The 11th Army ( it, 11ª Armata) was a

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 ...

field army A field army (or numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. Likewise, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces, and with ...

of the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfre ...

. It was formed in November 1940 for service in the

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 kingdom ...

, and after the

German invasion 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 usu ...

and the capitulation of that country in April 1941, assumed occupation duties in the Greek mainland. It remained on station in Greece until the

Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...

on 8 September 1943, when it was forcibly disbanded by the Germans.

History

It was formed on 9 November 1940 out of the 11th Army Corps, then based in Italian-occupied Albania and engaged in operations against Greece alongside the 9th Army. Its engagement against the Greeks lasted until the fall of Greece in April 1941.

Occupation of Greece

Thereafter, the Eleventh Army assumed duties of occupation in Greece, headquartered in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Its command also doubled as the Higher Armed Forces Command Greece (''Comando Superiore Forze Armate Grecia'', abbrev. ''C.S. FF. AA. Grecia''), with responsibility over mainland Greece (apart from the German and Bulgarian zones in northern Greece and the German zone in eastern and southern

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

), as well as the island of

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

, the

Northern Sporades The (Northern) Sporades (; el, Βόρειες Σποράδες, ) are an archipelago along the east coast of Greece, northeast of the island of Euboea,"Skyros - Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpageEB-Skyrosnotes " ...

and

Skyros Skyros ( el, Σκύρος, ), in some historical contexts Latinized Scyros ( grc, Σκῦρος, ), is an island in Greece, the southernmost of the Sporades, an archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Around the 2nd millennium BC and slightly later, the ...

, and

Kythera Kythira (, ; el, Κύθηρα, , also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira) is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, ...

. The remainder of the Ionian Islands came under the Higher Armed Forces Command Albania ( Ninth Army), while the

Italian Dodecanese The Italian Islands of the Aegean ( it, Isole italiane dell'Egeo; el, Ἰταλικαὶ Νῆσοι Αἰγαίου Πελάγους) were an archipelago of fourteen islands (the Dodecanese, except Kastellorizo) in the southeastern Aegean Sea, ...

, the Italian-occupied

Lasithi Prefecture Lasithi ( el, Λασίθι) is the easternmost regional units of Greece, regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra and Sitia. The mou ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

and the bulk of the

Cyclades The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The nam ...

came under the Higher Armed Forces Command of the Italian Islands of the Aegean at

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

. Apart from the units of the Eleventh Army, the Higher Armed Forces Command Greece also included the Air Force Command Greece (''Comando Aeronautica Grecia''), and the Western Greece Naval Military Command (''Comando Militare Marittimo della Grecia Occidentale'') at Patras. In April 1943, an assessment of the combat readiness of the Eleventh Army's eight remaining divisions in terms of armament and means of transport found only one—the 11th Infantry Division ''Brennero''—as "complete", with three more "effective" (over 70% of pack animals and 70% to 90% of vehicles from the

table of organization and equipment A table of organization and equipment (TOE or TO&E) is the specified organization, staffing, and equipment of Military unit, units. Also used in acronyms as 'T/O' and 'T/E'. It also provides information on the mission and capabilities of a unit as ...

) and the rest "incomplete" (with figures of completeness around 60%). In a similar evaluation of their completeness in personnel a fortnight later, only ''Brennero'' and the 33rd Infantry Division ''Acqui'' were classed as "complete", with the remainder as "effective". The situation remained largely the same during another review of their combat readiness in June. It was forcibly disbanded by the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

in September 1943, after the

Italian capitulation The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...

Orders of battle

August 1941

During the first months of its occupation of Greece, Eleventh Army comprised the following units: * III Army Corps (

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

), '' Generale di divisione''

Mario Arisio Mario Arisio (Turin, 5 July 1885 – Rome, 7 July 1950) was an Italian general who served in the Italo-Turkish War, World War I, the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and World War II. Biography Arisio was born in Turin on July 5, 1885, and attend ...

** 11th ''Brennero'' Infantry Division (

) ** 24th ''Pinerolo'' Infantry Division (

Trikala Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...

) ** 36th ''Forlì'' Infantry Division (

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

) * VIII Army Corps (

Xylokastro Xylokastro ( el, Ξυλόκαστρο) is a seaside town or village and a former municipality in Corinthia in the Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Xylokastro-Evrostina, of which it is a unit ...

), ''

Generale di Corpo d'Armata An army corps general or corps general is a rank held by a General officer who commands an army corps. The rank originates from the French (Revolutionary) System, and is used by a number of countries. Normally, the rank is above the divisional ge ...

Giuseppe Pafundi Giuseppe Pafundi (born 4 December 1883) was a general in the Royal Italian Army who commanded the XVII Corps during the World War II Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Career Promotions 1934-09-05 Brigadier-General 1937-07-01 Maj ...

** 29th ''Piemonte'' Infantry Division (

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) ** 51st ''Siena'' Infantry Division (

Nafplion Nafplio ( ell, Ναύπλιο) is a coastal city located in the Peloponnese in Greece and it is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis and an important touristic destination. Founded in antiquity, the city became an important seaport in the ...

), earmarked for transfer to

** 59th ''Cagliari'' Infantry Division (

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

) ** 3rd ''Julia'' Alpine Division (

Metsovo Metsovo ( el, Μέτσοβο; rup, Aminciu) is a town in Epirus, in the mountains of Pindus in northern Greece, between Ioannina to the west and Meteora to the east. The largest centre of Aromanian (Vlach) life in Greece, Metsovo is a large re ...

), in effect under direct operational control of the Higher Armed Forces Command Greece as general reserve, departed for Italy in March 1942 * XXVI Army Corps (

Ioannina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...

), '' Generale di divisione'' Guido Della Bona ** 33rd ''Acqui'' Infantry Division (

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

) ** 37th ''Modena'' Infantry Division (Ioannina) ** 56th ''Casale'' Infantry Division (

Agrinion Agrinio (Greek: Αγρίνιο, , Latin: ''Agrinium'') is the largest city of the Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit of Greece and its largest municipality, with 106,053 inhabitants. It is the economical center of Aetolia-Acarnania, although its cap ...

)

Spring 1943

Commanders

* ''

Sebastiano Visconti Prasca Sebastiano Visconti Prasca (23 January 1883, Rome – 25 February 1961) was an Italian general. He led the initial offensive of the Greco-Italian War, but was relieved of his command after two weeks for incompetence and substituted with General Ub ...

(1940) * '' Generale d'Armata''

Carlo Geloso Carlo Geloso (Palermo, 20 August 1879 – Rome, 23 July 1957), was an Italian general during the Second World War. In 1939, he assumed command of the Italian forces in Albania. In 1940, he served as commander of the 11th Army during the Greco-It ...

(1940–1943) * '' Generale d'Armata''

Carlo Vecchiarelli Carlo Vecchiarelli (10 January 1884 – 13 December 1948) was an Italian general. He was a veteran combatant of the First World War. Between the two world wars he held the positions of Military Attaché at the Italian Embassy in Prague, Honora ...

(1943)

References

Sources

* {{Large formations of Italy in World War II Field armies of Italy in World War II Military units and formations of Italy in Greece in World War II Italian military units and formations of the Greco-Italian War Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943