Battle of Thermopylae (1941)

World War II battle during the German invasion of Greece

For other uses, see Battle of Thermopylae (disambiguation).

Battle of Thermopylae (1941)

Part of the German invasion of Greece

German forces in Thermopylae following the battle
| Date| 24–25 April 1941

|

Location|

Thermopylae, Greece

Result|

German victory

* Successful Allied withdrawal

Belligerents
Australia
New Zealand|  Germany
Commanders and leaders
George Vasey
Harold Barrowclough|  Ferdinand Schörner
Gustav Fehn
Units involved
Australia:
19th Brigade
New Zealand:
6th Brigade|  6th Mountain Division
5th Panzer Division
Casualties and losses
unknown|  100 casualties
15 tanks destroyed

* v
* t
* e

Greek campaign

Greco-Italian War

* Pindus
* Elaia–Kalamas
* Morava–Ivan (Korytsa)
* Saranda
* Himara
* Klisura Pass
* Trebeshina
* Hill 731

German Invasion

* Metaxas Line
* Pisoderi Pass
* Vevi
* Ptolemaida
* Kleisoura Pass
* Siatista Pass
* Lake Kastoria
* Servia
* Olympus
* Tempe Gorge
* Athens
* Thermopylae
* Corinth Canal
* Crete
* Maleme
* Rethymno
* Heraklion
* 42nd Street

The Battle of Thermopylae, on 24–25 April 1941, was part of the German invasion of Greece during World War II.

## Background[edit]

Following the retreat of Allied forces from the mountain passes at Olympus and Servia, British Commonwealth forces began to set up defensive positions at the coastal pass at Thermopylae, famous for the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The New Zealand Army's 2nd Infantry Division under Lieutenant-General Bernard Freyberg was given the task of defending the pass, while elements of the Australian 6th Infantry Division, under Major General Iven Mackay, defended the village of Brallos.

In the New Zealand sector, the 5th Brigade was deployed in the foothills along the coastal road south of Lamia near the Spercheios River, covering the bridges on the road to Larisa.[1] The 4th Brigade was positioned on the right flank, where it had established coast-watching patrols.[1] The 6th Brigade was in reserve. The Australian force defending Brallos was composed predominantly of two battalions from the 19th Brigade, under Brigadier George Vasey: the 2/4th and 2/8th battalions. On 19 April they were augmented by the 2/1st and 2/5th battalions (from the 16th and 17th Brigades respectively), which were also put under Vasey's command. Later that day and during the early hours of 20 April, the 2/11th Battalion, the third battalion composing the 19th Brigade, also arrived at Brallos.

Freyberg and Mackay had been informing their subordinates that there would be no more withdrawals, but both were unaware of higher level discussions on the evacuation. After the battle, Mackay was quoted as saying: "I thought that we'd hang on for about a fortnight and be beaten by weight of numbers."[2]

On April 21, German air reconnaissance reported that the defense lines included only light field fortifications in the initial stage of construction, and that British troops were being evacuated from Salamis Island.[3]

On the morning of 23 April, ANZAC Corps was ordered to retreat. It was decided that Thermopylae and Brallos would nevertheless be held by a rearguard comprising two brigades. The New Zealand 6th Brigade, under Brigadier Harold Barrowclough and the Australian 19th Brigade were to hold the passes as long as possible, allowing the other units to withdraw. Vasey said: "Here we bloody well are and here we bloody well stay."[2] This was interpreted by Vasey's brigade major, A. T. J. "Ding" Bell, as meaning that the brigade would "hold its present defensive positions come what may",[2] until the withdrawal had been completed.

## Action[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2016)

|

A German battlegroup based on the 6th Mountain Division, under Generalmajor Ferdinand Schörner, attacked at 1130 hours on 24 April, meeting fierce resistance. Another battlegroup, drawn from the 5th Panzer Division, also attacked.

Early in the afternoon, the German armored forces were shelled near Lamia by artillery that was able to fire down into the pass from multiple, lightly fortified positions.[4] Two tanks from the Panzer division later attempted to penetrate the lines of the 25th Battalion, but were destroyed by long range field guns.

Later in the day, 4 German tanks and a number of infantry troops being conveyed in trucks attempted to take a position in front of the 6th Brigade in front of the 25th Battalion's position, and after some initial confusion was repelled by 2-pound and 25-pound field guns.[1]

With the delaying action accomplished, the rearguard began to destroy what equipment and field guns they could not transport, and retreated towards another defensive position at Thebes.[5] The last Allied vehicles were evacuated by 2400 hours, and Thermopylae would not be taken for another 3 hours, when the Germans led a formal attack on the vacated position. While holding their position for the specified amount of time, the Allied forces had destroyed 15-16 German tanks and inflicted considerable casualties.

