 The Bulgarian Army entered Greece on 20 April 1941 on the heels of the Wehrmacht without having fired a shot.The Bulgarian occupation zone included the northeastern corner of the Greek mainland and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace i.e.the present-day region of East Macedonia and Thrace, except for the Evros prefecture, (at the Greek-Turkish border) which, because of its strategic value, was retained by the Germans, despite Bulgarian protests.