Greco-Italian War

Following Italy's initial gains in late 1939, Mussolini's forces stalled throughout the winter. Guerilla activities in Epirus coupled with partisan activity forced Italy to attempt a strengthening of their Greek base. To make matters worse, the Liberal and Royalist forces agreed to a truce, their fear and hatred of Italy greater than that for one another despite four years of civil war.

Frustrated by the lull in battle and mounting losses, Mussolini heavily reinforced his forces ordered the army to recommence the drive. Because of the difficulty of crossing the Pindus Mountains, and successful Liberal forces pushing them back from Western Macedonia following their initial probe, Italian forces decided to strike south in March 1940. This would allow Italian armor greater maneuverability to screen and battle back Greek forces. Going was slow and rough, Royalist forces committing hit and run assaults, avoiding open battle and making Italians pay for ever kilometer they took. It wasn't until late May that Italian forces reached and crossed the Vjose river taking Agrinion and then Mesolongion in the first real stand up battles in the campaign since the opening assault in October of the prior year. Greek forces were beginning to stiffen, something Italian generals dreaded. In a move that shocked the Italians, Royalist troops, aided by Liberal forces, mounted a counteroffensive that nearly broke Italian defenses. Even when Greek troops ran out of ammo, they charged the Italians swinging their rifles like clubs. The Italians were greatly unnerved, deciding to switch to the defensive while they sorted out future operations.

Angry at the numerous victories being reported from the Russian front in regard to Hitler's Operation Barbarossa, Mussolini shook up the command of Italian forces in Greece to establish a much more offensive leadership. This new staff originated a daring plan to cut Greece in half by renewing the drive east aiming at Lamia. If successful, Greece would be sliced in two.

Mussolini further reinforced Italian forces for the drive on Lamia which did not start until early July. In that time, Greek forces built up their defenses in preparation for the Italian offensive. As a side mission in the war, Italian forces stormed the Cyclades Islands as a potential jumping off point for an amphibious invasion of Greece from the southeast. Greek forces found themselves confronted by two avenues of assault and were forced to divide their forces between the two fronts.

The Italian drive on Lamia saw massive caualties. Despite their numerical superiority, the Greeks slowed the Italian drive time and again. Only Italian armor and dwindling Greek supplies allowed Mussolini's soldiers continued progress. By the end of July, Lamia was besieged. Vicious urban warfare followed as Greek troops refused to surrender the city. Deaths were high from sniper fire and boobytraps while more Greek forces found their way from the north and south to strengthen their positions. Italian forces, wearied by failed assaults into the city, decided to surround and starve it out. That decision would infuriate Mussolini as it halted any further drive in the conflict while Hitler was poised to finish his conquest of the Soviet Union.

In a fit of rage, Mussolini demanded the opening of a second front in Greece. Over the next two months Italian troops were built up in the Cyclades Islands for a planned invasion of the Isthmus of Corinth. Mussolini planned on cutting the Pelopennesus from the mainland and take Athens from the west in a surprise attack. Despite the inept execution of the assault which saw Italian forces being sighted a full half hour before landing allowing the Greeks to rally auxiliary forces to defend against the assault, the Italians developed a foothold and gradually pushed back the small Greek reserves. Plastiras found himself in an untenable situation. He could draw forces away from Lamia to push the Italins back into the sea but to do so risked surrendering the battle and possibly all of Northern Greece in the process. Trusting in his men, and sure of Italian incompetence, Plastiras drew off part of his Lamian forces to assault the Italian foothold on the Isthmus.

The Battle of the Isthmus was brutal, the Italians fighting for their lives with the sea to their rear. With no escape available, they fought for their very survival. Relying on naval gunfire and aircraft, the Italian forces battered back wave after wave of Greek troops. They battled inland, eventually seizing Megara before they stopped to recover.

Fearful of Italian troops so close to the capital, Plastiras ordered every available solider to batter at the fragile Italian position on the Isthmus. Meanwhile, Mussolini decided to abandon Lamia and instead drive south in a drive to capture Athens itself and, hopefully, end the war. His embarassment had grown with Hitler's conquest of the Soviet Union and with the coming of winter and the one year anniversary of the campaign approaching, Mussolini was determined to end the war before the Germans could "aid" him.

