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Operation Animals
Operation Animals was a World War II mission by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), in cooperation with the Greek Resistance groups ELAS, Zeus, EDES, PAO and the United States Army Air Force. The operation took place between 21 June and 11 July 1943 and included an organized campaign of sabotage in Greece, to deceive the Axis Powers into believing that Greece was the target of an Allied amphibious landing, instead of Sicily. Despite the mission's success, the Greek civilian population suffered from mass reprisals and British intervention into the internal affairs of the Greek resistance exacerbated the tensions between its various components. Background On 28 October 1940, Italy began the Italo-Greek War, expecting a swift victory but the invasion failed and the Italians were pushed back into Albania. As the war dragged on into its sixth month, Germany was forced to intervene to support its struggling ally. The small Greek force defending the Greco–Bulgarian borde ...
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Operation Barclay
Operation Barclay was a World War II deception by the Allies in support of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. The goal was to deceive the Axis powers as to the location of the Allies' assault across the Mediterranean and to divert the Axis military command's attention and resources. Operation Barclay used bogus troop movements, radio traffic, recruitment of Greek interpreters, and acquisition of Greek maps to indicate an invasion through the Balkans. Operation Barclay created a sham army in the eastern Mediterranean: the Twelfth Army consisting of 12 fictitious divisions. Adolf Hitler suspected that the Allies would invade Europe through the Balkans, and ''Barclay'' served to reinforce this. As part of Barclay the British also launched Operation Mincemeat, where faked documents were planted via Spain, and Operation Waterfall, in which a decoy invasion force was assembled in Cyrenaica. To reinforce the impression that an Allied invasion was imminent ...
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United States Army Air Force
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941–1945). It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force, today one of the six armed forces of the United States. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which on 2 March 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the United States Army Services of Supply (which in 1943 became the Army Service Forces), and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff. The AAF administered all parts of military aviation formerly distributed among the Air Corps, General Headquarters Air Force, and the ground ...
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Allies Of World War II
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. Its principal members by 1941 were the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China. Membership in the Allies varied during the course of the war. When the conflict broke out on 1 September 1939, the Allied coalition consisted of the United Kingdom, France, and Poland, as well as their respective dependencies, such as British India. They were soon joined by the independent dominions of the British Commonwealth: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Consequently, the initial alliance resembled that of the First World War. As Axis forces began invading northern Europe and the Balkans, the Allies added the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Greece, and Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union, which initially had a nonaggression pa ...
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Middle East Command
Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to defend British interests in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean region. During the Second World War, Middle East Command supervised military operations in and around the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. Following the defeat of the Axis forces in the Western Desert at the Battle of El Alamein and the landing of additional Anglo-American forces during Operation Torch, it transferred control of land forces to the newly created Allied Forces Headquarters. Role of Middle East Command Middle East Command was established in Cairo,Playfair, p. 459 during June 1939, due to the rising tensions in Europe.Playfair, p. 32 Its purpose was to provide a centralised command structure in times of war for the three separate army commands bas ...
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Defenders Of Northern Greece
Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: *Defense (military) *Defense (sports) **Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The Defender'' (1994 film)'' or ''The Bodyguard from Beijing'' * ''The Defender'' (2004 film), a British-German action film * "The Defender" (''Studio One''), a 1957 episode of ''Studio One'' * ''The Defenders'' (1961 TV series), an American courtroom drama * ''The Defenders'' (2010 TV series), an American legal comedy-drama * ''The Defender (2021 TV series)'', a Czech crime drama television series * ''The Defenders'' (miniseries), an American Marvel web TV series *'' The Defenders Saga'', the Marvel-Netflix 2010s TV show universe Gaming * Defender (card player), a player who plays against the declarer * ''Defender'' (1981 video game) ** ''Defender'' (2002 video game), a remake Literature * Defenders (comics), a fictional superhero group in Marvel comic ...
