Capture of Konitsa (1940)
| Capture of Konitsa | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Greco-Italian War | |||||||
Failed Italian invasion of Greece and temporary occupation of Konitsa by Italy | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Kingdom of Italy | Kingdom of Greece | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Pietro Badoglio | Konstantinos Davakis | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
23rd Infantry Division 51st Infantry Division 131st Armoured Division | 8th Infantry Division | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 140 Italians; 25 Albanian Muslims |
| ||||||
Capture of Konitsa was fought during the initial phase of the Greco-Italian War. The Italians successfully captured the city of Konitsa in Greece. It was under Italian occupation until 9 November 1940.
Background
After the Italian invasion of Albania in 1939, the Greek General Staff became alerted to a potential Italian attack from Albanian territory, which eventually started on 28 October 1940. The Italian command deployed the Julia Division with the objective of capturing the strategic mountain passes of the Pindus Mountains as swiftly as possible.[1] During an Italian war council, the Italian commander in Albania, General Visconti Prasca, stated that the mountain range of Pindus would be no problem for the Italian units, and foresaw no difficulty in getting his divisions straight to Athens, like a modern Hannibal.[2] The Greeks divided the theatre of operations into the sectors of Epirus and Macedonia linked by the Pindus Detachment.[3] The Pindus Detachment under Colonel Konstantinos Davakis was deployed along a 35-kilometre (22 mi) line in the Pindus mountain range.[4]
Battle
On 29 October 1940, the Italian Army occupied the town of Konitsa as an important position on the Egiro front during the opening phase of the Greco-Italian War. Facing continuous attacks from advancing Italian units, Colonels Davakis' troops were forced to leave the town.[5][6]
However, immediately after the withdrawal, the Greek Command reorganised their forces in the mountain areas around the town and Colonel Davakis launched a counter-attack against the unprotected left flank of the Italian advance to disrupt the Italian attack and regain the tactical initiative in this area, demonstrating the Greek Command's strategy of combining the difficult terrain with flexible defensive operations to offset the numerical and material superiority of the invading Italian forces.[7] The town remained under Italian occupation until 9 November 1940 when the Greeks launched a major counter-offensive.[8]
References
- ^ Schreiber et al. 1995, p. 430.
- ^ Schreiber et al. 1995, p. 412.
- ^ Schreiber et al. 1995, p. 428.
- ^ Gedeon 1997, p. 31.
- ^ Athanassiou 2017, p. 5.
- ^ Knox 2000, p. 80.
- ^ Γιώτης, Σπυρίδων (2022). Η ιταλική πολιτική στην Αλβανία και η ελληνική μειονότητα, 1939-1943 (Διδακτορική Διατριβή thesis) (in Greek). Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας. Σχολή Οικονομικών και Περιφερειακών Σπουδών. Τμήμα Βαλκανικών, Σλαβικών και Ανατολικών Σπουδών.
- ^ Kyrou 2012, p. 6–7.
Bibliography
- Schreiber, Gerhard; Stegemann, Bernd; Vogel, Detlef (1995). The Mediterranean, south-east Europe and north Africa, 1939–1941: from Italy's declaration of non-belligerence to the entry of the United States' into the war. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822884-4.
- Gedeon, Dimitrios (1997). An abridged history of the Greek-Italian and Greek-German war, 1940–1941: (land operations). Athens: Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate. ISBN 978-960-7897-01-5.
- Athanassiou, Phoebus (2017). Armies of the Greek-Italian War 1940–41. Osprey Publishing.
- Kyrou, Alexander K. (2012). "The First Victory: Greece in the Second World War" (PDF). AHIF Policy Journal. 3.
- Knox, MacGregor (2000). Common Destiny: Dictatorship, Foreign Policy, and War in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58208-3.