## Aftermath[edit]

The Germans would continue their march down the country, eventually occupying the country.

The absence of the Greek Army, from a battle at a site as significant to the national psyche as Thermopylae, was controversial within Greece, as General Georgios Tsolakoglou had already capitulated. After the war, Aris Velouchiotis – a veteran of the 1941 campaign and leader of the Greek People's Liberation Army – argued that this fact was an eternal "shame" for the Greek regime that didn't take part in the battle.

## See also[edit]

* Battle of Greece

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ^ a b c New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch (1958). Kay, Robin (ed.). The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45. Vol. 27\. New Zealand: Coulls Somerville Wilkie ltd. p. 68.
2. ^ a b c Long, Gavin (1953). Greece, Crete and Syria (PDF). Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 1 – Army. Vol. 2\. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. pp. 95–130. OCLC 3134080. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
3. ^ United States. Department of the Army. Office of Military History (1953). The German Campaigns in the Balkans (Spring, 1941). Department of the Army. p. 104.
4. ^ Peters, C. Brooks (26 April 1941). "Germans Push On". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
5. ^ Bailey, p. 33.

## External links[edit]

* J. E. Brooks wrote a poem about this battle entitled "Thermopylae 1941". Archived 20 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine

* v
* t
* e

Greece during World War II

1940-1941 Balkans Campaign

| Greco-Italian War
(1940-1941)|

| Battles|

* Pindus
* Elaia–Kalamas
* Korytsa/Korcë
* Saranda
* Morava–Ivan
* Himara
* Klisura Pass
* Trebeshina
* Italian spring offensive
* Hill 731

|

Leaders|

|  Greece|

* Ioannis Metaxas
* Alexandros Papagos
* Charalambos Katsimitros
* Konstantinos Davakis
* Markos Drakos and Ioannis Pitsikas
* Dimitrios Papadopoulos
* Georgios Kosmas

|

Italy|

* Benito Mussolini
* Galeazzo Ciano
* Sebastiano Visconti Prasca
* Ubaldo Soddu
* Ugo Cavallero
* Carlo Geloso

Units|

|  Greece|

* 8th Infantry Division
* Epirus Army Section
* Western Macedonia Army Section

|

Italy|

* 9th Army
* 11th Army

German invasion
(April-May 1941)|

| Battles|

* Operation Lustre
* Metaxas Line
* Vevi
* Kleisoura Pass
* Thermopylae
* Crete

|

Leaders|

|  Greece|

* King George II
* Alexandros Papagos
* Konstantinos Bakopoulos
* Georgios Tsolakoglou

|

British Commonwealth|

* Henry Maitland Wilson
* Thomas Blamey
* Bernard Freyberg

Germany|

* Wilhelm List
* Sepp Dietrich
* Kurt Student

Units|

|  Greece|

* Eastern Macedonia Army Section
* Central Macedonia Army Section
* Epirus Army Section

|

British Commonwealth|

* 1st Armoured Brigade
* 2nd New Zealand Division
* 6th Australian Division

Germany|

* XVIII Army Corps
* XXXX Panzer Corps
* Luftflotte 4
* 1st Parachute Division
* 5th Mountain Division

Occupation and collaboration

| Occupying
powers|

| Leaders and
commands|

|  Germany|

* Günther Altenburg
* Hermann Neubacher
* Walter Schimana
* Alexander Löhr
* Army Group E
* Hellmuth Felmy
* LXVIII Army Corps
* Hubert Lanz
* XXII Mountain Corps
* Alexander Andrae, Bruno Bräuer and Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller
* Fortress Crete
* Max Merten

|

Italy|

* Angelico Carta
* Pellegrino Ghigi
* Piero Parini
* Carlo Geloso and Carlo Vecchiarelli
* 11th Army
* III Army Corps [it]
* VIII Army Corps
* XXVI Corps

Bulgaria|

* Ivan Markov [bg]
* Trifon Trifonov [bg]
* Asen Sirakov

Atrocities|

* Kondomari
* Kandanos
* Alikianos
* Doxato
* Kommeno
* Kalavryta
* Lingiades
* Distomo
* Domenikon
* Drakeia
* Cephalonia (Acqui Division)
* Mesovouno
* Pyrgoi
* Vorizia
* Viannos
* Kallikratis and Kali Sykia
* Anogeia
* Kedros
* Kleisoura
* Haidari concentration camp
* Larissa concentration camp
* 200 of Kaisariani
* Chortiatis

