Operation Marita, (German: Unternehmen Marita)

                   

Italian troops invaded through
Albania

"FIGHT TO DEATH" 

WAS THE GREEK ANSWER

I was only six months old,
so I only know about the war from what I was told. 
Ι could not realize that my dad,
was fighting on the front line, the fascism, the absolute bad.

My first memory was recorded in my mind two years later. 

German troops invaded through
Bulgaria 

A large German flank, great than normal, much greater,         
was installed ten yards away from my home ...
and it was a real trap for our allies in the sky dome.

At three I heard about General Patton and his wins...
They were all saying "thanks to him the path to Berlin begins."

The victories of the allies forced the enemy to retreat. 
This left the ability to grab money and ancient treasures,
                                        [in which the robbers compete...

The Great War continued, and by now I was four..
My Patriots began between them a private civil war.

They were divided in two and were fighting between them,
For our history, this was no gem,
but I would say that civil war is a tradition
over the years we have become accustomed to this condition.

In ancient Greece every city state was ruled by a different king,
and a civil war for sure was started every spring.

For me in 1944 there were some funny things,
if I may speak so, amid tragedy that a war brings,
Half my family was with the leftist rebels
and were fighting the rightist relatives ,
                          [in towns mountains and dells...  

As a result I was seeing numerous guns at home
and I was thinking it was toys around me roam...               

When I cried, they calmed me in a funny way. 
Someone would empty their gun and give it to me for play.
________________________________________


Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //
Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis - CHICAGO//
Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS//
Νο: 20
______________________________________________________________



*The Battle of Greece, (also known as Operation Marita, German: Unternehmen Marita)is the common name for the invasion of Greece by Germany in April 1941. It is concomitant to the stalled Italian invasion known as the Greco-Italian War. 
It is usually distinguished from the Battle of Crete, which came after mainland Greece had been subdued. These operations were part of the greater Balkan Campaign of Germany in World War II.

At the time of the German invasion, Greece was at war with Italy, following the Italian invasion on 28 October 1940. The Greeks defeated the initial attack and the counter-attack of March 1941. 
When Operation Marita began on 6 April, the bulk of the Greek army was on the Albanian border, from which the Italians were trying to enter Greece. 
German troops invaded through Bulgaria, creating a second front. Greece had already received a small though inadequate reinforcement from British Empire forces, in anticipation of the German attack but no more help was sent after the invasion began. 
The Greek army found itself outnumbered in its effort to defend against both Italian and German troops. As a result, the Bulgarian defensive line did not receive adequate troop reinforcements and was quickly overrun by the Germans, who then outflanked the Greek forces in the Albanian borders, forcing their surrender.


 isos