The 11th Army () was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

field army A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air army, Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and ...

of the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army () (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree c ...

. It was formed in November 1940 for service in the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian campaign in Greece, Italian invasion of Greece, and War of '40 in Greece, took place between Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This conflict began the Balk ...

, and after the

German invasion of Greece The German invasion of Greece or Operation Marita (), were the attacks on Kingdom of Greece, Greece by Kingdom of Italy, Italy and Nazi Germany, Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usually known as the Gr ...

and the capitulation of that country in April 1941, assumed occupation duties in the Greek mainland. It remained on station in Greece until the

Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile ( Italian: ''Armistizio di Cassibile'') was an armistice that was signed on 3 September 1943 by Italy and the Allies, marking the end of hostilities between Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was made public ...

on 8 September 1943, when it was forcibly disbanded by the Germans.

History

It was formed on 9 November 1940 out of the 11th Army Corps, then based in Italian-occupied Albania and engaged in operations against Greece alongside the 9th Army. Its engagement against the Greeks lasted until the

fall of Greece Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemispher ...

in April 1941.

Occupation of Greece

Thereafter, the Eleventh Army assumed duties of occupation in Greece, headquartered in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. Its command also doubled as the Higher Armed Forces Command Greece (''Comando Superiore Forze Armate Grecia'', abbrev. ''C.S. FF. AA. Grecia''), with responsibility over mainland Greece (apart from the German and Bulgarian zones in northern Greece and the German zone in eastern and southern

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

), as well as the island of

Euboea Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...

, the

Northern Sporades The (Northern) Sporades are an archipelago along the east coast of Greece, northeast of the island of Euboea,"Skyros - Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpageEB-Skyrosnotes "including Skiathos, Skopelos, Skyros, and Al ...

and

Skyros Skyros (, ), in some historical contexts Romanization of Greek, Latinized Scyros (, ), is an island in Greece. It is the southernmost island of the Sporades, an archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Around the 2nd millennium BC, the island was known as ...

, and

Kythera Kythira ( ; ), also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an Greek islands, island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, altho ...

. The remainder of the

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

came under the Higher Armed Forces Command Albania ( Ninth Army), while the

Italian Dodecanese The Italian Islands of the Aegean (; ; ) were an archipelago of fourteen islands (the Dodecanese, except Kastellorizo) in the southeastern Aegean Sea, that—together with the surrounding islets—were ruled by the Kingdom of Italy from 1912 to ...

, the Italian-occupied

Lasithi Prefecture Lasithi () is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra and Sitia. The mountains include the Dikti in the west and the Thrypti in the east. ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

and the bulk of the

Cyclades The CYCLADES computer network () was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate i ...

came under the Higher Armed Forces Command of the Italian Islands of the Aegean at

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

. Apart from the units of the Eleventh Army, the Higher Armed Forces Command Greece also included the Air Force Command Greece (''Comando Aeronautica Grecia''), and the Western Greece Naval Military Command (''Comando Militare Marittimo della Grecia Occidentale'') at Patras. In April 1943, an assessment of the combat readiness of the Eleventh Army's eight remaining divisions in terms of armament and means of transport found only one—the 11th Infantry Division ''Brennero''—as "complete", with three more "effective" (over 70% of pack animals and 70% to 90% of vehicles from the

table of organization and equipment A table of organization and equipment (TOE or TO&E) is the specified organization, staffing, and equipment of Military unit, military units. Also used in acronyms as 'T/O' and 'T/E'. It also provides information on the mission and capabilities of ...

) and the rest "incomplete" (with figures of completeness around 60%). In a similar evaluation of their completeness in personnel a fortnight later, only ''Brennero'' and the 33rd Infantry Division ''Acqui'' were classed as "complete", with the remainder as "effective". The situation remained largely the same during another review of their combat readiness in June. It was forcibly disbanded by the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

in September 1943, after the Italian capitulation.

