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25/6/2010 12:20 |
 Ciao,
in rete ho trovato questo:
The German Drive on Athens and Across the Peloponnesus
After abandoning the Thermopylae area the British rear guards withdrew to an improvised switch position south of Thebes, where they erected a last obstacle in front of Athens. The motorcycle battalion of the 2d Panzer Division, which had crossed to the island of Euboea to seize the port of Khalkis and had subsequently returned to the mainland, was given the mission of outflanking the British rear guard. The motorcycle troops encountered only slight resistance, and on the morning of 27 April the first Germans entered the Greek capital. They captured intact large quantities of POL, several thousand tons of ammunition, ten trucks loaded with sugar and ten truckloads of other rations in addition to various other equipment, weapons, and medical supplies.
The airborne seizure of the Isthmus of Corinth had been coordinated with a drive across western Greece launched on 25 April. The 1st SS Motorized Infantry Regiment, assembled at Yannina, thrust along the western foothills of the Pindus Mountains via Arta to Mesolongion and crossed over to the Peloponnesus at Patras in an effort to gain access to the isthmus from the west. Since most motorized vehicles had to be left on the mainland, the advance guard consisting of infantry and support units entrained at Patras and proceeded by railway to Corinth. Upon their arrival at 1730 on 27 April the SS forces learned that Army units advancing from Athens had already relieved the paratroops.
The SS units thereupon returned to Patras with orders to envelop the retreating British forces in the Peloponnesus from the west. The movement took place by rail and the first train arrived late on 28 April in Pirgos, where the German troops were welcomed by the mayor.
The erection of a temporary span across the Corinth Canal permitted 5th Panzer Division units to pursue the enemy forces across the Peloponnesus. Diving via Argos to Kalamai they reached the south coast on 29 April, where they were joined by SS troops arriving from Pirgos by rail. The fighting on the Peloponnesus consisted merely of small-scale engagements with isolated groups of British troops who had been unable to make ship in time. In their hasty evacuation that took place mostly at night the British used numerous small ports. On the Peloponnesus some 8,000 British and Yugoslav prisoners were captured and many Italians were liberated from Greek camps. By April 30 the last British troops had either escaped or been taken prisoner and hostilities ceased.
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Vedi anche qui http://www.bills-bunker.privat.t-online.de/142001.html
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