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WWII On This Day: October 28

What happened on October 28 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1940 and 1942, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
A reconnaissance detachment of the German 5th Panzer Division entering Athens on 27 April 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1979-123-32 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
German Invasion of Greece, April 1941

Italy invades Greece from Albania

Italian forces crossed the Albanian frontier at 05:30, half an hour before the ultimatum delivered in Athens was due to expire. The opening operations pressed into Epirus and the Pindus while the Greek government ordered general mobilisation. The Italian plan expected rapid political and military collapse. Greek frontier units instead held the principal approaches long enough for reserves to arrive, and the difficult mountain road system reduced the speed with which Italian formations could turn local penetrations into an operational breakthrough. By early November the invasion had lost its initial…

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German paratroops descending over Crete, May 1941.
Bundesarchiv Bild 141-0864 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
The Balkans and Crete

Italy invades Greece

Mussolini attacked from Albania without informing Berlin, on the reasoning that Hitler kept presenting him with faits accomplis and it was his turn. The Greek reply to the ultimatum is remembered in Greece as a single word, and the anniversary is still a national holiday. Within a month the Greek army had pushed the Italians back into Albania and taken a quarter of the country. It is the first Axis defeat on land of the war, and it is why Germany came.

1942
British artillery bombardment illuminating the night at the start of the Second Battle of El Alamein, 23 October 1942.
Sergeant Gladstone / IWM E 18465 · UK Government public domain (Imperial War Museums)
The Second Battle of El Alamein

Australian battalions attack towards the coastal railway

On the night of 28–29 October Australian battalions attacked north towards the railway and the coast. The advance threatened Axis communications and drew fresh counter-attacks from armoured formations already fighting farther south. The attack required troops to hold narrow pockets under concentrated shellfire. British tanks and artillery assisted where possible, while the Australian commanders reinforced anti-tank positions to resist the expected response.

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