Battle of Ponte Perati

Battle of Ponte Perati
Part of April 1941 Italian offensive in Epirus
Difficulties for the Italian advance in Greece due to partially unpracticable roads. The roads are repaired in order to allow further advance. (April 1941)
Date 18–22 April 1941 Location Perati bridge, Albanian-Greek border Result Italian victory Territorial changes Italian troops complete the reconquest of southern Albania and capture territories in the Greek region of Epirus.
Belligerents
Kingdom of Italy Albania Cham Albanians	Kingdom of Greece United Kingdom Australia Yugoslavia
Commanders and leaders
Ugo Cavallero Carlo Geloso Francesco Pricolo Alessandro Pirzio Biroli Giovanni Messe Alberto Ferrero	Alexandros Papagos  Georgios Tsolakoglou  Ioannis Pitsikas Henry Wilson (AWOL) Ilija Brašić (possibly) Georgios Bakos
Units involved
See the Order of battle
Strength
Unknown but large	150,000 Greeks Unknown number of Serbs Unknown number of British
Casualties and losses
6,000 400 prisoners	1,000 Greeks killed 1,000 Greek prisoners 500 Serbian prisoners 14 Greek divisions captured
Italians bombarded the military and civil hospital causing great casualties for the Greek civilians
The British command under Henry Wilson deserted the Greeks and evacuated Greece via Operation Demon

Battle of Ponte Perati (April 1941) also known as Second Battle of Ponte Perati was fought between the Royal Italian Army and the forces of Greece, Britain and Yugoslavia. The retreating Greeks were attacked by the Italians, who captured previously lost positions of Southern Albania (Korçë, Përmet, Klisura) and occupied parts of Greek Epirus. It took place in the Perati Bridge area, on the Albanian-Greek border, during the Italian Second Spring Offensive under the Italian commander-in-chief in Albania, Ugo Cavallero.

Background

Main articles: Greco-Italian war and Italian spring offensive

Anti-Italian feeling among the Greek public, already strong, reached its peak after the sinking of Elli on 15 August 1940, the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God, a major Orthodox religious holiday. Greek optimism that the Italian attack would fail was evident from the first moments of the war. Besides, official propaganda, as well as the spontaneous reaction of the people created the optimism which was necessary for the first difficult moments. From the first hours of the war a strong national feeling was quite evident "to teach a lesson to the macaroni-boys" (Greek: Μακαρονάδες, "Makaronades"), as the Italians were pejoratively called. Various factors have contributed to the high morale of the Greek side and the subsequent repulsion of the Italian attacks: the strong belief in a just cause, the specialized and well trained military personnel of the Greek army and its leadership, as well as the devotion of the civilian population who lived next to the battlefields, including women, children and the elderly, to the Greek cause. Public opinion in Greece still accepts that the failure of the numerically superior Italian army came as a result of its unjustified action against Greece.

The three occupation zones.
  Italian   German   annexed by Bulgaria.
The Italian zone was taken over by the Germans in September 1943.

After the Italian troops were driven from Greek soil, Greek morale was further strengthened. The unpublished and unknown up to now documents (memoranda, letters, plans) of Ubaldo Soddu (who did not write memoirs), Commander of the Italian forces in Albania from 10 November to 30 December 1940, reveal the desperate efforts for control, the strict measures for unjustified retreats and abandonment of positions, the tragic appeal even for German help (on 24 November and 17 December). In his reports, Soddu analysed Greek offensive tactics and the bravery and the moral strength of the enemy, during this period from November–December, the Greeks used no new method of military tactics or quickly took advantage of the land left back by the Italian retreat. Mussolini, after the capture of Himara by the Greeks, wrote of the high morale that contributed to the victory of the enemy (24 December). The Greek successes against Italy helped raise morale in Allied Europe and showed that the Axis were not invincible. Inspired by these military developments, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared that "today we say that Greeks fight like heroes, from now on we will say that heroes fight like Greeks".

