The battle that stopped the initial Italian offence was in Kalpaki on the Kalamas river, by the Greek 8th infantry division. The Greek counter offensive began on November 3rd in the Pindos sector, in Vovousa, by the reinforced Davakis detachment (regiment size), against the Julia alpine division. Col. Davakis himself did not lead his men, being shot in the chest one day earlier while in a reconnaissance patrol on the impending battle area. The Davakis detachment was renamed Ketsea Detacment, after it's new commander. Col. Davakis, considered a hero of the pindos campaign, was found by the Italians in an Athens hospital recuperating from his injuries, after Greece capitulated to the Germans and was sent by ship to Italy as a prisoner of war. The ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Adriatic taking Col. Davakis down with it.
Me immediately after seeing the title: Call to arms, banners fly in the wind For the glory of Hellas Coat of arms reading “Freedom or death!” Blood of king Leonidas
Greece & Italy were always respecting each other. For sure we had our differences and sometimes war between us, but in general we love each other because basically we have the same mentallity. In WW2, Italian soldiers were not cruel like the Nazis or the Bulgarians that occupied Macedonia and Thrace, and Greek people saw that and responded with kindness when needed. When Italy turned sides and was with the allies, the Nazis tried to get rid of Italian soldiers. In the island of Kephallonia they massacred 12.000 Italian troops, and the Greek population helped Italians hide and also treated the wounded ones.
@@sisidiam1096 Actually, the Greek "#Aera!" battle cry, just means "Air!", and it derives from a spontaneous cry repeated during battle by Cretan #Gendarmerie draftees, also used by the #Cretan Prime Minister of Greece #EleftheriosVenizelos (1910-16, [1917-18], 1918-20), in his elaborate war efforts.
@@SMK-SAS yes i know i m greek, but not greek-speaking people can't really understand the meaning of the battle cry when it's translated with it's literall sence
According to the testimonies of my grandpa and his fellow Greek comrades, who all rest in piece by now, beyond Greek heroism and Italian command's incompetence, lies the fact that the common Italian soldier did not believe in axis' cause, and deep down was unwilling to attack their Greek brothers
I've met Italian veterans of the Greek campaign who pretty much said the same thing. The average Italian soldier was a drafted farmer which surely had nothing against the neighbouring countries
Mussolini: So hows the invasion of Greece going? Italian high command: Yeah, the defense of Albania is being set up as we speak Mussolini: oh that’s goo- THE WHAT!
Italian soldiers was rly good people i know that from my grandparents..They gave us their weapons after all and help the greek army against the germans.The greek civilians hid many italian soldiers from the germans and my family hid 2 soldiers in our home in northen western Greece for 4 months.
@@macabregeorge542 Why not? Genetically speaking, we are practically relatives....us and the Italians! Under normal circumstances, this war shouldn't have happened! But....when you have a mad man, running the show....then all bets are off! The Italians however, also payed a heavy price from that lunatic, but they were clever enough, as to finally, hang him upside down, at a Napoli gas station, at the end of the war, and be done with the bastard, once in for all!
@@macabregeorge542 That is true. My grandmother's father hid an Italian soldier, who later returned to marry one of his daughters! Whose son by the way married an Italian woman as well, making my cousins 1/4 Greeks and 3/4 Italians.
When the mountains start speaking Greek Italians: Just gas them Geneva convention: Bitch you think I'm going to let you cheat twice? Italians: *M A M M A M I A I N T E N S I F I E S*
My grandfather (who is now dead) often had his feet swollen because of the harsh conditions of this war. My other grandfather (he too is now dead) came back on foot from Albania and as soon as he got home my grandmother did not recognize him.
@@ghostofathens6600 I know stories from Creta tha the greeks civilians stab with spears in the heart german airbornes..One villager kills 10 of the with his hands!!
