Tell us about the Balkan Battle of World War II?

The purpose of the Balkan campaign is to establish a strategic base in the south to attack the Soviet Union and ensure the implementation of the campaign in the Mediterranean region. As early as the end of 1940, the German military and political authorities had made plans to seize Greece after the defeat of the Italian army in Greece. In preparation for this attack, the Germans initially expected Yugoslavia to obey and tried to pull Yugoslavia and Bulgaria into the fascist alliance. Battle time in the Balkans: 194 1 During World War II, countries of the fascist alliance (Germany, Italy, Hungary) took action to seize Yugoslavia and Greece. They changed these plans because of the national coup in Yugoslavia on March 23rd. Under the pressure of the people, the new government refused to form an alliance with Germany and signed a friendly and non-aggression treaty with the Soviet Union on April 5, 194 1. So the German military and political authorities handed over the task of destroying Yugoslavia to their armed forces. Now the military action plans for Yugoslavia and Greece have been drawn up as campaign plans. In order to carry out this campaign, 12 (commander is Marshal Liszt), 2nd Army (commander is General Wedges) and 1 Tank Group (***32 divisions, including 10 Tank Division) and 1500 aircraft (4th Air Force Italian and Hungarian troops fought in the auxiliary direction. In order to invade Balkan countries, Germany and its allies used more than 80 divisions, more than 2,000 planes and nearly 2,000 tanks. The Germans are in a favorable position to surround the Yugoslav and Greek troops. The tasks of the German army are: to carry out multi-channel centripetal assault from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, invade Yugoslavia, divide and destroy the Yugoslav armed forces; At the same time, it began to invade Greece, seize Thessaloniki and attack Larissa. The aviation will make a surprise attack on Belgrade, destroy the airport in Yugoslavia and disrupt the railway traffic, thus breaking its war mobilization plan. Yugoslavia and Greece were unprepared for this aggression. Yugoslavia's military plan does not adapt to the new strategic situation. Its army has just begun its strategic deployment. This army has 28 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, 32 independent regiments (insufficient mobilization and poor technical equipment), as well as 1 10 tanks and 4 16 outdated aircraft. The basic strength of the Greek army (15 infantry division) is to fight in the Italian-Greek battlefield (Albania). In order to counter the invasion of fascist Germany, the Greek army headquarters can only transfer six divisions. 194 1 March, 2000, the arrival of more than 60,000 British expeditionary forces (1 tank brigade, 1 Australian division and 1 New Zealand division) and a few British aviation units (9 squadrons) failed to fundamentally improve the situation of the Greek army. No agreement was reached between the Yugoslav army and the joint Greek-British forces. Germany invaded Yugoslavia on the night of April 5, 194 1. German and Italian aviation forces made a surprise attack on Yugoslav airport, Belgrade and other cities. The German 12 division crossed the Bulgarian-southern border in three parts. With the support of aviation, German tanks advanced 30-50 kilometers on the first day of attack. On April 7th, the Yugoslav army was defeated in Ma Erdun, and the Germans occupied Skopje, Xipu and Veres. On April 8-10, the Germans continued to push south. At the same time, on April 8, the divisions of the German army 1 tank group raided Nish from the west of Sofia. German tanks advanced nearly 200 kilometers in three days and threatened Belgrade from the south. On April 10, political events in Yugoslavia (rebellion and separatist activities of leaders of nationalist groups) stopped the resistance of Croatia and Slovenia. On April 1 1, the Italian-Hungarian army launched an attack. On April 13, the Germans met in Belgrade and captured the city. On April 15, the confederate army stopped resisting. /kloc-in April of 0/7, the Yugoslav Army signed the unconditional surrender. When fighting Yugoslavia, the left wing of the German 12 Army (6 divisions, including 1 Tank Division) launched an attack on the Greek army on April 6. On April 9, the Germans occupied Thessaloniki, and the Greek "East Macedonia" army surrendered. The German army continued to push south, posing a threat to the central cluster of the British-Greek Coalition forces and the rear of the Greek army on the Italian-Greek battlefield. On April 12, the headquarters of the Greek Army began to withdraw its troops from Albania to China. The Italian army (22 divisions) followed closely. Military failure caused a crisis within the Greek ruling group and between the leaders of the Greek army. On April 23, the Greek surrender was signed. On April 27th, the Germans invaded Athens. Arrive at the southern tip of Peloponnesus before the end of April 29th. The British Expeditionary Force, which lost nearly 6.5438+0.2 million people, destroyed heavy weapons and means of transport and evacuated to Crete by sea. The last stage of the Balkan campaign was the airborne battle in Crete.

Crete airborne warfare

1 941May 20 to June1day, during the Balkan campaign of World War II, the Germans carried out the operational plan of capturing Crete with the code name "Mercury".

After the occupation of Greece, the German high command decided to capture Crete, because it was of great strategic significance to seize the sea power in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Sea. The campaign attempted to stipulate that the advance airborne troops should seize the three airports on the island first, so as to facilitate the smooth implementation of the plane landing on the island by the main force. At the same time, it is planned to send landing soldiers to land and transport heavy weapons and equipment from the sea.

Participating troops include: 7th Airborne Division, 5th Mountainous Infantry Division and some independent troops (about 22,000 people), 8th and1kloc-0/Army of 4th Air Force (433 bombers, 233 fighters, 500 transport planes, 50 reconnaissance planes and 72 transport gliders); Landing soldiers (about 7000 people) and 70 ships of various types. The commander of the 4 th Air Force, Admiral Le Er, is in charge of unified command. At the beginning of the attack, there were 30,000 British troops (mainly expeditionary soldiers evacuated from Greece to the island) and 6,543,800 Greek troops. The troops guarding the island are poorly equipped and lack artillery. There are no planes at all, only six tanks. General Fraiberg of New Zealand, the commander of the garrison, distributed his troops to four areas on the island.

The British high command estimated that the Germans would send landing troops first, so it paid special attention to the naval defense landing. The formation of the British Mediterranean Fleet (4 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 9 cruisers and more than 20 fleet destroyers) is responsible for this task. The air bases of fascist Germans on the mainland and islands are not far from Crete (120- 140 km), so airborne troops can be widely used in battles.

On the morning of May 20th, German paratroopers parachuted in Simonon, Iqlim and Chana after intensive air strikes on British positions in Crete, which caused heavy losses. The Germans paid a high price for heavy losses to gain a foothold in Malemai and Chana. On may 2 1 day, the german high command pursued victory and airlifted the 5 th mountain infantry division here by plane and glider. With the active support of aviation, the troops below the division and the remaining paratroopers launched an attack on the mainland of the island. At the same time, the German high command also tried to land from the sea, but failed because of the resistance of the British navy. The British fleet failed to give significant assistance to the garrison with heavy casualties when the enemy mastered the air superiority. On May 23, some British ships were hit hard by German air raids, so they stopped patrolling the waters of Crete and withdrew to Alexandria. On the night of May 28th, British troops began to retreat from the island to Egypt. May 29th -3 1, * * * Withdraw 18000 officers and men.

In the airborne battle in Crete, about 4,000 Germans were killed and missing, more than 2 100 were injured, and 220 planes were lost, including 1 19 transport planes and a large number of ships. British troops lost 1.5 million, of which 1.742 were killed. The British fleet suffered heavy losses: three cruisers and six lightning-struck ships were sunk, and many ships were injured, including 1 aircraft carrier, three battleships, six cruisers and seven lightning-struck ships. Greece lost 1 armored ships, 12 fleet destroyers, 10 torpedo boats, 75% merchant ships, casualties and captives150,000 people. The Greek army guarding the island also suffered heavy losses.

The airborne battle of Crete was one of the large-scale airborne battles during the Second World War. After the German occupation of Crete, the land transport routes in Southeast Europe were reliably guaranteed, the routes in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean were controlled, and Britain lost one of the most important strongholds in the Mediterranean. In the battle, the German Air Force, which completely mastered the air superiority, played a decisive role, causing heavy losses to the British Mediterranean fleet.

The failure of the anti-landing campaign in Crete was due to the following factors: the British high command did not believe that the Germans could capture such a huge island with the help of airborne troops; The troops guarding the island have no planes and lack the necessary number of tanks, artillery and other weapons and equipment. The battle to capture Crete showed the growth of airborne troops' combat capability. At the same time, it has been proved that such a campaign will inevitably suffer heavy losses if it does not cooperate with other services. Therefore, after the German high command seized the island, it never dared to carry out similar large-scale airborne campaigns.