Greece in World War II

Of the campaigns of the Second World War, the Italian-Greek War from October 1940 to April 1941 and the German campaign in Greece (April to May 1941) are still among the neglected aspects of historical research. In Italy, this war has been suppressed, and there is still no scientific reappraisal of it today. In Germany, too, research has hardly dealt with this topic; the Balkan campaign was considered a short episode before the Russian offensive. In Great Britain, a large number of accounts have appeared, all of which have a strongly apologetic character, since they justify the British decision to come to the aid of the Greeks; although this aid led to a military fiasco - as it did a year earlier in Norway - and considerably hindered the victorious British advance in North Africa. Heinz A. Richter's study on Greece in World War II shows the connections between the British decision to provide military support to Greece and the American Lend-leasing legislation. Following on from his account, Richter refutes the historical legend, which has been claimed equally by all participants, according to which Hitler's campaign in Greece cost him victory over Moscow and thus ultimately led to his defeat.