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My father was a medic with the 2/5th Australian General Hospital, & was captured during the campaign near Ekali, later spending 2 1/2 years in a prison camp in Poland. About 30 years later, the Greek Government awarded him a medal in appreciation of his service. He was particularly proud of this medal, which I still have.
My great uncle was a mechanic for the 2/2nd (it's said we lost his father in WW1) and had done Crete, Ceylon (Sir Lanka) and New Guinea. Not bad for a labourer picked up for his hand strength as I saw at my grandfather's funeral (he was in eternal debt to him and suggested my awesome grandma and his sister to marry, something about fixing a line of static to trick the Japs)
Honestly this portion of WW2 is often overlooked in American high schools. I'm truly impressed with the bravery and discipline of the Greek armies and their civilians who risked their lives for their troops. Thanks to this channel I can learn such amazing things.
So is the winter war to be honest. The african colonies of the opposing nations were also at a full scale war and get next to no mention. India’s participation in the war is likewise forgotten.
It's funny how it is overlooked although the forces deployed were over 1,2 million for the Axis and less than half a million for the Allies. It's not France (there were about 3 imes more men there) and certainly not Russia (of the scale) but it's pretty much identical in numbers (though reversed) with the Allied invasion in Italy. To give you an idea, the most important battle in Africa, the second batle of El Alamein, had about 195,000 men on the one side and 116,000 on the other side, meaning the force lead into Egypt by Rommel was more than 10 times smaller than the Axis powers descending upon Greece in 1941. And yet, we all get to hear and watch movies about Rommel, Montgomery, Patton etc.
I mean, to be fair. World War 2 on its own would take around two years to cover every major aspect in a normal school time. Schools have to glance over many stuff while still getting the main ideas across.
@@Pelasgos14 welp, to be fair, in a move of honouring said alliance the French should some day do the fair act of returning Aphrodite of Milos back where she belongs.
In Greece we refer the Battle of Greece as the EPOS of 40. However, after watching this video, I realise for the first time how epic those battles truly were!
You dont evem realoze. If you study Greece 1890-1940 you will see how destroyed we were. And even though destroyed, and wihout even logistics, Greek mothers were cookijg food and walking mountains (2000 mt height mountains everywhere in the region) with food supplies instead of logistics. Not to bring supplies to their sons whim rhey would not find, but to other sons same age as their sons. This is why in Thessaloniki there ia statue (a small one) to the Greek mother of 1940.
If we had basic fucking roads and a supply of goods we could create a strong front alongside Yugoslavia and British help. People died because of frostbites. If we had warmer clothes Greeks could have lived. Yes, many women, children, and peasants offered food and shelter to our soldiers and traveled to supply them. That's heroic and self-sacrificial. But I would prefer logistics. Better roads, guns, ammunition, vehicles, and clothes for our soldiers. We lost to the Germans. No shame in that. But we could have sent Italians home. Finland by possessing all that, humbled USSR in the Winter War.
Proud Aussie here, seeing all these comments and the gratitude from greek people warms my heart, Australia has a large greek population and they are such lovely and kind people, us Anzacs were proud to fight and die for your homeland in the name of freedom and liberty 🇦🇺🇳🇿🇬🇷💙💙💙
Adolf Hitler: "For the sake of historical truth, I must verify that only the Greeks, of all the adversaries who confronted us, fought with bold courage and highest disregard of death.. " (From a speech he delivered to Reichstag on 4 May 1941) Winston Churchill: "Until now we used to say that the Greeks fight like heroes. Now we shall say: The heroes fight like Greeks." (From a speech he delivered from the BBC in the first days of the Greco-Italian war) Joseph Vissarionovich Tzougasvili Stalin: "I am sorry because I am getting old and I shall not live long to thank the Greek People, whose resistance decided WWII." (From a speech of his broadcast by the Moscow radio station on 31 January 1943 after the victory of Stalingrad and the capitulation of marshal Paulus) Georgy Constantinovich Zhoucov 1896-1974 Marshal of the Soviet Army: "If the Russian people managed to raise resistance at the doors of Moscow, to halt and reverse the German torrent, they owe it to the Greek People, who delayed the German divisions during the time they could bring us to our knees." (Quote from his memoirs on WWII)
And Adolf Hitler added below "....The number of Greek prisoners, amounting to 8,000 officers and 210,000 men, cannot be compared with the above figures for, as far as the Greek Army are concerned, they were encircled and forced to capitulate only as a consequence of common German-Italian operations The Greek prisoners, too, have been or will be immediately released because of their gallant bearing".
@@Lonka12 Well it is meant as victory in a battle / operation, not of the entire war. If you saw it like that then you wouldn't count the German victory in France as a victory because Germany eventually lost the war. The Greek army was victorious against the initial Italian assault, then during its own counteroffensive in Albania and again during operation primavera (the Italian counter-counteroffensive). These of course are counted as victories in battle and indeed they were the first ones for the allies in the war.
ANZAC`s Aussie and Kiwi brothers in arms ~ Melbourne second biggest Greek city population after Athens ~ Greek Independence celebrated down under~ Lord Byron romantic poet died in Greece a supporter too ~
The Kiwis (my grandfather among them) took the fate of the Greeks and Cretans personally - they felt a lot of guilt for failing them, and outraged fury at the way the Germans treated them in defeat. Many NZ soldiers were left behind, and the locals risked everything to help them, often at great cost when caught. At first it was all a big adventure, but after Crete it was a matter of vengeance and duty. Almost none of them are left now, but they never forgot their bonds with the people they fought for, and who treated them like their own sons. Kia Kaha.
@@charlesdare2046 1. Athens; 2. Thessaloniki; 3. Melbourne. But I agree with the sentiment. Australians and New Zealanders are still remembered as heroes by that generation of Greeks.
to expect the Greeks not to fight was the dumbest thing to ever expect. Mussolini needed this channel to learn about Greek spirit for independence and that even when divided they always band together every time there is a foreign nation invading it.
@@zt2207 They did in fact only banded together strongly after the advent of nationalism around late 1700s and early 1800s, but man did they bonded STRONGLY
A Greek is diffind by a saying: Ελευθερία ή θάνατος! There's no other way and whoever think that Greeks won't fight when our freedom is threatened then that person is simply brain dead!
@@zt2207 Can you tell me another country outside of Greece that has won a war forces bigger than it so many times or you have not learned that in your own history
40:52 This is a legendary battle for hill 731, where the greek possitions were so heavily bombarded that by the end of it the hill was 5 meters shorter, but it was defended successfully.
I suppose this full story of Greece during WWII is a tribute to the 200 years after the Greek War of Indepedence. As a Greek guy myself, I wanna say thank you Kings and Generals!
@@Georgios1821 τι να σου πω τους εχω δει να σχολιαζούν και ακολουθούνε youtubers όπως contrapoints,shaun και vaush που ειναι leftists οπότε υπέθεσα πως ειναι αριστεροί
My dad was born in Athens ,1934. His uncles , as he used to tell me had to return from Epirus region to Athens on foot after the collapse of the albanian front. I remember one of them when i was very young. He had suffered extreme mental trauma. He escaped a firing squad in Athens later on and ever since never recovered. I've visited the war museum in Kalpaki 5 years ago. I had no words to describe the respect for those men that fought an entire invading army in those terrible weather conditions. Excellent video !
he was only 6 years old and was fighitng?Lol hahah. well either you dont remember correct his date of birth. Either he lied which i doupt. or its a falsh story.Or its a simple typing error. the most obvious i say.
Your people helped my grandfather escape the Germans. They gave him food and water as he retreated across the hills. It probably cost them their lives. This was before my father was born. My whole family since owes your people our lives. Thank you from New Zealand 🇳🇿
@@bobdamano9606 You and your Grandfather doesn't owe us nothing.. He came from the other side of the World to Help us, protect our lands as an Ally from our Common Enemies of the time.. We all Cretans Thank your Grandfarther!! 🇳🇿🇬🇷
In America today most people have no idea that the Greeks bravely fought during WWII let alone know that they won and pushed back the Italians. It's NEVER talked in school. Even on facebook WWII groups, they belittle the Greco-Italian war as insignificant. However, it was a HUGE victory for Greece and the world. The Greeks showed the world that the Axis can be stopped, and the Greek bravery caused major changes to the Axis plans which allowed more time to pass until winter came that helped the Russians big time.
it is considered to be the first victory against the Axis. The war lasted from October 'till May, probably the longest than any other country that was occupied.. and yet it is never mentioned in any history class
It is to the rest of the world less known, because Greece didn’t really change the course of the war. Every country fought bravely and Greece wasn’t the first minor pushing back the Italians. The reputation of the Italian army was already bad. It is not really a great accomplishment pushing back or stopping the Italians in comparison to stop the unstoppable Wehrmacht.
@@bp8815 Greece did change the course of the war. Back then, the Greek victory was global news and one of a kind. You're thinking is the exact problem in this situation.
As an American, I can confirm when we learned about WWII in school, no one ever talked about Greece. It was mostly about the Western Front and Operation Barbarossa.
my grandpa fought with his 4 brothers in this war...1 of them died and never been found... I have all the brothers in a picture with the award medals...
Germany: so how is your progress towards Athens going? Italy: pretty good at this rate we might just stop the Greek Army before they reach Vlore Germany: bruh...
@@thirdlantern well before Byzantium it was the ancient Greece with a lot of kingdoms. Technically they were different but they were speaking same language, worshipping the same gods etc. So they were Greeks
Ok, I just watched the Byzantine- Arab battle of Nikiou and now this? Didn't have imagined spending so much time watching quality historical stuff on TH-cam. Kudos!
@@nestororiginal2344 Malta defended against the Ottomans, inflicting embarrassing casualties to the empire including one of their best generals at the time. Malta raided Italian and German convoys, disrupting supply to the Axis forces in Africa and contributing heavily to the defeat of Axis forces on Africa. Tell me, how is that small island not a headache to the major land powers of Europe?
@@user-StormBirdCommanderAnd were we any better ? Both the Macedonian and Hepirus front copletely collapsed and surredered , leaving the Brittish , Australian and New Zealand forces alone to defend our country Have some respect man ...
My grandfather was in the British army during WW2 but got polio in the barracks, paralysing his leg and had to be discharged. When he went on holiday to Crete decades later some of the locals lifted him onto their shoulders and carried him through the village and gave him raki because they mistakenly assumed he'd served in Greece. He was touched by the famous Greek hospitality so it's a story passed down in our family.
