Operation Animals

Operation Animals
Part of Operation Barclay
Date 21 June–11 July 1943 Location Greece Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Germany  Italy Hellenic State	Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS)  United Kingdom  United States Organization Zeus Panhellenic Liberation Organization (PAO)
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Löhr Georgios Poulos	Henry Maitland Wilson Eddie Myers Stefanos Sarafis
Units involved
Army Group E 117th Jäger Division 1st Mountain Division Hellenic Gendarmerie Poulos Verband	Special Operations Executive United States Air Force
Casualties and losses
41  † 92   129  (WIA) 22 airplanes destroyed airplanes damaged significant material damage 32  †	165   16 villages destroyed

Operation Animals was a World War II mission by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), in cooperation with the Greek Resistance groups ELAS, Zeus, PAO and the United States 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.

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 border was defeated by the better-equipped and numerically-superior Germans. The German penetration deep into Greece made further resistance at the Albanian front pointless, ending the Battle of Greece in the favor of the Axis Powers, the British conducted an evacuation and Greece was subjected to a Triple Occupation by Germany, Italy and Bulgaria. Unlike Italy and Germany, Bulgaria did not administer Eastern Macedonia and Thrace through Greek collaborators but annexed the area to form the province of Belomorie. The first resistance organization in Greece was founded in May 1941; Eleutheria (Liberty) was a common front ranging from communists to Venizelists. The group was short lived as internal political disagreements and the work of Axis intelligence services suppressed its activities and bands belonging to the communist-led Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), became the dominant resistance organization in the country. Right-wing resistance organizations such as National Republican Greek League (EDES), National and Social Liberation (EKKA) and Defenders of Northern Greece (YBE) played a much smaller role.

...
Wikipedia