I was taught that thanks to Greece pushing The Italians out, it forced Hitler to help them out. This allowed the Allies to continue their streak against The Axis Powers, effectively taking them out. Were you taught this?
No, we were taught it was a collective effort. It's disrespectful to give one country sole credit for winning the war. Greece would have eventually been decimated had there not been any allies. But if you meant to say that this was one of many reasons where the allies had an advantage, then I agree. But to your question, no, we were not taught this in school.
Greece did its part. The nation lost some 400,000 people fighting the Nazis. The Greek resistance was also quite organized and fought fiercely against the occupiers.
I agree with vladimir. It was certainly a combined effort because Greece also needed help from the Allies in order to protect itself. The Allied Powers also needed Greece to take certain actions in order to benefit themselves and put Germany in a weaker position. Essentially, they needed each other so it wasn't solely Greece. And no we were not taught this as Greece was barely mentioned as having a major role.
From a British point of view things were not quite like that. The decision to divert British Empire forces from North Africa and send them to Greece still causes a lot of debate today. These British forces could do nothing to stop the Germans and were destroyed as fighting units. Those that were evacuated to Crete suffered again, whilst the Royal Navy suffered grievous losses around Crete by air attack. Back in Libya, some believe that if Britain had continued the push against the Italians and not gone to aid Greece, the North African campaign just might have ended before the Afrika Corps could arrive in enough strength to make a difference. Most however, think that unlikely, but do believe that had the full might of the Desert army been in place, the initial push by Rommel would not have been the success it was and the desert war might have indeed been shorter than it actually turned out to be. Also the British losses attributed to the Greek campaign and the reverses suffered against Rommel meant that both Naval and army units which might have been immidiately available to Singapore and Malaya were not there to send to the far east when the Japanese attacked. British intervention in Greece was purely political, I'm not saying it was wrong, just that it really messed things up elsewhere. The Greeks did magnificently against the Italians, and the Battle of Crete ended Germany's airborne forces, airborne role. There is the fact that by attacking Greece and Yugoslavia, Germany had to delay the attack on Russia which resulted in the Germans failing to capture Moscow before the onset of Winter.
"There is the fact that by attacking Greece and Yugoslavia, Germany had to delay the attack on Russia which resulted in the Germans failing to capture Moscow before the onset of Winter." This to me is the single most important thing to have come out of the Greek campaign. If Hitler had been able to consolidate his lines in Russia enough to release trops for the Africa front then Egypt and consequently the arab oil fields would have fallen. Over time, Germany may well have still lost the war to the Russians manpower and subsequent US intervention but Britain would have been reduced to bit part player without a say in anything.
I find it odd that almost everyone says that Hitler had to invade Yugoslavia because of the coup. That and the fact that the Greeks kicked the Italians out of Greece. Suppose Hitler had simply left a blocking force to protect southern flank and went ahead with Barbarossa as planned? But I guess, knowing Hitler's lack of Mental balance the anger he felt towards the Yugoslavians was just the sort of provocation that would set him off. Can't give attributes to a lunatic that he didn't possess. The number of troops Nazis had to deploy fighting partisans in both countries was important factor too.
I recently watched a TV programme about "operation mincemeat" where the British planted a dead body in the sea off the coast of Spain, with false "secret" documents showing that the allies intended to invade Greece rather than Sicily in 1943. It worked, and German formations reinforced Greece just before the allies struck in Sicily. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat
