The Greek resistance saved the Soviet Union ,because it delayed the operation Barbarossa. Germans had to capture Greece and then move into Russia delaying their advance towards Moscow for two months.
While this could have impacted Barbarossa, it was going to be delayed anyway as the logistics on the Eastern border were taking longer than expected. I read that losses of German planes in the capture of Crete had a more substantial impact as German transport fleet was relatively small and thus could not cope with supplying some advanced Barbarossa troops.
@@mark_sugar42Balkans literally killed Germany's progress in WW2, starting with the idiotic decision of Mussolini to enter Greece even tho we were a fascists state
hitler stated in his speech in the reichstag on may 4. 1941 : "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." itsios was one of them
So many years, centuries actually, we've written down and told everyone: We'll never surrender nor will be commanded by a non-Greek. Is it like they're deaf or low IQ or stubbornness? Who knows. Keep trying folks. We became too soft. A good fight is all we need for a beautiful death. I realize there's nothing 'beautiful' in death for any foreigner, but we're all built kind of different. Each to his culture. Thank you for your consideration and understanding. Best regards.
Mainly the Greeks and Poland fought against the axis in 1940-41, except Russia of course. All the other countries just fell within days, with France which everyone thought was a super power at the time in only 10 !! days
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives Poland didn't resist more than a few days (it was attacked by the SU from the East too); the same was about France too. They were fighting for a week at Maginot line and officially surrendered a few days later. (It took them about one month to meet the Italian forces at Menton, 20 km beside the franco-italian borderline, but they weren't in a hurry...) It was different w/ Greece. Germany attacked on April 6th. The battle of the forts ended officially 3 days later when troops at E. Macedonia and Thrace surrendered, while greek troops were still advancing in Albania, and many forts were still resisting! In many cases the fight of the forts REALLY stopped after the german proposal (to avoid German soldiers being killed in vain) to the greek troops defending the forts to install radio antennas to listen and get informed about the surrendering! Vice general Tsolakoglou surrendered 2 weeks after the attack (much later than the French), disobeying orders! A month after Tsolakoglou's surrender, the battle of Crete begun, which ended the battle of Greece, 2 months(!) after its beginning (June 1st)! 7 months later, locals and ANZAC remaining soldiers were still fighting guerilla war in Crete! From all the countries occupied by the Axis Powers, Greece resisted MUCH MORE than the other countries, including France!
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives I am Greek but this must be said for the French because the English speaking internet is full of derogatory comments about them. In WW1 the French fought bravely and had by far the most casualties among the western allies. Verdun, Ypres etc were real slaughterhouses. At the time they were told that this is the war to end all wars yet 20 years later they were asked again to be the main defending army in the west against the Germans. You can imagine how low the morale can get when you don’t see any end in fighting even after extremely costly victories. Especially when after victory in ww1 the allies had the chance to prevent Germany from acquiring such military strength again but chose not to… As general Foch famously and prophetically stated: This not a peace treaty, this is a 20 year truce!
@@StavrosDSfrench didn't lost because of the morale but because of bad generals, tactics and unsynchronized infantry brigades who left wide open frontlines entrances because Painter boosted his soldiers with meth and they were advancing restless with thousands of vehicles and Tanks which french was way far technological behind compared of what Painter made for Wehrmacht. At the other side Us Greeks we defeated Italy because of high morale, experience on battlefield because of balkan wars, Generals knew what they were doing and personel were experienced also in bad conditions.
My great-grandfather was one of the fallen defenders of the Metaxas Line during the resistance against the Italians. He was only 21 years old and already had one daughter with my great-grandmother, who was pregnant with their second daughter at the time-the mother of my mother. His name was Konstantinos Sotiriadis.
My grandfather, Corporal Ilias Profyllidis, died fighting the invading Nazis a few kms to the east, at the Fort Istimbei. He was the nco in charge of a platoon that ambushed a passage. Similarly to Sergeant Itsios, when the Nazis located them and started pounding them, he ordered his soldiers to withdraw south towards their village (Neo Petritsi) and stayed back to cover their retreat. Eventually he got killed by the enemy who overrun his position. Eternal glory to our heroes!
Great video! You presented a historical fact that few people knew about it. Dimitrios Itsios proven himself as a real scion of the great king Leonidas of Sparta! Τιμή, δόξα και αθανασία στον άξιο Έλληνα στρατιώτη Δημήτρη Ίτσιο! 🇬🇷
@@kifisia123 Ναι, αλλά από απόψεως στρατιωτικών μεγεθών, ήταν μικρή! Αυτό είναι γεγονός, κι αυτό γράφει ο φίλος... (Σήμερα, συμπτωματικά, είδα πως μου έκαναν like σε παλιό σχόλιό μου στα αγγλικά, ότι αν και ήμαστε πάντα ολιγάριθμοι, δεν τα παρατούμε, νομίζω ήταν στο προτεινόμενο βίντεο για την τελευταία άμυνα της αεροπορίας μας...)
The event took place in the Beles region, which was the weak point of the Metaxas Line. There’s even a photo of the fallen soldier, which is kept in a photography museum in Greece. For the historical record, the Germans were unable to breach the Roupel fort, as well as the forts of Nevrokopi, which ultimately had to surrender when the German 2nd Armored Division broke through the Yugoslav lines and got behind Greek positions, a result of Yugoslavia’s swift collapse. In one of the forts, an inscription was found reading, “At Thermopylae, 300 fell; here, 700 will die.”
Yes , i saw the photo of Itsios laying down in front of his bunker dead. There was also a German standing over him as i remember. Truly shocking photo. I thought of showing the photo of the dead soldier in the video, but RUclips would probably delete the video. So i tried representing what happened, as best as possible. Thank you for the info my friend! 🙂
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives Congratulations on highlighting a small and lesser-known story of WW2 that exemplifies the self-sacrifice of ordinary people. Unfortunately, Greece's example, its struggle, and its contribution to the war effort have been largely overlooked in the pages of history, except by researchers like you who bring such stories to light. Wishing you continued success in what you do!
Visited Itsios memorial monument at Ano Poroia about 15 years ago. Main street's name took his name in his memory. Those were the days people fought for a real cause.
@@sotiris_constantinou No he actually did not say it, he said something vaguely similar but not as catchy. To be honest, who cares. Churchill was responsible for the kickstart of the civil war in Greece. Its mind boggling that he is whitewashed and celebrated.
