GERMAN REPORT SERIES: THE GERMAN CAMPAIGN IN THE BALKANS (Spring 1941)

This publication, one of a series written by German officers in American captivity and produced after the Second World War by US military intelligence, studies the German operations to conquer Yugoslavia and Greece and the invasion of Crete. It also looks at the effect of these operations on the subsequent invasion of Russia. The German attack on Yugoslavia was carried out in conjunction with Italian and Hungarian troops, and a section of the report examines such co-operation. It also looks at the logistics of the campaign and the problems that arose The invasion of Greece follows, together with an analysis of the use of tanks in mountain country, air support and mountain warfare training and equipment. The final section of the battle reports considers the successful airborne attack on Crete, followed by the seaborne landings on the island.
The campaigns are treated chronologically and in great detail. Problems are clearly stated and the solutions explained. There is also an analysis of the relevant enemy forces within the narrative. This is a first-class report which gathers all the relevant information into one book, so that the whole German eastern Mediterranean strategy in 1941 can be examined, and it puts this into the context of the coming larger undertaking against Russia, which, some say, was fatally flawed by the delay imposed by these smaller operations in the Balkans. There are seven detailed maps .