The
Battle of Elaia–Kalamas took place in
Epirus from 2–8 November 1940. The battle was fought between the
Greeks and the
Italians during the initial stage of the
Greco-Italian War. The
Italian Army, deployed on the Greek-Albanian border, launched a major offensive against Greece on 28 October 1940. The main thrust of the Italian invasion occurred in the Epirus sector, with a further flanking move through the
Pindus mountains. In Epirus, the Greeks held the
Elaia–
Kalamas river line, but the Greek units were outnumbered and their General Staff was pessimistic as to the outcome of the fight. Nevertheless, the local Greek forces, under Major General
Charalambos Katsimitros, managed to stop the Italian advance. Along with the Italian failure in the
Battle of Pindus, these Greek successes signified the complete failure of the Italian invasion, leading to the dismissal of the Italian commander in Albania,
Sebastiano Visconti Prasca, on 9 November. In the next few weeks, the Greek forces managed to initiate a full-scale counter-offensive which forced the Italians to retreat deep into Albanian territory.