Uniforms of the Greek Armed Forces 1940-41
 

Prior to the start of the campaign the Greek Army was in the process of adopting new uniforms and equipment, including the Italian style helmet. The Greek army had previously been heavily influenced by the French, in organisation, uniforms, and tactics. During the course of the campaign the British Government supplied large amounts of uniforms and helmets, while the Greek Government issued a lot of older items from storage. This resulted in Greek troops appearing somewhat irregular, with 3 or 4 different types of uniforms, and at least two different types of helmets (The new Greek one - actually the Italian Helmet manufactured under license, and the British/Commonwealth "Tin Hat"). It has also been suggested that some Greek Troops wore the French Adrian Helmet - which Greece supposedly had large numbers of in war surplus storage - Although some rear-area troops and/or those raised/mobilised late in the campaign did undoubtedly use Adrian Helmets, I am sceptical that it was as widespread as some authors suggest. I cannot find any definitive evidence to support it, and what photos there are cannot be verified as definitely from the 1940-41 period and often look to be staged 1930's propaganda shots or from the 1920's 'Asia Minor' War, not World War II.

Throughout this website you will find lots of photos of actual troops and re-enactors, showing typical Greek Uniform variants. In most cases the darker brown uniforms (Khaki) are those supplied from Britain, while the lighter green uniforms are the new Greek pattern (adopted before the war and vaguely resembling the Italian Continental Uniform) or rarely the older W.W.I French pattern worn by the Greek Army previously.

"Greek Uniforms - A group of Greek Re-enactors showing a variety of uniform details." Photo kindly supplied by permission from the Greek ΣΤΡΑΤΙΩΤ ΙΚΗΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ Magazine, 1998.

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