Aussie here, Wherever the Americans and British go mate the ANZACS weren't far behind, Rommel himself told hitler if he was going to conquer the world, He'd need 5 Australian divisions to take it and 10 NZ divisons to keep it, as ex army myself we have proud traditions forged in battle like courage and mateship 🇦🇺🇬🇷🇳🇿🤜🤛
My Grandad served in greece as a captain in the anzacs he was part of the engineers division ( unsure as i was told this story 20 years ago), he blew 2 bridges around mon Olympus and a third was set to blow when they were cut off by the germans. him and 15 men escaped and travelled to a nearby village where he was sheltered by a farmer and daughter, 2 weeks later they were found by the germans after someone gave them up ( turned out to be the father as a member of my grandads men was sleeping with the daughter ) he spent the rest of the war in a p.o.w camp, he went back to greece after the end of the war to thank the farmer and daughter for sheltering him and his men only to find out that he was lynched by the village after they found out he turned in the men. my father was still named after the farmer alexander according to my grandad.
I also had a grand uncle in logistics who drove a supply truck ( full of Christmas food and gifts from home )to the German lines during the Greek war, he was surprised that all the Greek soldiers were speaking German not Greek ( he was the idiot in the family as my father put it ). somehow the Germans did not take him prisoner but let him go ( without the supplies but still kept the truck ) he was later takin prisoner after the fall of Greece, the story only came out after the war as a German p.o.w was telling a British officer how they got Christmas supplies from the allies during the war in Greece.
Greeks really bravely managed to defeat invaders and even overcoming them but things changed were almost another superpower came to assist Italy. If German aid not , Greeks could easily liberate Montenegro. I understand how does it feel for Greeks to see their homeland get occupied again by a superior force. Only those who fight for their nation will survive and make progress. Thanks for this great video. This was my second super long video I saw after "Expansion of Islam" in this channel. Love from Iran 🇮🇷🌼❤🇬🇷
imagine being invaded and being the one on the offensive at the same time. also Moutousis eyeballing the artillery coordinates is sick. i wont even blame the italians for incompetence, the greeks were just straight up absolute units and madlads
Actually eyeballing is still taught In the Greeck army as a last resort for distance measuring. I thought when I got trained it will be abit silly . But was surprisingly accurate as I discovered it took some practice but no more a fiew tries.
to be honest, The greeks were veterans of war with a capital V at this point. Honestly if greeks had the supplies, vehicles and stuff that the axis did, they would defend anything inside this country. We're talking about men with TRUE war experience. Some people were fighting the italians also fought in wars like : 1st balkan war, 2nd balkan war, 1st world war, Greco-turkish war. The greeks had the skill to win even against germany, but they didn't have the supplies or the technology.. or even the numbers.
@@proud_greek223 Well there are Phillelenes around the world but Greece loves the same all scandinavian countries I think.Many Greeks leave in Finland btw.
This is the first time of my life that I completely watched a nearly 2 hours documentary without interruption. I can’t even stand school documentaries but Kings and generals just feels different somehow. Also, kudos to you for sharing this. It really does show the chaos German forces had to endure against the Greek army and the Commonwealth army.
@@SauerbratenNoClan You ever wondered why the Greece National Guard wears the Albanian fustanel? You need to re-evaluate your reality. Even in Ancient Greece, the stories in the Iliad, and historians in that time period spoke of the different ethnicities in Greece. Athenians we’re not Spartans. Vis a versa. The Greeks even spoke of Molsia tounges and how Alexander the Great spoke it. Let’s be honest, Greeks are Greeks, but to say you guys are Macedonians is false. Today, the Slavs use this initiative created by the English to use Albanian culture as their own. I took a 23&me test, and showed that 200 years ago my blood was strongest in Sparta. You should take a dna test too.
"For the sake of historical justice I am obliged to find that the adversaries who confronted us were particularly the Greek soldier who fought bravely and with the utmost contempt for death." Adolf Hitler... May 1941
My great grandfather died defending epirus from the italians, so proud of these men who fought for the freedom of Hellas with no fear against a much superior army and yet defeated them!
@@adambednarek7146 i think the fact that the italians couldnt break the line explains the whole story here. Men that fought for their freedom vs men that fought for something they didnt believe in.
@@walterweiss7124 im albanian yes Pyrrhos was killed by a greek woman wo throw a brick or rock on his head because his inwading army killed his husband this i learned in school and i think its both funny and tragic at the same time.
The animation, especially the terrain details ( mountains, rivers, plains and valleys) are so good that one day your videos will be shown as case studies to the cadets at West Point, RMA and NDA @Kings and Generals
The Italians, our friends and neighbours indeed had a very capable army and courageous men. Their only problem (except from their own enemy), was their leaders. My respects to those who fought unwillingly for the unethical goals of the idiots of the world.
This is such an even keeled comment. Usually, these sorts of videos are ultra nationalists taking pot shots at each other. This was a lovely departure.
Its a shame how that one General (gambini or something like that) sends his men 17 times to capture that hill and his men suffered heavy casualties. I mean 17 times, come on?! That has nothing to do with beeing a General or tactics at all.
Awesome vid! My great grandfather was a sergeant in 16th Brigade of the 6th Australian Division, the 2/1st Battalion which was one of the first infantry battalions raised as part of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force at the start of World War II. He was captured on Crete after the main allied force was evacuated. Spent the rest of the war in the actual Stalag XIII
For those who want the numbers: 500k soldiers (90% Greek) & 100 tanks were up against a 2 front invasion of 565k Italians & 680k Germans as well as 1,363 tanks… And yet 2/3 of the total military casualties were nazis. Not only did those early successes mark the first major allied victory, but they bought the Soviets enough time to save them from total Nazi occupation which is what ultimately lead the Soviets to defeat the Nazis according to Stalin himself.
Arvanitasit: We're Albanians. Albanians(Arvanitkas in greek): Yes, they are. Greeks(brown skin Armeno-Egyptians which claim to be descendants of Hellens): No they are not Albanis, we hate them, free north vorjoepirus 😭😭😭😭😭
Much love and admiration for the brave Greek heroes and defenders and happy independence day from Bavaria, Germany. I feel sad though for the fate of the Italian brothers who had to die for their leaders greed.
@@etinarcadiaego7972 Are you high? First of all its National Socialism or in German National Sozialismus and second of all our government might not be perfect but its not national socialist.. And a lot of stuff connected to the third Reich is actually forbidden in Germany. One could still coitize Germany for its current policies but one would need something smarter and not just MuH GerMaNY BaD and NaZiS.
@@MrNebelschatten Germany is a country that has refused for many years to give compensation to the victims of Nazi atrocities in Greece. Οn the other hand it is a country that is constantly sugarcoating Turkey in terms of European Union. Today's Turkey is a country that follows the Nazi-inspired theory of "vital space"(Lebensraum). The fact that even today Germany is a country that has a hard time dealing with the past shows a lot about the way this country faces the nazi history.
My Father served on HMS Dido for the greater part of the war. Like so many of his generation, he did not talk about his experiences. He alluded only to the evacuation of Crete, the attack on HMS Dido, the damage done, and the horrific loss of life among the ship's company and the military personnel they were trying to save. Evidently he had a battle station next to a magazine. In the event of the ship being in danger of sinking, his orders were to seal the magazine, irrespective of whether it was occupied or not. My father had his 20th birthday on 4 October, 1941.
Fan fact : Hill 731 represents its height. After the war it changed its name to 723 because it was 8 meter shorter due to the fierce Italian bombarding.
@Sweden not Switzerland Actually both sides were heavily supported by their allies with troops and equipment. Check out the Great War episodes on the front after the Battle of Capparetto.
@Sweden not Switzerland they held* also their were lots of french and british troops in the italien theater, Ah+ German armies did fairly well even getting close to Venice i believe, before they surrendered.
@Sweden not Switzerland "Italy won in ww1 on its own agaist Austria-Hungary in the alps." That's not true. Italy was able to field its entire army against Austria, whereas the Austrian was already decimated by the Russians, and still had to fight on the Balkan and Ukrainian fronts. Despite this, the Italians managed to get badly beaten by the Austrians, suffering many more casualties than their opponents and losing much territory. Austria was about to occupy Venice, when Germany surrendered and thus Austria had to do the same. The only reason why Italy ended up in possession of South Tyrol and Trieste, is that they launched another advance after the armistice, when the Austrian army was already demobilised and disbanded. I won't speculate on the reasons why the Italian army performed so abysmally, but the fact that it was led by Luigi Cadorna, did definitely contribute. It can safely be said that Cadorna was one of the 10 most incompetent generals in the history of warfare.
@@Timrath Lol what? Austria was no where close to occupy Venice when Germany surrender, the two battles of the Piave have already happened before the treaty and so did the battle of the solstice and Vittorio Veneto, keep your propaganda in another place please.
@@onuralpyaran3311 I love respect from both Bulgaria and Turkey. You know. The region could become the best region in the world governments would be kinder towards another. From my own perspective coming from the Netherlands, I believe that Turkey's stance should change for the better of everyone, including Turkey itself. Because noone is benefiting from this aggression. Not even Turkey. Look at it's position already. It's Lira drops like a fly, and it's actually excluded from friendships. Noone wants to go on board with Turkey because of how it behaves. That will eventually become a big problem for Turkey. So I would say. Be kinder, be respectable and leave aggression out of the question and everyone will benefit
The actual response of Metaxas to the Italian ambassador was in French (which was the language of diplomacy): "Alors, c'est la guerre" which loosely translates to "Then, it is war!" But the average Greek preferred to use the more laconic, easier and Greekier "Ochi!" which means "No!" :D
Yeah the typical Philip of Macedon (after controlling almost all of Greece) threatening Spartans with a letter: "IF i come down there I will blah-blah-blah-yada-yada-blah-blah- sth like a gazillion lines of threats". The Spartans' reply: "IF"
@@thomascatty379 actually he did said " no " When he told the italian embassidor " so it's war " in french the embassidor told him that " it hasn't have to be like that " ( declaring war ) and Metaxas replied " NO it has".. The next day the newspapers shorten this to " No " ( όχι/ochi ) 😉
It must be mentioned that the Australians and especially the new Zealanders left a fearsome reputation among Greeks for their bravery, resonating to this day. Their deeds of valour are well remembered and still celebrated and paid tribute to especially by Cretan Greeks; Greeks are no pushovers but among them Cretans are generally considered among the fiercest; To be held in so high regard by such people is no small thing.
We Greeks thank all the soldiers that fought with us for freedom. New Zealand, Australia and Britain words can't express my feelings and gratitude true heroes 🥹❤ Never we wil forget!