Economic
exploitation|

* Greek economy, 1941–1944
* Great Famine
* GWRA
* DEGRIGES
* Compulsory loan
* Occupation Reichsmark [el]

The Holocaust|

* Bulgarian-occupied Greece
* Thessaloniki
* Zvi Koretz
* Jewish cemetery of Salonica
* Baron Hirsch ghetto
* Expropriation of property
* Rescue of the Jews of Zakynthos

Collaborationist
government|

| People|

* Georgios Tsolakoglou
* K. Logothetopoulos
* Ioannis Rallis
* Georgios Poulos
* Friedrich Schubert
* Nikolaos Bourantas
* George S. Mercouris
* Ioannis Plytzanopoulos
* Sotirios Gotzamanis

|

Organizations|

* Security Battalions
* Hellenic Socialist Patriotic Organisation (ESPO)
* National Union of Greece (EEE)
* Greek National Socialist Party

Secessionists|

* Roman Legion
* Alcibiades Diamandi
* Nicolaos Matussis
* Vassilis Rapotikas
* Ohrana
* Andon Kalchev
* Cham collaboration
* Këshilla
* Xhemil Dino

Atrocities|

* Paramythia
* Executions of Kokkinia

Resistance and Free Greece

| National Liberation
Front (EAM)|

| People|

* Aris Velouchiotis
* Stefanos Sarafis
* Andreas Tzimas
* Georgios Siantos
* Alexandros Svolos
* Ilias Tsirimokos
* Markos Vafeiadis
* Evripidis Bakirtzis

|

Organizations|

* Communist Party of Greece (KKE)
* Socialist Party of Greece (SKE)
* Union of People's Democracy (ELD)
* Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS)
* Greek People's Liberation Navy (ELAN)
* Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA) and National Council
* United Panhellenic Organization of Youth (EPON)
* National Solidarity (EA)
* Organization for the Protection of the People's Struggle (OPLA)
* Slavic-Macedonian National Liberation Front (SNOF)
* Anti-Fascist Committee for a Free Germany (AKFD)

Operations|

* Drama uprising
* Ryka
* Mikro Chorio
* Gorgopotamos Bridge
* Meritsa
* Fardykambos
* Porta
* Sarantaporos
* Kournovo Tunnel
* 1943 Athens protest
* Pinerolo disarmament
* Steiri
* Agorelitsa
* Killing of Franz Krech

Atrocities|

* Feneos executions
* 5/42 Regiment dissolution
* Meligalas
* Kilkis
* Red Terror (Greece)

Non-EAM resistance|

| People|

* Napoleon Zervas
* Georgios Kartalis
* Dimitrios Psarros
* Komninos Pyromaglou
* Antonis Fosteridis
* Kostas Perrikos
* Ilias Degiannis
* Vasileios Sachinis
* Lela Karagianni
* Konstantinos Ventiris
* Manolis Paterakis
* Petrakogiorgis
* Kimonas Zografakis

|

Organizations|

* National Republican Greek League (EDES)
* National Bands of Greek Guerrillas (EOEA)
* National and Social Liberation (EKKA)
* 5/42 Regiment
* Defenders of Northern Greece (YVE)/Panhellenic Liberation Organization (PAO)
* Panhellenic Union of Fighting Youths (PEAN)
* Prometheus II
* Apollo
* National Organization of Crete (ΕΟΚ)
* Hellenic Army (ES)
* Northern Epirus Liberation Front (MAVI)
* others...

Operations|

* ESPO bombing
* Gorgopotamos Bridge (Operation "Harling")
* Agia Kyriaki
* Milia
* Skala Paramythias
* Execution of Josef Salminger
* Xirovouni
* Trahili
* Menina
* Dodona

Atrocities|

* Expulsion of Cham Albanians

British Military Mission (SOE)|

| People|

* Eddie Myers
* Chris Woodhouse
* Patrick Leigh Fermor
* Bill Stanley Moss
* Themis Marinos
* George Psychoundakis
* Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz

|

Operations|

* Operation "Albumen"
* Gorgopotamos Bridge (Operation "Harling")
* Operation "Animals"
* Asopos Bridge (Operation "Washing")
* Kidnapping of Heinrich Kreipe
* Damasta sabotage

Greek government-in-exile

| Greek government
in exile|

| Events/Battles|

* Mareth Line
* El Alamein
* Wadi Akarit
* Dodecanese
* April 1944 mutiny
* Rimini
* Symi
* Santorini

|

People|

* King George II
* Emmanouil Tsouderos
* Sofoklis Venizelos
* Panagiotis Kanellopoulos
* Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos
* Christodoulos Tsigantes
* Pafsanias Katsotas