In 2007, Fisher wrote that although the advance of the Greek army stalled at January 1941, due to harsh winter conditions and Italian reinforcements, Greece had managed to secure a strong bridgehead in southern Albania (Northern Epirus to the Greeks). Thus, it not only delivered a humiliation to Mussolini, but also occupied an area inhabited by a substantial ethnic Greek population,

As the only active ally of Britain fighting in Europe, Greece, overcoming its comparative disadvantage, provided the first victory against the Axis forces ... Greek advances stalled in early January 1941, falling victim to the harsh winter and to Italian reinforcements. Nonetheless, the strong positioning of Greek forces in southern Albania provided not only humiliation for Mussolini but also an unexpected gain for Greece, which now occupied an area inhabited by many Greeks that had been relegated to Albanian rule after the First World War.

— Fisher

The failed Italian invasion is viewed as a triumph in Greece and often referred to as "the Epic of 40" ("Το Έπος του '40") and 28 October, the day Metaxas rejected the Italian ultimatum, is a national holiday known as Ohi Day (Greek: Επέτειος του Όχι, Anniversary of the 'No'). In February 1941, intensive preparations to strengthen the Italian front line began. By the end of the month, the 15 Italian divisions fighting in Albania had been reinforced by an additional ten divisions. In order to raise the morale of the soldiers, Benito Mussolini ordered the units to be accompanied by the most aggressive fascist cadres and also by government ministers and high-ranking officials.

A new Italian offensive began on 9 March, under General Carlo Geloso and started with heavy bombardment of Greek positions by artillery and aircraft. Eleven infantry divisions attacked with the support of the 131st Armored Division "Centauro". a heavy artillery barrage and air bombardment; on the main sector, held by the Greek 1st Division, over 100,000 shells were dropped on a 6 km (3.7 mi) front. Despite repeated assaults and heavy shelling, the positions of 1st Division held during 9–10 March. The attack was mainly directed against the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 11th, 15th and 17th divisions of the Greek army and was followed by repeated infantry assaults between the rivers Osum and Vjosa, an area dominated by Mount Trebeshinë.

On 14 March, Italian General Ugo Cavallero, realizing that the attacks had failed, advised Mussolini to stop the offensive. Fierce fighting occurred on height 731, which was assaulted by the Italians at least 18 times. Attacks, preceded by heavy artillery bombardments, followed daily until 24 March, the last day of the Italian offensive, without achieving any result. The Greek forces maintained an active defence, which included counter-attacks and systematic exploitation of advantageous terrain. Decisive factors in the Greek success were that Greek artillery was not neutralized and the high morale of the Greek troops.

Prelude

Main article: Battle of Greece

Mussolini admitted that the result of the Italian offensive was zero. Italian casualties amounted to over 11,800 killed and wounded, while the Greeks suffered 1,243 killed, 4,016 wounded and 42 missing in action. After the Italian failure the Germans could no longer expect any appreciable support from their Italian allies when they marched against Greece, since Greek forces were only 16 kilometres (10 mi) away from the strategic port of Vlorë. With the German intervention and the subsequent capitulation of Greece in April 1941, the sector around height "731" was proclaimed a holy area by the Italians and a monument was erected by them, due to the heavy casualties they suffered.

Although it failed, the spring offensive further exhausted the Greek Army which had been fighting a numerically larger power continuously for the past six months with significant British material support. Following the successful Greek defence, the Greek Army as a whole possessed only a single month's supply of heavy artillery ammunition and insufficient supplies to equip its reserves; requests were immediately sent to their British allies for millions of artillery shells and tens of millions of rifle rounds. This proved to be a logistical impossibility for the British.

Hitler would never leave his ally, Fascist Italy, to be defeated in the war against Greece, so he had issued orders for Third Reich's military intervention (Operation Marita) already from December 1940. After German intervention ensured a quick Axis victory, Hitler later acknowledged that the German invasion of Greece was greatly facilitated by the Italians holding down and bleeding white, the greater part of Greece's limited military forces.

Border clashes with Serbs

On 15 April the 3rd Army attacked the city of Scutari in Albania. Ilija Brašić the commander of the 3rd Army fought with the Italians for 2 days. The Italians said to have replsued several human wave attacks by the Serbs simultaneously fighting the Greeks in southern Albania. They were finally defeated on 18 April 1941 allowing Italy to focus on the Greeks.