People from epeiros fought unstoppable from the first day. See also about the katsimitros defence line and 731 hill. Μy grandfather and other members of the family were fought and died there. We must not forget the pain in order to prevent any future possibility of war.
you forgot to mention that albanians were collaborating with the italians and the germans against the greeks. In the battle of epirus in 1940, albanians wholeheartedly sacrificed themselves to help the fascists and the nazis to subdue greece
Itsios was commanding two strongholds (two machine-gun posts), leading 4-6 men (each machine post had 2-3 men). So, after the first battle - and realizing the battle WILL be lost (because the huge menpower from the Nazis), he ordered (like a "modern Leonidas") his men to flee, while he would stay put and give them covering fire (he chose to remain and die to his post). Like the video said, two of his 4-6 men refused to obay his order and remained with him... Itsios, now not leading the machine gun post but OPERATING HIMSELF the gun... he spend OVER 30.000-50.000 rounds with his machine gun (he changed 6-7 barrels because the heat!) and he killed an entire company (about 300) "Mountain Hunters" (Mountain Commandos) - some of the Nazis' famous "Brandenburgers" (Wehrmacht's Special Forces, something like the British "SAS", specialized for mountain raids). In first, when Itsios and his two privates surrendered, the commanding officer of the assault (a major) ordered his remained German troops to form a honor-salute tribute to the surrendered Greeks! But, after this short ceremony, the HIGHEST commanding officer (of the entire Division) arrived, that German GENERAL the video mentioned and HE EXECUTED Itsios - and for the rest Greek surprise, he LEFT the other two alive to leave (he didn't even order to keep the POW)... The German general claimed he did that because "he lost his temper" (by watching his dead troops). So...? So what? It was a war. Troops WILL be killed. He simple REFUSED to accept that (LOGICALLY!!!!!!!) a single machine gun post... killed so many!!! ...During the D-Day in Omaha beach, just a company of Germans were defending the beach - because as you probably know, the Germans expecting the Allies' invasion from Pas-de-Calais (a very close-by to England French region). So, just FEW machine-gun posts (with MG42, each post had 2 men) they SLAUGHTERED entire "waves" of the American Rangers!!! In fact, there is ONE SINGLE German soldier with the nickname "The Beast of Omaha", private Heinrich Severloh... who killed himself with his machine-gun OVER TWO THOUSAND American GIs... because his INCREDIBLE BEST of WWII machine-gun (MG42) could fire 1.200 rounds in a minute!!!!! He was captured POW... nobody killed him because "he was ungry for his kills"... and Heinrich Severloh retured to Normandy (as elder old guy) and HE MET A COUPLE old American veterans who THEY SURVIVED from his shots - they were operating on the beach HE WAS defending!
Στην Ξάνθη υπάρχει το(οχυρό του Εχίνου)της γραμμής Μεταξά..... προσωπικά για μένα είναι ένα από τα σημαντικότερα στρατιωτικά μνήμια του νομού Ξάνθης αλλά και της ελλάδος.....
Maybe but a beleive it's in our DNA that if we fight for our freedom our family and our country as greeks we take on a spirit of defiance that makes us near impossible to defeat defeat. That's why we were there 4000 years ago, we are there today and we will be there forever. As Leonidas said. We are Spartans. We will always say we are greeks.
As a Greek, thank you for making a video about a true Greek Hero of WW2, one amongst many others...! That event is just one in the bigger fight of the defensive line Metaxas, and its worth for everyone to study what happened there! I will mention only that Germans attacked that line with airplanes, artillery, and elit infantry units (General Schroner was in command of the XIX Mountain Corps, similar to modern Rangers), with devasted for them results! The line was NEVER BROKEN! Germans, after a deal they had with Bulgarian goverment, crossed their borders and went around the line, in order to be able to move to mainland. The total German casualties, according to a detailed research i recently read, across all the Metaxas defensive line, were 1266, and not what the Nazi propaganda presented at the time.
While doing my military service in greece i served in that bunker for a month. The holes of the bullets of the attackers still exist. I explored all levels of that bunker( closed to the public) but found only bats :) that was in 2004
ΣΑΣ ΕΥΧΆΡΙΣΤΟ ΠΟΛΎ THANK YOU..... The Greeks gave first aid to all Germans who were wounded ....YET the INVADING germans showed no quater to both civilian or military GREEK citizens .....
Thank you for shining light on a story heard by very few. It is always great to hear about these stories that get missed. Everyone speaks about the big victories and shines the spotlight on them, hower many of those big victories were made up of men like this. Great post, thank you.
I served as a green beret in the greek army and we paid honour to this location ...it was a proud moment and I was overwhelmed ...all the guys were..glory to our heroes glory to freedom
Ειχα δει ενα ντοκιμαντερ με εναν γερμαναρα 150 χρ.να μιλάει για αυτόν και ηταν τοσο αδικο καθοταν στη βιβλιοθηκη του στο γραφειο του και εξιστορουσε τα γεγονότα.Μετα ειχα δει τον γιο του ηρωα που εκλαιγε για τον πατερα του.
" All told, beginning on October 28, 1940 and continuing until early June 1941, Greece ultimately resisted the combined Axis forces for 219 days, which was significantly longer and more than triple the time of any other country that would come to be occupied during the war. " “Until now we used to say that the Greeks fight like heroes. Now we shall say: Heroes fight like Greeks.” .....Winston Churchill Greece 219 days Norway 61 days France 43 days Poland 30 days Belgium 18 days Holland 4 days Yugoslavia 3 days Czechoslovakia 0 days Denmark 0 days According to historical record, Greece resisted for a total of 219 days against (1) Italy,(2) Germany, (3) Bulgaria and (4) Albania (ALL AXIS COUNTRIES).... between October of 1940 and April of 1941 when Nazi Germany launched a final, massive attack through Bulgaria.....
The Germans would have suffered the same as the Italians, but then we didn't have a government. Our "allies" the British had arranged for the victory Prime Minister Metaxa to be poisoned because they disagreed with the plans of the resistance against the Germans. The English simply wanted the Greeks to fight and sacrifice themselves so they could leave Greece
I have a different sight on this: Its true that Metaxas had a Birtish doctor and there are signs of him being poisoned (his daughter and grandaughter, if i remember right, also spoke about it), BUT NOT for the reason you mentioned! Metaxas choose wisely to be neutral in this war and even when Italians attacked he did NOT except any kind of help from our "dear" allies, cause this would have provoked the Germans! After the huge defeat Italians suffered, the military-intelligence agency, Wilhelm Canaris, a descendant of the known Greek hero Canaris, proposed to Metaxas to keep the lands of Northern Epirus, we had liberated from the Albanians, during our fight with the Italians, and let things be as it is cause Germany had NO interest at all to fight Greece, and remain neutral. Ofc, Metaxas, with joy accepted that agreement, how could he not, and died shortly after that, mysteriously... The Greek Palace was friends to England ofc, and the rest is known history... Afterall, Hitler himself said that this drunker Churchill, goes around Europe openning warfronts, without caring at all for the local population's fate... Also, Greece saw how well their "beloved" allies reward them, especially those damn British pricks, after war, so dont be suprised at all BUT unfortunately some true events around WW2 are so well hidden so even when someone presents evidents gets arbitrarily accused for being Nazi, Fascist, Antisemitic OR w/e helps the other side to terrorise an opposing opinion, no matter the evidence!
