From DE:
Balkan Fury
There is trouble brewing again in the Balkans, an area synonymous with turbulent history with the forces of Italy, Greece, Great Britain and its Commonwealth, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and even Albania ready to take up arms (and, to be sure, it is ‘a sea of troubles’). There are 9 scenarios to be played out with 1120 counters on two 18 x 26 inch maps ranging from the Battle of Taranto right up to the campaign game starting from the Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940 through to the ejection of the Allied forces from Crete in May 1941. Can you as the Italian player live up to your leader’s grandiose expectations or must you undergo the embarrassment of asking the Germans for ‘assistance’. Can you as the Allied player form a Southern Front to help your Greek allies and keep the pressure on Turkey to enter the war on the Allied side. Inevitably, your forces will be too weak to resist a Wehrmacht close to its peak of efficiency but what would be the effect on world opinion (not to mention Turkey) if you leave the Greeks to their fate. After all, the war is a climactic struggle between the democracies and the dictatorships where the Allies have to do the right thing however bleak the probable outcome. And in war, you never know what will be the overall effect of some otherwise minor campaign especially with the Axis having to maximize their efforts at a time when their comparative strength is at its highest.
The Invasion of Greece
The Italian invasion of Greece primarily undertaken to massage the ego of Mussolini, was insufficiently resourced and completely underestimated the stubbornness of Greek resistance, a factor that could have been anticipated as the Greeks had, not so long ago as all that, been involved in a nasty little war with Turkey thus the army had a core of veteran officers. The desultory invasion proceeded in atrocious weather and inevitably ground to a halt whereupon Visconti Prasca, the Italian commander was sacked and Italian reinforcements began to be moved into Albania, a country without the infrastructure to really support them. The Greeks seized the initiative and pushed the Italians back into Albania capturing the crucial lateral road just beyond the border to ease their supply and reinforcement difficulties, and of course, adding considerably to the problems of the Italians. Eventually, the Greek counter offensive runs out of momentum as the Italian reinforcements arrive to consolidate their defenses. The result : stalemate in the Epirus.
British Intervention
German Blitzkrieg Again
Nor hell a fury like a ‘leader’ scorned (to paraphrase Congreve’s oft misquoted line), Hitler turned his anger onto Yugoslavia after a coup toppled the Regent, Prince Paul in favor of the boy King Peter. No real problem for the Wehrmacht on short notice to rustle up a couple of extra combat experienced Armies to take on the Yugoslavs (what else was there for them to do while idling away their time before Barbarossa!!). The 12th Army is already poised to attack Greece, a task made significantly easier by being ‘allowed’ to attack through Yugoslavia to outflank the British positions on the Aliakmon line via the Monastir Gap. Once this happened there is no real chance for the Commonwealth forces to get established in adequate defenses and, as in the Norway campaign, the Luftwaffe gains complete air superiority quickly. The lesson is taken to heart by the British Chiefs of Staff that they cannot undertake to operate again on continental Europe without air superiority which has implications for the future planning for Overlord (Dear General Marshall, No Sledgehammer in 1942 and no Roundup in 1943 until we can guarantee air superiority. I don’t like Gymnast either but if the politicos really insist on American forces engaging the Axis in 1942, then French North Africa is the place. Yours cordially, General Brooke, CIGS). Once ejected from Greece, the Commonwealth forces retain a foothold on Crete but this is unacceptable to Hitler as it puts British bombers within range of the Ploesti oilfields. The only real option with the Royal Navy dominating the sea is an airborne attack. It is a very close run thing but, yet again, the total German air superiority is the telling factor and Crete falls.
What If?
What if the Italians had got really serious about their initial invasion of Greece from Albania. There were a pile of divisions “languishing” in Italy that could have been shipped over (and in fact were when things got tough). Taking a leaf out of the German invasion of Poland, concentrate maximum force to achieve your objective as swiftly as possible, quite probably irretrievably fracturing the Greek defense line in the Pindus Mountains thus causing the Greeks to collapse, the Bulgarians to invade “in sympathy” and Athens to fall in a matter of weeks. The Germans, a little shocked that the Italian GHQ was able to learn anything from their own exploits, generously offers the 7th Parachute and 22nd Air landing Divisions in order to take Crete well before any major Commonwealth forces could be spared for its defense thus securing Hitler’s southern flank. A surrounded Yugoslavia cautiously joins the Axis block but does not commit to doing anything much (there is a suggestion that even after the Yugoslav coup d’état, the new government was not unwilling to negotiate some sort of deal with Hitler, but the latter, furious at the loss of face, ruthlessly invaded anyway). The only fly in the ointment is that the Italians, buoyed by their success in Greece might make unacceptable demands on Yugoslavia but OKW hopes that they will be thoroughly busy in absorbing their Greek conquests. There it is then, an opportunity for the OKH to move on the Soviet Union a few crucial weeks early (especially from Romania) and certainly with a few extra divisions that would otherwise be occupying the Balkans; what Barbarossa German commander has not “salivated” at that prospect? Then again, with insignificant losses in the “Greek Campaign”, the Commonwealth forces in the Western Desert have more opportunity to press their advantages after their offensive successes in Operation Compass, perhaps gaining a chance to eject the Italians from Libya completely but, of course, the Italian GHQ will no longer be troubled by the situation in Albania (Greece has fallen after all) and can devote more attention to getting reinforcements to Tripoli. What if indeed!
Finally
That then is Balkan Fury, a game that exercises the talents of both the Axis and Allied commanders to keep losses to a minimum in what can only ever be a secondary theatre of the war while maximizing potential gains from this enduringly “strategic area”. As we have seen, even minor setbacks here can have a lingering effect on the Axis war effort which, unacknowledged by much of the German High Command, was on a time critical path where even the loss of a few weeks could have serious downside later on; it almost makes it palatable for the British commander to obey his political masters and commit troops to Greece!!!