With Plastiras final reserves matched against Megara, Italian forces rumbled down from the north blasting through the weak Greek defenses with their armor. Within a week, Italian troops were at the gates of Athens. Due to the lesson learned at Lamia, Mussolini ordered Athens destroyed. Artillery, aircraft and naval gunfire boomed throughout the ancient city. Many Greeks wept as their history crumbled around them. But all held resolute. They would not surrender to Italy even if it meant the complete destruction of Greece.

By early October, Athens was a shell and Plastiras dead. Italian forces roamed through the wreckage, occupying the ruins of a once great city. All of Greece mourned the loss of its heart. After five years of continuous war, Greek Royalist forces asked for peace. They agreed to acknowledge Victor Emanuel III as their King and allow Italian troops bases in Greece. In return, the Royalists would retain limited self-rule. The governor of Greece would be Italian, but the legislature would be Greek. All local leaders would likewise be Greek. With the Royalist surrender, the Peloponnesus came under Italian rule.

The Liberals would not surrender. It would take another six months, this time against not only Italian troops but also Royalist troops, to finish up operations throughout Northern Greece by March 1941.

Even in victory, Greece remained an unstable province for Italy. Mussolini would dub it, "his ulcer." Any thoughts of future conquest were forgotten as the Duce struggled to prop up his image both at home and abroad.

SOURCE: Krueger, Isaac. The Italian March into Hades

Changes to Our Timeline: 1916 - 1939

The list which follows below is only of major shifts in the original timeline so as to help my readers who are wondering where my alternate history departs from the original history. Events such as the Spanish Civil War, Italy's invasion of Absynnia, and other events which are not listed are to be presumed as to have happened on their original dates.

March 1916 - Richard Sorge dies in combat on the Russian Front

1918 - Georgi Zhukov dies of Typhus in Moscow

June 1928 - Manchurian Warlord Zhang Zuolin assassinated. Son, Zhang Xueliang, also dies.

December 1928 - The Kwangtung Army and Yang Yuting forge a government in Manchuria which declares the independent state of Manchukuo.

January 1929 - January 31st Incident in Shanghai between Japan and China demilitarizing the city

January 1930 - Battle at the Great Wall between Japan and China

December 1931 - Churchill dies after being struck by a taxi

March 1932 - Adolf Hitler elected President of Germany

May 1932 - Reichstag fire. Enabling Decree and Reichstag Fire Decree implemented

May 1932 - He-Umezu Agreement

July 1932 - Ching-Doihara Agreement

Feb. 1933 - President-elect FDR assassinated

March 1933 - John N. Garner sworn in as 32nd President of the United States

May 1933 - Hitler declares plans for German rearmament

May 1933 - Mongol Military Government established

August 1933 - Night of the Long Knives

November 1933 - Suiyuan Campaign began by Mongol Military Government. Chinese forces would retreat surrendering Suiyuan Province to Pro-Japanese forces

July 1934 - Marco Polo Bridge incident

Feb. 1935 - Greek War Minister Georgios Kondylis dies of a heart attack

March 1935 - German troops enter the Rhineland

March 1935 - Attempted coup by Liberals in Greece. Beginning of civil war

April 1935 - Japanese meddling in Jiangsu Province leads to outbreak of Second Sino-Japanese War

August 1935 - Nanjing falls to Japanese forces. Massacre of Nanjing occurs

March 1936 - Greek Liberal leader Venizelos dies. Succeeded by Plastiras

March 1937 - Anschluss

Sept. 1937 - Munich Pact

1938 - Three Alls policy created by Japanese forces to deal with Chinese opposition

March 1938 - Germany invades Czechoslovakia

April 1938 - Italy annexes Albania

August 1938 - Non-Aggression Pact signed between Germany and the Soviet Union

Sept. 1938 - Germany invades Poland. Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. Poland falls within a month

