Word: monastir
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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April 8. When the Yugoslavs let the Germans break through to the Vardar Valley, the three divisions of northern Greeks were cut off from Salonika. But the break-through in Yugoslavia had another, far more serious effect. It allowed the Germans to rush at full speed for the Monastir Gap-approximately at the juncture of Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece, and at dead center of the whole Anglo-Greek defenses. Monastir Gap was not only a geological phenomenon: it was also a gap in the Anglo-Greek defense, left because the Allies thought the Yugoslavs would hold the Germans...
...Nazis took Monastir Gap from its few Yugoslav defenders and drove about 25 miles into Greece. In the opening engagements that then occurred the Greeks and British came back at them with fury, and with daring to match daring. In the flat plains between Monastir (Bitolj) and Fiorina, British engaged Germans in the first mechanized encounter since Dunkirk...
...Greeks, observing that the enemy was concentrating supplies in the Monastir sector, announced that their troops were "impatiently awaiting the first opportunity of getting at the Germans." Grimly the Yugoslavs pointed out: "It is one thing to conquer the Komitajis' territory; it is another thing to conquer the Komitaji." This week was Orthodox Holy Week, and devout men like General Simovitch (who was not too devout, however, to divorce his first wife and marry one of the handsomest women in Yugoslavia) threw a religious fervor into their fighting...
Corizza is the crossroads through which Italy, unless she violates Yugoslav neutrality and goes around by the Monastir Gap (Bitolj), must pass to strike at Salonika. It is also a gateway to loannina (Yanina) and the long rough road to Athens. Pounding and pushing the Italians out of Corizza was a feat of which the strategic importance overshadowed even the valor of the men who did it. The town stands at an elevation of 2,500 ft. on the western scarp of the Morava heights. Its defense against assault from the west and north, whence Italy must try to come...
...other the fortified island of Saseno. In April 1939 he took Albania, which gave him a jumping-off place on the far side. Thence an Italian Army, unless it meets opposition from the forces of some real power, could make its way through Greece, or via Monastir in Yugoslavia to Salonika. From that point it could either ascend the Vardar River Valley towards Nish, or if that route is blocked by Hitler, make its way into Bulgaria up the Struma and Maritsa Valleys, or along the coast toward the Dardanelles...