Metaxas line
The Metaxas Line (Greek: Γραμμή Μεταξά) was the defensive wall of the Greek army in World War II along the Greek - Bulgarian border in East Macedonia and Thrace. It is named after Ioannis Metaxas , a Greek general and politician who ruled Greece as a dictator between 1936 and 1941.
In the course of the German attack on Greece, which began on April 6, 1941, the German 5th Mountain Division under Major General Julius Ringel managed, despite strong resistance, to break through the Metaxas line in some places and the remaining Greek entrenched on the line Surrounding troops and forcing them to surrender.
With the subsequent occupation of Greece, the Balkan campaign came to an end.
literature
- Heinz A. Richter : Greek Defense Systems 1941 . The Metaxas line (= Peleus . Band 94 ). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2020, ISBN 978-3-447-11378-6 .