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This book looks at the second stage of the Balkans campaign of 1940-41, the brief but very succesful German involvement in the spring of 1941 that saw Yugoslavia and Greece conquered in less than a month, in the last rapid German victory of the Second World War.
The section on the opposing commanders demonstrates the multinational aspect of this brief campaign, with German, Italian, Hungarian, Yugoslavia, Greek, British, New Zealand and Australian commanders covered. There was less balance in the forces actually involved in the fighting – on the Axis side the bulk of the fighting was carried out by the Germans. On the Allied side the Yugoslav army was large but quickly overwhelmed, the Greek army exhausted after months of war against Italy and the British and Commonwealth contingent too small to make a really significant contribution (while also being more troops than could easily be spared from North Africa).
One myth that is quickly dismantled is the idea that it was the arrival of British ground troops in Greece that provoked the German invasion. In fact Hitler issued the directive for the invasion on 13 December 1940, nearly three months before the first British troops reached Greece, and more than three months before the coup d’etat in Yugoslavia that saw that country added to the plans. Ironically it also becomes clear that this coup, and the resulting German invasion, made their invasion of Greece rather easier, allowing them to outflank the Strong Greek defences in the north-east facing Bulgaria.
The Germans also had the advantage of being entirely in command of their plan, allowing them to create a coherent plan for the joint invasions. On the Allied sides the Greeks and British had rather different ideas, and as a result the Allied forces were divided into four different blocks – the Yugoslav Army attempted to defend their borders, the bulk of the Greek army in Albania, a strong Greek force in the north-east on the Metaxas Line (to defend Salonika) and the British and some Greek forces on the Aliakmon Line further to the west (to defend against an attack from Yugoslavia, although this line would be outflanked by the Germans).
The section on the Yugoslav campaign is as brief as you would expect given the rapidity of the Yugoslav collapse, but is long enough to explain the quick German victory. The Greek campaign is divided into several parts. We begin with a look at the defense of the Metaxas Line, where the Germans suffered half of their entire casualties in Greece, but where a strong defensive line fell because it was easily outflanked. Next comes the Aliakmon Line – this is the section most often covered in British accounts, as it was where the British and Commonwealth forces entered the battle. Once again there was some hard fighting, but the Germans were able to break through, triggering the retreat back towards Athens and evacuation. The third section looks at the mainly British and Commonwealth attempt to defend the Olympus Line and the Allied evacuation, which started with the British largely refusing to cooperate with the Greek Army and continued after the official Greek surrender. This is a story of constant retreat, ending with an attempt to defend another line, at Thermopylae. Just about the only Allied success of this campaign was the Commonwealth retreat and evacuation, amd even that was a costly success.
This is a good account of this short campaign, with a better balance between the Commonwealth and Greek contributionst to the Allied side than is often the case, and a good understanding of the wider context of the fighting.
Chapters
Origins of the Campaign
Chronology
Opposing Commanders
Opposing Forces
Opposing Plans
The Campaign
Aftermath
Author: Pier Paolo Battistelli
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 96
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2021