Everyone make fun of Italians for failing to conquer Greece, yet everyone forgot that main reason why the German invasion went "smoothly" is because: 1. The bulk of Greek Army bogged down at the Albanian border 2. The Greek Army was severely weakened due to months of fighting with the Italians
Respect though to the Italians they were the ones that failed but they weren’t the ones that would make the civilian population suffer the most in Greece my grandma’s house was blown up by the SS and italian soldiers helped rebuild it
Really now???😂 During the tripple occupation (italians, bulgarians and germans) italian army committed the most atrocities after the bulgarian army!!! Specially against the Greeks in Epirus region! After all, during the tripple occupation, italians occupied 80% of Greece. Bulgarians occupied eastern Macedonia and western Thrace and Germans occupied only the Cities of Athens, Thessaloniki and the island of Crete
@@rowingaway just saying if your in the comment section there's also plenty here to disprove the other side. It can easily be backed up with sources tho lmao
in other words: 1.] Don't question the courage and capability of the common Italian soldier, question everything else and 2.] Never underestimate the Greek people when united against a common foe.
Italy "Were going to greece" Germany "you need help?" Italy: "Nah bro we can take care of this ourselves" Germany "Ok" Italy: "ey um were not doing to good here can you send your boyz in?" Germany "Sure but you need to help me in russia if i do" Italy "yeah no probs bro"
I see the chat is full of funny (I guess?) memes, but as an Italian I still wanted to apologize to our Greek friends for this shameful "invasion". Fascism was and still is a shame for my country.
It’s okay bro.You personally don’t have to apologise for anything.It was an older generation,but even the Italians fighting the war were mislead by politicians.❤️
My great grandfather fought in Albania in the Greek army and he said the Italian soldiers would let him walk between the lines to grab food and they wouldn’t shoot him, it seemed like none of the Italian soldiers really wanted to fight
My grandfather fought in Greece,(from the point of view of my mother because I didn't know him) he was a pacifist but he was obligated to fight. IDK if he shooted someone but I know that his best friends died there. He was captured by the German because he stole some fournitures of the German armyy he stood there 2 years and then liberated by the English but then again in prison In Italy because they fought he had ran away in war but he was in prison. My family say that he could not do some bad thing to somebody he was very kind and my mom say that he was "friend", "maybe understand them because he (and I)comes from salento( south of puglia) a very VERY VERY poor place where they do hard labour like with farm etc. There are some place in Salento where we speak Greek, Salento is the Greece of Italy. Apologize for my bad English I try to do my best to share this story, if you want more I have a lot of war story about my Italian family.
@@ky7299 Νόμιζε ο Παπάγος ότι οι Γιουγκοσλάβοι θα αντιστεκοντουσαν και θα έκανε και επίθεση κιόλας στην βόρεια Αλβανία......... Που να ήξερε τελικά ότι..... Ήταν οι Σέρβοι εναντίον κυριολεκτικά όλων... Πέθαναν πιο πολλοί από 800.000 καλύτερα να γινόμασταν προτεκτοράτο και μετά να αλλάζαμε μεριές επειδή θα σπρωχναμε και θα περνάμε νότια Σκόπια βόρεια Ήπειρο παίζει και ανατολική Ρωμυλία εκτός από τα Δωδεκάνησα με έναν υπόγειο σχέδιο και έναν καλά διατηρημένο στρατό. Θα κόστιζε σίγουρα λιγότερα και θα περνάμε περισσότερα
That's right, Mussolini's "Roman empire" isn't and it will never be the real Roman empire. The real Roman empire was different, it was stronger, and I bet as a Greek, that they would have found a way to conquer us without the help of Germany. But THIS Roman empire is only Mussolini trying to mimic Germany and then calling it an "empire".
As a Greek I love Italy, the culture the art the cuisine, all those things that unite as, rather than divide us, Italy was just misled by a fascist leader who met his deserved end at the gallows pole, it's just as slight that we Greeks have already forgotten and forgave!
Asking how Greeks were able to stop or delay invasions and win battles against impossible odds, is like asking how Batman can defeat Superman. Because they're Greeks and because he's Batman.
When Mussolini invaded greece,he said "i will be drinking my tea in athens",but the invasion had been going on for 9 months in greece's favour,the greeks told the italians than Mussolini's tea was getting cold🤣
@Ευαγγελος Αγγελος congratulations! Always love to here a country gain independence from another empire that ruled them, happy independence day or whatever you call it