Orders of battle

August 1941

During the first months of its occupation of Greece, Eleventh Army comprised the following units: * III Army Corps (

Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...

), ''

Generale di divisione Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps g ...

Mario Arisio Mario Arisio (5 July 1885 – 7 July 1950) was an Italian general who served in the Italo-Turkish War, World War I, the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and World War II. Biography Arisio was born in Turin on July 5, 1885, and attending the Royal ...

** 11th ''Brennero'' Infantry Division (

) ** 24th ''Pinerolo'' Infantry Division (

Trikala Trikala () is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala (regional unit), Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios (Thessaly), Pineios. According to the Greek Natio ...

) ** 36th ''Forlì'' Infantry Division (

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

) * VIII Army Corps (

Xylokastro Xylokastro () is a seaside town and a former municipality in Corinthia in the Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Xylokastro-Evrostina, of which it is a unit or component. The municipal unit ...

), ''

Generale di Corpo d'Armata An army corps general or corps general is a rank held by a general officer who commands an army corps. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. Normally, the rank is above the divisional gene ...

Giuseppe Pafundi Giuseppe Pafundi (born 4 December 1883) was a general in the Royal Italian Army who commanded the XVII Corps during the World War II Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. Career Promotions 1934-09-05 Brigadier-General 1937-07-01 Major ...

** 29th ''Piemonte'' Infantry Division (

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

) ** 51st ''Siena'' Infantry Division (

Nafplion Nafplio or Nauplio () is a coastal city located in the Peloponnese in Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Argolis and an important tourist destination. Founded in antiquity, the city became an important seaport in the Middle Ages du ...

), earmarked for transfer to

** 59th ''Cagliari'' Infantry Division (

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

) ** 3rd ''Julia'' Alpine Division (

Metsovo Metsovo (; ) is a town in Epirus (region), Epirus, in the mountains of Pindus in northern Greece, between Ioannina to the west and Meteora to the east. The largest centre of Aromanians, Aromanian (Vlach) life in Greece, Metsovo is a large regio ...

), in effect under direct operational control of the Higher Armed Forces Command Greece as general reserve, departed for Italy in March 1942 * XXVI Army Corps (

Ioannina Ioannina ( ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus (region), Epirus, an Modern regions of Greece, administrative region in northwester ...

), ''

'' Guido Della Bona ** 33rd ''Acqui'' Infantry Division (

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

) ** 37th ''Modena'' Infantry Division (Ioannina) ** 56th ''Casale'' Infantry Division (

Agrinion Agrinio (Greek language, Greek: Αγρίνιο, ; Latin: ''Agrinium'') is the largest city of the Aetolia-Acarnania regional units of Greece, regional unit of Greece and its largest municipality, with 89,691 inhabitants (2021) as well as the seco ...

)

Spring 1943

Commanders

* ''

Sebastiano Visconti Prasca Sebastiano Visconti Prasca (27 February 1883, Rome – 25 February 1961, Monte Porzio Catone) was an Italian general. A veteran of the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912 and he led the initial offensive of the Greco-Italian War in 1940 during Worl ...

(1940) * '' Generale d'Armata''

Carlo Geloso Carlo Geloso (20 August 1879 – 23 July 1957) was an Italian general during the Second World War. In 1939, he assumed command of the Italian forces in Albania. In 1940, he served as commander of the 11th Army during the Greco-Italian War. He w ...

(1940–1943) * '' Generale d'Armata''

Carlo Vecchiarelli Carlo Vecchiarelli (10 January 1884 – 13 December 1948) was an Italian general. He was a veteran combatant of the First World War. Between the two world wars he held the positions of Military Attaché at the Italian Embassy in Prague, Honora ...

(1943)

References

Sources

* {{Large formations of Italy in World War II Field armies of Italy in World War II Military units and formations of Italy in Greece in World War II Italian military units and formations of the Greco-Italian War Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943