Such a small country managed to resist big armies like Italy and Germany. The Greeks showed to the world that its a bad idea to attack Greece. They delay so much the Nazis and heavy winter came to Russia, that's why they lost the war. Europe is still exist as we know because of Greeks. Honor to the dead heroes
@F. Friedrich Kling Hauss The heroic deeds of the Greek army against the axis are no myth. Whether or not Barbarossa was delayed because of the war in Greece is up for debate. If you ask me, I believe it certainly played a role but it was among a number of factors. In any case Greece contributed far above its weight to the war effort for the allies, tying down large numbers of axis troops even after occupation, because of a very strong resistance movement, which caused Greece dearly in hundreds of thousands of lives and devastation. I do not know why you 're bringing up the bailout loans here, a completely unrelated topic to WW2, but these are not aid, they are loans with interest and Greece has not defaulted on them, neither missed any payment yet. Also they were given attached to a number of a very harsh and frankly punitive measures forced upon the Greek society by Germany. Meanwhile it is widely known nowadays that Germany gained billions from the Greek and Eurozone crisis in general... Believe it or not, Germany has yet to repay a forced loan it took from the Greek collaborationist government during occupation in WW2, which today amounts in billions. Mind you, I am not talking about war reparations, which is another matter, but an actual loan, signed and stamped by the then German and Greek governments. Lastly let me state that I am a strong critic of many policies and behaviors in Greece, which led to the crisis, however the last years until the pandemic, Greece was producing a surplus annually. Certainly the Greeks have a responsibility for the crisis but that is no worse crime than instigating a world war which caused millions of lives. Germany, which was responsible for such a crime was given a break and half its debt was erased after the war (note Greece voted in favor of that).
@@thatdude3938 Frankly I do not know if these numbers are accurate and what are your sources, but even if we assume they are correct you would have to subtract the billions Nazi Germany plundered from occupied European countries, especially heavily industrialized ones such as France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia etc. The fact remains that in the London conference of 1953 there was a German debt of abt. 30 billion (acknowledged by the German government) and this was cut by 50%.
@F. Friedrich Kling Hauss First of all let me note that I did not resort to personal attacks and insults as you did. I leave that to inferior minds who are incapable of engaging in a civilized discussion. Contrary to your claims it is I, who referred to specific facts, while you just stated your (baseless) opinion. These facts are common knowledge and this is a youtube discussion thread not a treatise where we have to cite our sources. Having said that though, how about deutsche welle for a source??? Google " DW - Nazis' stolen 'loan' from Greek bank: Will Germany pay it back?" As for the London conference of 1953, which cut half of Germany's debt, this a formal convention. It is not my fault that you are unaware of such an important moment in your country's history. Just google it. Ignorance of the facts does not mean absence of these facts. I challenge you to dispute the above if you can (hint: you can't)... And again, Germany has not donated money to Greece. Germany loaned with interest and imposed additional harsh conditions. I do not know why you fail to grasp this very simple notion. Let me just state here that I am not one of those Greeks who blindly blame Germany for all of Greece's recent troubles. A large segment of the Greek people were ultimately responsible for electing some pretty corrupt and inept governments in the past. However, it is not the common Greeks who pocketed the vast amounts of lost assets in various corruption cases, but high ranking politicians and big companies, many of which were German (such as Siemens). Therefore blindly blaming all Greeks collectively is not a rational point of view, but it rather shows bias, if not racism.
@F. Friedrich Kling Hauss I am afraid it is not me who has such issues. You clearly have not read or have not comprehended my comment where I presented certain evidence. I answered your specific points, you just keep repeating the same arguments over and over again, but you cannot answer mine! You seem incapable of understanding basic notions such as the fact that the bailout loans have absolutely nothing to do with the real legal issues from WW2 or that they are in fact loans, which Germany (along with other countries and the IMF) gave because it was in its economic interest not to have a member of the Eurozone crash out. Again beaten in the argument you resort to personal attacks, with a hint of racism. I guess I am not surprised too... What an unpleasant person to have a discussion with! Truly hopeless and sad. I won't waste any more of my time.
I didn’t expect this war in Greece to be like this from Greeks They showed invisible Greek resistance in Apocalypse documentary Thank you for this wonderful video
Did you notice how the Brits always used the Aust and NZ forces to cover their withdrawals and left most of them in Crete. A waste of the best allied (not British) forces. Same story in Tobruck not long after
A really great detailed presentation. My grandfather was one of the Aussie 6 th division fellas so it was really good to find out exactly what went on. Thank you.
Many of the bloody noses the Germans received were from the woefully supplied Aussie and Kiwi rear guard actions. The thousands of Australians and New Zealanders captured by the Germans were expended in British withdrawals. It annoys me to hear them called British forces.
My grandfather fought in the mount epirus for the 1st division against the albanian and italian forces. He told me that there was little resentment towards italians and albanians and most of them didnt fight hard either. Sometimes he said they would just surrender and there didnt seem to be hatred towards each other. When the germans invaded it was vastly different. They were much more harsh and organized. When the greek army defeated and moved to the middle east front my grandfather was telling me that the battle was a lot harsher vs the germans. He also mentioned the greek army there always treated PoWs of war with respect. Except if they belonged to SS. They would kill them on the spot. At first they used ammo but later they used knifes and can openers as well as stoning them to preserve ammo. Some of the stories he told me were truly terrifying....
After Greece was overran, the remnants of the Greek Army that had been evacuated to Egypt were reorganized and fought in the North African and Italian campaigns alongside the Commonwealth, Americans, Free Freench, South Africans etc
I am simply stunned by the quality of this video and the amount of time and effort that must have gone into creating it. The details of everything is astounding: the narrative, the graphics, the overall presentation, and the seamless integration of all of these elements. This isn't even mentioning the fact that you put all of this content into a single video, with a single sponsor, knowing that there is a possibility that Google could nuke the monetization for some ridiculous reason with zero notice. I congratulate you guys and applaud your efforts. Simply astounding!
I cannot begin to describe to you how much I love this channel. I have always been a big history buff, and since the fall of the History Channel to the aliens, youtube is how I get my history fix. Out of all the history channels on youtube, and I do like many of them, this one might be my favorite. Please do one about the Greek War of Independence during the 1820s.
The only addition you could do could be mentioning that the resistance of Greece was massive and that it was the main reason that germans delayed their invasion of Russia enough ,so as not to avoid the extremely cold russian winter. I love the video and details given. Excellent job here.
Rather 200 years since the conventional beginning of the War of Independence ("conventional" because technically hostilities had started a few weeks earlier than the official date)
My great grandparents ethnically Greek village (in Albania) is by the border invasion point at Kakavia. I am constantly impressed at the depth of detail in your videos. It’s absolutely fascinating. Cheers!! 😎🎉👏💖
When you try to conquer the descendants of King Leonidas himself and also being bold on attacking a country which flags literally states "Freedom or Death"
@@vksasdgaming9472 Which is why they got their asses handed to them on a silver plater pretty much every goddamn time they tried to fuck with Greece ^^
My grandmas brother fought and died in the Albanian front. We never recovered his body and I grew up listening stories about him. Lately i have an interest in WWII..I studied many books, watched documentaries and i feel even more proud knowing my family contributed to this brave defense against fascists. Thank you for this gem Kings and Generals
Thats greek propaganda so you can build some more grave yards with dogs bones inside so you can build up propaganda about north Epirus but that not gonna happen actually we gonna take back cameria and that day it’s coming sooner than you think
As a Greek, I see Russians as one of our own with our strong cultural bonds and historic ties, after all Russia played an important role in helping fight for the Greeks' independence from Ottoman tyranny, Brothers till the end! love from Greece GR❤️🔥RU❤️🔥GR RU
@@michalipiperakis9380 Thank you! I've always appreciated both Ancient Greek and Byzantine culture as well as our cultural and religious ties. After all even Cyrillic alphabet is based on Greek. Long live Greece and Greek People!
My name is Canea. Otherwise known in Greece as Chania. I carry this name with great pride knowing its origins. My dad's grandfather fought in the war. He too has the same name. A long line of hard men who take no shit from the SS scum. Rest easy papa. Chieftain. 28th Maori battalion, C company, New zealand 🇳🇿
I live in Chania,we are honoured you are named after our city and that your great grandfather fought by our side.Both my grandfathers and my grandmothers fought heroically.We honour NZ soldiers every year in special ceremonies.
I'm from Brazil, and i watch your videos for almost two years now, never lose a video hahaha. All them are great. And i wanted to translate your videos for portuguese, than i can send to my friends and family. :)
My grandfarher who originated from a mountain Village in Chania, returned from the albanian front with a bullet in his leg. Never took it off, every single time he was with me, he showed me the blacked scar. Only two genarations ago our grandparents gave what they could for Greece and that is a historic lesson to all of us modern greeks. Respect to all who fought and died in ww2. Allthough my grandpa died in 1993 when i was 13, i earned from that Contact. Thing patriotic and dont forget my history and ansestors. I miss him.
@@cpp3221 the lie cannot be at peace because it is always at war against the truth. For that reason the war never ended, only the bombing and shooting stopped. The war continues to be waged against you, ever single day of your life without you being aware it’s happening. It’s waged against your mind through social media, smart phones, internet, TV, newspapers, schools, churches, universities, etc. etc.
@@Luka23567 that's not a war, it's a different thing. A war is more like when someone shoot at you or trie to kill you. The word "war" is constantly misused and that lead to a demonetization of it.
Greece reminded Mussolini that they are more capable of reviving the Eastern Roman Empire than he was :P . ( As a greek I love Rome though, ROMA INVICTA)
@@muratcelen1319 It would be great if it's already on the works, since it's not everyday that the 200th anniversary of the Greek war of independence takes place. Besides, if it's not already on the works, then a later date wouldn't cause an uproar, by any means. Just because you're ignorant and don't want a video made on it, that doesn't mean you get to be a dick wherever you see fit.
Looks to me that Greece understood professionally the importance of weariness and weakness, in the second half, moving tired forces out of place to reserve and sent the reserves that are being replaced, very well done to the greeks
Much respect to everyone that fought on the side of the Greeks although they were far from their home, and also the New Zealanders that fought and on the legendary Thermopyles 🙏. A small mention that German Soldiers committed countless war crimes to the Greek civilians after the occupation that never got recognition nor payback for those crimes .
We were catholic Irish-Canadian but our people fought with the English in WW 1&2. The devil you know is almost always better than the devil you know not.
We were catholic Irish-Canadian but our people fought with the English in WW 1&2. The devil you know is almost always better than the devil you know not.
My father was captured at Argos and spent the next four years in a German POW camp in Wolfsberg southern Austria. I've struggled to find a clear description of the battle he was involved in and I have to say that your depiction is by far the best I have yet encountered. Thank you for going to the trouble. Its been a battle sometimes referred to by Australian and New Zealander fighters who were there as shameful and embarrassing. Many of those involved felt shame for the thrashing they received from the Germans. I am also lead to believe that my father's involvement in that battle only came about because Wilson falsely told the New Zealand military leaders that he had gotten the New Zealand governments approval to send NZ troops into that battle. Basically he lied. The NZ government were not consulted and would not have approved if they had been. Again, thanks for creating this. Good job well done. Thank you again.
