Greece were issued in the name of Alexandr Suvorov, hero of Catherine II’s wars against the Ottomans, and Mikhail Kutuzov, hero of the Battle of Borodino and bane of Napoleon during the bloody French retreat from Moscow in 1812 It is important to note that in Soviet and Russian historiography the German–Soviet war is periodized into three prosaically entitled “First,” “Second,” and “Third” Periods During the First Period (June 22, 1941–November 18, 1942), Axis forces held the initiative all along the Eastern Front, driving within reach of Leningrad and Moscow in the north and center, past Kiev and into the Crimea and Caucasus in the south Wehrmacht combat power greatly exceeded that of the Red Army in the First Period, so that Soviet forces were badly shattered and largely remade, rearmed, and retrained as a result of catastrophic losses Russian historians consider the Second Period (November 19, 1942–December 31, 1943) to be one of transition by the Red Army from strategic defense to strategic offense with major counteroffensives at Stalingrad and Kursk, among numerous other campaigns It was during the Second Period that the Red Army surpassed the Wehrmacht in fighting capabilities and achieved full military modernity It was also at that time that the ultimate outcome of the war and shape of the peace was decided: total Soviet victory and unconditional and utter German defeat The Third Period (January 1, 1944–May 9, 1945) was marked by near-continuous, rolling Red Army offensives Corresponding German retreats and major defeats were occasionally interrupted by mostly failed and always merely local Wehrmacht counteroffensives Fighting did not end until the Wehrmacht ceased to function as a modern military and the Red Army planted its flags atop the rubble of Berlin and half the capitals of Europe Campaigns and battles of the “Great Fatherland War” are dealt with elsewhere in this work under discrete headings Some use accepted Soviet nomenclature, such as “Moscow offensive operation” (December 5, 1941–January 7, 1942) Others are listed under more familiar German terminology, such as BARBAROSSA Crossreferences exist to main entries in either case GREAT MARIANAS TURKEY SHOOT ( JUNE 19–20, 1944) See Philippine Sea, Battle of GREECE On October 28, 1940, Greece was invaded by ill-prepared Italian forces moving out of Albania according to hastily made operational plans Successful resistance against the Italian Army during the Balkan campaign (1940–1941) brought German and Bulgarian troops into Greece on April 6, 1941, in Operation MARITA The Greek Army discovered that the Wehrmacht was a much tougher foe than the Regio Esercito had proven While the main Greek force succumbed by April 23, some units and the government left Greece with the British to fight on from Crete After that island was taken by a stunning airborne assault by German Fallschirmjäger, the Greeks again evacuated alongside the British for Egypt Twelve Greek warships also made it to safe harbor in Egypt The military disaster of 1941 was followed by a famine that took over 100,000 Greek lives over the 473