Greece in World War II Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ioannis Metaxas

Ioannis Metaxas (1871-1941) was the prime minister of Greece at the beginning of the World War II. On August 4, 1936 he had declared the 4th of August Regime. As a dictator, he banned political parties and arrested Communists. In foreign policy he tried to be neutral between the United Kingdom, which was powerful in the Mediterranean, and Germany.

When Mussolini demanded the authority to occupy some strategic Greek sites, he refused. The war had begun for Greece.

Answer: 28th October 1940

On 28th October 1940, Emmanuelle Grazzi, Italy's ambassador in Athens, demanded of Ioannis Metaxas free passage for Mussolini's troops and permission to occupy some strategic Greek sites. Metaxas rejected the ultimatum, with the historic phrase in French: "Alors, c'est la guerre" ("Well, this is war").

This refusal, indeed showed the will of the Greeks to resist. Some hours later, the Italian attack began. On October 28th each year, the Greeks celebrate the "Anniversary of No" ("Epeteios tou Ohi" in Greek).

Answer: Elbasan

From 14th November 1940 until 8th March 1941 the Greek army, reinforced with units from northern Greece, occupied the entire area of southern Albania. They entered Korytsa on November 22nd, Sarande, Pogradec and Gjirokaster (Argyrokastron) until the first days of December and Himara on December 24th. Elbasan is a city in nothern Albania and was not occupied.

Answer: Spring

The Greeks, despite their success in occupying southern Albania, had a lot of problems. They had removed a lot of men from their nothern borders and were vulnerable to a possible attack from Bulgaria. On 9th March 1941 the Italian army, with 17 divisions, began a great counter-attack, with the code name "Primavera" ("Spring" in Italian).

The Greek army (13 divisions) resisted the attack that lasted until March 20th, losing only a few areas.

Answer: They left the country

After the front was crushed and it was obvious that Greece would be occupied, General Georgios Tsolakoglou decided to proceed to the surrender of the Greek army to the Germans, without the permission of Marshal Papagos. His intention was to avoid the complete destruction of the army and also to avoid the humiliation of surrendering to the Italians.

Despite his intentions though, he is considered by some Greeks a traitor, because he became prime minister under the Germans. On April 23rd, King George and the government under Emmanouil Tsouderos moved to Crete and, one month later, to Egypt. One of the members of this goverment was the poet Georgios Seferis.

Answer: They tore down the Swastika banner from Acropolis

Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas, on 30th May 1941, climbed up the sacred rock of Acropolis and tore down the Swastika banner that had been there since 27th April 1941, when the Nazi troops had entered Athens. This was the first action of resistance in Greece and one of the very first - if not literally the first - in Europe.

The two young men were sentenced to death in abstentia by the Nazi regime. They both managed to avoid execution.

Answer: Kostis Palamas

Kostis Palamas (1859-1943) was one of the most important Greek poets. He died on February 27th, and his funeral became an event of resistance for the Greek people. A hundred thousand Greeks, under the eyes of the astonished Nazi soldiers, accompanied the funeral procession, singing the Greek national Anthem. Aggelos Sikelianos, who was a poet too, recited a poem as a funerary.

Answer: E.A.M. - National Liberation Front

The largest resistance group in Greece was E.A.M. ("Ethniko Apeleftherotiko Metopo" in Greek). It was an organisation belonging to the political left and affiliated to the Greek Communist Party. Its military wing was called E.L.A.S. (Greek People's Liberation Army - "Ellinikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos" in Greek). The military leader of the group was the well known partisan Aris Velouchiotis. More than 100,000 Greeks were members.

E.D.E.S. ("Ethnikos Dimokratikos Ellinikos Syndesmos" in Greek) was the second largest group, with more than 14,000 members. It was basically anti-Communist, but a lot of its members were also anti-monarchist. Napoleon Zervas was its leader. E.K.K.A. ("Ethniki Kai Koinoniki Apeleftherosis") was a small group, with about 1,000 members. Its leader, Dimitrios Psarros, was a royalist.

Answer: October

On 7th October 1944, Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to abandon Greece, as already a lot of Greek islands (Poros, Symi, Lemnos, Lesbos) and other places had been liberated by Greek, British and Canadian armed forces. On October 12th, the Nazis left Athens, and six days later, on October 18th, Georgios Papandreou entered the city as prime minister. Twelve days later, on October 30th, the Germans left Thessaloniki, too.

Answer: Yes

Greece was indeed one of the few European countries to gain territory after the end of the War. This territory was the the Dodecanese Islands ("Dodekanisa" in Greek, which means "Twelve Islands"), a group of twelve larger and about one hundred fifty smaller islands in the southeast Aegean Sea.

The Dodecanese had been occupied by Italy since 1912 and were given formally to Greece on 7th March 1948. Actually, they had been part of Greece since 1945.