Excellent documentary. As an Aussie I have a great affinity for the Greeks and their beautiful country and Islands. I will never forget the months I spent travelling through Greece and Crete. Yet another disaster that would destroy the Anzacs due to poor planning by the British, the British left the ANZAC's to hold. Is it any wonder that Australia walked away from Britain and formed its primary military alliance with the USA and refused to be lead by or play any further major role with the British during WW2. The ANZAC's should have known better after the incompetence displayed by British Command during WW1. The British high command and the generals in the field fumbled their way through WW1 & WW2 from one incompetent campaign to the next. No wonder so many hero British soldiers died during those 2 wars.
Spot on Laurence, the Brits virtualy left behind the ANZAC to be taken prisoners by the thousands. The official ANZAC reports are eye popping. The real deal tragedy happened a few years ago though. Us being denied Asia Minor ancient homeland just 100km short of Ankara. And that only after being denied an even easier task to simply capture the European part of Turkey Constantinople included and march along u through the great city. Instead u were ordered to train the Turkish snipers at Kalipoli and we had to suffer a genocide. Their legacy on the planet remains alive unfortunately, check Palestine. Brits are good as tourists, full stop there.
To understand the ferocity of Greek resistance, one need only look at their national motto, “Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος” (Freedom or Death). Although known to fight passionately amongst themselves, Greeks are ultimately united against a common foe. The Italians, Albanians, Bulgarians and Germans learned this all too well. Thank you for this exceptional video. Congratulations to Greece and all of her diaspora on the bicentennial of Greek independence. Ζήτω η Ελλάδα 🇬🇷.
ok I know puting four state versus one it make more suspens and glorify much more but in reality Bulgaria wasnt involved directly in the war ...Albania ...hahahaha didnt have even an army ..those two batalions that partecipade ...were recruited just for the money as a job ..once the war started btw Italy and Greece, desserted almost all of tham.....indeed Greece won the war against Italy and were defeated by the Germans
An important correction: Italian ambassador delivered the ultimatum at 28.10.1940 02am. He received Metaxas' response: "Allors, c'est la guerre" which remained is history as the famous "No" and the Italians attacked at 5am, even before expiration of their deadline
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
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When is napoleonic wars ever coming out again
More Ancient Greece please
Hey @Kings and Generals, when do you have poitiers planned?
Thanks for featuring Greece during our Bicentennial Independence celebration
Greece thanks you!
Greeks celebrate the War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in the 25th of March. Could we hope for a video?
My father was a medic with the 2/5th Australian General Hospital, & was captured during the campaign near Ekali, later spending 2 1/2 years in a prison camp in Poland. About 30 years later, the Greek Government awarded him a medal in appreciation of his service. He was particularly proud of this medal, which I still have.
My great uncle was a mechanic for the 2/2nd (it's said we lost his father in WW1) and had done Crete, Ceylon (Sir Lanka) and New Guinea. Not bad for a labourer picked up for his hand strength as I saw at my grandfather's funeral (he was in eternal debt to him and suggested my awesome grandma and his sister to marry, something about fixing a line of static to trick the Japs)
We thank your father and all others that stood by our side. Your father is a hero!
Honestly this portion of WW2 is often overlooked in American high schools. I'm truly impressed with the bravery and discipline of the Greek armies and their civilians who risked their lives for their troops. Thanks to this channel I can learn such amazing things.
I love hearing about the other nations during WW2. America was a big player but they were still just a piece on a big board
So is the winter war to be honest. The african colonies of the opposing nations were also at a full scale war and get next to no mention. India’s participation in the war is likewise forgotten.
It's funny how it is overlooked although the forces deployed were over 1,2 million for the Axis and less than half a million for the Allies. It's not France (there were about 3 imes more men there) and certainly not Russia (of the scale) but it's pretty much identical in numbers (though reversed) with the Allied invasion in Italy. To give you an idea, the most important battle in Africa, the second batle of El Alamein, had about 195,000 men on the one side and 116,000 on the other side, meaning the force lead into Egypt by Rommel was more than 10 times smaller than the Axis powers descending upon Greece in 1941. And yet, we all get to hear and watch movies about Rommel, Montgomery, Patton etc.
Nah the Chinese and Indian fronts of the WW2 are the most overlooked.
I mean, to be fair. World War 2 on its own would take around two years to cover every major aspect in a normal school time.
Schools have to glance over many stuff while still getting the main ideas across.
Enormous respect to the Greeks and their eternal thirst of liberty, from France. 🇫🇷 🇬🇷
France and Greece must have a permanent alliance. Respect and love.
vive la france 🇫🇷 🇬🇷
@@Pelasgos14 welp, to be fair, in a move of honouring said alliance the French should some day do the fair act of returning Aphrodite of Milos back where she belongs.
🇦🇱thank us for helping you
Daut Hoxha
Much love for Greece and excellent efforts. Happy 200th Anniversary of Greek independence. From UK 🇬🇧🇬🇷
@@mk9650 oh ok, I've just learnt more. My bad and thanks!
Be always well thank you!!
Can we please have our marbles back?
Lmao. UK never wanted any good for Greece. It was all about self interest...
@@MrBreakingbad I know...
In Greece we refer the Battle of Greece as the EPOS of 40. However, after watching this video, I realise for the first time how epic those battles truly were!
You dont evem realoze. If you study Greece 1890-1940 you will see how destroyed we were. And even though destroyed, and wihout even logistics, Greek mothers were cookijg food and walking mountains (2000 mt height mountains everywhere in the region) with food supplies instead of logistics.
Not to bring supplies to their sons whim rhey would not find, but to other sons same age as their sons.
This is why in Thessaloniki there ia statue (a small one) to the Greek mother of 1940.
If we had basic fucking roads and a supply of goods we could create a strong front alongside Yugoslavia and British help. People died because of frostbites. If we had warmer clothes Greeks could have lived.
Yes, many women, children, and peasants offered food and shelter to our soldiers and traveled to supply them.
That's heroic and self-sacrificial. But I would prefer logistics.
Better roads, guns, ammunition, vehicles, and clothes for our soldiers.
We lost to the Germans. No shame in that. But we could have sent Italians home.
Finland by possessing all that, humbled USSR in the Winter War.
@@aris13pat1 Πού να γίνονταν οι δρόμοι, φίλε μου, τη δεκαετία το 30; Επάνω στα βουνά;
Τους Ιταλούς τους στείλαμε στο σπίτι τους. Έτσι κι αλλιώς...!
Proud Aussie here, seeing all these comments and the gratitude from greek people warms my heart, Australia has a large greek population and they are such lovely and kind people, us Anzacs were proud to fight and die for your homeland in the name of freedom and liberty 🇦🇺🇳🇿🇬🇷💙💙💙
Australias prime minister is of Albanian heritage
@Zherkamovement Australia is a very multi cultural country, you won't find anybody without European, Asian, south American heritage here
@@Zherkamovement no, his father was Italian.
@@Carole_Baskin he comes from Calabria where we have the arberesh community, also his both parents are Albanian
Adolf Hitler:
"For the sake of historical truth, I must verify that only the Greeks, of all the adversaries who confronted us, fought with bold courage and highest disregard of death.. " (From a speech he delivered to Reichstag on 4 May 1941)
Winston Churchill:
"Until now we used to say that the Greeks fight like heroes. Now we shall say: The heroes fight like Greeks." (From a speech he delivered from the BBC in the first days of the Greco-Italian war)
Joseph Vissarionovich Tzougasvili Stalin:
"I am sorry because I am getting old and I shall not live long to thank the Greek People, whose resistance decided WWII." (From a speech of his broadcast by the Moscow radio station on 31 January 1943 after the victory of Stalingrad and the capitulation of marshal Paulus)
Georgy Constantinovich Zhoucov 1896-1974 Marshal of the Soviet Army:
"If the Russian people managed to raise resistance at the doors of Moscow, to halt and reverse the German torrent, they owe it to the Greek People, who delayed the German divisions during the time they could bring us to our knees." (Quote from his memoirs on WWII)
Greece fight against the Italians was considered the first victory for the allies in WW2
@@AuroraBoost I wouldn’t call it „first victory of the allies“, because they still lost. But certainly it was the „first step to victory“.
Then Churchill made the civil war in Greece.
And Adolf Hitler added below "....The number of Greek prisoners, amounting to 8,000 officers and 210,000 men, cannot be compared with the above figures for, as far as the Greek Army are concerned, they were encircled and forced to capitulate only as a consequence of common German-Italian operations The Greek prisoners, too, have been or will be immediately released because of their gallant bearing".
@@Lonka12 Well it is meant as victory in a battle / operation, not of the entire war. If you saw it like that then you wouldn't count the German victory in France as a victory because Germany eventually lost the war.
The Greek army was victorious against the initial Italian assault, then during its own counteroffensive in Albania and again during operation primavera (the Italian counter-counteroffensive). These of course are counted as victories in battle and indeed they were the first ones for the allies in the war.
respect for the new Zealanders who fought so bravely so far from their homeland
🇬🇷🇳🇿
ANZAC`s Aussie and Kiwi brothers in arms ~ Melbourne second biggest Greek city population after Athens ~ Greek Independence celebrated down under~ Lord Byron romantic poet died in Greece a supporter too ~
The Kiwis (my grandfather among them) took the fate of the Greeks and Cretans personally - they felt a lot of guilt for failing them, and outraged fury at the way the Germans treated them in defeat. Many NZ soldiers were left behind, and the locals risked everything to help them, often at great cost when caught. At first it was all a big adventure, but after Crete it was a matter of vengeance and duty. Almost none of them are left now, but they never forgot their bonds with the people they fought for, and who treated them like their own sons. Kia Kaha.
@@charlesdare2046 1. Athens; 2. Thessaloniki; 3. Melbourne. But I agree with the sentiment. Australians and New Zealanders are still remembered as heroes by that generation of Greeks.
Respect to the Kiwis and Aussies who fought here.
They fought like the Crete was their homeland too!!
The Cretans have great respect for New Zealand!!
Having served in Athens Greece back in the 1980s with the US Air Force, I found this documentary incredibly interesting. Thank you for posting!
to expect the Greeks not to fight was the dumbest thing to ever expect. Mussolini needed this channel to learn about Greek spirit for independence and that even when divided they always band together every time there is a foreign nation invading it.
Mussolini is such a dumb historical figure, i wish he didn't exist, the only good thing he did was create bad stereotypes about italy
@@zt2207 They did in fact only banded together strongly after the advent of nationalism around late 1700s and early 1800s, but man did they bonded STRONGLY
A Greek is diffind by a saying: Ελευθερία ή θάνατος! There's no other way and whoever think that Greeks won't fight when our freedom is threatened then that person is simply brain dead!