Nov. 1938 - The Soviet Union attacks Finland

March 1939 - The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union ends in an armistice

March 1939 - New Fourth Army Incident. Decisive break between Nationalist and communist forces in China from that point on

April 1939 - Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark capitulates within the month

May 1939 - Germany invades France and the Low Countries. Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg are quickly overrun

May 1939 - The Massacre at Dunkirk. Only 45,000 Allied troops escape

June 1939 - Italy declares war on France and Great Britain. France surrenders soon afterwards

July 1939 - Japan invades Hong Kong and Burma

July 1939 - Great Britain decides against bombarding French Fleet based at Oran leaving it intact

July 1939 - Great Britain signs an armistice with Germany

August 1939 - Battle of Nomonhan. Ends in a bloody stalemate

August 1939 - Armistice between Great Birtain and Japan signed. Japanese gains recognized

September 1939 - Japan invades and occupies Vietnam, and later, Indochina

October 1939 -Mussolini invades Greece. Secures Epirus periphery within two weeks

Asia: January 1940

Europe: December 31, 1939

Africa 1939 - Axis Territories

Epirus Falls to Mussolini!

11 November 1939 - Italian forces invaded Greece nearly two weeks ago in an attempt to, "...end the bloodshed." Mussolini had announced the invasion October 30 when his forces entered Epirus from Albania. Though a disorganized drive, Greek Royalist forces proved unable to hold back Italian soldiers. The drive saw Koritsa fall November 3 and Metsovon occupied by November 6 all but surrounding Royalist rebels in the periphery. After several more days of battle, Royalist forces retreated southward surrendering control of Epirus to the Duce. Mussolini vows he will continue his assault on Royalist forces until they have been defeated in his drive to restore peace to Greece.

Meanwhile, Plastiras, leader of Greece's Liberal government, has asked Mussolini to withdraw his forces as Italian troops threaten to worsen conditions as they now stand. Privately, he has stated that this may be the beginning of a creeping takeover of Greece by Italy. Plastiras has gone on record telling Mussolini that if he truly wants to help the suffering people of Greece, he could do so by sending food and medical supplies as both have been in short supply. Mussolini has not yet replied.

There is a belief in many circles that Mussolini's assault may finally accomplish what four years of civil war has not: a unification of the country. With both Royalist and Liberal forces hating Italy more than one another, the possibility of a cease fire in the face of Italian aggression begins to seem a certainty.

SOURCE: LA Times

Battle of Nomonhan

The incident began on 11 May 1939. A Mongolian cavalry unit of some 70-90 men had entered the disputed area in search of grazing for their horses. On that day, Manchukuoan cavalry attacked the Mongolians and drove them back across the Khalkhin Gol. On the 13th, the Mongolian force returned in greater numbers and the Manchukoans were unable to dislodge them.

On the 14th, Lt. Col. Yaozo Azuma led the reconnaissance regiment of 23rd Division, supported by the 64th Regiment of the same division, under Colonel Takemitsu Yamagata, into the territory and the Mongolians withdrew. However, Soviet and Mongolian troops returned to the disputed region and Azuma's force again moved to evict them. This time things turned out differently, as the Communist forces surrounded Azuma's force on 28 May and destroyed it. The Azuma force suffered eight officers and 97 men killed and one officer and 33 men wounded, for 63% total casualties.

On 27 June, the Japanese launched an air attack. The Japanese 2nd Air Brigade struck the Soviet air base at Tamsak-Bulak in Mongolia. The Japanese won this engagement, destroying half again as many Soviet planes as they lost, but the strike had been ordered by the Kwangtung Army without getting permission from Imperial Japanese Army headquarters in Tokyo. Tokyo promptly ordered the Japanese Army Air Force not to conduct any more strikes.