Germans had high mobility troops, enabled them to perform "blitzkrieg", we couldn't mobilize troops from Albania to central Macedonia, especially in 1 day! They had Panzer III divisions, we had a few captured italian tankettes! We could immobilize their tanks w/ blankets, as we did w/ the tankettes too, but in what extent? At the battle of Kleisoura, the Germans cut off the greek from the Commonwealth troops. Besides, Germans weren't Italians, who didn't want to fight! Us and the French opposed both Germans and Italians. Still, we had better results than the French in both cases! (It is well known that the Maginot line was bypassed and surrendered in a week. About the same w/ Metaxas line, E. Macedonia and Thrace troops surrendered in 3 days, but many forts were still fighting after the surrendering. As I write to the video creator, german troops met the italian ones at Menton (20 kms behind the franco-italian borders) a month after the attack against France. On the contrary, the battle of Greece, lasted 2 months! Even 7 months later, locals in Crete and isolated ANZAC soldiers were performing guerrilla war!) About the Italians (they attacked to France, soon as they learned that Germany attacked France): in France, their Alpini troops suffered heavy losses on the Alps, w/o any territorial gains, and it took them a month's time to advance 20 kms only (till Menton)! They wanted to occupy Monaco (w/ a primarily italian population); they were far from that...
@@jimanast3593 You cannot "blitzkrieg" the Greeks 😅 The initial failure of the tactic in Greece was due to the fact that the attack was expected and intercepted on the Metaxa Line, while in the Soviet Union the final failure of this tactic was due to three factors: In harsh winter weather conditions,in the vast expanse of the country and in the inadequacy of the German forces for its application on such a scale in a vast country. The tactic worked against France, Poland and the Balkan states. You cannot blitzkrieg from Bulgarian to Greece or the opposite. The geography does not allow. Italians and German had no respect to geography. On the contrary Greeks respects geography since antiquity (Persian Wars) . To be honest, I believe they overestimate the effect of their air force on the ground
Πραγματικοί Έλληνες ΕΊΝΑΙ 100% ΨΥΧΗ&ΣΩΜΑ. Πηγάζει από ΑΝΑΤΡΟΦΉ ΓΟΝΕΩΝ( όχι σχολεία/κοινωνία/φιλαυτία/ Φιλαργυρία/Φιλήδονη..)Μέσα στο ΣΠΊΤΙ.Εξω είναι τα Σόδομα & Γόμορρα...
❤❤❤ λοχίας Ίτσιος ΑΘΑΝΆΤΟΣ Αλύγιστοι αυτός και οι σύντροφοι του οι συμπολεμιστές του τιμούν το να γεννηθείς Έλλην πολίτης και να πεθαίνεις για την παρουσία σου στα σύνορα που δεν υποκλίνονται μπροστά σε δισεκατομμύρια εχθρών Φιλοτιμία αγαπώ τόσο πολύ την ζωή και την ελευθερία μου ώστε να θυσιάζω εμένα
But when captured by the Axis And forced to tell the truth We will tell it with a smile We will surprise them with a laugh We are all We were all We were told to hold the border And that is what we did Resist and Bite, Sabbaton
In the early days of the attack, the Greeks managed to capture some German soldiers and confined them within the fortresses, where they were provided with food. This mainly took place at bigger fortresses nearby.
Autant des morts , des grecs qu'ils ont battus pour la liberté .Pour les remercier, les grandes puissances ont donné le nord de l'Epire ( des villages grecs) cadeau aux invahiseurs alliés des italiens, albanais
Είμαι και εγώ περήφανος που είμαι Έλληνας, αλλά μην ξεχνάμε ποτέ πως πρέπει να επικεντρωθούμε λίγο παραπάνω στο να καταφέρουμε να σκέφτονται έτσι τα εγγόνια και δισέγγονά μας για τη δικιά μας γενιά. Το να είσαι περήφανος για τους προγόνους είναι μια κινητήρια δύναμη να τους μοιάσεις και να τους ξεπεράσεις, αλλά εγκυμονεί τον κίνδυνο να ταυτιστείς και - ως αποτέλεσμα - να επαναπαυτείς με αυτό. Ας γίνουμε όλοι οι καλύτερη δυνατή εκδοχή του εαυτού μας για τις επόμενες γενιές. Ας γίνουμε υπερήφανοι για τον δίκο μας εαυτό και τη δικιά μας γενιά. Και ας γίνουμε επιτέλους η πρώτη γενιά για την οποία οι μελλοντικές γενιές θα είναι περήφανες - όχι λόγω των πολεμικών επιτευγμάτων και του θάρρους - αλλά για τη σύνεση και την πρόοδο. Έτσι, για τη διαφορά.
Great video! You should also sometime do a video about mound 731 in Epirus where another heroic venture took place in Greco-Italian war..Search about Major Dimitrios Kaslas and The west Thessalian battalion from the areas of Karditsa and Trikala...It is a story for the ages
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives he is right,the battle for the hill 731 was epic,just imagine after the battle,the hill lost 5 meters of height,and now it's called hill 726!!!
The map of the "Metaxas line" is incorrect. The forts were behind the greco-bulgarian borders, but not behind the greco-yugoslavian ones. For the Greeks, the threat was Bulgaria who many times raided and/or occupied Thrace and regions of Macedonia, during the past 60 years; not the friendly Yugoslavia who never acted like that. Of course, nobody could think of Italy attacking Greece, and then of Hitler attacking Greece just after Yugoslavia, an attack done also to bypass the "Metaxas line". Hitler was an admirer of Greece and he never planned to attack there. Attacking Greece, forced him to be behind scheduling on attacking Soviet Union, w/ the well known consequences! According to what I know, it wasn't the general but the major commanding the attack at the specific fort, who executed Sgt Itsios.