@@zt2207 Byzantium is the longest Empire of this world from ancient years up to today. Just FYI It was was a super power for more than 1000 years
@@zt2207 Can you tell me another country outside of Greece that has won a war forces bigger than it so many times or you have not learned that in your own history
40:52 This is a legendary battle for hill 731, where the greek possitions were so heavily bombarded that by the end of it the hill was 5 meters shorter, but it was defended successfully.
2 meters
@@kostask4747 5
@@jameskid1989 2 meters.. Today the his is 729
@@kostask4747 Most sources say 726 but whatever.
Ελαααα ύψωμα 731......χαμοςςςς
I suppose this full story of Greece during WWII is a tribute to the 200 years after the Greek War of Indepedence.
As a Greek guy myself, I wanna say thank you Kings and Generals!
@@Georgios1821 den nomizw mias kai o kings and generals einai aristeros
“I am unable to give the proper breadth of gratitude I feel for the heroic resistance of the People and the leaders of Greece.” - Charles de Gaulle
@@Georgios1821 Με το που αναφερεις παραταξεις, καταλαβαινει καποιος οτι εισαι προκατειλημμενος.
@@Georgios1821 τι να σου πω τους εχω δει να σχολιαζούν και ακολουθούνε youtubers όπως contrapoints,shaun και vaush που ειναι leftists οπότε υπέθεσα πως ειναι αριστεροί
@@GuitarHero49432 δηλαδή ρε μάγκα!;
My dad was born in Athens ,1934. His uncles , as he used to tell me had to return from Epirus region to Athens on foot after the collapse of the albanian front. I remember one of them when i was very young. He had suffered extreme mental trauma. He escaped a firing squad in Athens later on and ever since never recovered. I've visited the war museum in Kalpaki 5 years ago. I had no words to describe the respect for those men that fought an entire invading army in those terrible weather conditions. Excellent video !
he was only 6 years old and was fighitng?Lol hahah. well either you dont remember correct his date of birth. Either he lied which i doupt. or its a falsh story.Or its a simple typing error. the most obvious i say.
@@Tsotsis1 his uncles....
Thank you for visiting my village!
Greetings all from the island of Crete!🇬🇷
Your people helped my grandfather escape the Germans. They gave him food and water as he retreated across the hills. It probably cost them their lives. This was before my father was born. My whole family since owes your people our lives.
Thank you from New Zealand 🇳🇿
@@bobdamano9606 You and your Grandfather doesn't owe us nothing.. He came from the other side of the World to Help us, protect our lands as an Ally from our Common Enemies of the time.. We all Cretans Thank your Grandfarther!! 🇳🇿🇬🇷
@@aristidispas this comment thread is so heartwarming to read 🥺 I salute your peoples bravery ☺
They're not called Cretans for nothing
Hello to Crete and the brave Cretan people from East Anglia, Ipswich
My grandfather fought in Greece and Crete with the Australian Army.
🙏🙏🙏Ευχαριστώ, thank you, God bless his soul. RIP.
Did he make it out or unfortunately died here? Respect in each case. We Greeks never forget.
Russell Coight: Australian adventures.
Respect for him and his bravery.
Mine too but with the German army
Musolini : I will become the new Roman Emperor.
Random Greek soldier defending Hill 731: Hold my souvlaki.
Unit 731 is Japan. Not Italy.
Mussolini is Italy. Not Japan. Japan is Tojo.
@@bimanov4407 he said hill 731. Look it up.
Hill 731 is in Albania not in Greece
@@dioniszerva2832 sometimes in Vietnam too.
In America today most people have no idea that the Greeks bravely fought during WWII let alone know that they won and pushed back the Italians. It's NEVER talked in school. Even on facebook WWII groups, they belittle the Greco-Italian war as insignificant. However, it was a HUGE victory for Greece and the world. The Greeks showed the world that the Axis can be stopped, and the Greek bravery caused major changes to the Axis plans which allowed more time to pass until winter came that helped the Russians big time.
it is considered to be the first victory against the Axis. The war lasted from October 'till May, probably the longest than any other country that was occupied.. and yet it is never mentioned in any history class
It is to the rest of the world less known, because Greece didn’t really change the course of the war. Every country fought bravely and Greece wasn’t the first minor pushing back the Italians. The reputation of the Italian army was already bad. It is not really a great accomplishment pushing back or stopping the Italians in comparison to stop the unstoppable Wehrmacht.
@@bp8815 Greece did change the course of the war. Back then, the Greek victory was global news and one of a kind. You're thinking is the exact problem in this situation.
As an American, I can confirm when we learned about
WWII in school, no one ever talked about Greece. It was mostly about the Western Front and Operation Barbarossa.
“In America today most people have no idea” of anything that existed before Oprah.
my grandpa fought with his 4 brothers in this war...1 of them died and never been found...
I have all the brothers in a picture with the award medals...
@John Beige thank you man
Germany: so how is your progress towards Athens going?
Italy: pretty good at this rate we might just stop the Greek Army before they reach Vlore
Germany: bruh...
@Black Wolf cause italy attacked them
😂😂😂😂
Hahaha Mussolini was lucky he wasn't captured when he went to Albania to inspire his troops, that would have been hilarious
Just imagine if albania conquered italy xD
@@GarkKahn albania had no army, they were sent to the italian army instead.
We will never forget that Republique d'Haiti was first country that recognized Greece as a independent country (1822). Thank you.
And also the United States for being among the first in the world for openly recognizing that the revolution, was a revolution for freedom
What was Greece before 1822?
@@thirdlantern ottoman empire. And before ottoman it was Byzantium.
@@kyrpousin Interesting, thanks. Woefully uninformed on Greek history here -- I always thought it was its own sovereign state.
@@thirdlantern well before Byzantium it was the ancient Greece with a lot of kingdoms. Technically they were different but they were speaking same language, worshipping the same gods etc. So they were Greeks
Ok, I just watched the Byzantine- Arab battle of Nikiou and now this? Didn't have imagined spending so much time watching quality historical stuff on TH-cam. Kudos!
Haha oh man if you're just discovering this stuff you can kiss your free time goodbye. Haha
I love your name
Φτιάξε κόμικ εσύ 😉
@@geoousp χαχααχα μπορούν όλα να γίνονται παράλληλα.
Malta, Crete, Sicily, and Cyprus: The headache of the big land powers of Europe.
Sicily has been a headache to Europe's land powers since AT LEAST the First Punic War.
Also Rhodos. You get what I mean if you play Eu4
Very coquettish, those islands.
Malta kind of but not really
@@nestororiginal2344 Malta defended against the Ottomans, inflicting embarrassing casualties to the empire including one of their best generals at the time.
Malta raided Italian and German convoys, disrupting supply to the Axis forces in Africa and contributing heavily to the defeat of Axis forces on Africa.
Tell me, how is that small island not a headache to the major land powers of Europe?
Happy to 200 years of Independence to every Greek🇬🇷
Congratulations from turkey ✌🎉
Thank you!!!!💙🇬🇷🙏🏼✨✨
@@batuhanyayla7214 Thank you! I hope you get a better leader cuz he kinda shit to cyprus and Greece but anyways Thanks!!
@@hamsterman12341 That is all I want
@@batuhanyayla7214 yeah man we shouldn't hate each other cuz we dont know every turk/greek.
As a greek I want to thank all the new Zealanders, British and Australians who fought and died for my country. May they rest in peace 🇬🇷🇬🇧🇳🇿🇦🇺
New Zealanders retreated that's why we lost in crete but not all of em so rip
@@user-StormBirdCommanderAnd were we any better ? Both the Macedonian and Hepirus front copletely collapsed and surredered , leaving the Brittish , Australian and New Zealand forces alone to defend our country
Have some respect man ...
My grandfather was in the British army during WW2 but got polio in the barracks, paralysing his leg and had to be discharged. When he went on holiday to Crete decades later some of the locals lifted him onto their shoulders and carried him through the village and gave him raki because they mistakenly assumed he'd served in Greece. He was touched by the famous Greek hospitality so it's a story passed down in our family.
The English didn't give guns to the creatans beacuse they didn't like the king and they didn't let the red cross give Greeks food so they would rebel
Aussie here, Wherever the Americans and British go mate the ANZACS weren't far behind, Rommel himself told hitler if he was going to conquer the world, He'd need 5 Australian divisions to take it and 10 NZ divisons to keep it, as ex army myself we have proud traditions forged in battle like courage and mateship 🇦🇺🇬🇷🇳🇿🤜🤛
My Grandad served in greece as a captain in the anzacs he was part of the engineers division ( unsure as i was told this story 20 years ago), he blew 2 bridges around mon Olympus and a third was set to blow when they were cut off by the germans. him and 15 men escaped and travelled to a nearby village where he was sheltered by a farmer and daughter, 2 weeks later they were found by the germans after someone gave them up ( turned out to be the father as a member of my grandads men was sleeping with the daughter ) he spent the rest of the war in a p.o.w camp, he went back to greece after the end of the war to thank the farmer and daughter for sheltering him and his men only to find out that he was lynched by the village after they found out he turned in the men. my father was still named after the farmer alexander according to my grandad.
Great story!! We owe New Zealand soldiers so much for fighting bravely and a lot of them dying many km far from their home!!
I also had a grand uncle in logistics who drove a supply truck ( full of Christmas food and gifts from home )to the German lines during the Greek war, he was surprised that all the Greek soldiers were speaking German not Greek ( he was the idiot in the family as my father put it ). somehow the Germans did not take him prisoner but let him go ( without the supplies but still kept the truck ) he was later takin prisoner after the fall of Greece, the story only came out after the war as a German p.o.w was telling a British officer how they got Christmas supplies from the allies during the war in Greece.
Nice story but man... that asshole that couldn't keep it in his pants
Sad story, mate. Or bittersweet. Wish you the best and God bless your grandfather for his troubles here.
The only way to deal with traitors is with the LASH and the ROPE.
Greeks really bravely managed to defeat invaders and even overcoming them but things changed were almost another superpower came to assist Italy. If German aid not , Greeks could easily liberate Montenegro. I understand how does it feel for Greeks to see their homeland get occupied again by a superior force. Only those who fight for their nation will survive and make progress. Thanks for this great video. This was my second super long video I saw after "Expansion of Islam" in this channel.
Love from Iran 🇮🇷🌼❤🇬🇷
Greetings and respect Persian fellow, as a Greek I have a big admiration for your ancient culture also !
You have my respect Persian.
imagine being invaded and being the one on the offensive at the same time. also Moutousis eyeballing the artillery coordinates is sick. i wont even blame the italians for incompetence, the greeks were just straight up absolute units and madlads
Actually eyeballing is still taught In the Greeck army as a last resort for distance measuring. I thought when I got trained it will be abit silly . But was surprisingly accurate as I discovered it took some practice but no more a fiew tries.