Greek Armed Forces
in the Middle East|

* 3rd Mountain Brigade
* Sacred Band
* Vasilissa Olga
* Adrias
* Katsonis
* Papanikolis
* 13th Squadron
* 335th Squadron
* 336th Squadron

Liberation and road to the civil war

| Prelude to Civil War|

| Events|

* National Bands Agreement
* Plaka agreement [el]
* Red Terror
* Lebanon Conference
* Caserta Agreement
* Operation "Manna"
* Percentages agreement
* Dekemvriana
* Treaty of Varkiza
* White Terror

|

People|

* Ronald Scobie
* Georgios Papandreou
* Archbishop Damaskinos
* Georgios Grivas
* Angelos Evert
* Nikos Zachariadis

Commemoration

| Events|

* Ohi Day

|

Museums|

* Athens War Museum
* Holocaust Museum of Greece
* Kalavryta Massacre Museum
* Kalpaki War Museum
* Museum of the Battle of Crete and the National Resistance
* Thessaloniki War Museum

Popular culture|

* Aera! Aera! Aera!
* Captain Corelli's Mandolin
* film
* Ill Met by Moonlight
* film
* Ipolochagos Natassa
* Mediterraneo
* The 11th Day: Crete 1941
* The Guns of Navarone
* film
* What Did You Do in the War, Thanasis?

* v
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World War II

* Outline
* Battles
* Operations
* Leaders
* Allied
* Axis
* Commanders
* Casualties
* Conferences

General|

| Topics|

* Air warfare of World War II
* In Europe
* Blitzkrieg
* Comparative military ranks
* Cryptography
* Declarations of war
* Diplomacy
* Governments in exile
* Home front
* Australian
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* British contribution
* Military awards
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* Naval history
* Nazi plunder
* Opposition
* Technology
* Allied cooperation
* Mulberry harbour
* Total war
* Strategic bombing
* Puppet states
* Women
* Art and World War II
* Music in World War II

|

Theaters|

* Asia and Pacific
* China
* South-East Asia
* Pacific
* North and Central Pacific
* South-West Pacific
* Indian Ocean
* Europe
* Western Front
* Eastern Front
* Mediterranean and Middle East
* North Africa
* East Africa
* Italy
* West Africa
* Atlantic
* timeline
* Americas

Aftermath|

* Chinese Civil War
* Cold War
* Decolonization
* Division of Korea
* First Indochina War
* Expulsion of Germans
* Greek Civil War
* Indonesian National Revolution
* Keelhaul
* Marshall Plan
* Occupation of Germany
* Occupation of Japan
* Osoaviakhim
* Paperclip
* Soviet occupations
* Baltic
* Hungary
* Poland
* Romania
* Territorial changes of Germany
* Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany
* United Nations

War crimes|

* Allied war crimes
* Soviet war crimes
* British war crimes
* United States war crimes
* German war crimes
* forced labour
* Wehrmacht war crimes
* The Holocaust
* Aftermath
* Response
* Nuremberg trials
* Italian war crimes
* Japanese war crimes
* Nanjing Massacre
* Unit 731
* Prosecution
* Croatian war crimes
* Genocide of Serbs
* Persecution of Jews
* Romanian war crimes
* Sexual violence
* German military brothels
* Camp brothels
* Rape during the occupation of Germany / Japan / Poland
* Rape during the liberation of France / Serbia
* Sook Ching
* Comfort women
* Rape of Manila
* Marocchinate

Participants|

| Allies|

* Algeria
* Australia
* Belgium
* Brazil
* Bulgaria (from September 1944)
* Canada
* China
* Cuba
* Czechoslovakia
* Denmark
* Ethiopia
* Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
* Finland (from September 1944)
* France
* Free France
* Greece
* India
* Italy (from September 1943)
* Luxembourg
* Mexico
* Netherlands
* Newfoundland
* New Zealand
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania (from August 1944)
* Sierra Leone
* South Africa
* Southern Rhodesia
* Soviet Union
* Tuva
* United Kingdom
* British Empire
* United States
* Puerto Rico
* Yugoslavia

|

Axis|

* Albania protectorate
* Bulgaria (until September 1944)
* Wang Jingwei regime
* Independent State of Croatia
* Finland (until September 1944)
* German Reich
* Hungary
* Azad Hind
* French Indochina
* Iraq
* Italy (until September 1943)
* Italian Social Republic
* Empire of Japan
* Manchukuo
* Philippines
* Romania (until August 1944)
* Slovak Republic
* Thailand
* Vichy France

