Balkan Campaigns During nearly the entire first year of World War II, Hitler’s primary concern with southeastern Europe was to avoid trouble in the area. By the late summer of 1940, however, his attitude had begun to change. The Soviet Union had annexed Bessarabia and northern Bucovina in June, and it clearly intended to reach [...]
Balkan Campaigns
balkan campaigns
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Jan 252012
Yugoslavia Campaign
balkan campaigns
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Jan 252012
Campaign in Yugoslavia A rugged, mountainous terrain and wide-meshed, underdeveloped road and rail networks were Yugoslavia’s strongest potential defensive assets. Although these assets were to be important during the years of guerrilla warfare, they did not serve to improve the country’s very difficult strategic position in April 1941. To defend a land frontier of 1,700 [...]
Greece Campaign
balkan campaigns
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Jan 252012
Campaign in Greece The Greek High Command was fully aware that Germany would not permit its ally, Italy, to be embroiled in an embarrassing little war indefinitely. In mid-February 1941, therefore, the Greeks seized their last chance and opened an offensive that was intended to drive the Italians from Albania before the Wehrmacht could intervene. [...]