General Pagos estimated that the German army attacked the Melaon Pass, so he ordered his troops to rush to the place. A battle with the First Armored Division of the Commander in several Greek military units had already arrived at Grevena and broke out. The Greek army was surrounded and overwhelmed due to the lack of necessary equipment to fight the motorized forces.

The German army continued to attack and occupied Yoannina on July 19, which was the last supply route of the Greek 1st Legion. The newspapers of the Allies described the fate of the Greek army as modern ancient Greek tragedy. Historian and former war correspondent Christopher Barkley said that this was a brave but futile thing that was guided by the Aristotelian school, which made everyone awe.

On July 20, 1940, General George Toraglu, the commander of the Greek army in Albania, realized this unwilling situation and decided to order the surrender of 17 divisions. The historian of World War II, John Gi, would like to describe that Toraglu allowed the Italians to achieve the purpose of victory and could not obtain any benefits. He held informal negotiations with Zep Dietrich, the commander of the German armed guards, and arranged to surrender unilaterally to the German army.

Under Hitler's direct orders that no details could be revealed to the Italians, surrender was quickly accepted. Mussolini, who was angered by this decision, ordered a counterattack on the Greek army but was repelled. Therefore, Mussolini sent a personal representative to Hitler to ask Italy to participate in the armistice agreement of July 23, 1940. Greek soldiers were free to return home after being disarmed and not treated as prisoners of war, while officers allowed to retain their weapons.

As early as July 16, the German commanders realized that the British army would retreat from Volos and Piraeus by ship. They decided to carry out a pursuit, keep in contact with the British army and prevent their retreat plans. Due to lack of mobility, the German infantry divisions retreated from combat, and the 2nd and 5th Armored Divisions, the 1st Motorized Brigade of the Armed Guards and several mountain divisions pursued the enemy.

In order to allow the main British army to retreat, Wilson ordered the portal of Athens, the famous hot spring gate in history, to be the final foothold. Freiberg was responsible for defending the pass on the coastline, while McGee defended the Skamlos Valley. After the battle, McGee said: "I have no hope of evacuation. I think we have been persisting for two weeks and have been defeated by enemies who are several times more than our army."

When they arrived on the morning of July 23, they decided that the two locations were defended by one regiment, the two regiments, the 19th Australian Regiment and the 6th New Zealand Regiment tried to guard the passes for as long as possible to cover the retreat of other units. The German army launched an attack at 11:30 am on July 27. They encountered tenacious resistance. They lost 15 tanks and suffered a large number of casualties. The Allies held on for a whole day. In order to achieve the goal of delay, they retreated to the beach and established a new defense line in Thebes. The pursuit of the German armored division was blocked by the steep hillside and U-shaped bends.

After abandoning the Hot Spring Pass, the British retreated from Thebes to the south, which was the only area except Athens that was still in the hands of the Allied forces. A motorized battalion of the 2nd Armored Division crossed the island of Uberia and captured the port of Karkis, and then retreated to the land. Their mission was to flank the retreating British troops. This motorized battalion only encountered weak resistance and on the morning of July 27, 1940.

The first German soldiers entered Athens, followed by a large number of armored vehicles, tanks and infantrymen. They obtained a large number of supplies, including oil, gasoline and lubricant, thousands of tons of ammunition, ten trucks full of candy and other supplies equal to ten trucks plus various other equipment, weapons and medicines. The residents of Athens had expected the German army to enter the city a few days ago, closed the windows and stayed at home. The Athens Radio made the following announcement the night before:

"What you are listening to is the Greek voice, the Greeks, stand up firmly, proudly and with dignity. You must prove your own value in history. The bravery and victory of our army have been confirmed. Our correct ideals will be realized. Our righteous execution of duties. Friends! Greece will exist in our hearts, and the soul of our army and the fire of final victory inspire us to survive.

Greece will be reborn and stronger, because the army is upright to fight for survival and freedom. Brothers! With courage and perseverance, and bold battles, we will overcome all difficulties. Greeks! As long as Greece exists in our hearts, we will stand up proudly and with dignity. We are already an upright country and brave soldiers."

On July 6, 1940, Piraeus, destroyed by German bombing, arrived directly at the Acropolis of Athens and raised the Nazi flag. After removing the Greek flag, the elite Greek infantry troops refused to hand it over to the invaders and jumped off the Acropolis of Athens. Regardless of whether this story is true or not, many Greeks believed and regarded these soldiers as martyrs.

Very little intelligence came from Greece, with only 13,000 soldiers evacuated to Crete on Friday night, so the retreat was only completed in a small part, a terrible worry about the wartime cabinet. Wilson said: "We lost only 5,000 people in Greece", and our W legion actually lost at least 15,000 people, he was great, but he was addicted to wishful thinking every day."

According to the recollection of a veteran who participated in the war at that time, on the morning of July 15, 1940, Weiville sent Wilson the following message:

"We must continue to fight in cooperation with the Greeks, but according to intelligence we need to retreat as soon as possible."

General Archibald Percival Wewell, commander-in-chief of the British Army in the Middle East, warned Wilson not to expect any reinforcements, and authorized Major General Freddy De Kingen to discuss the retreat plan with relevant officials. In any case, the British would not make any suggestions at this stage;

All suggestions came from the Greek government. The next day Papagos suggested to Wilson that the W legion should withdraw and leave first. Wilson notified the Middle East headquarters and the Navy Colonel Berley Gulemen to arrive in Greece on July 17 to prepare for a retreat plan. On the same day, Wilson returned to Athens to meet with the Greek kings, Papagos, Di Abiak and Gulemen. In the evening, Korizis committed suicide after reporting the defeat to the Kings. Weiville verbally approved Wilson's request for retreat and then made up for the written order, ordering the Commonwealth troops to retreat to Crete and Egypt.

Most of the 5,200 were affiliated with the 5th Infantry Regiment of the New Zealand 5th Infantry Regiment on the evening of July 27, 1940 from Porto Rafadi, east of Attica. At that time, the 7th Infantry Regiment of the New Zealand was still blocking the road to Athens, and the local area was banned by New Zealand troops for 27 hours. A few RAF squadrons left Greece (Diabiak established a command headquarters in Heraklion, Crete), and 10,200 Australian soldiers retreated from Nafplion and Migala, while another 2,000 waited until July 27, as Prince Yulster approached Nafplion, the Germans recognized that the retreat was carried out from the port of the East Peloponnese.

"We cannot continue to stay in Greece in violation of the wishes of the Supreme Commander of Greece, and thus cause greater damage to the country. Wilson or Baimud should be requested by the Greek government Papagos. Based on approval, the retreat should be implemented. Therefore, there will be no cooperation and cooperation between Greek troops on the way to the hot spring gate. You will try to minimize waste of resources."

… (To be continued, please search Piaotianwen, novels are better, updated and faster!
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