Neutral|

* Afghanistan
* Andorra
* Bhutan
* Ireland
* Liechtenstein
* Portugal
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Tibet
* Vatican City

Resistance|

* Albania
* Austria
* Belgium
* Bulgaria
* Czech lands
* Denmark
* Dutch East Indies
* Estonia
* Ethiopia
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hong Kong
* Italy
* Japan
* Jews
* Korea
* Korean Liberation Army
* Korean Volunteer Army
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malaya
* Netherlands
* Northeast China
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania
* Thailand
* Soviet Union
* Slovakia
* Western Ukraine
* Vietnam
* Quốc dân Đảng
* Viet Minh
* Yugoslavia

POWs|

* Finnish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* German prisoners
* Soviet Union
* Azerbaijan
* United States
* United Kingdom
* Italian prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Japanese prisoners
* Soviet Union
* Soviet prisoners
* Finland
* atrocities by Germans
* Polish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Romanian prisoners in the Soviet Union

Timeline|

| Prelude|

* Africa
* Second Italo-Ethiopian War
* Asia
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battles of Khalkhin Gol
* Europe
* Anschluss
* Munich Agreement
* Occupation of Czechoslovakia
* Operation Himmler
* Italian invasion of Albania

|

1939|

* Invasion of Poland
* Battle of the Atlantic
* Phoney War
* First Battle of Changsha
* Battle of South Guangxi
* Winter War
* 1939–1940 Winter Offensive

1940|

* Norwegian campaign
* German invasion of Denmark
* Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
* German invasion of Luxembourg
* German invasion of the Netherlands
* German invasion of Belgium
* Battle of France
* Dunkirk evacuation
* Battle of Britain
* Battle of the Mediterranean
* North Africa
* West Africa
* British Somaliland
* Hundred Regiments Offensive
* Baltic states
* Eastern Romania
* Japanese invasion of French Indochina
* Italian invasion of Greece
* Compass

1941|

* Battle of South Henan
* Battle of Shanggao
* Invasion of Yugoslavia
* German invasion of Greece
* Battle of Crete
* Anglo-Iraqi War
* Battle of South Shanxi
* Syria–Lebanon campaign
* East African campaign
* Invasion of the Soviet Union
* Summer War
* Finland (Silver Fox)
* Lithuania
* Battle of Kiev
* Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
* Second Battle of Changsha
* Siege of Leningrad
* Battle of Moscow
* Bombing of Gorky
* Siege of Sevastopol
* Attack on Pearl Harbor
* Japanese invasion of Thailand
* Fall of Hong Kong
* Fall of the Philippines
* Battle of Guam
* Battle of Wake Island
* Malayan campaign
* Battle of Borneo
* Japanese invasion of Burma
* Third Battle of Changsha
* Greek famine of 1941–1944

1942|

* Fall of Singapore
* Battle of the Java Sea
* St Nazaire Raid
* Battle of Christmas Island
* Battle of the Coral Sea
* Battle of Madagascar
* Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign
* Battle of Gazala
* Battle of Dutch Harbor
* Battle of Midway
* Aleutian Islands campaign
* Kiska
* Attu
* Blue
* First Battle of El Alamein
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Rzhev
* Jubilee
* Second Battle of El Alamein
* Guadalcanal campaign
* Torch
* Chinese famine of 1942–1943

1943|

* Tunisian campaign
* Battle of West Hubei
* Battle of Attu
* Bombing of Gorky
* Battle of Kursk
* Allied invasion of Sicily
* Smolensk
* Solomon Islands campaign
* Cottage
* Battle of the Dnieper
* Allied invasion of Italy
* Armistice of Cassibile
* Burma
* Northern Burma and Western Yunnan
* Changde
* Second Battle of Kiev
* Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
* Tarawa
* Makin
* Bengal famine of 1943

1944|

* Tempest
* Monte Cassino / Anzio
* Korsun–Cherkassy
* Narva
* Ichi-Go
* Overlord
* Neptune
* Mariana and Palau
* Bagration
* Western Ukraine
* Second Battle of Guam
* Tannenberg Line
* Warsaw Uprising
* Eastern Romania
* Liberation of Paris
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* Lapland
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* Estonia
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* Leyte
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* Hungary
* Budapest
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* Dutch famine of 1944–1945

1945|

* Vistula–Oder
* Battle of Manila
* Battle of Iwo Jima
* Indochina
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