And then they raised again...Some years before now Heinz Richter saw Greek crimes against the German invasion in Crete. They were holding roses and the Cretans killed them. Almost asked for for war reparations for the killed soldiers....Thank you for the video.
it was 232 soldiers plus Lt. Col. Ebeling, commander of the 138th Mountain Hunter Regiment ,when itsios was out of ammunition and was captured General Shorner told him: Do you know that for your sake I lost a lieutenant colonel and 232 soldiers?then shot him,you should change your thumbnail,the location where all this happen is called roupel forts, you should call your self youtube archives not military history,and please do challenge this cause my late grandfather served as a reserve officer during that exact period in the specific area,i can provide photo proof which do not exist over the net
Οι Γερμανοί θά είχαν φύγει κι αυτοί με την ουρά στά σκέλια αν οι περισσότερες δυνάμεις δεν ήταν στο αλβανικό μέτωπο και στο οχυρό Μεταξά ήταν οι μισές ελληνικές δυνάμεις.
Θα τους είχαμε καθυστερήσει απλά περισσότερο. Οι Γερμανοί δεν ήταν Ιταλοί. Τα τεθωρακισμένα και η αεροπορία τους ήταν σε επιπέδο που δεν είχε ξαναδεί ο τότε κόσμος. Οι σύμμαχοι επίσης γνώριζαν πως θα ακολουθούσε επίθεση των Γερμανών στην Σοβιετική Ένωση και ανυπομονούσαν γι' αυτό ώστε να εμπλακεί η Σοβιετική Ένωση και να αυξηθούν έτσι οι πιθανότητες για νίκη. Η Ελλάδα απλά έπρεπε να θυσιαστεί.
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives They weren't only fighting; even 5 days after the german attack, they were advancing still! They stopped advancing in order to not be cut off by the advancing German troops!
The Greek resistance saved the Soviet Union ,because it delayed the operation Barbarossa. Germans had to capture Greece and then move into Russia delaying their advance towards Moscow for two months.
While this could have impacted Barbarossa, it was going to be delayed anyway as the logistics on the Eastern border were taking longer than expected. I read that losses of German planes in the capture of Crete had a more substantial impact as German transport fleet was relatively small and thus could not cope with supplying some advanced Barbarossa troops.
@@mark_sugar42Balkans literally killed Germany's progress in WW2, starting with the idiotic decision of Mussolini to enter Greece even tho we were a fascists state
That’s a myth.
@@terryv.2531what is a myth - Greeks saving Russia from Barbarossa?
@@terryv.2531Even Stalin admitted this.
ΤΙΜΗ ΚΑΙ ΔΟΞΑ ΣΤΟΝ ΛΟΧΙΑ ΙΤΣΙΟ🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ
Σωστός Λεβέντης ο θεός να τον αναπαύσει
Αθάνατος.
❤🇬🇷❤️
❤🫡
hitler stated in his speech in the reichstag on may 4. 1941 :
"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."
itsios was one of them
So many years, centuries actually, we've written down and told everyone: We'll never surrender nor will be commanded by a non-Greek. Is it like they're deaf or low IQ or stubbornness? Who knows. Keep trying folks. We became too soft. A good fight is all we need for a beautiful death. I realize there's nothing 'beautiful' in death for any foreigner, but we're all built kind of different. Each to his culture.
Thank you for your consideration and understanding. Best regards.
Mainly the Greeks and Poland fought against the axis in 1940-41, except Russia of course. All the other countries just fell within days, with France which everyone thought was a super power at the time in only 10 !! days
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives Poland didn't resist more than a few days (it was attacked by the SU from the East too); the same was about France too. They were fighting for a week at Maginot line and officially surrendered a few days later. (It took them about one month to meet the Italian forces at Menton, 20 km beside the franco-italian borderline, but they weren't in a hurry...)
It was different w/ Greece. Germany attacked on April 6th. The battle of the forts ended officially 3 days later when troops at E. Macedonia and Thrace surrendered, while greek troops were still advancing in Albania, and many forts were still resisting! In many cases the fight of the forts REALLY stopped after the german proposal (to avoid German soldiers being killed in vain) to the greek troops defending the forts to install radio antennas to listen and get informed about the surrendering! Vice general Tsolakoglou surrendered 2 weeks after the attack (much later than the French), disobeying orders! A month after Tsolakoglou's surrender, the battle of Crete begun, which ended the battle of Greece, 2 months(!) after its beginning (June 1st)! 7 months later, locals and ANZAC remaining soldiers were still fighting guerilla war in Crete!
From all the countries occupied by the Axis Powers, Greece resisted MUCH MORE than the other countries, including France!
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives I am Greek but this must be said for the French because the English speaking internet is full of derogatory comments about them. In WW1 the French fought bravely and had by far the most casualties among the western allies. Verdun, Ypres etc were real slaughterhouses. At the time they were told that this is the war to end all wars yet 20 years later they were asked again to be the main defending army in the west against the Germans. You can imagine how low the morale can get when you don’t see any end in fighting even after extremely costly victories. Especially when after victory in ww1 the allies had the chance to prevent Germany from acquiring such military strength again but chose not to… As general Foch famously and prophetically stated: This not a peace treaty, this is a 20 year truce!
@@StavrosDSfrench didn't lost because of the morale but because of bad generals, tactics and unsynchronized infantry brigades who left wide open frontlines entrances because Painter boosted his soldiers with meth and they were advancing restless with thousands of vehicles and Tanks which french was way far technological behind compared of what Painter made for Wehrmacht. At the other side Us Greeks we defeated Italy because of high morale, experience on battlefield because of balkan wars, Generals knew what they were doing and personel were experienced also in bad conditions.
My great-grandfather was one of the fallen defenders of the Metaxas Line during the resistance against the Italians. He was only 21 years old and already had one daughter with my great-grandmother, who was pregnant with their second daughter at the time-the mother of my mother. His name was Konstantinos Sotiriadis.
και εχεις ονομα rammstein , τοσο μαλακας
Αθάνατος ηρωας
Thank you for sharing your story with us👍
Παλικαρι! Να εισαι υπερηφανος!
Οι ήρωες πολεμούν σαν Έλληνες. Περήφανος που είμαι Έλληνας 🇬🇷
As a Greek thank you for this video
Welcome my friend 💪
Those who pass from ano poroia village of Serres, take a bow on the bust of Dimitris Itsios.
💪💪
His son Anastasios (Soulis) is
married to my cousin Evro, now living in Athens.
