15th Infantry Brigade (Greece)

15th Infantry Brigade

Flag of the 15th Infantry Brigade
Active 1940–1941, 1946–Present
Country Greece
Branch Hellenic Army
Type Infantry
Size Regiment
Part of III Army Corps
Garrison/HQ Kastoria, Western Macedonia
Motto "And these are enough" (Και ούτος αριθμός ικανός)

The 15th Infantry Brigade (Greek: 15η Ταξιαρχία Πεζικού, 15η ΤΑΞΠΖ) was an infantry brigade of the Hellenic Army. Headquartered in Kastoria and subordinated to the I Army Corps, it was formed from the former 15th Infantry Division (ΧV Μεραρχία Πεζικού) on 1 April 1998. The formation was again reorganized in 2013, this time as a regiment, and placed under the command of the NDC-GR.

History

The 15th Infantry Division was originally formed on 6 November 1940 after the mobilization due to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War, with personnel conscripted from the Kastoria and Grevena regions of Western Macedonia. The division, composed of three Infantry regiments (28th, 33rd and the 90th) with artillery support, fought primarily in the Korytsa sector on the Albanian front.

On January 10, 1941 the 90th Infantry Regiment, an organic element of the 15th Infantry Division, engaged Italian forces at the strategically-significant Mali i Taronit, overlooking the Këlcyrë-Tepelenë road. Under the command of Colonel Christos Gerakinis, the regiment captured the hill with a bayonet charge, suffering 42 KIA (including Major Dimitrios Kyriazis, one of its senior officers) and 161 wounded. On 2 February 1941, elements of the 15th Infantry Division under Major General Agamemnon Metaxas captured Height 802 and the nearby town of Bubës, northwest of Këlcyrë. The battle marked the northernmost engagement of Greek forces in the Greco-Italian War.

During the Battle of Trebeshina, on 13 February 1941, the division supported the 5th Cretan Division during its capture of the 1,805-metre (5,921-ft) northern peak of Mal Shëndëlli, before advancing their line a further 5 km (3 miles). Subsequent engagements saw the two divisions take heights 1647, 1260, and 1178. The 15th Infantry Division lost 2,000 killed, wounded or missing during the battle. Their advance was eventually stopped by strong Italian resistance at Tepelenë. By the end of the Greco-Italian War, the 15th Division had lost 1,363 soldiers killed, and nearly three-times that number wounded or missing.

The division was disbanded with the Greek capitulation following the German invasion of Greece in April 1941. It was re-established in June 1946, and participated in the Greek Civil War under the command of II Army Corps. It gradually evolved into its motorized infantry role after it was re-formed as a brigade in 1998.

Following a wide-ranging defence review, in April 2013 KYSEA originally decided the disbandment of the brigade as part of a new force structure for the Greek armed forces.[1] However, the force was eventually reduced to regimental level, and placed under the command of the NDC-GR.

Structure (2008)

References

  1. ↑ Μελλοντική Δομή Δυνάμεων: Επιτέλους συμμάζεμα, τα στοιχεία (in Greek). defencepoint.gr. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.