Italy had annexed Albania in 1939. Tension grew between Italy and Greece and the Greeks fortified their border with Albania. Mussolini demanded that the Greeks turn over territory to him on October 26th 1940. Before the Greeks could even respond on October 28th Italian troops from Albania invaded Greece.

The Italian attack did not go very well. There troops were badly trained and equipped and the territory was hard to traverse. The Greeks surprised the Italians by fighting very hard and successfully to hold back the Italians. By November 13th the Greeks were able to stop the Italians just inside the Greek territory.

On November 14th the Greeks counterattacked they were able to capture Korce and by the end of November they had forced all Italian troops off of Greek soil. They soon moved into Albania. By early February (1941) the Greeks had captured the Kisura Pass. The Italians tried to counterattack but their attack failed. The Greek Italian War was stalemated.