Greco-Italian War

The Greco-Italian War, also called the Italo-Greek War, was fought between Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941 and opened the Balkans campaign of the Second World War. Mussolini issued an ultimatum on 28 October, which the Greek prime minister Ioannis Metaxas rejected, and Italian divisions invaded from Albania. Poorly armed and badly led, they met tenacious resistance from the Hellenic Army, which with British air and material support stopped the advance and pushed the Italians back into Albania by early 1941. The Italian spring offensive of March failed, and the Germans then intervened on 6 April, turning the campaign into the Battle of Greece. Greece surrendered to German troops on 20 April and to the Italians on 23 April. The war ended in occupation of Greece by Italian, German and Bulgarian forces.