Battle of Olympus (1941)

Battle of Olympus
	Part of the Balkans Campaign during World War II
	; Nazi Germany's attack on Greece
Date	14–16 April 1941
Location	Mount Olympus, Greece
Result	German victory
Belligerents
Axis:; Germany	Allies:; United Kingdom; Australia; New Zealand
Commanders and leaders
Generalleutnant Rudolf Veiel; Major General Julius Ringel	Lieutenant-General Henry Maitland Wilson; Lieutenant Colonel Ian Ross Campbell; Brigadier James Hargest; Lieutenant Colonel Neil Lloyd Macky; Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Andrew; Lieutenant Colonel A. S. Falconer; Lieutenant Colonel George Dittmer
Strength
Germany:; 2nd Panzer Division; 5th Mountain Division; 100+ tanks;	New Zealand:; 5th Infantry Brigade; 28th (Māori) Battalion; 21st Battalion; 22nd Battalion; 23rd Battalion; Australia:; 2/1st Australian Infantry Battalion; Unknown number of artillery
Casualties and losses
Germany:; Unknown number of men killed or wounded; 12 trucks; 2 tanks	New Zealand:; 40 men killed; 50 wounded; 130 captured; 9 artillery; 10 Bren gun carriers; 20 trucks

The German invasion of Greece on 6 April 1941, had already been anticipated by the Allied forces. So a defense line was created across the mountain passes near Mount Olympus consisting of British, Australian and New Zealand troops which would prevend the German forces from capturing Thessaly and thereby denying them the opportunity to advance into mainland Greece. However, the speed of the German invasion force had made sure that the endurance of the defending troops and the strength of their defences were very quickly going to be put to the test.

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