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National And Social Liberation
National and Social Liberation (, ''Ethnikí kai Koinonikí Apelefthérosis'' (EKKA)) was a Greek Resistance movement during the Axis occupation of Greece. It was founded in autumn 1942 by Colonel Dimitrios Psarros and politician Georgios Kartalis. History Alongside Psarros and Kartalis, founding members included fellow officers Dimitrios Karachristos, Dimitrios Georgantas and others. The organization's aims were to fight the Germans as long as the occupation lasted and, after Liberation, work for a republican regime and social change. EKKA's armed wing was the 5/42 Evzone Regiment, founded in early 1943 and named after Psarros' old army unit. It numbered at its peak ca. 1,000 men, and was active mainly in Central Greece, in the area of Phocis. The organization however was from the outset confronted with the might of the communist-led Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), which claimed the overall leadership of the Resistance movement and regarded EKKA as reactionary and ...
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Venizelist
Venizelism ( el, Βενιζελισμός) was one of the major political movements in Greece from the 1900s until the mid-1970s. Main ideas Named after Eleftherios Venizelos, the key characteristics of Venizelism were: *Greek irredentism: The support of the Megali Idea. *Greek nationalism (liberal nationalism) *Liberal democracy: Venizelists represented upcoming urban classes that were against the old conservative establishment, which also had close ties with the palace. *Pro-Western: Alliance with the Entente against the Central Powers during WWI, and with the Allies during WWII. Also pro-Western during the Cold War, but later diverged with direct confrontation between Greek nationalist forces in Cyprus against British colonial forces. *Republicanism: Despite Venizelos' moderation regarding the monarchy, most of his supporters were in favour of a Republic, on the French standards. * Mixed economic policies: from economic liberalism to social democracy policies. * Anti-Bols ...
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Belomorie
Belomorie ( bg, Беломорие, meaning Aegean Sea coastal lands), is the Bulgarian name for roughly the area of today's Greek province of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, including the eastern part of Central Macedonia. The name comes from the South Slavic designation of the Aegean Sea, which is translated as the ''White Sea'', in contrast to the Black Sea. The area was fully under Bulgarian control during the First Balkan War, as well as during the First World War and partially in between. It was ruled as a province by Bulgaria with that name during the Axis occupation of Greece in World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin .... References {{reflist Bulgarian occupation of Greece during World War II Bulgarian nationalism Bulgaria in World War II History of ...
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Eastern Macedonia And Thrace
Eastern Macedonia and Thrace ( el, Ανατολική Μακεδονία και Θράκη, translit=Anatolikí Makedonía ke Thráki, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the northeastern parts of the country, comprising the eastern part of the region of Macedonia along with the region of Western Thrace, and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace. Administration Administrative history The region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace was established in the 1987 administrative reform as the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Region ( el, Περιφέρεια Ανατολικής Μακεδονίας και Θράκης, translit=Periféria Anatolikís Makedhonías ke Thrákis. With the 2010 Kallikratis plan, its powers and authority were redefined and extended, with the preexisting region in many respects inheriting status and weight of the five now abolished prefectures, Drama, Evros, Kavala, Rhodope and Xanthi. In this special case, the region of Eas ...
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Battle Of Greece
The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Greco-Italian War, was followed by the German invasion in April 1941. German landings on the island of Crete (May 1941) came after Allied forces had been defeated in mainland Greece. These battles were part of the greater Balkans Campaign of the Axis powers and their associates. Following the Italian invasion on 28 October 1940, Greece, with British air and material support, repelled the initial Italian attack and a counter-attack in March 1941. When the German invasion, known as Operation Marita, began on 6 April, the bulk of the Greek Army was on the Greek border with Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Sout ...
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Greco-Italian War
The Greco-Italian War (Greek language, Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdoms of Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy and Kingdom of Greece, Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This local war began the Balkans Campaign (World War II), Balkans Campaign of World War II between the Axis powers and the Allies of World War II, Allies and eventually turned into the Battle of Greece with Commonwealth of Nations, British and Nazi Germany, German involvement. On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom. By September 1940, the Italians had Italian invasion of France, invaded France, Italian conquest of British Somaliland, British Somaliland and Italian invasion of Egypt, Egypt. This was followed by a hostile press campaign in Italy against Greece, accused of being a British ally. A number of ...
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