[Polemarchos]

Hi,

Ernie_M posted some good stories here i loved reading them... so i decided to post one story my grandfather told me about his capture in 1941.

My granddad (fathers side) joined the army after general mobilization in Greece and served in Albania (he lived only 40 miles behind the front in pindus mountains) fighting the Italians...Lots of stories but the one i am addressing now goes about his 6 hours engagement against Germans at the metaxas line north of Thessalonica. (he was transferred there in march 1941 after the Albanian front was in a stalemate situation).

7th of April 1941 at sunrise...

Granddad and others were positioned in one of the many bunkers of the metaxas-line. The Bunker was in U-Form with two mgs on the tip of the U facing north. The Germans were shelling the positions with arty and stukas. Lukily for them the stukas didn’t attack their bunker directly. Some time passed when suddenly they saw German Mountain troops attacking a smaller bunker in front of them. Granddad was on the right mg shooting upon the germans but he had not much ammo so he only delivered pinpoint bursts.

The small bunker was taken within minutes. Now their line (which was a higher ground) was the aim of the Germans. The Germans fired with rifles at the bunker windows to suppress the mgs from nailing them. after a couple of minutes the Germans stated their attack on his bunker but first approached it from the leftto take out the left mg of the U bunker. He had a good LOS on the germans killing some of them, but they constantly gained ground.

In front of the bunker was a field with high grass, giving some cover for the Germans. They again rifled the bunker but this time concentrating only on the left window not on the window my granddad's mg was. Suddenly a group of Germans stated running towards the left mg, which stopped firing because of the suppression. The leading German was carrying a box, the others followed in 5m intervals each. He killed the first, the others hit the ground. Seconds later the second crouched to the dead German took the box from him and started running again. Same procedure granddad killed or wounded him. The stubborn Germans continued to do this until they had lost 6 men but finally reached the left bunker window.

Then a huge explosion shook through the bunker. The box was a demolition charge blowing up the left side of the bunker and killing the mg crew. From their new position the Germans recognized that the right windows was firing
and suppressed it by accurate fire and smoke grenades. he could see nothing.
Seconds later the survivors of the bunker could hear the Germans on the roof of the bunker. They threw a smoke grenade into the bunker though the climate system and then told the Greeks inside that the next will be a gas bomb if don’t surrender. Facing this and without any supply the bunker surrendered the Germans. Grandpa + 4 others + 1 wounded + 3 dead.
Germans had 20 KIA or WIA but finally got the bunker.

Then they were gathered as POW only to be freed by the Germans 20 days later. They were allowed to leave for home in full gear and with weapons (no ammo) as the only army in whole conflict. My Grandpa joined the republican partisans in Oct. 1941 fighting Germans and Italians(1943) till 1945 and communist partisans till 1949.

[Ernie_M]

Very good narative!
You Granfather was lucky...
He was captured by some
Regular army Germans and not
SS.....

[Polemarchos]

oh yes he was....
Germans burned down the village of my grandpa 2 times and then the commies and the republicans each one time during the civil war...

in early 1941 Germans were fair to Greeks, but after Crete and some partisan stikes, they issued the 10 executions of civilians for each dead german policy, that led to total escalation...

[Pete]

Interesting to read that the Germans executed 10 civilians for each dead German. They did the same in The Netherlands, where 10 civilian hostages were killed for each dead German and 5 hostages for each dead Dutch traitor. Must have been pan-European policy...

[Badger-Bag]

Yep. we just didn't kill enough of the dirty nazi barstards.

I am very glad that Germans are our friends now, and actually some of the better citizens in the world, because that meant our generation got to miss out on the whole "Beat up on the really good soldiers at massive expense" thing that the previous generations had to endure.

Just wish we hadn't had to trade in our Empire for the win.

[kawasaky]

In Serbia that ratio was even worse - 100:1, but after the Tito and his Partisans were expelled from Serbia that stuff decreased.
In Kragujevac Germans even killed bunch of school-kids as a retaliation.