Ότι νάνε ωραίο ανέκδοτο
@@sotis9997 Ποιο είναι το ανέκδοτο;
@@sotis9997 Τό ἀνέκδοτο βεβαίως ἐδὼ εἶσαι ἐσύ, διότι δέν γνωρίζεις ἰστορία τῆς Πατρίδος μας ἀλλά παραμένεις νά πιστεύεις τοίς ματαιοθεωρίες τοῦ Κάρλ Μάρξ. Τά μαῦρα χάλια σου, ἄπατρι.
@@Pavloskanenas τι ονομα ειναι το ευρο
@@gphr5987ο Έβρος είναι μια περιοχή στην Θράκη κοντά στην Αλεξανδρούπολη
These are the Greeks. And the Germans....
Honor and Glory to those who decided in their lives to guard Thermopylae!!!
Immortals!!!!
My grandfather, Corporal Ilias Profyllidis, died fighting the invading Nazis a few kms to the east, at the Fort Istimbei. He was the nco in charge of a platoon that ambushed a passage. Similarly to Sergeant Itsios, when the Nazis located them and started pounding them, he ordered his soldiers to withdraw south towards their village (Neo Petritsi) and stayed back to cover their retreat. Eventually he got killed by the enemy who overrun his position. Eternal glory to our heroes!
Thank you for sharing your story 👍 these heroes never die
Great video!
You presented a historical fact that few people knew about it.
Dimitrios Itsios proven himself as a real scion of the great king Leonidas of Sparta!
Τιμή, δόξα και αθανασία στον άξιο Έλληνα στρατιώτη Δημήτρη Ίτσιο! 🇬🇷
Thank you!
Καλό παράδεισο να έχεις αδερφέ!!☦️🇬🇷
253 ΗΜΕΡΕΣ ΑΝΤΙΣΤΑΣΗΣ Η ΜΙΚΡΗ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΜΑΣ, ......ΟΤΑΝ Η ΤΟΤΕ ΥΠΕΡΔΥΝΑΜΗ ΓΑΛΛΙΑ ΕΠΕΣΕ ΣΕ ΤΡΕΙΣ ΜΕΡΕΣ ! ! !
Οταν είμαστε ενωμενοι καταφέρνουμε πολλά
Εσύ την έκανες μικρή!
@@oshiotomakan6900 Τι δεν κατάλαβες απο αυτό που έγραψα ??
@@jonakossarris ἡ μεγαλοσύνη εἰς τά ἔθνη δέν μετριέται μέ τό στρέμμα, μέ τῆς καρδιᾶς τό πύρωμα μετριέται, καί τό αῖμα. ... Κωστῆς Παλαμάς
@@kifisia123 Ναι, αλλά από απόψεως στρατιωτικών μεγεθών, ήταν μικρή! Αυτό είναι γεγονός, κι αυτό γράφει ο φίλος...
(Σήμερα, συμπτωματικά, είδα πως μου έκαναν like σε παλιό σχόλιό μου στα αγγλικά, ότι αν και ήμαστε πάντα ολιγάριθμοι, δεν τα παρατούμε, νομίζω ήταν στο προτεινόμενο βίντεο για την τελευταία άμυνα της αεροπορίας μας...)
The event took place in the Beles region, which was the weak point of the Metaxas Line. There’s even a photo of the fallen soldier, which is kept in a photography museum in Greece. For the historical record, the Germans were unable to breach the Roupel fort, as well as the forts of Nevrokopi, which ultimately had to surrender when the German 2nd Armored Division broke through the Yugoslav lines and got behind Greek positions, a result of Yugoslavia’s swift collapse. In one of the forts, an inscription was found reading, “At Thermopylae, 300 fell; here, 700 will die.”
Yes , i saw the photo of Itsios laying down in front of his bunker dead. There was also a German standing over him as i remember. Truly shocking photo. I thought of showing the photo of the dead soldier in the video, but RUclips would probably delete the video. So i tried representing what happened, as best as possible. Thank you for the info my friend! 🙂
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives Congratulations on highlighting a small and lesser-known story of WW2 that exemplifies the self-sacrifice of ordinary people. Unfortunately, Greece's example, its struggle, and its contribution to the war effort have been largely overlooked in the pages of history, except by researchers like you who bring such stories to light. Wishing you continued success in what you do!
❤🇬🇷❤🇬🇷❤🇬🇷❤
@@panosk2274many people who follow WW2 events know of Greek determination 👍
@@mark_sugar42 💪💪 GR
Visited Itsios memorial monument at Ano Poroia about 15 years ago. Main street's name took his name in his memory. Those were the days people fought for a real cause.
Τα οχυρά δεν παραδίδονται, καταλαμβάνονται.
Τάδε έφη Τ/χης Δουράτσος.
You are Immortal my friend, Immortal..
I'm Greek and did not know about Dimitrios Itsios nor details about the northern defense lines. Thank you for this video.
Σε ευχαριστώ πολύ που μου είπες αυτή την ιστορία που δεν ήξερα... Μπράβο σου!!!😊
As a Greek im so proud about the fallen sergeant, he was one of many, i cried when i saw this.
Σωστός
Great video. As Winston Churchill said, "Greeks don't fight as heroes, heroes fight as Greeks"
@SNAPPEDSPINE it's ok. Don't be jealous and don't feel bad if you're not Greek
@@sotiris_constantinou No he actually did not say it, he said something vaguely similar but not as catchy. To be honest, who cares. Churchill was responsible for the kickstart of the civil war in Greece. Its mind boggling that he is whitewashed and celebrated.
@@SNAPPEDSPINEgo back to sleep and change your diapers, you are a big boy now.
@@SNAPPEDSPINE why r u so bitter
@@sintaxiouxos6761 Γιατι ? γιατι το ονομα του ειναι Φατμιρ η κουτιμ ,η φεστιμ , η Αγκλεντιν , γιαυτο φιλος
People from epeiros fought unstoppable from the first day. See also about the katsimitros defence line and 731 hill. Μy grandfather and other members of the family were fought and died there. We must not forget the pain in order to prevent any future possibility of war.
you forgot to mention that albanians were collaborating with the italians and the germans against the greeks. In the battle of epirus in 1940, albanians wholeheartedly sacrificed themselves to help the fascists and the nazis to subdue greece
Dimitrios Itsios. A Greek warrior, a LEGEND.
Many people didn't know about his story that's why i decided to make this video 💪
It's a great example of the Greek heroism. Few men against an elite army. Sometimes numbers crumble in front of men willing to die for their country.
we are brave and we fight good
Typical for a german to assasinate an unarmed officer.
Δειλός!!!
