Hellenic Army
The Hellenic (Greek) army is primarily an infantry based force but they do have one Armored Davison, a Mechanized Division and three Armoured Brigades. Each infantry division also has a tank battalion. The Special Forces Division is an administrative organization as these units are under national control and not meant to fight together. In addition to the forces indicated above are island garrisons and the Greek force on Cyprus (a small regiment) plus about 100 Home Guard battalions.
The main role of the Greek Army is to defend against any threats from the north with ‘D Corps’ to the northeast, ‘B Corps’ to the northwest with 20th (XX)Armored Division at Thessaloniki to respond quickly in either direction. Interestingly, this deployment could serve to defend a threat from Turkey just as well as a threat from Bulgaria. The rugged and mountainous terrain lends itself to a lighter force and the Hellenic Army is focused along those lines.
MBT
Greece fields about 1750 Main Battle Tanks (MBT), although there is quite a mix and most are getting old. The initial purchase of 104 Leopard 1 tanks was made by Greece in 1984 but since then, no more have been obtained. The historic purchases from the Netherlands and Germany in 1993 did not occur as those counties held onto their tanks. Replacement M60’s are available and if needed would have been acquired. It is uncertain how these various tanks would be used but my assumption is that the 20th Armored Division was equipped with the AMX-30s, one of the Armored Brigades would use the Leopards while 2nd Mechanized Division would use M60s, as would the tank battalions in all other formations. The M47 and M48 MBT are probably in reserve.
190 AMX-30
104 Leopard 1A3
312 M60A3 TTS
357 M60A1 RISE
390 M48A5 MOLF
396 M47 Patton
APC
With almost 3000 Armored Personal Carriers (APC) available the Greeks have more than enough to equip the one mechanized division. Therefore it’s quite likely that some or all of the light infantry formations have some mechanized capability as well as much of the supporting forces. The Leonidas is a locally designed APC built in conjunction with Austria.
2500 M113, including:
257 M106A1 Mortar carriers
362 M901A1 ITV
12 M113 TOW
249 M577A2
100 Leonidas I
344 Leonidas II
Leonidas II
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance battalions are equipped with a combination of light wheeled vehicles and 242 French VBL 4-wheeled light armored vehicles. There is one reconnaissance battalion in each Corps and in both the 20th Armored and 2nd Mechanized Divisions.
Artillery
Greek artillery is dated but they are gradually modernizing from the post WW2 equipment to some more modern versions. Close support throughout the army is provided by 105mm guns while general support is conducted by 155mm and heavy artillery.
18 Mod 56, 105mm Pack howitzer
478 M101, 105mm towed howitzer
180 M102, 105mm towed howitzer
325 M114, 155mm towed howitzer
84 M115, 155mm towed howitzer
130 M109 A1B/A2, 155mm SP howitzer
12 M107, 175mm SP howitzer
28 M110A2, 8” SP howitzer
Air Defence
The air defence systems, as many other elements in the Hellenic Army are dated. The I-Hawk is focused on defending major infrastructure while the remainder is used for defence of the field force
101 RH-202 twin 20mm
24 Artemis twin 30mm
227 Bofors 40mm
101 M42 Duster twin 40mm
42 I-Hawk
FIM-43 Redeye MANPADS
