30 Mar

File:Balkans Animation 1800-2006.gif

‎Greece
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Revision as of 23:57, 30 March 2013
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===Greece===

===Greece===

[[Image:Triple Occupation of Greece.png|thumb]]

[[Image:Triple Occupation of Greece.png|thumb]]
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[[Bulgaria]] was forced to join the Axis Powers in 1941, when German troops prepared to invade Greece from Romania reached the Bulgarian borders and demanded permission to pass through Bulgarian territory. Threatened by direct military confrontation, Tsar Boris III had no choice but to join the fascist bloc, which officially happened on 1 March 1941.
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[[Bulgaria]] was forced to join the Axis Powers in 1941, when German troops prepared to invade Greece from Romania reached the Bulgarian borders and demanded permission to pass through Bulgarian territory. Threatened by direct military confrontation, Tsar Boris III had no choice but to bend over and join the fascist bloc, which officially happened on 1 March 1941.

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On 20 April, the period of Bulgarian passivity ended. The Bulgarian Army entered the Aegean region. The goal was to gain an Aegean Sea outlet in Thrace and Eastern Macedonia. The Bulgarians occupied territory between the Struma River and a line of demarcation running through Alexandroupoli and Svilengrad west of Maritsa. Included in the area occupied were the cities of Alexandroupoli (Дедеагач, Dedeagach), Komotini (Гюмюрджина, Gyumyurdzhina), Serres (Сяр, Syar), Xanthi (Ксанти), Drama (Драма) and Kavala (Кавала) and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace, as well as almost all of what is today the Former Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia and much of eastern Serbia. During the spring of 1943, the Bulgarian government, after protests led by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Member of Parliament Dimitar Peshev, succeeded in saving the Jews from its own territory from Nazi concentration camps. However, the Bulgarian troops rounded up all Jews in Greek Macedonia and Vardar Macedonia and forwarded them to Auschwitz.
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On 20 April, the period of Bulgarian passivity ended. With the fall of Serbia, the Germans surrounded the small portion of the Greek Army defending the Grecobulgarian border, while the majority of its force fought against the Italians. The valiant Bulgarian Army waited for the Greek troops to be disarmed and only then entered the Aegean region. The goal was to gain an Aegean Sea outlet in Thrace and Eastern Macedonia. The Bulgarians occupied territory between the Strymon River and a line of demarcation running through Alexandroupoli and Svilengrad west of Maritsa. Included in the area occupied were the cities of Alexandroupolis, Komotini, Serres, Xanthi, Drama and Kavala and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace, as well as almost all of what is today the Former Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia and much of eastern Serbia. During the spring of 1943, the Bulgarian government, after protests led by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Member of Parliament Dimitar Peshev, succeeded in saving the Jews from its own territory from Nazi concentration camps. However, the Bulgarian troops rounded up all Jews in Greek Macedonia and Vardar Macedonia and forwarded them to Auschwitz. 44000 non combatant Greeks were slain during the bulgarian occupation between 1941-1944.

==1945==

==1945==

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