@@kreb7 that sort of thing is always necessary, it's silly to rely entirely on technology because it can break, run out of batteries, etc
Thank you for your kind words friend, our grandfather's and we are thankful
to be honest, The greeks were veterans of war with a capital V at this point.
Honestly if greeks had the supplies, vehicles and stuff that the axis did, they would defend anything inside this country.
We're talking about men with TRUE war experience.
Some people were fighting the italians also fought in wars like : 1st balkan war, 2nd balkan war, 1st world war, Greco-turkish war.
The greeks had the skill to win even against germany, but they didn't have the supplies or the technology.. or even the numbers.
@@akhsdenlew1861 You're absolutely correct there.
You fought valiantly, with great apologies we hope Greece has a forever prosperous love form Italia 🇮🇹🤝🇬🇷
Things ain't looking so good for poor Greece lately though...
@@johndistick9702 we get what we deserve brother. Nothing more nothing less
Big respect to Hellas🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷 from norway 🇳🇴
Thanks
Love norway
@@costenics_sw but Greece doesn't love Norway Greece loves Sweden. I think he is lying
@@proud_greek223 Well there are Phillelenes around the world but Greece loves the same all scandinavian countries I think.Many Greeks leave in Finland btw.
@kuk i fitte Tusen takk 🇬🇷🇳🇴
Big Respect also to Norway for the unforgettable battles against the AXIS.
This is the first time of my life that I completely watched a nearly 2 hours documentary without interruption. I can’t even stand school documentaries but Kings and generals just feels different somehow.
Also, kudos to you for sharing this. It really does show the chaos German forces had to endure against the Greek army and the Commonwealth army.
Respect the Greek hero's from india 🇮🇳🇬🇷
Much respect to our brave brothers!!! Нека им вечна слава!!! 🇬🇷☦ 🇷🇸
We are not brothers with Slavs the only common thing we have is religion so yes we are not brothers
@@locox2775
Let me guess, Albanian living in Greece?
Probably Epirus region :)
SERBJE
thank you my russian brother. Greetings from Greece
YES SERBIA OUR BROTHERS MUCH LOVE FROM GREECE LOVE YOU 🇷🇸 ❤
a documentary for Greek revolution of 1821 would be appriciated !
🇦🇱Albanians helped too. There’s a documentary on it.
@@IZotit albania never helped greece stop spreading bs you liar
@@IZotit Ottomans used Albanians to stop us and now you say that you helped us?
@@SauerbratenNoClan you live in a artificial reality. Just like the way Greece was created in 1890s.
@@SauerbratenNoClan You ever wondered why the Greece National Guard wears the Albanian fustanel? You need to re-evaluate your reality. Even in Ancient Greece, the stories in the Iliad, and historians in that time period spoke of the different ethnicities in Greece. Athenians we’re not Spartans. Vis a versa. The Greeks even spoke of Molsia tounges and how Alexander the Great spoke it. Let’s be honest, Greeks are Greeks, but to say you guys are Macedonians is false. Today, the Slavs use this initiative created by the English to use Albanian culture as their own. I took a 23&me test, and showed that 200 years ago my blood was strongest in Sparta. You should take a dna test too.
Well done Greeks You fought very well against a sneaky attack from Mussolini and faced too many odds against the German panzers. You should be proud.
💙🤍
Stand proud , you were strong.
The Battle of Greece is certainly one filled with so much bravery by everyone involved.
Much love for Greece from the land down under :)
"For the sake of historical justice I am obliged to find that the adversaries who confronted us were particularly the Greek soldier who fought bravely and with the utmost contempt for death." Adolf Hitler... May 1941
My great grandfather died defending epirus from the italians, so proud of these men who fought for the freedom of Hellas with no fear against a much superior army and yet defeated them!
@@adambednarek7146 i think the fact that the italians couldnt break the line explains the whole story here. Men that fought for their freedom vs men that fought for something they didnt believe in.
@@adambednarek7146 they knew what they wanted but they couldnt execute it
It was the shitiest army on the WW2 italy was terrible especially their leaders
Your great grandfather was a HERO. My family also lost men to the cause, may their memory be eternal! ZHTO E ELLADA!
@@walterweiss7124 im albanian yes Pyrrhos was killed by a greek woman wo throw a brick or rock on his head because his inwading army killed his husband this i learned in school and i think its both funny and tragic at the same time.
The animation, especially the terrain details ( mountains, rivers, plains and valleys) are so good that one day your videos will be shown as case studies to the cadets at West Point, RMA and NDA @Kings and Generals
Congrats on your independence and your will to fight, Greeks! Much respect and love from a bulgarian!
The Italians, our friends and neighbours indeed had a very capable army and courageous men. Their only problem (except from their own enemy), was their leaders. My respects to those who fought unwillingly for the unethical goals of the idiots of the world.
Yeah, the British (and the Germans) also thought highly of Italian troops in North Africa campaign. Not so much about Italian High Command.
This is such an even keeled comment. Usually, these sorts of videos are ultra nationalists taking pot shots at each other. This was a lovely departure.
Its a shame how that one General (gambini or something like that) sends his men 17 times to capture that hill and his men suffered heavy casualties. I mean 17 times, come on?! That has nothing to do with beeing a General or tactics at all.
Is Cavallero the Cadorna of WW2? Feedeing people into the grinder...
Also, Ciano is rumoured to have been an asset or pawn of the Anglo, pushing for war with Greece to help Anglos gain a foothold.
Awesome vid! My great grandfather was a sergeant in 16th Brigade of the 6th Australian Division, the 2/1st Battalion which was one of the first infantry battalions raised as part of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force at the start of World War II. He was captured on Crete after the main allied force was evacuated. Spent the rest of the war in the actual Stalag XIII
For those who want the numbers:
500k soldiers (90% Greek) & 100 tanks were up against a 2 front invasion of 565k Italians & 680k Germans as well as 1,363 tanks… And yet 2/3 of the total military casualties were nazis.
Not only did those early successes mark the first major allied victory, but they bought the Soviets enough time to save them from total Nazi occupation which is what ultimately lead the Soviets to defeat the Nazis according to Stalin himself.
On top of that, it took the Nazis more time to conquer Greece that every other occupied country combined
We need a documentary video for the 200 years since the Greek war of independence, it's in 2 days
No worries, it will be covered soon
@@Syriliko bro it will be very very appreciated, many dont know much about the first successful ethnic revolution of Europe etc
Yes of course, people need to know how Albanian emigrants in Greece "Arvanitasit" liberated Greece.
@@blockie9706 l see you troll
Arvanitasit: We're Albanians.
Albanians(Arvanitkas in greek): Yes, they are.
Greeks(brown skin Armeno-Egyptians which claim to be descendants of Hellens): No they are not Albanis, we hate them, free north vorjoepirus 😭😭😭😭😭
Much love and admiration for the brave Greek heroes and defenders and happy independence day from Bavaria, Germany.
I feel sad though for the fate of the Italian brothers who had to die for their leaders greed.
shame on your country Germany...
@@etinarcadiaego7972 And what is your problem?
@@MrNebelschatten the fact that Germany has not abolished Nazism yet
@@etinarcadiaego7972 Are you high? First of all its National Socialism or in German National Sozialismus and second of all our government might not be perfect but its not national socialist.. And a lot of stuff connected to the third Reich is actually forbidden in Germany. One could still coitize Germany for its current policies but one would need something smarter and not just MuH GerMaNY BaD and NaZiS.
@@MrNebelschatten Germany is a country that has refused for many years to give compensation to the victims of Nazi atrocities in Greece. Οn the other hand it is a country that is constantly sugarcoating Turkey in terms of European Union. Today's Turkey is a country that follows the Nazi-inspired theory of "vital space"(Lebensraum). The fact that even today Germany is a country that has a hard time dealing with the past shows a lot about the way this country faces the nazi history.
My Father served on HMS Dido for the greater part of the war. Like so many of his generation, he did not talk about his experiences. He alluded only to the evacuation of Crete, the attack on HMS Dido, the damage done, and the horrific loss of life among the ship's company and the military personnel they were trying to save. Evidently he had a battle station next to a magazine. In the event of the ship being in danger of sinking, his orders were to seal the magazine, irrespective of whether it was occupied or not. My father had his 20th birthday on 4 October, 1941.
Fan fact : Hill 731 represents its height. After the war it changed its name to 723 because it was 8 meter shorter due to the fierce Italian bombarding.
Ethiopia was a hurdle.
Greece was a reality check.
they got multiple warnings about their shit army in ww1 and the first eithiopian war,even the second one they only won cause they used gas
@Sweden not Switzerland Actually both sides were heavily supported by their allies with troops and equipment. Check out the Great War episodes on the front after the Battle of Capparetto.
@Sweden not Switzerland they held* also their were lots of french and british troops in the italien theater, Ah+ German armies did fairly well even getting close to Venice i believe, before they surrendered.
@Sweden not Switzerland "Italy won in ww1 on its own agaist Austria-Hungary in the alps."
That's not true. Italy was able to field its entire army against Austria, whereas the Austrian was already decimated by the Russians, and still had to fight on the Balkan and Ukrainian fronts. Despite this, the Italians managed to get badly beaten by the Austrians, suffering many more casualties than their opponents and losing much territory. Austria was about to occupy Venice, when Germany surrendered and thus Austria had to do the same.
The only reason why Italy ended up in possession of South Tyrol and Trieste, is that they launched another advance after the armistice, when the Austrian army was already demobilised and disbanded.
I won't speculate on the reasons why the Italian army performed so abysmally, but the fact that it was led by Luigi Cadorna, did definitely contribute. It can safely be said that Cadorna was one of the 10 most incompetent generals in the history of warfare.
@@Timrath Lol what? Austria was no where close to occupy Venice when Germany surrender, the two battles of the Piave have already happened before the treaty and so did the battle of the solstice and Vittorio Veneto, keep your propaganda in another place please.
Respect to Greek soldiers for the brave fight from 🇧🇬
Thank you from 🇬🇷
🇬🇷♥️🇧🇬
Respect from Turkey too.
Is that Tajikistan?
@@onuralpyaran3311 I love respect from both Bulgaria and Turkey. You know. The region could become the best region in the world governments would be kinder towards another. From my own perspective coming from the Netherlands, I believe that Turkey's stance should change for the better of everyone, including Turkey itself. Because noone is benefiting from this aggression. Not even Turkey. Look at it's position already. It's Lira drops like a fly, and it's actually excluded from friendships. Noone wants to go on board with Turkey because of how it behaves. That will eventually become a big problem for Turkey. So I would say. Be kinder, be respectable and leave aggression out of the question and everyone will benefit
LONG LIVE CRETE, LONG LIVE GREECE.
Greetings from Asia Minor (Pontos)
Long live Pontos and Makedonia, long live HELLAS 🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷
@@nestororiginal2344 God bless my Brother.
IC XC NI KA +
Hi guys, you are more than welcome to visit Turkey. We take good care of our cute little Pontos.
@@MrBreakingbad ok ex-Greek , ex-armenian etc
@@adinfinitum000 Yeah Greeks and Armenians, all welcome. Just make sure to bring the passports.
The actual response of Metaxas to the Italian ambassador was in French (which was the language of diplomacy): "Alors, c'est la guerre" which loosely translates to "Then, it is war!"
But the average Greek preferred to use the more laconic, easier and Greekier "Ochi!" which means "No!" :D
Very interesting fact
"OCHI!"
That's positively spartan
Yeah the typical Philip of Macedon (after controlling almost all of Greece) threatening Spartans with a letter:
"IF i come down there I will blah-blah-blah-yada-yada-blah-blah- sth like a gazillion lines of threats".
The Spartans' reply:
"IF"
He could have said "Merde!" I suppose.
@@thomascatty379 actually he did said " no "
When he told the italian embassidor " so it's war " in french the embassidor told him that " it hasn't have to be like that " ( declaring war ) and Metaxas replied " NO it has"..
The next day the newspapers shorten this to " No " ( όχι/ochi ) 😉
It must be mentioned that the Australians and especially the new Zealanders left a fearsome reputation among
Greeks for their bravery, resonating to this day. Their deeds of valour are well remembered and still celebrated and paid tribute to especially by Cretan Greeks; Greeks are no pushovers but among them Cretans are generally considered among the fiercest; To be held in so high regard by such people is no small thing.
We Greeks thank all the soldiers that fought with us for freedom. New Zealand, Australia and Britain words can't express my feelings and gratitude true heroes 🥹❤ Never we wil forget!
Χρονια πολλα μαγκες να χαιρομαστε το εθνος μας να σεβομαστε τους ελευθερωτες μας και να μην ξεχναμε τους εχθρους του γενους
Τους εχθρους του γενους τους ψηφιζουμε καθε 4 χρονια.
Εμεις ειμαστε οι ελευθερωτες μας
Οι εχθροί του γένους είμαστε εμείς οι ίδιοι που ανεχόμαστε να είμαστε σκλάβοι των μεγάλων
Χρόνια Πολλά Έλληνες!
I totally agree brother
Such a small country managed to resist big armies like Italy and Germany. The Greeks showed to the world that its a bad idea to attack Greece. They delay so much the Nazis and heavy winter came to Russia, that's why they lost the war. Europe is still exist as we know because of Greeks. Honor to the dead heroes
@F. Friedrich Kling Hauss The heroic deeds of the Greek army against the axis are no myth. Whether or not Barbarossa was delayed because of the war in Greece is up for debate. If you ask me, I believe it certainly played a role but it was among a number of factors. In any case Greece contributed far above its weight to the war effort for the allies, tying down large numbers of axis troops even after occupation, because of a very strong resistance movement, which caused Greece dearly in hundreds of thousands of lives and devastation.
I do not know why you 're bringing up the bailout loans here, a completely unrelated topic to WW2, but these are not aid, they are loans with interest and Greece has not defaulted on them, neither missed any payment yet. Also they were given attached to a number of a very harsh and frankly punitive measures forced upon the Greek society by Germany. Meanwhile it is widely known nowadays that Germany gained billions from the Greek and Eurozone crisis in general...
Believe it or not, Germany has yet to repay a forced loan it took from the Greek collaborationist government during occupation in WW2, which today amounts in billions. Mind you, I am not talking about war reparations, which is another matter, but an actual loan, signed and stamped by the then German and Greek governments.
Lastly let me state that I am a strong critic of many policies and behaviors in Greece, which led to the crisis, however the last years until the pandemic, Greece was producing a surplus annually. Certainly the Greeks have a responsibility for the crisis but that is no worse crime than instigating a world war which caused millions of lives. Germany, which was responsible for such a crime was given a break and half its debt was erased after the war (note Greece voted in favor of that).
@F. Friedrich Kling Hauss how stupid a man can be? Sometimes i am truly amazed!
@@thatdude3938 Frankly I do not know if these numbers are accurate and what are your sources, but even if we assume they are correct you would have to subtract the billions Nazi Germany plundered from occupied European countries, especially heavily industrialized ones such as France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia etc.
The fact remains that in the London conference of 1953 there was a German debt of abt. 30 billion (acknowledged by the German government) and this was cut by 50%.
@F. Friedrich Kling Hauss First of all let me note that I did not resort to personal attacks and insults as you did. I leave that to inferior minds who are incapable of engaging in a civilized discussion.
Contrary to your claims it is I, who referred to specific facts, while you just stated your (baseless) opinion. These facts are common knowledge and this is a youtube discussion thread not a treatise where we have to cite our sources.
Having said that though, how about deutsche welle for a source??? Google " DW - Nazis' stolen 'loan' from Greek bank: Will Germany pay it back?"
As for the London conference of 1953, which cut half of Germany's debt, this a formal convention. It is not my fault that you are unaware of such an important moment in your country's history. Just google it. Ignorance of the facts does not mean absence of these facts.
I challenge you to dispute the above if you can (hint: you can't)...
And again, Germany has not donated money to Greece. Germany loaned with interest and imposed additional harsh conditions. I do not know why you fail to grasp this very simple notion.
Let me just state here that I am not one of those Greeks who blindly blame Germany for all of Greece's recent troubles. A large segment of the Greek people were ultimately responsible for electing some pretty corrupt and inept governments in the past. However, it is not the common Greeks who pocketed the vast amounts of lost assets in various corruption cases, but high ranking politicians and big companies, many of which were German (such as Siemens).
Therefore blindly blaming all Greeks collectively is not a rational point of view, but it rather shows bias, if not racism.
@F. Friedrich Kling Hauss I am afraid it is not me who has such issues. You clearly have not read or have not comprehended my comment where I presented certain evidence. I answered your specific points, you just keep repeating the same arguments over and over again, but you cannot answer mine!
You seem incapable of understanding basic notions such as the fact that the bailout loans have absolutely nothing to do with the real legal issues from WW2 or that they are in fact loans, which Germany (along with other countries and the IMF) gave because it was in its economic interest not to have a member of the Eurozone crash out.
Again beaten in the argument you resort to personal attacks, with a hint of racism. I guess I am not surprised too... What an unpleasant person to have a discussion with! Truly hopeless and sad.
I won't waste any more of my time.
I didn’t expect this war in Greece to be like this from Greeks
They showed invisible Greek resistance in Apocalypse documentary
Thank you for this wonderful video
why you didnt expected that from greece??
do you remember a war that the greeks surrunded without a fight?
@@xdx2653
Oops after 2 years??
@@thearabianwolf3996 🤣🤣
i remember it like was yesterday
History Channel: *garbage*
Kings And Generals: *actually well put together historical videos at TV length*
An excellent contrast between the Internet vs cesspool Television.
Did you notice how the Brits always used the Aust and NZ forces to cover their withdrawals and left most of them in Crete. A waste of the best allied (not British) forces. Same story in Tobruck not long after
1 hour and 32 mins? Absolutely worth it!
Respect to Greece from United States 🙏
A really great detailed presentation. My grandfather was one of the Aussie 6 th division fellas so it was really good to find out exactly what went on. Thank you.
Many of the bloody noses the Germans received were from the woefully supplied Aussie and Kiwi rear guard actions. The thousands of Australians and New Zealanders captured by the Germans were expended in British withdrawals. It annoys me to hear them called British forces.
Happy 200th Anniversary of Independence to all Greeks and Philhellenes all over the World!
The invasion of Greece delayed Barbarossa so Yes crucial indeed ! Let celebrate Greece for its bravoury and strong resistance against the Axis
My grandfather fought in the mount epirus for the 1st division against the albanian and italian forces. He told me that there was little resentment towards italians and albanians and most of them didnt fight hard either. Sometimes he said they would just surrender and there didnt seem to be hatred towards each other.
When the germans invaded it was vastly different. They were much more harsh and organized.
When the greek army defeated and moved to the middle east front my grandfather was telling me that the battle was a lot harsher vs the germans. He also mentioned the greek army there always treated PoWs of war with respect. Except if they belonged to SS. They would kill them on the spot. At first they used ammo but later they used knifes and can openers as well as stoning them to preserve ammo.
Some of the stories he told me were truly terrifying....
After Greece was overran, the remnants of the Greek Army that had been evacuated to Egypt were reorganized and fought in the North African and Italian campaigns alongside the Commonwealth, Americans, Free Freench, South Africans etc
I am simply stunned by the quality of this video and the amount of time and effort that must have gone into creating it. The details of everything is astounding: the narrative, the graphics, the overall presentation, and the seamless integration of all of these elements. This isn't even mentioning the fact that you put all of this content into a single video, with a single sponsor, knowing that there is a possibility that Google could nuke the monetization for some ridiculous reason with zero notice. I congratulate you guys and applaud your efforts. Simply astounding!
I cannot begin to describe to you how much I love this channel. I have always been a big history buff, and since the fall of the History Channel to the aliens, youtube is how I get my history fix. Out of all the history channels on youtube, and I do like many of them, this one might be my favorite. Please do one about the Greek War of Independence during the 1820s.
My grandfather fought and died in the Greek civil war. Thank you for sharing this amazing piece of Greek history.
My Grandfather died in the first wave of Operation Merkur.
My Family never spoke of it, so thank you for giving me context.
propably your family is ashamed of the German invasion...
Probably killed from my grandfather and he took his machine gun.
The only addition you could do could be mentioning that the resistance of Greece was massive and that it was the main reason that germans delayed their invasion of Russia enough ,so as not to avoid the extremely cold russian winter. I love the video and details given. Excellent job here.
Fun fact:Greece celebrates 200 years of independence this Thursday
Yeah we celebrate
Rather 200 years since the conventional beginning of the War of Independence ("conventional" because technically hostilities had started a few weeks earlier than the official date)
And this independence gave Albanian emigrants in Greece "Arvanitasit", congratulation!!
@@blockie9706 arvanitasit arent albanian pretty sure they are greek
@@crazycocainemercenary7498 Yes, and Tupak was white
For the glory of Hellas!
Coat of arms reading “Freedom or death!”
Blood of king Leonidas!