Itsios was commanding two strongholds (two machine-gun posts), leading 4-6 men (each machine post had 2-3 men).
So, after the first battle - and realizing the battle WILL be lost (because the huge menpower from the Nazis), he ordered (like a "modern Leonidas") his men to flee, while he would stay put and give them covering fire (he chose to remain and die to his post). Like the video said, two of his 4-6 men refused to obay his order and remained with him...
Itsios, now not leading the machine gun post but OPERATING HIMSELF the gun... he spend OVER 30.000-50.000 rounds with his machine gun (he changed 6-7 barrels because the heat!) and he killed an entire company (about 300) "Mountain Hunters" (Mountain Commandos) - some of the Nazis' famous "Brandenburgers" (Wehrmacht's Special Forces, something like the British "SAS", specialized for mountain raids).
In first, when Itsios and his two privates surrendered, the commanding officer of the assault (a major) ordered his remained German troops to form a honor-salute tribute to the surrendered Greeks! But, after this short ceremony, the HIGHEST commanding officer (of the entire Division) arrived, that German GENERAL the video mentioned and HE EXECUTED Itsios - and for the rest Greek surprise, he LEFT the other two alive to leave (he didn't even order to keep the POW)...
The German general claimed he did that because "he lost his temper" (by watching his dead troops).
So...? So what? It was a war. Troops WILL be killed. He simple REFUSED to accept that (LOGICALLY!!!!!!!) a single machine gun post... killed so many!!!
...During the D-Day in Omaha beach, just a company of Germans were defending the beach - because as you probably know, the Germans expecting the Allies' invasion from Pas-de-Calais (a very close-by to England French region). So, just FEW machine-gun posts (with MG42, each post had 2 men) they SLAUGHTERED entire "waves" of the American Rangers!!! In fact, there is ONE SINGLE German soldier with the nickname "The Beast of Omaha", private Heinrich Severloh... who killed himself with his machine-gun OVER TWO THOUSAND American GIs... because his INCREDIBLE BEST of WWII machine-gun (MG42) could fire 1.200 rounds in a minute!!!!!
He was captured POW... nobody killed him because "he was ungry for his kills"... and Heinrich Severloh retured to Normandy (as elder old guy) and HE MET A COUPLE old American veterans who THEY SURVIVED from his shots - they were operating on the beach HE WAS defending!
Thanks for the video about the Hero Dimitrios Itsios (from my mother's town) Ano Poroia Serres Macedonia Greece!
You're welcome my friend 💪💪
Στην Ξάνθη υπάρχει το(οχυρό του Εχίνου)της γραμμής Μεταξά..... προσωπικά για μένα είναι ένα από τα σημαντικότερα στρατιωτικά μνήμια του νομού Ξάνθης αλλά και της ελλάδος.....
Unfortunately, we us modern Greeks, we became unworthy descendants of worthy ancestors.
We have lost our pride and dignity.
Maybe but a beleive it's in our DNA that if we fight for our freedom our family and our country as greeks we take on a spirit of defiance that makes us near impossible to defeat defeat. That's why we were there 4000 years ago, we are there today and we will be there forever.
As Leonidas said. We are Spartans. We will always say we are greeks.
As a Greek, thank you for making a video about a true Greek Hero of WW2, one amongst many others...!
That event is just one in the bigger fight of the defensive line Metaxas, and its worth for everyone to study what happened there! I will mention only that Germans attacked that line with airplanes, artillery, and elit infantry units (General Schroner was in command of the XIX Mountain Corps, similar to modern Rangers), with devasted for them results!
The line was NEVER BROKEN! Germans, after a deal they had with Bulgarian goverment, crossed their borders and went around the line, in order to be able to move to mainland.
The total German casualties, according to a detailed research i recently read, across all the Metaxas defensive line, were 1266, and not what the Nazi propaganda presented at the time.
WHY CAN'T WE LIKE THIS BEAUTIFUL VIDEO DOCUMENTING A PIECE OF GLORIOUS HISTORY OF GREEK RESISTANCE DURING WW II?
Thank you!!
While doing my military service in greece i served in that bunker for a month. The holes of the bullets of the attackers still exist. I explored all levels of that bunker( closed to the public) but found only bats :) that was in 2004
ΣΑΣ ΕΥΧΆΡΙΣΤΟ ΠΟΛΎ
THANK YOU.....
The Greeks gave first aid to all Germans who were wounded ....YET the INVADING germans showed no quater to both civilian or military GREEK citizens .....
Thank you for shining light on a story heard by very few.
It is always great to hear about these stories that get missed. Everyone speaks about the big victories and shines the spotlight on them, hower many of those big victories were made up of men like this.
Great post, thank you.
You're welcome my friend 👍
Μια φορα και ενα καιρο ηταν κατι παλλικαρια!
I served as a green beret in the greek army and we paid honour to this location ...it was a proud moment and I was overwhelmed ...all the guys were..glory to our heroes glory to freedom
Thank you for sharing your story with us my friend 💪💪⚔️⚔️
Ειχα δει ενα ντοκιμαντερ με εναν γερμαναρα 150 χρ.να μιλάει για αυτόν και ηταν τοσο αδικο καθοταν στη βιβλιοθηκη του στο γραφειο του και εξιστορουσε τα γεγονότα.Μετα ειχα δει τον γιο του ηρωα που εκλαιγε για τον πατερα του.
Well said and nice animations keep up the good work
Thank you 👍
Love the animations! Keep it up.
Αιώνια η μνήμη!
Thank you for this!!!!
" All told, beginning on October 28, 1940 and continuing until early June 1941, Greece ultimately resisted the combined Axis forces for 219 days, which was significantly longer and more than triple the time of any other country that would come to be occupied during the war. "
“Until now we used to say that the Greeks fight like heroes. Now we shall say: Heroes fight like Greeks.” .....Winston Churchill
Greece 219 days
Norway 61 days
France 43 days
Poland 30 days
Belgium 18 days
Holland 4 days
Yugoslavia 3 days
Czechoslovakia 0 days
Denmark 0 days
According to historical record, Greece resisted for a total of 219 days against (1) Italy,(2) Germany, (3) Bulgaria and (4) Albania (ALL AXIS COUNTRIES).... between October of 1940 and April of 1941 when Nazi Germany launched a final, massive attack through Bulgaria.....
ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ 🙏🙏🙏🙏
The Germans would have suffered the same as the Italians, but then we didn't have a government. Our "allies" the British had arranged for the victory Prime Minister Metaxa to be poisoned because they disagreed with the plans of the resistance against the Germans. The English simply wanted the Greeks to fight and sacrifice themselves so they could leave Greece
I have a different sight on this: Its true that Metaxas had a Birtish doctor and there are signs of him being poisoned (his daughter and grandaughter, if i remember right, also spoke about it), BUT NOT for the reason you mentioned! Metaxas choose wisely to be neutral in this war and even when Italians attacked he did NOT except any kind of help from our "dear" allies, cause this would have provoked the Germans! After the huge defeat Italians suffered, the military-intelligence agency, Wilhelm Canaris, a descendant of the known Greek hero Canaris, proposed to Metaxas to keep the lands of Northern Epirus, we had liberated from the Albanians, during our fight with the Italians, and let things be as it is cause Germany had NO interest at all to fight Greece, and remain neutral.
Ofc, Metaxas, with joy accepted that agreement, how could he not, and died shortly after that, mysteriously... The Greek Palace was friends to England ofc, and the rest is known history...
Afterall, Hitler himself said that this drunker Churchill, goes around Europe openning warfronts, without caring at all for the local population's fate...
Also, Greece saw how well their "beloved" allies reward them, especially those damn British pricks, after war, so dont be suprised at all BUT unfortunately some true events around WW2 are so well hidden so even when someone presents evidents gets arbitrarily accused for being Nazi, Fascist, Antisemitic OR w/e helps the other side to terrorise an opposing opinion, no matter the evidence!
Germans had high mobility troops, enabled them to perform "blitzkrieg", we couldn't mobilize troops from Albania to central Macedonia, especially in 1 day! They had Panzer III divisions, we had a few captured italian tankettes! We could immobilize their tanks w/ blankets, as we did w/ the tankettes too, but in what extent? At the battle of Kleisoura, the Germans cut off the greek from the Commonwealth troops.
Besides, Germans weren't Italians, who didn't want to fight! Us and the French opposed both Germans and Italians. Still, we had better results than the French in both cases! (It is well known that the Maginot line was bypassed and surrendered in a week. About the same w/ Metaxas line, E. Macedonia and Thrace troops surrendered in 3 days, but many forts were still fighting after the surrendering. As I write to the video creator, german troops met the italian ones at Menton (20 kms behind the franco-italian borders) a month after the attack against France. On the contrary, the battle of Greece, lasted 2 months! Even 7 months later, locals in Crete and isolated ANZAC soldiers were performing guerrilla war!) About the Italians (they attacked to France, soon as they learned that Germany attacked France): in France, their Alpini troops suffered heavy losses on the Alps, w/o any territorial gains, and it took them a month's time to advance 20 kms only (till Menton)! They wanted to occupy Monaco (w/ a primarily italian population); they were far from that...
@@jimanast3593 You cannot "blitzkrieg" the Greeks 😅 The initial failure of the tactic in Greece was due to the fact that the attack was expected and intercepted on the Metaxa Line, while in the Soviet Union the final failure of this tactic was due to three factors: In harsh winter weather conditions,in the vast expanse of the country and in the inadequacy of the German forces for its application on such a scale in a vast country. The tactic worked against France, Poland and the Balkan states. You cannot blitzkrieg from Bulgarian to Greece or the opposite. The geography does not allow. Italians and German had no respect to geography. On the contrary Greeks respects geography since antiquity (Persian Wars) . To be honest, I believe they overestimate the effect of their air force on the ground
20 years after they scrwed us in Minor Asia
@primarchxi6639 The next leader after him sucided with two bullets in the heartv after he fought and got slapped with the english ambasedor
fantastic chanel..subbed
Εύγε!
Η πατριδα μας δεν παραδιδεται στους εχθρους!!
Μπράβο θρύλος Ο Μέγας Δημήτριος Ίτσιος Αγωνιστής Λεβέντης Της Πατρίδος.ΑΞΙΟΣ!!!
Πραγματικοί Έλληνες ΕΊΝΑΙ 100% ΨΥΧΗ&ΣΩΜΑ. Πηγάζει από ΑΝΑΤΡΟΦΉ ΓΟΝΕΩΝ( όχι σχολεία/κοινωνία/φιλαυτία/ Φιλαργυρία/Φιλήδονη..)Μέσα στο ΣΠΊΤΙ.Εξω είναι τα Σόδομα & Γόμορρα...
Τιμή και δόξα!!🇬🇷
ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ!!!!!!
The P8 bunker is a few hundrend meters outside the village if Ano Poroia on the Belles mountain
❤❤❤ λοχίας Ίτσιος
ΑΘΑΝΆΤΟΣ Αλύγιστοι αυτός και οι σύντροφοι του οι συμπολεμιστές του τιμούν το να γεννηθείς Έλλην πολίτης και να πεθαίνεις για την παρουσία σου στα σύνορα που δεν υποκλίνονται μπροστά σε δισεκατομμύρια εχθρών
Φιλοτιμία αγαπώ τόσο πολύ την ζωή και την ελευθερία μου ώστε να θυσιάζω εμένα
thx great story
Thank you for your comment 👍
✝️🇬🇷🇨🇾✝️🇨🇾🇬🇷✝️.
ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ.
ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ.
μ.Χ.
✝️🇨🇾🇬🇷✝️🇬🇷🇨🇾✝️
Legend
Αθάνατε Ίτσιε πέρασες στην αιωνιότητα !! Σε τιμάμε και δεν σε ξεχνάμε
Greek heroism🇬🇷☦️
This make a movie about this story.
❤🫡🫡🫡. From sergeant George.
But when captured by the Axis
And forced to tell the truth
We will tell it with a smile
We will surprise them with a laugh
We are all
We were all
We were told to hold the border
And that is what we did
Resist and Bite, Sabbaton
Αθάνατος!!!! Αιώνια νά είναι ή μνήμη του!!!! Υποκλίνομαι σάν πατριωτισα του!!!!
ΤΙΜΗ & ΔΟΞΑ!!!
great kill death ratio
Itsios was an example of virtue and bravery. Weird thing that his killer was freed the same date (Aug. 4) that Metaxas had established his regime...
Wow, i didn't know that!
Calling Metaxas that had established a "regime" shows clearly your shallow knowledge of Hellenic history and of understanding the historical facts.
@@Mazarakis_Spyridon How would you call someone who insults a complete stranger before an indefinite number of people?
@@sigatisportes167 It depends on the case each time.
By your such a statement I can smell ego thoroughly.
@Mazarakis_Spyridon Merry Christmas!
Σας ευχαριστω ως Ελληνας για την αναδειξη των Ελληνων Ηρωων ❤❤❤ Ζητω η Ελλαδα
💪💪😊
The power of my greeks♥️🇬🇷☦️💪💪
Thank you for your comment! 👍
Imortal...
"Εἷς οἰωνὸς ἄριστος, ἀμύνεσθαι περὶ πάτρης" Ομήρου Ιλιάδα. = "It is a good omen, to defend your country" Homer's Iliad.
some men have over heroism than every hero in movies . i live near of nyphea mountains and they are full of bullets
I have the hero in a magnet for the fridge and I am Greek!!!
💪💪💯
👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍
Salut ❤️🇬🇷❤️🇬🇷
Greek Army treated the wounded and captured Germans well
In the early days of the attack, the Greeks managed to capture some German soldiers and confined them within the fortresses, where they were provided with food. This mainly took place at bigger fortresses nearby.
Autant des morts , des grecs qu'ils ont battus pour la liberté .Pour les remercier, les grandes puissances ont donné le nord de l'Epire ( des villages grecs) cadeau aux invahiseurs alliés des italiens, albanais
ΛΕΒΈΝΤΗΣ. 10 ΤΈΤΟΙΟΥΣ ΘΕΛΟΥΜΕ ΑΛΛΑ ΟΥΤΕ ΑΥΤΟΥΣ ΑΞΙΖΟΥΜΕ.
ΤΙΜΗ ΚΑΙ ΔΟΞΑ.
σε τι μοιάζουμε εμείς σήμερα σε αυτόν ως προς την ανδρεία;
Δημήτρης Ίτσιος !
and here we see europe support albanian and turkey this is sad 2024
HELLAS
Ίτσιος Αθάνατος!
ΤΕΤΟΙΟ ΣΤΡΑΤΟ ΕΙΧΕ Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΕΝΑΣ ΓΙΑ 200
ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΙ 🇬🇷
👍
Είμαι και εγώ περήφανος που είμαι Έλληνας, αλλά μην ξεχνάμε ποτέ πως πρέπει να επικεντρωθούμε λίγο παραπάνω στο να καταφέρουμε να σκέφτονται έτσι τα εγγόνια και δισέγγονά μας για τη δικιά μας γενιά. Το να είσαι περήφανος για τους προγόνους είναι μια κινητήρια δύναμη να τους μοιάσεις και να τους ξεπεράσεις, αλλά εγκυμονεί τον κίνδυνο να ταυτιστείς και - ως αποτέλεσμα - να επαναπαυτείς με αυτό. Ας γίνουμε όλοι οι καλύτερη δυνατή εκδοχή του εαυτού μας για τις επόμενες γενιές. Ας γίνουμε υπερήφανοι για τον δίκο μας εαυτό και τη δικιά μας γενιά. Και ας γίνουμε επιτέλους η πρώτη γενιά για την οποία οι μελλοντικές γενιές θα είναι περήφανες - όχι λόγω των πολεμικών επιτευγμάτων και του θάρρους - αλλά για τη σύνεση και την πρόοδο. Έτσι, για τη διαφορά.
ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ
ΤΙΜΗ ΚΑΙ ΔΟΞΑ ΣΤΟΝ ΛΟΧΙΑ
ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ
Αθάνατος!
Great video! You should also sometime do a video about mound 731 in Epirus where another heroic venture took place in Greco-Italian war..Search about Major Dimitrios Kaslas and The west Thessalian battalion from the areas of Karditsa and Trikala...It is a story for the ages
I will keep this in mind thank you!😊
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives he is right,the battle for the hill 731 was epic,just imagine after the battle,the hill lost 5 meters of height,and now it's called hill 726!!!
ΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ 🔵⚪️
The map of the "Metaxas line" is incorrect. The forts were behind the greco-bulgarian borders, but not behind the greco-yugoslavian ones. For the Greeks, the threat was Bulgaria who many times raided and/or occupied Thrace and regions of Macedonia, during the past 60 years; not the friendly Yugoslavia who never acted like that. Of course, nobody could think of Italy attacking Greece, and then of Hitler attacking Greece just after Yugoslavia, an attack done also to bypass the "Metaxas line". Hitler was an admirer of Greece and he never planned to attack there. Attacking Greece, forced him to be behind scheduling on attacking Soviet Union, w/ the well known consequences!
According to what I know, it wasn't the general but the major commanding the attack at the specific fort, who executed Sgt Itsios.
And then they raised again...Some years before now Heinz Richter saw Greek crimes against the German invasion in Crete. They were holding roses and the Cretans killed them. Almost asked for for war reparations for the killed soldiers....Thank you for the video.
Bravo 👌.. Thank you...🇬🇷❤️
Thank you! 😊
no germans here??? it seems they dont like history...
και όμως οι Γερμανοί υμνούν τον ηρωισμό των Ελλήνων σε αρκετά Site
He executed him not murdered. Use the right words
Itsios....Dimitrios Itsios.......unexpectedle not to say his surname.
it was 232 soldiers plus Lt. Col. Ebeling, commander of the 138th Mountain Hunter Regiment ,when itsios was out of ammunition and was captured General Shorner told him: Do you know that for your sake I lost a lieutenant colonel and 232 soldiers?then shot him,you should change your thumbnail,the location where all this happen is called roupel forts, you should call your self youtube archives not military history,and please do challenge this cause my late grandfather served as a reserve officer during that exact period in the specific area,i can provide photo proof which do not exist over the net
Οι Γερμανοί θά είχαν φύγει κι αυτοί με την ουρά στά σκέλια αν οι περισσότερες δυνάμεις δεν ήταν στο αλβανικό μέτωπο και στο οχυρό Μεταξά ήταν οι μισές ελληνικές δυνάμεις.
True most Greek forces were fighting in Albania at that time
Θα τους είχαμε καθυστερήσει απλά περισσότερο. Οι Γερμανοί δεν ήταν Ιταλοί. Τα τεθωρακισμένα και η αεροπορία τους ήταν σε επιπέδο που δεν είχε ξαναδεί ο τότε κόσμος. Οι σύμμαχοι επίσης γνώριζαν πως θα ακολουθούσε επίθεση των Γερμανών στην Σοβιετική Ένωση και ανυπομονούσαν γι' αυτό ώστε να εμπλακεί η Σοβιετική Ένωση και να αυξηθούν έτσι οι πιθανότητες για νίκη. Η Ελλάδα απλά έπρεπε να θυσιαστεί.
@@MilitaryHistoryArchives They weren't only fighting; even 5 days after the german attack, they were advancing still! They stopped advancing in order to not be cut off by the advancing German troops!