Operation 25 & Marita By: Brooklyn Lee Sunny Malhotra Krishna Rao Brooke Wilkes Nicole McHugh

Thesis The ill-planned Italian invasion of Greece crippled the Italian Army but Hitler’s attack on Yugoslavia – caused by a new government in power – and eventual march upon Yugoslavia resulted in an Axis victory and a delayed attack on Russia via Operation Barbarossa

Cause of Operation Marita  Moose already occupied Albania  Thought he could defeat the Greeks in a matter of days  Germany joins fight through Yugoslavia  Completely took advisers and Hitler by surprise

Causes of Operation 25  Axis asked for Yugoslavia to join Tripartite pact  Yugoslav government was bitterly divided  Prince of Yugoslavia, Prince Paul, agrees  Prime minister sought to denounce this campaign  Overthrown in coup d'état because decision is unpopular  Hitler furious and orders invasion of Yugoslavia on March 27 s/b/ba/ _old_yugoslavia_300.gif

Operation Marita (Greece)  Italian attack  Greece was able to hold off the Italians with support from the British  Germany sends troops through Yugoslavia to attack Greece oopers_Crete_'41.JPG

Operation 25 (Yugoslavia)  Air attack  Joint attacks  Italians attacked towards Ljubljana  Little resistance against Hungary  Yugoslavian counter  Ends with Armistice POW guarded by soldiers %2C_Balkan%2C_Sp%C3%A4hpanzer%2C_bulgarische_Soldaten.jpg

Resistance Yugoslavia  two resistance movements developed in Yugoslavia.  The first and most successful was led by Josef Tito.His communist ‘Partisan Army’ caused the Germans all manner of problems.  The other resistance movement was Mihailovic’s Cetniks, who were royalists and in direct opposition to Tito’s ‘Partisan Army’. Greece  Greek resistance combined with RAF effort got Italian forces to retreat  Greek resistance ends with Axis officially occupying Athens  Aris Velouchiotis – stood out as a leader in Greece

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Outcome of Marita  The invading German forces defeated the Greek forces with relative ease on April 30th.  Axis nations devised a tripartite occupation with the nation divided between German, Italian, and Bulgarian forces  Battle of Crete (Occupied by Germans in the end), while the Luftwaffe began an intensive bombing campaign killing British soldiers on Crete.

Outcome of Operation 25  Yugoslavia surrendered-Axis dismembered Yugoslavia  New borders - includes the annexation of Slovenia  Impacted the lives of Jewish people living in Yugoslavia  “The Germans and their Axis partners murdered more than 67,000 Jews on Yugoslav soil”

Impact and Importance  “Although Operation Marita was an spectacular military success, the German intervention in the Balkans was an ominous intervention, for it delayed Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union) more than a month.”  “Some historians regard the German campaign in Greece as decisive in determining the course of World War II, maintaining that it fatally delayed the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union.”  Supported that German tanks and trucks are capable of being used in any type of terrain  Germany came out of both invasions with massive land gains

Timeline (Marita)  First Italian offensive: October 28 – November 13,  Greek counter-offensive: November 14, 1940 – March,  Second Italian offensive: March 9 – April 23,  German Offensive on April th  German win: April 30, 1941

Timeline (Operation 25)  The announcement of the agreement with the Germans on March 25  On March 27, Serb military officers overthrew the regency  Hitler was furious and ordered the invasion of Yugoslavia on the evening of March 27.  April 17th King Peter fled to London  Yugoslavia falls to Germany on April 17th  On June 22nd, Tito used a newspaper to call the people of Yugoslavia to help the Russians  By September 1941, it is estimated that there were about 70,000 resistance fighters in Yugoslavia  In mid-September 1941, Tito met Mihailovic, and teamed up to fight the Germans

Work Cited  Alex, Dan. "Greece WW2 Timeline." Greece WW2 Timeline Dec Web. 13 Mar  m  "Battle of Greece." New World Encyclopedia. Mediawiki, 3 Jan Web. 16 Mar  "Battle of Greece - Operation Marita." Asisbiz. N.p., 14 Apr Web. 13 Mar  "Episode 113-Operation Marita Part 1." The History of WWII Podcast by Ray Harris Jr. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar  Hart, Stephen A. "Partisans: War in the Balkans " BBC News. BBC, 17 Feb Web. 13 Mar  History.com Staff. "Germany Invades Yu  goslavia and Greece." History.com. A&E Television Networks, Web. 13 Mar  "PART THREE." THE GERMAN CAMPAIGN IN THE BALKANS (SPRING 1941): PART III. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar  "PART TWO." THE GERMAN CAMPAIGN IN THE BALKANS (SPRING 1941): PART II. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar  Thor. "Operation Marita." History Wars Weapons. History Wars Weapons, 3 Jan Web. 13 Mar  Trueman, Chris. "The Resistance Movement in Yugoslavia." The Resistance Movement in Yugoslavia. N.p., Web. 13 Mar  UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM. "Axis Invasion of Yugoslavia." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 20 June Web. 12 Mar