Ah, I See You're a Man of Culture As Well
Finally found an Sabaton comment
My great grandparents ethnically Greek village (in Albania) is by the border invasion point at Kakavia. I am constantly impressed at the depth of detail in your videos. It’s absolutely fascinating. Cheers!! 😎🎉👏💖
Too nice history's channel and this video...Greece people showed courageous patriotism attitude against Italy and German 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤🇬🇷❤
When you try to conquer the descendants of King Leonidas himself and also being bold on attacking a country which flags literally states "Freedom or Death"
Of all Greek, Spartans were easily most corrupt...
@@vksasdgaming9472 exact the opossite dont speak about sparta pls
@@vasileiospapazoglou2362 That was Persian opinion...
@@vksasdgaming9472 Which is why they got their asses handed to them on a silver plater pretty much every goddamn time they tried to fuck with Greece ^^
My grandmas brother fought and died in the Albanian front. We never recovered his body and I grew up listening stories about him. Lately i have an interest in WWII..I studied many books, watched documentaries and i feel even more proud knowing my family contributed to this brave defense against fascists. Thank you for this gem Kings and Generals
Thats greek propaganda so you can build some more grave yards with dogs bones inside so you can build up propaganda about north Epirus but that not gonna happen actually we gonna take back cameria and that day it’s coming sooner than you think
@@KK-eu6ym Try it and see what happens
@@absoluteunit3885 just wait and see
Remember so called Yugoslavia Kosovo 😉
@@KK-eu6ym Different circumstances, in Greece you can't do shit and you know it
Το επωνυμο του πως ήταν; Μπορω να τον βρω
Respect to Greek heroes from Russia ☦️
@Poop Poop Orthodox church does not approve LGBT and whole stuff unlike most other churches btw :)
@@randomname359 Yooooo bro you destroy him stop😂😂😂
@@randomname359 orthodox brothers strong together 🇬🇷☦️
As a Greek, I see Russians as one of our own with our strong cultural bonds and historic ties, after all Russia played an important role in helping fight for the Greeks' independence from Ottoman tyranny, Brothers till the end!
love from Greece GR❤️🔥RU❤️🔥GR RU
@@michalipiperakis9380 Thank you!
I've always appreciated both Ancient Greek and Byzantine culture as well as our cultural and religious ties. After all even Cyrillic alphabet is based on Greek.
Long live Greece and Greek People!
My name is Canea. Otherwise known in Greece as Chania. I carry this name with great pride knowing its origins.
My dad's grandfather fought in the war.
He too has the same name.
A long line of hard men who take no shit from the SS scum.
Rest easy papa. Chieftain.
28th Maori battalion, C company,
New zealand 🇳🇿
Much respect, God bless his soul and your family brother 🙏
I live in Chania,we are honoured you are named after our city and that your great grandfather fought by our side.Both my grandfathers and my grandmothers fought heroically.We honour NZ soldiers every year in special ceremonies.
@@chrysmous thank you so much. It's an honour to have this name.
I'm from Brazil, and i watch your videos for almost two years now, never lose a video hahaha. All them are great. And i wanted to translate your videos for portuguese, than i can send to my friends and family. :)
@@Joleyn-Joy então mano, isso que eu queria fazer kkkkk
Do that....
My grandfarher who originated from a mountain Village in Chania, returned from the albanian front with a bullet in his leg. Never took it off, every single time he was with me, he showed me the blacked scar. Only two genarations ago our grandparents gave what they could for Greece and that is a historic lesson to all of us modern greeks. Respect to all who fought and died in ww2. Allthough my grandpa died in 1993 when i was 13, i earned from that Contact.
Thing patriotic and dont forget my history and ansestors. I miss him.
It is insane how much was happening just century ago. We are really lucky to live in relative peace time.
We aren’t in peace. We are still in a state of war.
This is what i say... we are Lucky enough but we should be more clever to keep it that way:)
@@Luka23567 distant war: Is your life threatened by the fight in the world?
@@cpp3221 the lie cannot be at peace because it is always at war against the truth. For that reason the war never ended, only the bombing and shooting stopped. The war continues to be waged against you, ever single day of your life without you being aware it’s happening. It’s waged against your mind through social media, smart phones, internet, TV, newspapers, schools, churches, universities, etc. etc.
@@Luka23567 that's not a war, it's a different thing.
A war is more like when someone shoot at you or trie to kill you.
The word "war" is constantly misused and that lead to a demonetization of it.
My great grandfather and his brother faught the italians in the mountains back then. Thank god they returned back. Greetings from Crete 🇬🇷
Respect to you for having the passion and patience to make a 90 minute video. Bravo.
Greece definitely put up a great fight against the Italians, I would even say a godly defense 👍
“I am unable to give the proper breadth of gratitude I feel for the heroic resistance of the People and the leaders of Greece.” - Charles de Gaulle
Greece reminded Mussolini that they are more capable of reviving the Eastern Roman Empire than he was :P . ( As a greek I love Rome though, ROMA INVICTA)
@@arthasmenethil7208 straight fax tho. If anyone had the will to try and remake the roman empire, it would be greece. Love from the UK
@@truefalcon6884 actually that was the idea behind the greek revolution 😉
maybe if the Italian's equipment wasn't all made out of pasta
3 to 1 advantage against the defenders, good odds for any Greek.
KINGS AND GENERALS!!BEST HISTORY CHANNEL EVER MADE!!!!
Make the Greek war of Independence for our 200 year anniversary this Thursday (25th of March)
26 march is the Independence day of Bangladesh
Are u dumb how is he gonna do that in 2 days
@@muratcelen1319 I was just about to comment the same thing.
I would love that
@@muratcelen1319 It would be great if it's already on the works, since it's not everyday that the 200th anniversary of the Greek war of independence takes place. Besides, if it's not already on the works, then a later date wouldn't cause an uproar, by any means.
Just because you're ignorant and don't want a video made on it, that doesn't mean you get to be a dick wherever you see fit.
“I am unable to give the proper breadth of gratitude I feel for the heroic resistance of the People and the leaders of Greece.” - Charles de Gaulle
Looks to me that Greece understood professionally the importance of weariness and weakness, in the second half, moving tired forces out of place to reserve and sent the reserves that are being replaced, very well done to the greeks
A video about Greek revolution would be very interesting
Respect for Grece from Italy 🇮🇹❤🇬🇷
Much respect to everyone that fought on the side of the Greeks although they were far from their home, and also the New Zealanders that fought and on the legendary Thermopyles 🙏.
A small mention that German Soldiers committed countless war crimes to the Greek civilians after the occupation that never got recognition nor payback for those crimes .
Thank you to all commonwealth forces for fighting alongside Greece.
Thanks mate
We were catholic Irish-Canadian but our people fought with the English in WW 1&2.
The devil you know is almost always better than the devil you know not.
We were catholic Irish-Canadian but our people fought with the English in WW 1&2.
The devil you know is almost always better than the devil you know not.
@@tommyodonovan3883that quote goes hard but equating the English to Nazi Germany is just antisemitic
My father was captured at Argos and spent the next four years in a German POW camp in Wolfsberg southern Austria. I've struggled to find a clear description of the battle he was involved in and I have to say that your depiction is by far the best I have yet encountered. Thank you for going to the trouble. Its been a battle sometimes referred to by Australian and New Zealander fighters who were there as shameful and embarrassing. Many of those involved felt shame for the thrashing they received from the Germans. I am also lead to believe that my father's involvement in that battle only came about because Wilson falsely told the New Zealand military leaders that he had gotten the New Zealand governments approval to send NZ troops into that battle. Basically he lied. The NZ government were not consulted and would not have approved if they had been. Again, thanks for creating this. Good job well done. Thank you again.
Hill 731. Comander Dimitrios Kaslas. Example to determination to the homeland.
until he betrayed his country and became a communist
Real heroe
@@georgechatzizisis2408 ΜΡΑΒΩ εκανε πολυ σωστα οπως και πολυ αλλοι ελληνες .-στρατιωτικοι .-
Excellent documentary. As an Aussie I have a great affinity for the Greeks and their beautiful country and Islands. I will never forget the months I spent travelling through Greece and Crete. Yet another disaster that would destroy the Anzacs due to poor planning by the British, the British left the ANZAC's to hold. Is it any wonder that Australia walked away from Britain and formed its primary military alliance with the USA and refused to be lead by or play any further major role with the British during WW2. The ANZAC's should have known better after the incompetence displayed by British Command during WW1. The British high command and the generals in the field fumbled their way through WW1 & WW2 from one incompetent campaign to the next. No wonder so many hero British soldiers died during those 2 wars.
Spot on Laurence, the Brits virtualy left behind the ANZAC to be taken prisoners by the thousands. The official ANZAC reports are eye popping. The real deal tragedy happened a few years ago though. Us being denied Asia Minor ancient homeland just 100km short of Ankara. And that only after being denied an even easier task to simply capture the European part of Turkey Constantinople included and march along u through the great city. Instead u were ordered to train the Turkish snipers at Kalipoli and we had to suffer a genocide. Their legacy on the planet remains alive unfortunately, check Palestine. Brits are good as tourists, full stop there.
To understand the ferocity of Greek resistance, one need only look at their national motto, “Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος” (Freedom or Death). Although known to fight passionately amongst themselves, Greeks are ultimately united against a common foe. The Italians, Albanians, Bulgarians and Germans learned this all too well. Thank you for this exceptional video. Congratulations to Greece and all of her diaspora on the bicentennial of Greek independence. Ζήτω η Ελλάδα 🇬🇷.
ok I know puting four state versus one it make more suspens and glorify much more but in reality Bulgaria wasnt involved directly in the war ...Albania ...hahahaha didnt have even an army ..those two batalions that partecipade ...were recruited just for the money as a job ..once the war started btw Italy and Greece, desserted almost all of tham.....indeed Greece won the war against Italy and were defeated by the Germans
@@Miagolao5 Study history.
@@Miagolao5 whats your point.....
@@Miagolao5η Βούλγαροι έκανα άπειρα εγκλήματα στη Μακεδονία που τους δόθηκε από τους ναζί οι Αλβανοί πολέμησαν στο πλευρό των Ιταλών μάθε ιστορία
Greek army still had Mannlicher-Schönauer rifles from Balkan wars, while Italians and Germans had automatic .
An important correction: Italian ambassador delivered the ultimatum at 28.10.1940 02am. He received Metaxas' response: "Allors, c'est la guerre" which remained is history as the famous "No" and the Italians attacked at 5am, even before expiration of their deadline
Massive respect to the New Zealanders and Australians in both world wars. ANZAC Warriors, such a gem of the British Empire that needs more recognition
massive respect to all humans from every nations who must fight in dirty wars from big old rich guys to go more rich and powerfull. god bless you
@@j-p.m.m.1150 amen brother
They ran....very well.
@@j-p.m.m.1150 Even worse, big old rich colonizer guys
@@thatdude3938 how so?
Pretty savage to use the MK1 Eyeball through fog to call in an artillery barrage so accurate that the enemy retreats.