Battle of Elaia–Kalamas 1940
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 2 November 1940 – 8 November 1940 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1940 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Greece | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Greco-Italian War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 39.5867, 20.1422 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Elaia–Kalamas (Greek: Μάχη Ελαίας-Καλαμά, romanized: Machi Elaias-Kalama) took place in Epirus on 2–8 November 1940. The battle was fought between the Greeks and the Italians during the initial stage of the Greco-Italian War in World War II. The Royal Italian Army, deployed on the Greek-Albanian border, launched an offensive against Greece on 28 October 1940. The main thrust of the Italian invasion occurred in the Epirus sector, with a further flanking move through the Pindus mountains. In Epirus, the Greeks held the Kalpaki (Elaia)–Kalamas river line, and, even though the Greek army was outnumbered, the local Greek forces under Major General Charalambos Katsimitros stopped the Italian advance. Along with the Italian failure in the Battle of Pindus, these Greek successes signified the complete failure of the Italian invasion, leading to the dismissal of the Italian commander in Albania, Sebastiano Visconti Prasca, on 9 November. In the next few weeks the Greek forces initiated a counteroffensive that forced the Italians to retreat deep into Albania.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Elaia–Kalamas (revision 1370110049), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Greco-Italian War
- Battle of Morava–Ivan 1940
- Battle of Pindus 1940
- Battle of Trebeshina 1941
All 4 battles of the Greco-Italian War →
Browse more: battles in Greece · Europe · World War II era battles