tooz Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Guys, this forum is often the best place for me to seek out links and info on obscure history. I am currently researching the British forces in Athens in 1944. I know the KRRC, 4 Indian Divison and later the regular 4th Infantry Division were deployed but what armor did the Brits have when they defended Constitution Square against heavy attacks by ELAS in December 1944? ANYTHING will be greatly appreciated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 This post gives an ORBAT. You'll see that there are a couple of RTR units there. I strongly suspect that they would have been understrength in armour. Can't see Greece being a priority for Shermans and Fireflys in 1944. Especially given the nature of the OPFOR. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 And Wiki has even more: In August 1944 the brigade was redesignated as Force 140, later Arkforce, and dismounted from its tanks. 40th and 50th RTR were retrained as infantry, but 46th RTR was reorganized with one squadron of armoured cars and one squadron of infantry, this being attached to 50th RTR, but kept one squadron of Shermans. It arrived at Piraeus on 12 October 1944 as part of the peacekeeping force keeping order in Greece when the Germans withdrew. The brigade remained in Greece until the end of the war, having been restored to their tanks in by the end of January 1945. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooz Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Thanks Aftentiiten! i just ordered the book: "General Scobie, hero of Athens..." and will glean what I can from that piece. To me this action is definitely WWII esoterica as troops needed elsewhere were sent to a theater to fight a former ally. Amazing, while troops are fighting in the Bulge this was going on in Greece. Sad but interesting... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Amazing, while troops are fighting in the Bulge this was going on in Greece. Sad but interesting... Amazing in some ways, but remember that Churchill was obsessed with Greece and the Balkans. He knew that Britain would never end up running France and Belgium, but he still nursed hopes (especially at this point prior to Yalta) that some vestige of Empire could be salvaged in the Eastern Med. As for armour, think Humber. Armoured cars were ever the British favourite against unruly mobs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Armoured cars were ever the British favourite against unruly mobs. And with good reason. Cheap to build, cheap to operate; pretty impressive if you are an unarmed or lightly armed civilian; and expendable (compared to a tank) if somebody in the crowd knows how to use a Molotov cocktail. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 ...remember that Churchill was obsessed with Greece and the Balkans. He knew that Britain would never end up running France and Belgium, but he still nursed hopes (especially at this point prior to Yalta) that some vestige of Empire could be salvaged in the Eastern Med. I don't think that he so much saw the Balkans as part of the Empire as a group of small nations in a strategically important part of the world becoming friendly neutrals a la Benelux. He had a dream of a Danubian Confederacy consisting of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Rumania and perhaps others banded together for trade and mutual protection. Stalin quickly put an end to that dream though. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panzermartin Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Scobie a hero of Athens? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooz Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 "Scobie a hero of Athens?" Well, that is mentioned in the title of the book I ordered. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooz Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 I just got my copy of the book in the mail about Scobie and the Battle for Athens. This book will supply me with the detail I need. Turns out that this is a very good book. Cool. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.