Ilija Brašić the commander of 3rd Army of Yugoslavia

For 48 hours the Serbs have been moving in wave upon wave through rain and snow against Scutari, on the southern shore of a lake of the same name, only to be mowed down by Fascist machine-gunners and scattered by our airmen

— Border advicers

Battle

The Italians had saw its first major offensive success against the Greeks on 14 April 1941 after successfully capturing Korçë which they had captured earlier but on 22 November 1940 but had lost it to the Greeks in the Battle of Korçë. Koritza is approximately 25 miles south of Lake Ochrid and sits at a road junction. From Koritza there is a road leading eastwards to Florina, which is the hinge point of current British-Greek line opposing the Axis forces. It was reported that at 12:30 pm today, fast-moving columns of Bersaglieri on motorcycles or in armoured vehicles entered Koritza and captured "a large number of prisoners and various types of weapons, including several artillery batteries".

The 9th Army proceed to capture Koritza which caused great difficulties for British, Australian and New Zealand troops fighting alongside with the Greeks. On April 18, the high command of Italy announced that although fierce combat had occurred, divisions of the 11th Army had captured Giadri, the day before being at Klisura, and taken the fifth day of a battle against the Greeks. On this day, the Casale and Ferrara divisions, while pursuing retreating enemies, executed a brilliant maneuver by wheeling right as one unit and pivoting to where a portion of the 11th Army began moving east towards the Klisura Pass to engage in combat with a large force. The Bari division inflicted many casualties on the enemy and captured Permeti during the engagement.

Retreat from Ioannina to Arta

As a result of the Greek withdrawal from the Klisura Pass area, the two roads leading south into Albania split off in the town of Përmet. Due to the extensive damage to the vehicles at the poorly maintained mountain pass (between Përmet and Perati), the Greek troops were rerouted along the coastal route from Ioannina and Arta. Unfortunately, these troops still endured numerous attacks from Regia Aeronautica, as shown by actual gun camera footage.

Ponte Perati

Italian horses at Ponte Perati bridge in Albania

On the morning of April 21st, the fifth and eighth Alpini Regiments arrived to take on the Greek rearguards. The rest of the Bari Division soon followed to join in the fight with Italian infantry taking part in what will be known as the Second Battle of Ponte Perati one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. On this day, the Evzones Regiment was attacked by the 4th Bersaglieri Regiment surrounding Perati. Approximately five hundred Greek bodies were buried by the Bersaglieri; however, they also lost their Commanding Officer during intense fighting and close-quarters combat.

On 20 April, the 4th Bersaglieri Regiment completely wiped out a Greek division within just six hours. Just after dusk, the 5th and 8th Alpini Regiment moved into battle and smashed into the rearguards of the EFAS. The Eprirus Army's steamrolling had continued. The prisoners that were taken helped confirm the reports of intelligence. The Italian spearheads came up against the famed Royal Guards or Evzones. The Evzones were defeated the following day. The impressive Bersaglieri regiment broke through the Greek line of Evzones using flamethrowers, leaving many Greeks burned to death in their bunkers. At the same time, the 59th Alpini Regiment's Edolo Battalion, the 26th Bersaglieri Motorcycle Battalion, and the 17th Milan Lancers Regiment rushed to get to the fleeing Greek units before they could repair the bridges and escape from being trapped.

“During yesterday (April 20th) our troops were forced to fight hard in beating back the Greek retreating forces, who were offering a tenacious resistance in their fortified positions along the Albanian frontier. Embittered fights took place, in one of which the Fourth Bersaglieri Regiment particularly distinguished itself. All the localities along the Albanian frontier have been reoccupied by our troops.”

— Italian high command

On April 20, Salivaras documented her daily entries noting, “Albania had strong opposition against the aerial fleet of the enemy. The enemy made two attempts against our forces; however, they suffered severe casualties and were forced from the battlefield back behind their own lines.” When the Bari and Taro divisions arrived at the Ponte Perati area, the Bari division received considerable fire from both machine guns and artillery inflicting significant losses to the unit.

Although firece fighting continued from 19 April – 22 April the Greeks were unable to resist the Italian offensive and Surrendered to the Milan Cavalry Regiment. The Bari Division lost 30 officers and 400 other ranks, killed or wounded.

Surrender of the Greeks

Georgios Tsolakoglou, commander of the Greek forces surrendered to the Italians. On April 21, 1941, the units of the Pusteria Division received movement orders to Lake Giannina located deep in Greece. To reach their destination, the Alpini will have to march through the lower Pindus Mountain range. Lieutenant Antonio Ferrante Di Ruffano of the Pusteria Division discovered many items left behind by retreating Greek soldiers, particularly British and French manufactured ammunition, items that the Italians were unsuccessful in defeating during the Italian army's campaign against Greece.

