Comments by "joe k" (@joek600) on "BRILLIANT Danish WAR Movie: Reaction to APRIL 9th" video.

@vasilisgm8966 My grand father was a machine gunner in the Metaxas Line. There was some serious fighting there and the forts actually held better that the Maginot Line, which was considered technologically top notch. But the problem was that no matter how well placed fortified lines were, they were a thing right from the WWI trench warfare. A fast moving mobile army would just find a way to circumvent them, and thats exactly what happened in both cases, with the difference that the defenders of the Metaxa Line fought until the very end. The battle was brutal and there was everything you can imagine. From aerial bombardment to hand to hand fighting in the galleries of the forts. And the Germans fought relentlessly. My grandfather would tell me that he was mowing them down and they would still continue climbing the hill stepping on bodies. His placement started to have serious casualties only after the Stukas hit them. They fought until they run out of ammo. When they asked for more from the radiotelephon the answer was ''there is nothing, you are heroes better than those of (18)21''. They were ordered to surrender, but they were afraid that the Germans would shoot them on the spot. They thought to escape in Bulgarian soil and go around the german positions, but they didnt have the time. When they came out and were lined one German soldier tried to shoot them all down with his MP38, but his mates pulled him away. Most of the soldiers from the forts were allowed to walk free, but the squads from some positions were actually held prisoners. Back then my grandpa didnt know what they were going to do with them. They were afraid that they would give them to the Bulgarians or send them to Germany. They had them in a wire enclosure, out in the open. They didnt mistreat them but they were hungry and cold. There were some local people coming as close as the guards would allow them to throw in some cigarettes or bread. My grandfather and a friend of his decided to not take chances waiting what will happen to them. With the help of a local girl who provided them with civilian clothes they managed to escape. They walked all the way to Corinth. During the occupation my grandfather worked in the Train Organisation that was taken over by the Germans. Until one day a partizan group came over and told them that they needed their help to derail a train. They did it and since there was no turning back after that, they joined the partizan group after taking anything useful from the wreck. He tried to get in contact with that girl but he could not. After the German retreat he found out that she was taken away. She was jewish. He always got emotional about the girl and a friend of his that got hit by a Stuka in the stomach and they could do nothing to help him. He used to tell us the story every 28th of October. 2 years ago while searching some of his papers, I found something like the beggining of a diary. Probably he started writing his war experiences down but then stop. But those notes are gold because they included the names of his officers, small details about their arrival at the forts, the verses of a marching song of the machinegun squad and the passwords for the night that the war started with Italy. I managed through those details to spot his placement, because the forts were in reality a complex of bigger and smaller fortified positions extended in a very wide area. I was planning to go up there with my mates. There are some very cool tours by the locals, but Covid-19 happened. I still want to go at the first chance.
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