Description
Book SynopsisSwastika over the Acropolis is a new, multi-national account which provides a new and compelling interpretation of the Greek campaign of 1941, and its place in the history of World War II. It overturns many previously accepted English-language assumptions about the fighting in Greece in April 1941 – including, for example, the impact usually ascribed to the Luftwaffe, German armour and the conduct of the Greek Army Further, Swastika over the Acropolis demonstrates that this last complete strategic victory by Nazi Germany in World War II is set against a British-Dominion campaign mounted as a withdrawal, not an attempt to ‘save’ Greece from invasion and occupation. At the same time, on the German side, the campaign revealed serious and systemic weaknesses in the planning and the conduct of large-scale operations that would play a significant role in the regime’s later defeats.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements ... ix List of Maps and Figures ... xi Conventions ... xv Introduction ... 1 PART ONE: SETTING THE SCENE 1. Axis Ambitions in Europe and Greece 1933-1940 : ‘Greece is assigned to the mercy of Italy’ ... 17 2. The Italo-Greek War, the Powers and the Balkans : ‘My friend Mussolini is a very sensitive gentleman’ ... 35 3. Albania, the Bulgarian Frontier & Greek Defensive Schemes ... 71 4. The Die is Cast : German and British Planning in Early March 1941 ... 91 5. The Gathering Storm : Mid-March and Early April 1941 ... 115 PART TWO: THE DRAMA UNFOLDS 6. Opening Moves (6-7 April) ... 149 7. The Fall of Northeastern Greece (8-9 April) ... 179 8. New Battle Lines (10-12 April) ... 207 9. The Battle of Vevi (12-13 April) ... 237 10. Pressure on the Passes (14-15 April) ... 271 11. Allied Withdrawal Planning & Operations (15-16 April) ... 301 12. The Battle of Pinios Gorge (17-18 April) ... 329 13. Across the Plains of Thessaly (17-18 April) ... 359 14. The End in Epirus (19-21 April) ... 391 15. Brallos and the Thermopylae Pass (22-24 April) ... 425 16. Corinth and the Peloponnese (25-26 April) ... 457 17. The Final Evacuations (27-28 April) ... 485 PART THREE: EVALUATION 18. The Outcome Explained ... 513 19. Justifications, Vindications and Unnecessary Debates ... 543 20. Marita and Barbarossa ... 569 Epilogue ... 589 Bibliography ... 599
