WI Germans dont use Bulgaria to attack Greece?

In 6 April 1941 Germany attacked Greece in order to help Mussolini who had a his butt kicked in Albania by the Greek army...
Germans met with heavy resistanse in the Metaxas Line in Yugoslavian borders and they couldnt take the fortresses...
In mid-April OTL they decided to attack the poorly defended section of Metaxas Line in Greek-Bulgarian borders... They easily passed there and surrounded the rest of the Metaxas Line fortresses which they surrendered in April 23...
WI Germans didnt pass through Bulgaria and concentrated on attacking the heavily armed Greek-Yugoslavian borders and Bulgaria decided to attack alone the Greek borders? (aiming to a complete occupation of Thrace?)
Any thoughts?
 
In 6 April 1941 Germany attacked Greece in order to help Mussolini who had a his butt kicked in Albania by the Greek army...
Germans met with heavy resistanse in the Metaxas Line in Yugoslavian borders and they couldnt take the fortresses...
In mid-April OTL they decided to attack the poorly defended section of Metaxas Line in Greek-Bulgarian borders... They easily passed there and surrounded the rest of the Metaxas Line fortresses which they surrendered in April 23...

I'm sorry, but I can't make sense of this.

1) The Metaxas Line was along the border with Bulgaria, not Yugoslavia

2) The initial German assault wasn't trying to "take the fortresses" -- it wanted to pin the defenders down so that the main German blow could swing around the western end of the Line and break through to Thessaloniki.

3) Which is what happened; Thessaloniki fell on April 9.

4) The 72nd Infantry Division broke through the Line on April 10. The Germans didn't follow up on this breakthrough, though, because it was already clear that the war would be decided further south and west.

5) By the time the last Line fortresses fell two weeks later, Greece was overrun.

Are you asking, what if they threw their main weight directly against the Line?

But that would be really stupid. Why would they do that?


Doug M.
 

randomkeith

Banned
A bigger German attack on Greece could have disastorous consequences for the future.

No Rohld Dahl!!!!!!!!!!!!


He was stationed there as a fighter pilot with the RAF. His war time memories are amazingly good reading, (actually if anyone could tell me where to get a copy id be eternally gratefull)

Imagine a world without The Twits, James and the Giant Peach or the Witches, doesn't bare thinking about does it.
 
I think you may have this slightly backwards - it was the Bulgarian border that was defended by the Metaxas line, not the Yugoslav, and it was through the latter country that the decicive attack occurred.

The line wasn't finished - it was pretty effective for defending the bulk of Greece from an invasion from Bulgaria, but didn't cover Western Thrace at all, which was an easy target for Bulgaria.

If the Greeks had been able to extend the line to join the fortifications West of Salonika, the Germans would have had a harder time and maybe given the British time to mount a better effort. In the end Greece would have been overrun, but even a week or two could have made a huge difference on the outcome of the war. What would happen if the German invasion of Russia was even later, and after heavier casualties? Would the invasion have been delayed until the following year? Either could be disastrous for Germany.

In 6 April 1941 Germany attacked Greece in order to help Mussolini who had a his butt kicked in Albania by the Greek army...
Germans met with heavy resistanse in the Metaxas Line in Yugoslavian borders and they couldnt take the fortresses...
In mid-April OTL they decided to attack the poorly defended section of Metaxas Line in Greek-Bulgarian borders... They easily passed there and surrounded the rest of the Metaxas Line fortresses which they surrendered in April 23...
WI Germans didnt pass through Bulgaria and concentrated on attacking the heavily armed Greek-Yugoslavian borders and Bulgaria decided to attack alone the Greek borders? (aiming to a complete occupation of Thrace?)
Any thoughts?
 

Markus

Banned
The Germans very much underestimated the Metaxas line and its (very few) defenders, so it took them two to three days to break through.
Like other already said, the decisive breakthrough occurred in the west. The Germans raced through southern Serbia into Greece. Having most of their troops facing the Italians in Albania and the rest manning the Metaxas-Line for political purposes, the Greeks mainly relied on the numerically strong Yugoslav Army to cover that sector and ended up getting outflanked.
 
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