It was opened in 1940 when Benito Mussolini ordered the invasion of the Kingdom of Greece. The failed Italian campaigns in the Balkans prompted a German response that ended with the subjugation of the Balkan nations.
The countries that sent significant amounts of their armies to this front were: Germany, the Independent State of Croatia, the United Kingdom and Italy. It should be noted that the partisans and guerrillas from Greece and Yugoslavia faced the troops of the Axis forces.
