20th Infantry Division (Greece)


The 20th Infantry Division was a short-lived formation of the Hellenic Army. It was founded on 24 January 1941, when Greece was already embroiled in the Greco-Italian War.

History

The division was formed in late February, near Florina, at a time when most available manpower and equipment were already employed in the Greco-Albanian War. Consequently, according to its first commander, Major General Karassos, it was "Formed in haste and in offhand manner...from two infantry regiments, without artillery, with officers mostly drawn from the reserves, personnel of every possible origin and type with a large proportion of completely or partially untrained men, with inferior armament, with many deficiencies in communications equipment, arms, men and above all pack animals", it was from the outset of "insufficient cohesion, reduced numerical strength and morale, and greatly reduced fighting ability".
It was assigned to the Central Macedonia Army Section, forming part of the Greek–British "W Force", under the British Lt. General Henry Maitland Wilson, assigned to hold the Aliakmon River–Mount Vermion line against the expected German invasion of Greece. The division defeated and practically ceased to exist as a combat formation at the Battle of Kleisoura Pass on 13–14 April.

Order of battle

As of early April 1941, before the German attack: