Battling through the Pindus Mountains - Testing out Europa III Balkan Front

Europa III (Balkan Front 1990)

November 1, 1940 - December 31, 1940

The Italians launch their fated invasion of Greece in 1940 ...

Set up at the start, I tried to see whether or not the Italians could break the Greek front along the Pindus mountains without the support of the Germans or other Axis forces. I gave it until the end of 1940 to see if progress was possible, and I was pleasantly surprised. At first, my progress was expectedly pushed back, but as additionally divisions were diverted to the theater -- solely from Italy -- it was clear that the invasion didn't have to end with a counter-attack that reached back into Albania. The most critical factor: the Metaxas Line.

November 1940:

On the southern edge of the Pindus mountains, the Italians concentrate their offensive forces along the Albanian-Greek coast in the 4th (semi-armored) and 11th Corps. The northern end is held by Albanian forces and the reserve 6th Corps. The Italian 4th and 11th surge across the border. The 4th makes decent progress (overrunning a border guard brigade) and the 11th (supported by the 3rd Mountain Division) is halted by two Greek mountain regiments. Albanian forces fail to make headway and are forced back from the border.

The Italian 4th, which makes it to Egoumenitsa, is struck by two Greek mountain divisions and an assortment of independent brigades, halting further advance south.

The weather worsens and turns to rain. The 4th and 11th Corps, supported by Italian bombers from the mainland, keep the gathering forces along the Pindus Mountains at bay, supported by addition infantry forces ferried over from Taranto forming the 14th Corps.

On Kerkyra, recon and assault forces from Bari land on the island, surrounding the 10th Independent Regiment, and eventually eliminating it.

Italian aircraft from Valona bomb the airbase at Larisa and knock out the remaining fighters and interceptors there. 

The 4th and 11th continue to vie for a superior position in the southern Pindus Mountains but fail to make real headway, and more Greek mountain divisions continue to arrive. The Greeks launch a local counterattack and manage to send the 4th Corps back across the Albanian border.

December 1940:

Weather continues to worsen, as does the Italian offensive. Additional Greek reserves are hard to come by, however. With the Bulgarians not yet in the war, the Greeks are forced to man the Metaxas line with 15 regimental equivalents.

Italian motorized units on the coast fail to make headway in a renewed assault, but an attack led by the Trieste Mountain Division successfully dislodges the 3rd Greek Mountain Division. A counterattack meant to reverse the Italian advance fails.

With winter weather coming, the 14th Corps takes over for the 2nd Italian Mountain Division. In concert with the 11th Corps, they make a drive on Egoumenitsa and manage to secure the city. Deep in the Pindus mountains, the 4th Corps also makes headway out of Albania, pushing back 2 independent regiments. 

The Greeks redeploy and launch counterattacks, but all fail.

A final look at the map.

As the new year begins, the Greeks along the Pindus Mountains little by little continue to be pushed back, as the Italian concentration of forces outweighs those needed to hold them at bay. Due to manning the Metaxas line, which could be stripped if Bulgaria joins the war, the Greeks cannot adequately reinforce their most defendable sector. 

It's an interesting observation. Under the right circumstances, the Italians are better off in their poorly timed invasion of Greece if they don't call Bulgaria into the war. That's all I needed to get out of this session.