Operation Manna

1944 military operation in Greece

For the delivery of food to the Netherlands in World War II, see Operations Manna and Chowhound.

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Operation Manna

British airborne troops of 'C' Company of the 4th Parachute Battalion descending on Megara in Greece, 12 October 1944
| Date| October 1944

|

Location|

Greece

Belligerents
United Kingdom
Greece|   Germany

* v
* t
* e

British airborne forces operations of the Second World War

* 1st Airborne Division

* Biting
* Freshman
* North Africa
* Turkey Buzzard
* Ladbroke
* Fustian
* Slapstick
* Arnhem
* Doomsday

* 6th Airborne Division

* Tonga
* Caen canal and Orne river bridges
* Merville Gun Battery
* Mallard
* Bréville
* Bure
* Varsity

* 2nd Parachute Brigade

* Hasty
* Rugby
* Manna

Operation Manna was the codeword for a Second World War operation by the British and Greek forces in Greece in mid-October 1944, following the gradual withdrawal of the German occupying forces from the country. The operation included an airborne element, which was conducted by the British 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade on 12 October, when elements of the 4th Parachute Battalion parachuted onto the Megara airfield 28 miles (45 km) outside of Athens. The prevailing weather conditions forced the abandonment of further parachute operations and it was not until 14 October that the rest of the brigade, less the 5th Parachute Battalion, arrived. After landing, the 4th and 6th Parachute Battalions marched on Athens. On 16 October, the 5th Battalion and the brigade's glider-borne element arrived.[1] The 2nd Para Brigade was reinforced by the British 23rd Armoured Brigade, and the British force took over the protection of the city.[2] The British and Free Greek navies transported British and Greek troops, as well as the Greek government in exile, to Athens.

## Background

[edit]

### The last months of the war

[edit]

In September 1944, the withdrawal of German troops from Greece began. Wherever possible, ELAS units struck the retreating German troops. However, as historian T. Gerozisis writes, there was at least a "strange" phenomenon. The German army was leaving Greece, but the British air force and navy, dominant in the air and at sea, offered no resistance to the Germans. Gerozisis writes of a unique "agreement" between the British and Germans during the war. Albert Speer confirms that in the summer of 1944 the Germans and British came to an unsigned "Gentlemen's Agreement" in Lisbon.[3]

Sherman tanks and troops from 5th (Scots) Parachute Battalion, 2nd Parachute Brigade, during operations against members of ELAS in Athens, Greece.

The British were not to prevent the Germans from evacuating. In turn, the Germans were to hand over a number of Greek cities and positions to the British. "German troop transports from the Greek islands passed unimpeded under the eyes of the British and British U-boats in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas in the autumn of 1944." German planes carried 50,000 troops from Crete and 17,000 troops from Rhodes unimpeded. This provoked protests from the Soviet commanders. British General Scobie negotiated the handing over of Greek cities to him to prevent their occupation by ELAS forces. Churchill himself wrote to Eden on 13 September: "there is a widespread belief in headquarters that we shall soon be fighting a bear and that we are in a better position to do so today than we were two months earlier".[3]

### Patras

[edit]

Patras was one of the few, if not the only, city in Greece where the British supported the ELAS guerrillas in salvaging the infrastructure, especially the port, due to the importance of this "western gateway" of the country for further British plans. Even before Churchill's trip to Moscow and before the organisation of Operation Manna, a group of British Special Boat Service landed at the coastal airstrip of Araxos, near Patras.[4]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Cole, p. 67
2. ^ Cole, p. 68
3. ^ a b Γεροζήσης, Τριαντάφυλος Α. Το σώμα των αξιωματικών και η θέση του στη σύγχρονη Ελληνική κοινωνία, 1821–1975 (греч.). — Αθήνα: Δωδώνη, 1996. — 1370 p. — ISBN 9789602487945.
4. ^ "BBC - WW2 People's War - Timeline". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017.

## References

[edit]

* Cole, Howard N. (1963). On wings of healing: the story of the Airborne Medical Services 1940–1960. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: William Blackwood. OCLC 29847628.

* v
* t
* e

Greece during World War II

1940–1941 Balkans Campaign

| Greco-Italian War
(1940–1941)|

| Battles|

* Pindus
* Elaia–Kalamas
* Korçë
* 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|

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

Economic
exploitation|

* Great Famine
* GWRA
* Hyperinflation
* 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
* Sotirios Gotzamanis
* Georgios Bakos
* Georgios Poulos
* Friedrich Schubert
* Nikolaos Bourantas
* George S. Mercouris
* Ioannis Plytzanopoulos
* Dionysios Papadongonas

|

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
* Protests against labour mobilization
* 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
* Monty 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

| Squadrons|

* 13th
* 335th
* 336th

|

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?

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