Italy Fired 100,000 Shells at 800 Greeks — They Held for 16 Days

In March 1941, Italy fired 100,000 artillery shells at Hill 731 in just three hours. The bombardment was so intense it lowered the hill's height by 2 meters. Every tree was destroyed. The landscape became a cratered wasteland. Then Italy attacked with 11 divisions. For 16 days, they launched over 20 assault waves. Elite Blackshirts. Arditi special forces. M13/40 tanks. Thousands of infantry. Defending Hill 731: Major Dimitrios Kaslas and 600-800 men of the Greek II/5 Battalion. Captain Panagiotis Koutridis led a legendary bayonet charge on March 19, ordering his men to fix bayonets and charge directly into Italian elite troops who had broken into Greek trenches. Over 100 Italians were killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Mussolini watched from Mount Komarit, expecting victory. Instead, he watched his army bleed itself to death against Greeks who refused to retreat. By March 24, Operation Primavera had failed. Italy: 10,500+ casualties. Greece: still held Hill 731. The consequence? Hitler delayed Operation Barbarossa by 4-5 weeks to invade Greece. German forces reached Moscow in December instead of autumn—just as winter hit. Many historians argue those missing weeks cost Germany the Eastern Front. Major Kaslas survived the battle but was arrested and tortured during Greece's Civil War. He died in obscurity in 1966. The Greek Army didn't honor him until 1985—19 years after his death.