German Breakthrough in Greece: The 1941 Battle of Pineios Gorge - (Plowman Jeffrey)(Pevná vazba)

On February 25, 1941 Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, made his first approach to the Australian and New Zealand governments seeking their approval for the use of their troops in his Greek venture. While the New Zealand government was adamant that their forces should have the support of an armoured brigade, the Australian government was more concerned that it would end in an evacuation, a fear also evident among the British planners, a view they were reluctant to share. Fast forward two months and it is now April 14\. Ten days have passed since the German invasion of Greece and the Anzacs are in trouble, even if they don’t yet know it. The small German motorcycle battalion that has just reached the 21st NZ Battalion positions at Platamon is a harbinger of the panzer battle group yet to come. To the south is the strategic town of Larissa. North of it almost the entire Anzac Corps is spread out along the line of the Olympus mountains, with its western end anchored on Kalabaka, where a small brigade group waits for the appearance of the 1st Armoured Brigade further north. Larissa is their only escape route and the German thrust is aimed straight at it. Worse still, as the fighting intensified at Platamon, the Anzac Corps high command seemed slow to react and almost turned a blind eye to it as they continued to reinforce the west against what was only a perceived threat. That this lone battalion, with four 25-pounders in support, managed to hold off the attack
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