At 9pm information was received from Lieutenant-General Georgios Bakos that he had dispatched plenipotentiaries to General Carlo Geloso (commander of the Italian Eleventh Army) asking if they would accept his offer of surrender. General Tsolakoglou surrendered on behalf of the commanders of all Greek Armies on the Albanian front, although he did not have the approval of the Greek government.

Greek military leaders were shocked and had no choice but to acknowledge defeat to General Alberto Ferrero, the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army in Albania, with the Regia Aeronautica continuing to bomb Ioannina heavily. "The Italian Air Force, no longer restricted or stopped, relentlessly bombed Ioannina the capital city of Epirus; the city was ablaze with the fires of war. Two bombs struck the operating theatre of the 1st Military Hospital killing many people. Arta was also struck by bombs. Hostilities on the Albanian front were officially reached on 23 April at 14:45 hours.

"The enemy Army of the Epirus and Macedonia has laid down its arms. The capitulation was made at 9.45 last night by a Greek military delegation to the command of the Italian Eleventh Army on the Epirus front.”

— Italian high command

Italian victory over the Greeks

The Italian Army, in Albania, destroyed some of the best mountain fighters in the world, equipped with lots of machineguns and also benefitting from excellent fire support, in just over a week. “Badoglio told Mussolini he needed 20 divisions to defeat the 150,000 Greek troops who had a machinegun superiority.” The Italian generals were impressed by the Greeks bravery and precision with their artillery, despite being outnumbered by more than twice as many troops; the Greeks only had 6 mortars per battalion, compared to the Italians' 60.

"The enemy dominated us with its 82mm French mortars against our 45mm and 81mm ones. And even if we captured some of their munitions, we couldn’t use them."

— Italian high command

On January 21st, another surrender agreement was presented to the Greeks for signing. This agreement contained far more severe terms than the first one. The Greek Forces now had to send all their soldiers to prisoner-of-war camps, but officers were still allowed to retain their pistols. Two days after the Greeks signed this second agreement, Mussolini begrudgingly accepted the terms. The Regio Esercito has shackled a significant number of divisions in Greece through its forces in Albania. This, in effect, made possible an invasion by the Germans of Greece since they basically left unguarded their back door. "He indicated that he believed that the Albanian front was a very serious distraction, that it occupied 300,000 Greek troops and took away from the Allies any essentially available reserves for eastern and central Macedonia, and only allowed three Greek Divisions to be used by Wilson".

Benito Mussolini sent congratulations:

After six months of most sharp fighting, the enemy has laid down his arms. The victory consecrates your bloody sacrifices, especially severe for the land forces, and illuminates your flags with new glory. The fatherland is proud of you as never before.

— Benito Mussolini

Order of battle

Kingdom of Italy :

• 11th Army
  • III Army Corps
    • 11th Brennero Infantry Division
    • 24th Pinerolo Infantry Division
    • 36th Forlì Infantry Division
    • VIII Army Corps (Xylokastro),
    • 29th Piemonte Infantry Division (Patras)
    • 51st Siena Infantry Division
    • 59th Cagliari Infantry Division (Tripoli)
    • 3rd Julia Alpine Division
  • XXVI Army Corps (Ioannina), Generale di divisione Guido Della Bona
    • 33rd Acqui Infantry Division (Corfu)
    • 37th Modena Infantry Division
    • 56th Casale Infantry Division
• 9th Army,
• 4th Bersaglieri Regiment
  • XXVI Battalion
  • XXIX Battalion
  • XXXI Battalion
  • 4th Motorcyclists Company
• Regia Aeronautica

Kingdom of Greece :

• Epirus Army Section
  • 14 Greek divisions
• Western Macedonia Army Section

United Kingdom :

• Royal Air Force

Yugoslavia :

• 3rd Army
  • 13th Infantry Division Hercegovačka
  • 15th Infantry Division Zetska
  • 25th Infantry Division Vardarska
  • 31st Infantry Division Kosovska