Throughout June, there were continuing reports of Soviet and Mongolian activity on both sides of the river near Nomonhan, and small-scale attacks on isolated Manchukoan units. At the end of the month, the commander of the Japanese 23rd Division, Lt. Gen. Michitarō Komatsubara, was given permission to "expel the invaders". The Japanese plan was for a two-pronged assault. Three regiments plus part of a fourth, including three from the 23rd Division--the 71st and the 72nd Infantry Regiments, plus a battalion of the 64th Infantry Regiment--and the 26th Infantry Regiment under Colonel Shinichiro Sumi, "borrowed" from the 7th Division, would advance across the Khalkin Gol, destroy Communist forces on Baintsagan Hill on the west bank, then make a left turn and advance south to the Kawatama Bridge. The second prong of the attack would be the task of the Yasuoka Detachment, consisting of the 3rd and the 4th Tank Regiments, plus a part of the 64th Regiment, a battalion of the 28th infantry Regiment, detached from the 7th Division, 24th Engineer Regiment, and a battalion of the 13th Field Artillery Regiment, under overall command of Lieutenant General Yasuoka Masaomi. This force would attack Soviet troops on the east bank of the Khalkhyn Gol and north of the Holsten River. The two Japanese thrusts would meet in the Soviet rear and encircle them.
The northern task force succeeded in crossing the Khalkhyn Gol, driving the Soviets from Baintsagan Hill, and advancing south along the west bank. However, their advance would slow and eventually be turned back by Soviet forces following a bloody counterattack. Meanwhile, the Yasuoka Detachment (the southern task force) attacked on the night of 2 July, moving at night to avoid the Soviet artillery on the high ground of the river's west bank. A pitched battle ensued in which the Yasuoka Detachment lost over half its armor, but still could not break through the Soviet forces on the east bank and reach the Kawatama Bridge. After a Soviet counterattack on 9 July threw the battered, depleted Yasuoka Detachment back, it was dissolved and Yasuoka was relieved.

The two armies continued to spar with each other over the next two weeks along a four-kilometer front running along the east bank of the Khalkhyn Gol to its junction with the Holsten River. On 23 July, the Japanese launched another large-scale assault, sending the 64th and 72nd divisions against the Soviet forces defending the Kawatama Bridge. Japanese artillery units supported the attack with a massive barrage that consumed more than half of their ammunition stores over a period of two days. The attack made some progress but failed to break through Soviet lines and reach the bridge. The Japanese disengaged from the attack on 25 July due to mounting casualties and depleted artillery stores. They had suffered over five thousand casualties to this point but still had 75,000 men and several hundred planes facing the Communist forces. The battle drifted into stalemate.

The Soviets would launch their next offensive August 20, 1939 to break the stalemate. Soviet attacks started off well but would bog down in the face of concentrated artillery fire. The Japanese would counterattack with 200 tanks and infantry. Nothing positive is gained by either side. The Japanese Air Force successfully cleared the skies of Soviet aircraft though at heavy loss to themselves over several days allowing the Kwantung Army to fight under a neutral sky. Japanese losses, especially infantry, are severe. On the northern flank, the Japanese Border Guards regiment, augmented by recently arrived troops, blunt the main Soviet thrust of attack until sheer numbers force the regiment to pull back. Near Fui, the Red Army broke through using tanks and flamethrowers but were pulled into a trap when newly arrived infantry regiments and artillery pieces force the Communist breakthrough into a box. The Japanese tanks are easily disabled by the superior Russian models, leaving the Japanese no options but Human wave tactics. The 7th Foot Infantry division, one of the recent reinforcements, suffered grievous losses.
By August 26, 1939, Soviet forces had halted their attacks. In four days of battle, 40,000 Japanese and 27,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. Most of the Red Air Force in the region (some 150 aircraft) was destroyed. Only 200 Soviet tanks remained and Japanese air attacks had destroyed the only road and railways from Chita to the Nomonhan threatening the Red Army's supply line. Unsettled by Japanese fanaticism, and their own losses, Soviet forces pulled back to strengthen their defenses for future Japanese assaults.

Both sides would seek an armistice following the bloody and inconclusive Battle of Nomonhan. Though their second major loss in two years, the Japanese, and especially the Kwantung Army, were not to be discouraged.

SOURCE: The Anatomy of a Small War: The Soviet-Japanese Struggle for Changkufeng/Khasan, 1938-1941