Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 6, 2014

The Battle of Greece began on 6 April 1941 when Nazi Germany invaded Greece during World War II. It followed an unsuccessful Italian invasion in October 1940 and a further Italian attack in March 1941. When the German invasion began (German artillery pictured), the bulk of the Greek army was on the Albanian border, defending against the Italians. German troops created a second front by coming through Bulgaria, where the Greek defensive line did not receive adequate reinforcements. The Greek army was vastly outnumbered by the two invading forces and was soon forced to surrender. The German army reached Athens on 27 April and Greece's southern shore on 30 April, capturing 7,000 soldiers from British Empire forces who had been sent in anticipation of Germany's invasion. The conquest of Greece was completed with the capture of Crete a month later. Looking back near the end of the war, as Germany's defeat loomed ever closer, Hitler blamed Mussolini's Greek fiasco for his own subsequent catastrophe. As an explanation of Germany's calamitous defeat in the Soviet Union, this had little to commend it. It nevertheless had serious consequences for the Axis war effort in north Africa.

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