Sources

Books

• Carr, John C. (2013). The Defence and Fall of Greece 1940–1941. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-78159-181-9.
• Chatzēpateras, Kōstas N.; Maria S., Phaphaliou; Leigh Fermor, Patrick (1995). Greece 1940–41 Eyewitnessed. Athens: Efstathiadis Group. ISBN 978-960-226-533-8.
• Cruickshank, Charles Greig (1976) [1975]. Greece, 1940–1941. London: Davis-Poynter. ISBN 0-70670-180-1.
• Electris, Theodore; Lindsay, Helen (2008). Written on the Knee: A Diary from the Greek–Italian Front of WWII. Minneapolis, MN: Scarletta Press. ISBN 978-0-9824584-4-0.
• Gedeon, Dimitrios (2001). "Ο Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος 1940–41: Οι χερσαίες επιχειρήσεις". Ο Ελληνικός Στρατός και το Έπος της Βορείου Ηπείρου [The Greco-Italian War 1940–1941: The Ground Operation] (in Greek). Athens: Periskopio. ISBN 960-86822-5-8.
• Keegan, John; Mayer, Sydney L. (1977). The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of World War II. Chicago: Rand McNally. ISBN 0-52881-060-X.
• Manchester, Richard B. (1994). Incredible Facts: The Indispensable Collection of True Life Facts and Oddities. New York: BBS Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-0-88365-708-9.
• Sakellariou, M. V. (1997). Epirus, 4000 years of Greek history and civilization. Ekdotike Athenon. ISBN 978-960-213-371-2.
• Zapantis, Andrew L. (1982). Greek–Soviet relations, 1917–1941. East European Monographs. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-88033-004-6.
• Zapantis, Andrew L. (1987). Hitler's Balkan Campaign and the Invasion of the USSR. Eastern European Monographs. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-88033-125-8.
• Joseph, Frank (2010). Mussolini’s War: Fascist Italy’s Military Struggles from Africa and Western Europe to the Mediterranean and Soviet Union 1935–45. Casemate Publishers.
• U.S. Army (1986) [1953]. The German Campaigns in the Balkans (Spring 1941). Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. OCLC 16940402. CMH Pub 104-4. Archived from the original on 2009-06-19. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
• Richter, Heinz A. (1998). Greece in World War II (in Greek). transl by Kostas Sarropoulos. Athens: Govostis. ISBN 978-960-270-789-0.
• Carrier, Richard (2021). Mussolini's Army against Greece: October 1940-April 1941. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-58128-9.
• Fisher, Bernd Jürgen (2007). Balkan Strongmen: Dictators and Authoritarian Rulers of South Eastern Europe. Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-455-2.
• Clogg, Richard, ed. (2008). Bearing Gifts to Greeks: Humanitarian Aid to Greece in the 1940s. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-50035-8.
• van Creveld, Martin (1973). Hitler’s Strategy 1940–1941: The Balkan Clue. Cambridge University Press.
• Pearson, Owen (2006). Albania in the Twentieth Century: A History, Volume II: Albania in Occupation and War, 1939–45. I.B. Tauris.
• Cavallero, Ugo (1948). Diario, 1940–1943 (in Italian). Ciarrapico.
• Faingold, Eduardo D.; Buchas, Juan (2010). The Kalamata Diary: Greece, War, and Emigration. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7391-2890-9.
• Thomas, Nigel; Mikulan, Krunoslav (1995). Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941–45. New York: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-473-2.

Journals

• Tsirpanlis, Zacharias N. (1992). "The Morale of the Greek and the Italian Soldier in the 1940–41 War". Balkan Studies. 33 (1). Institute for Balkan Studies. ISSN 2241-1674.
• Sadkovich, James J. (1993). "The Italo-Greek War in Context: Italian Priorities and Axis Diplomacy". Journal of Contemporary History. 28 (3): 439–464. ISSN 0022-0094.

Thesis

• Bregantin, Lisa (2010). L'occupazione dimenticata. Gli italiani in Grecia 1941-1943 [The Forgotten Occupation. The Italians in Greece 1941–1943] (PhD thesis) (in Italian). Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia.

Web

• Niehorster, Dr. Leo (2013b). "Balkan Operations Order of Battle Royal Yugoslavian Army 3rd Army 6th April 1941". Dr. Leo Niehorster. Retrieved 21 June 2014.

External links

• Media related to Greco-Italian War at Wikimedia Commons