Germany. Heer - New Zealand infantryman versus German motorcycle soldier: Greece and Crete 1941

In Egypt prior to deployment to Greece, 2nd NZ Division never completed a divisional exercise because 5 NZ Bde with the majority of the divisions equipment only arrived from Britain in March 1941, when 4 NZ Bde was already on its way to Greece. 4 NZ Bde was the first to deploy, to the Aliakmon River. The New Zealanders benefited from the railway line north from Athens and, following arrival at Piraeus harbour, were soon sent further north through the mountains. Here, in March 1941 a column of New Zealand soldiers marches through Katerini, situated on the plain north of Mount Olympus. (Alexander Turnbull Library, DA-00988-F)

In April 1939, Britain and France had guaranteed military support for Greece if it was attacked by a foreign power. When Italy invaded Greece in October 1940, Greece did not ask for help from Britain, and Britain deployed only aircraft to Greek airbases. At first, Secretary of State for War Anthony Eden did not want any troops sent there from North Africa as in December 1940 a successful British offensive was under way, but following his appointment as Foreign Secretary Eden changed his mind and wrote of seriously upsetting the German plans (quoted in Stockings & Hancock 2013: 143). By mid-January 1941, mainly at Prime Minister Winston Churchills instigation, the policy changed; the aim now was to set up a Balkan front against the Axis including Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey. C-in-C Middle East, Field Marshal Archibald Wavell visited Athens and offered three divisions to defend Salonika. Wavell, who would always claim there was a reasonable chance of holding a potential German invasion force, did nothing to dissuade Eden and Lt-Gen Henry Maitland Jumbo Wilson, chosen to command the expedition, thought the Greek mountains would negate German armoured strength and believed in the superiority of Allied infantry.

The Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas said three divisions would not be enough to protect Greece (he wanted nine), but would be sufficient to provoke a German invasion. Only if Germany entered Bulgaria would the offer be accepted. In late February 1941, intelligence suggested that this would occur and Wavell and Eden were in Athens for talks on 22 February with the Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis (Metaxas had died on 29 January). On 7 March they informed the British War Cabinet that if Yugoslavia stayed neutral, a position west of Salonika called the VermionOlympus Line could be defended. The first troops were sent to Greece that day; if the Germans were allowed to move through Yugoslavia, however, this position could easily be turned through the Monastir Gap.

2nd NZ Division was the first to land. Lt-Gen Wilson, chosen to command the expedition, issued orders to support the four Greek divisions on the DoiranNestos Line in Thrace, and 4 NZ Bde and 6 NZ Bde began to dig an anti-tank ditch north of the rail junction at Katerini that supplied the Greeks in Albania. Freyberg thought this forward deployment on the plain violates every principle of military strategy (quoted in Pugsley 2014: 69). 6th Australian Division then started to arrive, with 16 Aust Bde on 21 March and 19 Aust Bde on 3 April, but 17 Aust Bde was late. The British Chiefs of Staff stated they had a reasonable chance of holding [the] German attack, thereby encouraging Turks and Yugoslavia to resist (quoted in Stockings & Hancock 2013: 143). With a coup in Belgrade having overthrown the pro-Axis government on 27 March, Churchill was under the impression that the prize has increased and the risks have somewhat lessened (quoted in Stockings & Hancock 2013: 128).